Page 60 of Love Unwritten
There’s always the Strawberry Festival next month.
Hillary swore she would come since Nico is playing a special musical piece for the entire town, but I’m skeptical, given how she always confirms only to cancel right before any event.
HILLARY
Already booked my flight.
ME
Great.
I tuck my phone in my pocket and get back to cleaning. Julian spares me a few concerned glances, but I turn my back on him and internalize my aggression until the burning rage is nothing but a tiny ember of disgust.
I knew Nico’s mom wouldn’t show up today, but he had hoped she would.
He always hopes.
Nico is too young and caring to see his mother for who she is, and I’m not the kind of man who will speak ill of her to gain his favor. One day, he will learn the truth, and I’ll be on standby, ready to put his broken heart back together when his mother inevitably shatters it.
Unlike my sweet, sentimental son, I’ve learned the hard way not to trust anything that comes out of my ex-wife’s mouth. She might be the mother of my child, and for that, I will always give her more grace than she deserves, but I will never let her get close enough to hurt me again. Her or any other woman for that matter, so I keep them at a distance and prevent any opportunities for intimacy.
Loneliness might be temporary, but heartbreak?
That emotional damage can last a lifetime.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Ellie
After the party, Dahlia asks me to go over what her family needs to do with the barn animals while we are away. Although Rafael considered hiring someone for the task so as not to inconvenience anyone, they refused to let him, claiming that the animals are part of the family.
Dahlia already knows Penelope, the racehorse who was almost put down because of an injury, so I skip over introductions and review her caretaking needs. Penelope is the only animal I didn’t rename, mainly because she hated everything I came up with.
I’ve since come to learn that horses are rather opinionated animals.
We walk to the next set of stalls, and I motion toward the dark brown goat. “So, Jack D is afraid of loud noises. If he hears one, he might faint.”
Dahlia’s eyes widen with horror.
“It’s not as scary as it sounds.” I point out the two other goats. “Johnnie W and Jimmy B don’t like to be kept apart, so make sure you let them sleep in the same stall, or else they’ll keep all the other animals awake with their headbutting.”
The three goats have only been here for a month, but they’ve made their presence known since the day Rafael saved them from an abusive owner who left them for dead inside their cages.
She stifles a laugh. “How do you tell them apart?”
“Johnnie over there has had a few too many knocks to the head, so Jimmy keeps close and takes care of him. They both have matching white spots on their left and right legs, while Jack has a white spot between his horns.”
“Did Rafa name them?”
“I took creative liberties since he was still calling them goats one, two, and three.”
She snorts. “Are you a big fan of whiskey?”
My nose wrinkles. “Not really, but my stepdad is.”
Dahlia is then formally introduced to Jose, Patron, and Julio, the three potbellied pigs Rafael adopted right after I started working here. The day he rescued them was the first night I was trusted alone with Nico since he needed to travel a few towns over to save the pigs and Bacardi, the smallest sheep to ever exist.
“What’s her story?” She kneels in front of the shy sheep.