Surely I had. Once or twice? “Yes!” I shouted as the memory clicked into place. “I once spent a whole week helping our gardener Julio plant the annuals.”
Acosta’s expressive face went blank as his hand slid from mine. “That does not surprise me in the least. Poor Julio.” He spun from me to make a cup of coffee and a sandwich. I returned to the sofa, sat down, and whispered to Bitsy about her stubborn owner until said bullheaded owner left us to our own devices. I was still rather upset over how Acosta had pigeonholed me. Yes, I was a Fitzgerald and yes, I had grown up wealthy, but that did not mean that I didn’t know what it was like to work hard. And I damn well knew what it was like to be looked down upon. Being rich didn’t mean I had a life of complete ease.
“I’ll show him,” I told the slumbering goat as I pulled the blanket back up around my shoulders and then tucked some around Bitsy to keep her withered back legs warm. “Anything he can do, I can do better.”
Wait. Did he say something about a dung fork? Oh hell. I hoped I wouldn’t actually have to get close enough to dung to fork it up. Surely there was some sort of tractor attachment thingy that would do that kind of repulsive work for a man. Right?
ChapterFour
Apparently,I was wrong about the tractor dung fork attachment.
Seems I was also wrong about what time I had assumed chores started in the morning.
Someone rather roughly jostled me awake during the middle of the night. I blinked awake with a start, scaring the berries out of Bitsy, who was already in her buggy and nibbling on the pine tree in the corner.
“Time to get up,” Acosta informed me as I rubbed my eyes. The quilt that I had shared with my new goat buddy wound around my legs. I’d not even changed into my pajamas after Acosta had left after our agreement last night. This morning. Whatever.
“Time? Time? What time?” I croaked while trying to clear my vision. When my eyes were working, I took note of how yummy he was. All dressed in denim and flannel, his hair pulled back into a ponytail. I loved the colorings that ran through it. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he highlighted it. The dark brown and lighter dirty blond were just too pretty to be natural. Heck, I had no coloration in my hair other than black. I was kind of envious of his stripey beauty. Also, his scruffy beard was tempting me to scritch it like I had done for Bitsy last night. Maybe I would let my face go too. Just to look more farmer-ly.
“It’s ten after five.”
“In the morning?!”
“Yes,” he replied as he plodded over to sweep up the goat turds on the floor. He was so nonchalant about it. He truly must love that animal a great deal to clean up droppings all day long. I couldn’t even begin to relate and really, how sad was that?
“Jesus Christ,” I whimpered.
“Don’t bring him into this. You made the deal.” He sounded rather jubilant. I stuck my tongue out at his back while he swept.
“Deal with the devil,” I mumbled under my breath. “I’m an early bird anyway.” He threw a look of sheer disbelief over his shoulder. I stood, stretched, and grabbed my bag from the floor. “If there’s some coffee, I’ll have a cup and then hit the shower. Can I meet you in the main barn area in say an hour?”
Acosta dumped the nanny berries into a little plastic trash can, with his sight locked on me. Nary a turd missed the can. He was quite proficient at poop cleanup.
“An hour?” He sounded appalled.
“Is there a rush? Are we not snowed in with nowhere to go? Will the wee beasties rise up in revolt if we don’t appear in the barn at five sharp?”
“As it’s already past five, I don’t think we’ll be hearing them break into ‘Do You Hear the People Sing’ anytime soon.” He turned to look at me, his lips twitching at the corners. “Yeah, please, go shower and do your hair. I’ll wait.”
“Splendid! Thank you.” I gave him a wide smile, then trucked into the bathroom. The pink made me happy. It was such a different vibe in this cramped little bath than what ran through the whole house. Well, house was a stretch. The living area. There, that fit better. I began humming “Master of the House” as I stripped. The room was colder than Nanny Annie’s heart. Giving the closed door a quick look, I weighed the thought of cracking it open to let some heat in. Cinderblock walls were far from warm. Still, not wanting to appear brazen, I left it shut. I unpacked my travel kit of shampoo, conditioner, and my other assorted toiletries. No razor though. That was left in the leather bag. I was going deep into farmer mode. What a shame I didn’t have any flannel packed. Nor did I own any. Maybe Mr. Melios would loan me one of his shirts to wear while we did chores. If I were being honest, I was kind of excited. I’d never done farm chores before! I was sure I’d do well, and all the critters would love me. My friend Rally’s cat, Dante, liked me when I visited his condo. It bit all the people who tried to pet it according to Rally so the scars on the back of my hand meant I was part of the in crowd that Dante nipped. Rubbing my hands over my arms, I took a deep breath, cranked on the taps, and began undressing.
Clothes flew to the four corners as I rushed to step into the shower. The water was hot as hell, and even when I added cold, it was still scorching. My skin was pink bordering on scarlet when I stepped out fifteen or so minutes later. The towels on the rack were clean, thank goodness, and smelled like lemon fabric softener. I buried my face into one, inhaled, and then jumped out of the tub and into clean undies and the lone pair of skinny jeans I had packed. I really didn’t have much clothing with me, since I’d not planned to be staying here for a month. My father was going to kill me but, hopefully, the ends would justify the means.
Skin prickling into gooseflesh, I threw open the door, towel in hand, and raced to stand in front of the woodstove. I ran my fingers through my hair to help it dry as the radiant heat flowed over me.
“That bathroom is so cold! Oh my God. I about froze my giblets off!” I rubbed at my chest with the towel I’d brought with me from the bath, taking time to dab at the thick gold chain that held my great-grandmother’s Greek Orthodox cross. The fine chain had long ago snapped, so when it came to me on her death, I put it on a rugged chain. I’d not known her well. She died when I was five, but she was the coolest old person I’d known up until that time. To this day, I think she knew I was queer, even back before I did. She’d once told me to be myself in Greek. I’d had to have my father translate what it meant as I spoke no Greek at all. She smiled and bobbed her silver head while patting my cheek. So yeah, I think great-granny Thalia knew I was going to be different from the rest of the family. “Would you be offended if I left the door open a little to allow some heat in while I shower?”
Nothing but the sound of wood cracking in the stove could be heard. I glanced over my shoulder to find Acosta staring at me, his gray eyes stormy. I felt that searing look all the way to my toes. He held an open bag of bread in his hands, a cupboard door open behind him.
“I promise I won’t flash you or anything,” I added because his intensity vibe was off the charts. He shook his head, frowned, and pursed his lips. “Or not…”
“No, no, it’s fine. I’ve seen bare man buns before. I was just thinking about how scrawny you are.”
That cut deep. Sure, I knew I was on the smallish side. Maybe even a little twinky. Fine, I was a lot twinky, but did he have to assault me with my petite size? He winced at the look I flung at him before I turned my attention to the woodstove. “Not that being thin is bad, it’s just that…well, most farmers tend to have a little muscle on them. I’m not sure you can lift a hay bale and carry it.”
“I possess more than a little muscle, thank you!” I sniped, flexed my biceps like a strong man at the circus, then stared at the coal black stove pipe leading into the ceiling. “Are all the people in this area so meanspirited?”
He took so long to reply that I was tempted to glance back to see if he’d been struck down with a malady of the speech box. I held my ground, though, and continued to work at my hair so it would dry neatly. When Acosta appeared beside me, I startled, dropping my towel to the floorboards.
