Page 24 of This Broken Heart
She leans her furry cheek into my hand and I pull my glove off so I can scratch under her jaw. “Look at these eyelashes.” I murmur. A horrible thought occurs to me. “Will you eat her?”
He laughs. “No. Not Betsy. She’d probably be pretty tough by now.”
“Why’s that?”
“She’s thirteen. Elderly, by cow standards.”
I tilt my head. “Why haven’t you…”
“Butchered her yet?” He chuckles again. “You haven’t met my sisters yet. They fell in love with her and long story short, she was granted clemency.”
“That’s sweet.”
He tilts his head. “You really don’t eat meat?”
I shrug. “Sometimes I do.”
“So, it’s not an animal lover thing?”
My lips quirk up. “That’s a fringe benefit.” I glance at him, trying to decide how much I should share with him. “Heart disease runs in my family. After my dad’s heart attack, I decided to clean up my diet.”
“How’s your dad now?”
I look away, tucking my hand back into my glove. “He passed away.”
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry.” He takes his hat off and scrubs a hand through his hair. “When did he pass?”
“Last year.”
“Recently, then.”
I pause, meeting his gaze. He has got to be the first person I’ve come across who calls one year ‘recent’. Matt was sick of hearing about it about three months after the funeral.
Maybe that should have been my first sign that he wasn’t the right guy for me.
I clear my throat, trying to rid myself of the funk threatening to descend on my shoulders. “What are you up to today?”
“Got to give these ladies a round of shots.”
I glance out at the full feed lot. “All of them?”
He looks out over the herd and nods. “Every last one.”
“Won’t that take a long time?”
“I’ll be at it all afternoon. I got to pick Trace up at three, but other than that, this is all I’m going to be doing for the next several hours.”
“You want me to pick Trace up from school?”
He meets my gaze. “You’d do that?”
“Of course. I’d love to.”
Josh gives me the information for Trace’s school and calls ahead, so they know I’m coming. I’m not sure how Josh thought he was going to vaccinate several hundred cattle and stop for a school pick up. But it is becoming pretty apparent that the man needs help.
He just doesn’t know how to ask for it.
Trace is thrilled to see Maven and me at school pick up. He introduces me to his teacher, the bus driver, and anyone who will stop. Every adult we come into contact with studies me with open curiosity. I’m used to living in anonymity, but I guess small town life is different. They all know Josh Olson and when Trace lets it drop that my bedroom is next to his, the interest doubles down. I wince, knowing that the grapevine is going to be active tonight.