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“I don’t think it’s common. At least, that’s what my vet says.”
She laughed. “It seems smart, though.”
“It’s a little dangerous, but I can’t manage to build a new pasture for each new buck. And I don’t want to have a hundred different stalls in the barn.”
“Bucks can’t be together?”
“They can sometimes, but I learned early on that you can’t trust them not to suddenly decide on a death duel.”
Yikes. That sounded scary. “Neutering it is, then!”
“Exactly. It’s the least bad option.”
She could relate to those male goats. She didn’t feel like she had any good options either.
Chapter 11
Gunner hadn’t thought about supper until Nova mentioned it. What was he going to feed this woman? Food had become a problem before he’d added a woman to the mix.
And he’d really been trying. He’d used some recipes and made some big slow cooker meals, and while the men didn’t say anything, he could tell they weren’t enjoying it. Then he’d tried some pre-made meals that he could just put in the oven. They seemed to like these better, but then he overheard them griping later, saying that they should ask for a pay raise so they could go buy their own food.
Before he’d picked up Nova, he’d been planning on frozen pizzas for tonight. Could he feed a woman frozen pizza? He was embarrassed to try it, but it might be the safest play. At least he wouldn’t be putting his own lack of cooking skills on display.
Wait. If he was going to propose the insane scheme that he was thinking of proposing, then maybe it would be a good idea to fail at supper. There was no use in trying to fool her into thinking he could successfully put a meal together. She should see how things really were, see how much he needed her.
Frozen pizza it was, then.
Gunner had left Nova in the kid pasture to go do some chores, but now it was time to tuck the kids in for the night.
He found her in the same spot except that now she lay on her stomach, her cheek resting on her hands, a small smile on her face.
She appeared to be asleep.
A goat stood on her back, tall and proud. Another one was trying to climb onto her butt, but he kept slipping off. A tiny Pygmy nuzzled her hair.
Was she actually sleeping? He didn’t want to wake her up. Of course, he couldn’t leave her there either, and she had wanted to help with the milking. He opened the gate and called to the kids. This usually had them running his way, but tonight they had no interest in him; why would they when they had Nova?
He was going to have to scoop them up one by one.
Or two by two, rather. He grabbed one with each arm and turned back to the barn. Nova didn’t stir until his third trip.
“Oh hi!” She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. “I fell asleep.”
He chuckled. “I saw that.” He scooped up two more goats.
“Where are you taking them?”
“I button everyone up for the night.”
She got to her feet and stretched. He had a hard time not staring at her.
She followed him into the barn and squealed. “There are so many!”
There were the same amount there had been outside, but they were now all inside in a smaller space. He put the two babies in his arms into their pen with their mother. They ran right for her swollen udder.
“Oh my gosh, this is so beautiful I can’t stand it.” She leaned on the railing and watched them headbutt their mother’s udder.
“I am really glad that you’re enjoying this.” He leaned on the railing beside her—but not too close. “But you grew up in South Dakota. Surely you’ve been around young farm animals before.”
