“Are you okay?”he asked, gently moving Midnight back to the towel near his mother and getting to his feet with alarming speed.His hand wrapped around the inside of my elbow, searing the skin through my hoodie and long-sleeve shirt.He helped me up and, once again, our eyes met.
“I … yeah, sorry.”
“No apologies.You did nothing wrong.Only right.”With his hand still on my elbow, he glanced back at Midnight.“You saved him.”
“You did.I just … I just called Fred.”
“Have you eaten?You must eat.”
“I’m fine, really.”And then, of course, my stomach decided to rumble like it’d never rumbled before.
Ugh!
Checking his phone, his brows hiked in surprise.“It is later than I thought.”Then he whistled.Not too high-pitched, but more melodic and soft.“Portia.Dolcezza!”
A snort at the door of the stall followed by a soft scrape of a trotter against the wood alerted us to the cheeky pig.
He opened the door, and Portia lifted her gaze to his.
“Sorry, my darling.You must be hungry.Come.Papa will feed you.”He spun around to face me.“Can you stay here with them?I will quickly make us something to eat.But I don’t want them to be alone.Come find me if something happens.”
I nodded.“O-of course.”
“Grazie.” Then the man and his pig were off down through the barn, happily chatting away with each other, and I stood there in the open door of the stall watching them with open fascination until they disappeared out into the wind and rain.
Several big heads with inquisitive eyes hung out into the barn, watching me.They all knew Angel was here, and probably Midnight too.I’m sure everyone could smell the blood, and held some level of concern and curiosity about the newcomers.
I didn’t want to let Midnight or Angel out of my sight.So I just wandered across the barn to the stall with Ginger, the white and brown splotched mare, and gave her some ear scratches—which she received with gusto.
However, my attention to Ginger was not lost on the others, and soon I had to say hello to everyone, while alternating between check-ins on Angel and Midnight.Sandrine, the young, feisty female with a gold coat and white mane, was trying to playfully chew on my hair when the door opened and Tom—with Portia—came in, both of them dripping wet.
Portia picked up the pace until she reached her big plush bed beside Tom’s cot and proceeded to flop down in it and roll around to dry herself off.
I met Tom halfway and held out my hand.“Can I help carry something?”
The look he gave me made my cheeks get hot.“It is just soup and sandwich on a tray.What would you carry?”
“I don’t know.I was … I was just being polite.”
And awkward.
The soup bowls had covers on them, and the sandwiches appeared to be paninis that he wrapped in foil to keep from getting too wet.We sat down side by side on his cot, our knees touching since it wasn’t a very big cot to begin with.
“I am a vegetarian.I hope that is okay with you?”he said, handing me the first bowl of soup, along with what looked to be a handmade, sewn, padded bowl holder.It cradled the bowl perfectly and kept my hands from getting too hot to hold it.
“Sam is also a vegetarian.I rarely cook meat at home.I usually only eat it if I’m at my cousin’s and she’s cooking it.”
He nodded but didn’t say anything.“Did you know that pigs possess an intelligence level comparable to that of a three-year-old human child?They can solve problems, recognize themselves in mirrors, have great long-term memory, do mazes to find food, and even have emotional awareness.Some pigs even learn tricks and can play video games.”
I removed the cover from the soup and blew on the steam.“I knew they were intelligent, but wow.”Portia was already snoring in her bed.“How long have you had Portia?”
He cast his eyes over to his pet, snorted, and shook his head.“Who?That princess?”
A ridiculous sound burst from my throat.
Oh my god, did I just giggle?
“Yes.That princess.”
