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“No!” Hattie shook her head. “Frozen!”
I chuckled as I opened Spotify on my phone, scrolling to AC/DC.
“We listen to what Henry likes on the way there, then what you want when I pick you guys up, alright?”
“How come?” Hattie asked. “I hate stupid AC/DC.”
“It’s an important lesson that everyone has to learn as they get older, Hats – the idea of compromise.”
I put the Tahoe into gear and pulled out of the parking spot. “Back in Black” started blasting—Henry’s favorite song. He sang along, but because he didn’t precisely know the words, the lyrics were mostly gibberish. It was cute as hell all the same. Hattie endured the ride, her face in a little pout and her arms crossed over her chest.
The kids got all kinds of excited when they spotted Aubrey, who looked to be in the process of feeding the llamas. She turned toward us as we approached, waving a gloved hand as I parked the Tahoe.
“Miss Aubrey!” both of the kids shouted at the same time as I killed the engine, and they piled out of the car. Aubrey opened her arms and gave them both a big hug. It’d only been a week since we’d started this whole nanny thing, but the kids were already crazy about her.
Couldn’t blame them one bit. Aubrey was a gem—a wonderful woman who went out of her way to open her heart to Henry and Hattie. Didn’t hurt matters that she was about the best-looking woman I’d ever seen in my life.
“There’s my terrible twosome!” she said as she hugged the kids hard, giving each of them a quick kiss on the forehead. “You guys ready for some fun today?”
I stepped out of the car, taking in the sight of her. Aubrey was dressed in a skintight pair of light denim jeans, the bottoms tucked into her cowboy boots. Up top she had on a cream-colored Native American style pullover, with a design that looked like deer. She wore a rancher’s hat, her curly hair pulled into a thick ponytail draped over her shoulder.
She flashed me that gorgeous smile as I approached.
“Hey, you two. Why don’t you head to the barn and grab a few handfuls from the big bale of grass in there? I think Larry’s looking a little hungry. Oh, and please pick up the bucket of chicken feed that’s in there. You can’t miss it; it’s big and red.”
The kids wasted no time running off to the barn, laughing with excitement all the while.
“You know, it’s like pulling teeth to get those two to help out over at Thousand Acres,” I said as I approached. “But for some reason over here they’re jumping all over one another to help out.”
“You’ve just gotta make it fun. At their age, chores don’t really register. If they think it’s a game, they want to play.”
We stepped over to the fence of the llama pen, leaning against the wood perimeter. I watched the snow as it fell on the pack of llamas, the big, fuzzy beasts not seeming to care in the slightest about how cold it was.
“Truth be told, we weren’t sure how to get them started with taking care of the animals.”
“Really?” The morning sun played on her features in a way that made her face somehow even more striking. It damn near hurt to look at her.
“Yep. Their mother was as allergic as they come. She couldn’t be near any kind of fur or dander or anything without breaking out in hives. We learned pretty quickly that the twins didn’t have the same allergies—got ‘em tested and all that. But all the same, we were a little hesitant about it. When we saw how they were with your llamas, we all seemed to realize that we’d been keeping them a bit too sheltered when it came to the livestock.”
“Well, happy to facilitate. They’re naturals, by the way.”
The kids emerged from the barn, each with a red pail in their hands, one filled with grass, the other with chicken feed.
“Perfect!” Aubrey shouted at the twins as they approached. “I swear, you two are shaping up to be better and better little farmers with each passing day.”
Henry and Hattie shared the same beaming look that made it clear they were more than happy to receive such a compliment.
Aubrey put her hands on her hips. “OK, first, let’s start by finishing feeding the llamas. After that, we can move on to the birds. Once we’re done withthat, Aggie’s got some treats inside for you to snack on while we work on our reading. And if we get all of our work done by the afternoon, we can pick out a movie to watch when the snow hits. How does that sound?”
“Yay!” they both shouted, Henry picking up the bucket of llama feed and using a handful of it to get the animals’ attention.
I watched them for a time, the twins laughing their little heads off as the llamas slowly came over and began eating out of their gloved hands.
“They’re great,” Aubrey said, her eyes on them. “You’re lucky to have them. And they’re lucky to have you.”
The way I felt watching the twins, knowing that they were being well taken care of by a woman who cared about them… it brought up…feelingsin me. I didn’t like dealing with that kind of shit.
“Yeah,” I grumbled. “Thanks for taking care of them. Adam will be around at the usual time to pick them up.”
