“Where are you going with this?”
Zack did something with his mouth that made him look as if he was gurning.
“Zack? I really do have a shit ton to get through today.”
“What are you actually going to do with all these animals? Seven goats – are you going to use them for milk or something?”
Jake sighed and wished he’d been born with less patience. “Have you eaten?”
“No. Jean wasn’t well in the night, so I’ve been at Sunrise since about three.”
Any irritation disappeared. Jean had been a resident of Sunrise for about seven years. She had no relatives, and Jake knew she’d long since ran out of money to pay the fees that state benefits didn’t cover. As a person, she was as bright and clear headed as she had been when she was younger, or so Jake imagined. Unfortunately, she’d been a double amputee while still young, and as she’d gotten older, she’d needed care.
“Is she okay?”
Zack shook his head. “Pneumonia. She was admitted to hospital an hour ago.”
“Shit.”
“I know.”
“You want breakfast?”
“Does the day have a ‘y’ in it? Please.”
Zack followedhim into the kitchen, heading straight to the coffee machine that had been a luxury although Zack seemed to know how to work it better than he did. Jake rummaged through the fridge, finding ingredients for an omelette, and started to chop the veg.
“Lainey’s planning to have some of her clients work with animals other than horses for their therapy,” Jake said, dismembering an onion. He needed to speak to her about it, as a new barn of sorts needed to be built for the goats, and he had an idea for a design that would make it easier for children to pet them.
Zack frothed the milk, meaning that it was a bit too noisy to hear each other speak for a moment. It also meant that Zack was going to town on the coffee, which was no bad thing. Jake was pretty sure he’d have made a decent living as a barista.
“So you’re getting all these extra animals for your neighbour?” Zack put a steaming mug down in front of him.
Jake choked. “No.”
Zack laughed, grabbing the eggs and a bowl. “Right.”
“I’ve got the land. And I’ve kind of gotten a reputation for taking in rescue animals.” This was true.
“Okay.” Zack started to beat the eggs he’d cracked into the bowl. “How about we sort something where I can introduce animal therapy to Sunrise. Save Gertrude breaking in all the time.”
Or Percy letting her in.
“We can do that.”
“How?”
“Jesus, Zack, give me ten minutes to come up with a plan. Do you want something built on Sunrise’s land or access to over here?” Really it was all family land, overall owned by the business that’d been started by Jake’s father and uncle, so it didn’t quite matter, unless you were Olly, their accountant, and dealing with taxes.
Zack added pepper. “Your land would be better. I can contract you for the service and it means we’re not responsible for the health and safety overall.”
Jake took the bowl from his cousin and added it to the pan where he’d already sauteed the veg and the pancetta that he’d found in his fridge too. “I can use the back field. If I’m doing that, I may as well build another hen house.”
“Will you maintain that? We’d do the feeding and some mucking out, but I can’t commit to more than that.” Zack headed to the fridge and found orange juice that had a questionable use by date.
“That’s what you’ll pay a fee for.”
“You going to charge Lainey a fee for the same stuff?” Clearly Zack wasn’t arsed about the use by date.
