“What didshehave in mind?” He punched the word she as if he didn’t believe they were talking about the older woman anymore.
“You’re going to have to ask her.”
Like she was going to talk to him about staying for dinner. No way. Millie could make that sale all on her own. Or not. Not would be good too, she thought and then Jake came in the kitchen, heading toward the pot of chili without saying a word to anyone, and she felt like the worst person on the planet.
Jake filled his bowl and took it to the seat next to Liam. The other man didn’t say anything or press him to talk, but Andy watched him track his friend’s movements and knew he was concerned too. Despite his arrogant buttheaded tendencies, she found her opinion of Liam softening. They ate in silence long enough that she started to wonder if it was a new thing. Then Millie came back with the corn bread, hovering over everyone and making sure their bowls stayed full. If she paid extra attention to Liam, it wasn’t worth noting.
Mike and Travis came into the kitchen, keeping up a steady stream of trash talk, and she remembered the thoughts she’d had about moving the goats. By the time she finished explaining what she wanted to the two men, Liam and Jake had finished their second helpings of chili and were taking their bowls to the counter. She tried not to pay attention as Liam followed his friend out the door.Maybe he was leaving.He couldn’t exactly help Jake on the tractor. With his hulking frame, she imagined there had barely been enough room for Jake to give him a ride back to the house. She probably ought to feel bad about that.
“If we’re going to move the herd that far away from the barn, I’d feel better if we had a dog to stay with them. Some of the kids are still pretty young and we’re hearing coyotes almost every night now,” said Mike.
He’d never even been on a farm when he arrived at Sourwood. The first time she’d tried to teach him to plant, he ended up mashing a whole row of seedlings. And he was worse with the farm machinery. Part of the four-wheeler’s finickiness could be directly attributed to Mike’s ministrations. Everything changed when he started working with the goats. It was the craziest love affair she’d ever seen and the feeling was mutual. He’d had been at every birth they’d had since he got there, soothing the does and providing a calm, steady presence.
In exchange, they seemed to have passed some of their peace onto him. He’d gone from angry and argumentative and unable to hold down a regular job to someone she barely recognized. He smiled easily now, mostly at the one or two kids who always seemed to be following him around, and was quick to jump in and help anyone who needed it. Although she still kept him away from the plants. Mike was the physical embodiment of everything she hoped would happen when she started Sourwood Farm.
“Yeah, I know.” She’d been putting it off, but it had been three months since Rex passed away. The old border collie had come with the farm when she bought it and when he died, she hadn’t had the heart to run out and replace him. Not that she could; he was a whistle-trained herding dog, perfectly suited to life on the farm. A puppy or even an older dog would have a hard time slipping as seamlessly into the day-to-day routine, but there were times when a farm needed a dog the same way it needed a tractor. They were more than just pets. “I’ll work on it. Hold off on moving them for now. Do you need help with the milking tonight?”
“No, I’ve got it.” Mike stood and stretched before putting his bowl in the sink.
Travis was right behind him, leaving Andy alone in the kitchen with Millie, who was whisking egg yolks and lemon juice in a bowl sitting on a steaming pot on the stove. Feeling like a chicken and deciding it beat the alternative, Andy started the dishwasher and headed out the door before the older woman could chastise her for not fawning over Liam. She’d figure out a way to make it up to her later. For now she wanted to lose herself in the promise and potential of the seedlings still left to go into the ground.
Maybe later in the week she’d see about swinging by the shelter to see if they had any dogs that would work. Just to look—she didn’t want to rush into anything, although it would be nice to have something furry to cuddle again. The farm cats were standoffish at best and she missed Rex, especially at night when she couldn’t sleep.
She was so caught up in her own thoughts, she almost ran square into Liam, waiting at the bottom of the steps. She pulled up short to avoid meeting his wall of muscle, overcompensated and went ass over teakettle toward the ground.
