“We do important work here,” I say. “We help a lot of people. My attitude shouldn’t matter.”
“Well, it does! It does matter! It’s making it impossible to be in your presence, which I need to be if I’m going to truly understand how this place functions.”
“That’s enough, Duke. Tour starts now,” Rusty says. “Roxanne can walk with me. D, you can bring up the rear where you belong.”
Roxanne smiles at Rusty, tosses one last look over her shoulder—enough to vaporize me—and walks out. Allie and Leo follow. I’m two steps from the door when Topper blocks me with an outstretched arm. “Do you want to save me the time and admit that you were being a horse’s ass just now?”
I rub the back of my neck. “You’re right, but?—”
“The onlybuttin this scenario is yours when I kick it if you don’t get with the program, man.”
“I’m sorry. I?—”
“Listen,” Topper shoves his hands in his pockets. “I hear you.I know that you’re anxious about all of this. Flip-flops are fucking ridiculous, but Roxanne is our guest. If that’s what she wants to wear, so what? And yes, itisa concern that the person who holds our fate in her hands doesn’t seem like she wants to be here, but instead of going off half-cocked, why don’t you try being nice and making her feel more at ease?”
I grab Topper by the shoulder. “All right … yeah.”
“I mean, I get that you’ve got a thing for Roxanne, but you’ve got to keep it together, man.”
“Of course I have athing. She pisses me off.”
“Right. I’ve never seen a woman get under your skin so fast.” Topper follows me out of the lodge. “I’d love to sit back, eat popcorn, and watch the bonfire between you two rage on if our very lives didn’t depend on her having a good experience here.”
“Heard and understood. I’ll be nice.”
We catch up to Rusty and the others as they stop near the horse paddock.
“You know what,” I say. “I think I’ll go get Jameson. It’s about time to get him out of the house.”
“Good idea, maybe take an extra hour to cool off,” Topper adds before he hops out of the cart.
Jameson is the best judge of character I know, so if he likes Roxanne, then maybe,maybeI’ll give her a chance. I find him at the house lying on his back in the kitchen on a strip of sunshine that’s filtering through the window.
“Jameson, want to go for a ride?”
He rolls over and is on his stubby feet in a split second. He loves golf cart rides mostly because it means he doesn’t have to walk. When we find the others, they are about to enter the mixed animal pen. Goats, our pig named Barry, as well as a couple of turkeys and our burro, Priscilla, roam around in there during the day. Roxanne sticks to the fence while everyone else interacts with the animals.
Rusty hands out carrots and apples to Leo and Allie, who giggle while the animals swarm them. Jameson barks when he enters the pen, and then trots over to Rusty looking for his handout.
“If Priscilla the donkey tries to nibble on your clothes, just shoo her away,” Rusty says.
Leo’s eyes widen, while Allie laughs. “Thank goodness my flannel is not Armani.”
Jameson plods away from us after he catches sight of Roxanne. He bounds toward her with his tongue slapping the side of his face along the way. He’s just excited, but the look on Roxanne’s face suggests that she doesn’t know that my bulldog is a playful mound of dough. I hustle over to her, but it’s too late.
Roxanne jumps when Jameson licks her pretty, polished toes.
“Um, is this your dog?”
“Whoa.” I feign surprise. “I don’t knowwhosedog this is.”
“What?” she says, inching backward. “It keeps licking my toes.”
I laugh and bend down, scratching Jameson in his favorite spot right behind his ears. “Just kidding. This is the master of the ranch, Jameson.”
She grimaces. “How cute.”
“If he licks your toes, it means he likes you.”
