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“Yeah…” she hedged. “I’m not.”
“Well, what is it?” He moved closer, crossing his arms on the edge of the half-wall that separated them. “I need to know. You’re the one I trust the most. You’re my closest friend.”
Katrina’s eyes flitted to meet his. “It’s just that… Well, I think that might be something that takes a lot of time. You need to develop a good base of customers—surrounding ranchers who need your kind of expertise. And you don’t really have expertise to sell. You would need to get some training yourself or at least offer some training free of charge to get some reviews. It’s going to take a lot of work?—”
“You asked what my passion was. Not what was the down-to-earth idea,” he mumbled.
This was the first time she’d seen him not over-the-moon optimistic. In fact, he looked completely mortified over what he’d just admitted.
She charged forward and placed her hand on his arm. “Hey, you’re right. I did ask about your passion, and it’s not impossible.”
“Really? Because you’re definitely making it sound like it’s something I can’t do.”
Katrina offered him a wan smile. It was the best she could do in light of the current circumstances. What had he expected? She was the logical one of the bunch. If he’d wanted someone to be his cheerleader, he should have told Brianne.
“You know me. I’m going to look at things in a different way. But when I say that I know it’s possible, then you should take that for what it is.”
“Okay, so if you think it’s possible, what would you do if you were in my situation?”
She pressed her lips together and her eyes narrowed. There were several things she might do to start with. But most of them took money—money that Simon didn’t have. He would have to get a loan and she was fairly certain he didn’t want to sink any more money into this than he already had.
“I guess I would start with what you have. You need a cashflow that will allow you to invest in your future.”
He nodded. “That makes a lot of sense.”
Katrina gestured toward the door. “Mr. Gregory used this as a dairy farm. It wasn’t the biggest in the area, but it did provide quality milk and there will still be a market for it. We could ask around to find out who his customers were then see if they’d like to continue with you. Of course, that would mean getting some cows.”
That was when Simon’s grin widened. “They weren’t able to find a buyer. The lawyer said that they were tasked with finding a buyer within the first forty-five days and if they couldn’t, the cows would revert to me.”
Katrina gasped. “Well, you should have led with that. Way to bury the lede! Why didn’t you say something sooner?”
He shrugged. “Because I really don’t like cows.”
She laughed. It was nice to have a reason to laugh lately, and being with Simon seemed to do that for her. There was something about being around him that relieved her of the pressure to be happy. Simon didn’t care if she was down in the dumps. He didn’t treat her any differently. And at the same time, he could say things or give her looks that put her at ease.
“Okay, so it’s settled. We’ll do the dairy farm until we can get the horse training project underway.”
“We?” He eyed her. “Are you sure you want to get those pretty boots of your dirty?”
Katrina lifted her rubber boots and wrinkled her nose. “These ones?”
He chuckled. “You’re not going to be able to help with the cows in those. I’m talking about the cowboy boots you wear at your place. You seem to forget that I’ve seen them. They’re still brand-spanking new and they’re just for looks.”
She snorted. “Yours are new, too.”
“I have an excuse,” he shot back. “This farm is brand new, and along with everything else, I have to break it in.”
“Fair enough. And no, I’m not worried about my boots. I’d rather be here with the cows who are less temperamental than the animals who roam around our place.”
“How do you know they’re less temperamental?”
The look she gave him was completely serious, but it took everything she had in her to utter the next words with a straight face. “Have youmetmy brothers?”
For a moment, he didn’t seem to understand her joke. But before she could lay it out for him, he let out a dry laugh. “Ah, I see what you did there. Your brothers are the animals.”
Katrina tapped the tip of her nose. “See? I can be funny, too.”
“Ha… ha,” he mumbled. “Very funny. I really hope you don’t talk about me like that.”
