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The guilt about trying to sabotage the creamery and their output had been eating at her like acid. More than once she’d woken up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, weighed down with guilt and a racing heart. Only with the light of day did the knowledge of what she’d done get somewhat easier to bear, but even then… She was so ashamed of herself it made her sick. If she could apologize, that might have lifted some of the burden weighing on her chest. But to dothatshe would have to admit what she’d done.
The kicker was that it hadn’t even worked anyway. The lack of product hadn’t deterred Brendan. Neither had the negative profits. He’d just sat down and come up with a plan to fix it all. If anything, it had only made him more determined to turn the place around. She could see how he’d gotten the success and wealth he had now. He could strategize like a genius and then work hard enough to pull the plan off.
Well, that could be her punishment, then — to deal with the guilt. Call it karma or whatever, that would just have to be her cross to bear. She deserved it.
She wouldn’t have admitted it a few short weeks ago but shelikedBrendan. He was a gentleman in the old-fashioned sense of the word. He thought the cows were the best thing ever and had started doing extra research on his own because he thought they were “neat.”
A more alarming and entirely unexpected thought had taken hold of her: did she even want to take the farm away from him again?
“I have a stupid question,” he asked later that day when they were inside for lunch. Nicole was sitting at the table eating a sandwich and a pile of potato chips like she was a schoolkid and enjoying it very much.
“Oh, good,” she said. “You haven’t had a proper stupid question in a while. I’ve missed them.”
He practically beamed.
“What?” she said. “Why are you grinning like that? It’s creepy.”
“So, you’re saying that I’ve improved?”
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
“Too late for that, sorry.”
“Are you going to ask your question or not?”
He sobered up a little at that, so maybe it really was going to be a stupid one.
“You’ve mentioned calving season a couple of times…”
“Yeah?”
“I’m not really sure what that actually means.”
Nicole had figured it was pretty obvious, but then again she had thought broom brushes stuck to poles had been obvious. The annoyance that would flare when he’d first started here was nowhere to be found, not anymore.
“So you know how most of the cattle are really fat right now?”
“Uh-huh?”
“That’s because they’re pregnant.”
“Nicole,” he said, deadly serious. “Please tell me I’m going to be allowed to play with some baby cows.”
“Calves,and only if their mothers let you.”
“Diane would let me play with her calf, I’m sure.”
“She’s not a pet!”
“She loves me. And I definitely haven’t been sneaking her treats when you’re not looking.”
“You are an absolutely ridiculous human being, and I’m amazed you’re still alive.”
“Thank you.But while we’re on the topic of answering questions, believe it or not I do know about the birds and the bees.”
“Well, thank God because I draw the line at explaining that to you.”
“So how do you go and get most of the herd pregnant when you don’t have any bulls here? The boy cows are the bulls, aren’t they?”
