Cassidy walked closer to the stacks. Full bags were easy, she’d seen the labels—fifty pounds each. The partial ones took a bit more estimation, but her brain had always been good at that. Weight, volume, the slight sag of a bag that was two-thirds full versus half. She looked at the notes, at the scratched-out calculations, the numbers that didn’t quite add up because they were trying to do too many variables at once. Her finger traced down the page. “Is that your consumption rate? Twenty-eight pounds per head per day?”
“Yeah. Average, anyway.”
The math assembled itself in her head like cards falling into place. “You’ve got nineteen and a half days’ worth. Twenty if you stretch it. You’ll need to reorder in about two weeks to be safe, just in case there are delivery issues.”
Lifting her gaze, she spotted Kade and Rachel staring at her, jaws slightly open, eyes round as golf balls.
The barn went quiet. Even the animals seemed to stop their movements at Cassie’s mathematical analysis. On the fly analysis. Kade turned slowly. “Come again?”
“Nineteen and a half days.” She pointed to the full bags. “Those are sixteen days right there if they’re all fifty-pound bags. The partial ones add another three and a half, maybe four if you’re conservative with feeding. Twenty days if you cut back slightly on the horses’ grain and supplement with more hay.”
Her eyes still perfectly round, Rachel snapped her jaw shut, then opened it again. “You just calculated that? In your head?”
Cassidy shrugged, her gaze lowering to the floor before lifting her head again. “It’s just math. Multiplication and addition.”
“Just math,” Kade muttered, remembering she’d mentioned something about being able to remember numbers, but calculating on the fly was more than remembering numbers.
“We’ve been working on this for almost an hour.” Rachel looked down at the paper, scribbled some numbers, glanced at the bags and then back at her. “I think you’re right.”
“I count cards,” she said simply, as if that explained everything. And maybe it did. “This is easier. The variables don’t change as fast.”
Rachel handed her the clipboard. “You’d better write this down for Preston. I’m sure he’s going to like your numbers better than anything we came up with.”
Cassidy took the notepad and pencil, wrote out the calculations, showing her work in neat columns. Days of supply, consumption rates, the buffer for unexpected needs. “Is this okay?”
“Okay?” Kade shook his head. “It’s amazing.” Before he realized what he was doing, he’d pulled her against him and gave her a hard peck on the lips, then surprised by his own movements, took a quick step back. “Thank you. You’ve been an enormous help.”
“Any time.” Her cheeks blushed light pink and he had to resist the urge to kiss her thank you again.
“Don’t think we’re not going to take you up on that,” Rachel shot back, shoving the clipboard at her brother. “Now that this little dilemma is resolved, I’m heading back to the house. I have a few calls to make and pray I don’t have to go into the office.”
Kade set the paperwork aside. Cassie had already turned and walked back by Boots’s side. “She likes you.”
“I like her.” She offered her first sincere smile of the day.
Funny how a city girl could relate so easily to Boots. Usually, the massive size of working horses would scare the dickens out of city folk, but Cassie just took to Boots. “Have you been around horses before?”
She shook her head.
“Well, you could have fooled me. You knew she’d like apples, you knew to keep your palm flat. You’re standing in just the right spot so she can see you and doesn’t get spooked. And there’s no hesitancy in your touch.”
“I remember things.”
“Like counting cards.”
She nodded.
“I have a feeling I’m going to have to be on my toes around you.”
Her head snapped around, eyes wide.
The sudden shift in her expression had him chuckling. “Nothing bad, but I’ve never known anyone quite like you.”
“I hope that’s a good thing. Wouldn’t want to get kicked out before the year is up.”
“Not a chance, even if you couldn’t do math.” His gaze followed the tender way her fingers stroked the horse. “Would you like to take her for a ride? A short one?”
Now her eyes widened not with fear or concern but with excitement. “Can I?”
