“Yeah.” He smiles. “You know, with the work around the farm.”
“Uh, sure. Okay. If you want to.”
Shrugging, he says, “I don’t have anything better to do. I don’t have to hide in bird-form now that you know the truth.”
“That is very true.”
“I’ll meet you in the barn?” he says, and I agree.
I meet him there a few minutes later. I get to feeding the horses while he measures out their food for the week.
“Here are some treats for them,” he says, hurrying over and offering me a couple of carrots. I take them from him, our fingers brushing and tingling—a lot. I yank my hand back at the same time he does, and we look at each other, confused.
“Must’ve been a static shock,” I say, brushing it off.
But it didn’t feel like a static shock. It wasn’t a quick zap. It lingered and didn’t hurt as much.
I feed Butter and Pecan their carrots while Gus keeps working on the food. I’m moving on to the cows when I hear more footsteps.
“Morning, Charlie!” I call out without looking.
“Oh, I’m… not Charlie.”
I whirl around to see Rhett standing in the barn doorway, looking unsure about being here.
“I’m so sorry, Rhett. I just assumed…”
“I thought I could help,” he says, toeing the dirt. “You know, since there’s nothing else to do.”
“Of course. Feel free.” I smile, then grab the food to fill the trough.
“Let me get that,” Rhett says, hurrying over. He picks up the pail that isn’t all that heavy, lifting it so hard some flies out. “Shoot,” he mutters. “Sorry, I thought it would be heavier.”
I giggle and lead the way to where the food needs to go. He pours it in and then we work on filling their water.
When the morning chores are done, I ask if they want to come in for lunch. I offer to make some sandwiches. They both agree, and as we walk into the house from the back door, moving by the pen, we get stared down by Wade—in chicken form.
“The fences could be replaced too,” Rhett says, pointing to an area of the fence that’s more worn than the rest. “It’s not dire, but it’ll give us something to do. And if you’re going to stay then—”
“Oh, I’m not staying,” I say quickly.
Gus and Rhett give me a questioning look.
“You’re not staying?” Gus questions.
“Not for long. I’m just here to go through Grannie’s things, make sure Charlie is good, and then I’d planned on selling the property.
“You can’t do that,” Rhett says. “What about us?”
Well… that’s a good point.
“I don’t know,” I say. “I guess I hadn’t considered that. When I made this decision, I didn’t know about you being chickens.”
“Ba-cawk!”
“Sorry!”
Gus shakes his head, taking a calming breath.
