She studies me a moment longer. “So, why do you want this job?”
I sit up straighter. “Honestly? I need the money. That’s the truth. But I also love horses. I’ve always loved being around animals, and I really like working with people. I’m managing the diner now and still waitressing there six days a week. But I’m hoping to pick up extra hours here.”
Greer nods thoughtfully. “We can put you on payroll and see how it goes. How’s this Friday?”
My heart leaps. “Really?”
It can’t be that easy.
“Yeah, why not? If you’ve got enough balls to tell me all that to my face when not even my brothers could, then I’ve gotta give you a chance now, don’t I?”
Emotions stir in my chest. “Thank you so much. I won’t disappoint you.”
“I know you won’t.” Grabbing the phone off her desk, she types something, then glances back up. “We’ve also got a petting zoo behind the bed and breakfast. You’d help out there too.”
“That’s fine. Whatever you need.”
Her smile grows a touch wider. “Perfect. Nice to have you, Sloane.”
“Thank you.” I try not to grin like an idiot as I stand.
I got the job. I really got the job.
“Alright, come on. I wanna show you around and introduce you to my sister, Thora, who helps me run this place.”
She starts to rise, and I follow suit, keeping pace with her as she starts for where Mandy is waiting. When she sees me, she gives a subtle thumbs-up, and I nod, letting her know I got it.
“You can come too, Mandy,” Greer calls over her shoulder.
Mandy immediately jumps to her feet and walks up beside me.
“Where are we going?” she whispers in my ear.
“She’s gonna show me around.”
“I told you she’d love you.”
“That’s a stretch,” I say under my breath.
Once we arrive at the lot, Greer unlocks her cherry-red SUV.
“Damn, that’s a Rolls-Royce,” Mandy breathes.
I wouldn’t have recognized that unless she’d told me. I know very little about pricey cars.
Once we’re all strapped in, Greer pulls out and heads down a narrow stretch of road that winds through the property, the scenery shifting from open pasture to carefully kept grounds that look like they belong in a magazine. It must be nice to live like this and know nothing about hunger or desperation.
We drive for maybe a mile before the trees thin and a large white cottage-style house comes into view, wide and welcoming with a wraparound porch.
To one side, fenced off but still close enough to feel like part of the same world, is a small petting zoo where sheep and goats graze lazily, their wool thick and cream-colored against the green grass.
Greer parks and hops out, and we catch up, noticing a woman inside the pen with the sheep, crouched slightly as she checks one of them.
“That’s Thora,” she says as we get closer. “She deals with most of the hands-on animal stuff.”
Thora looks up and straightens when she hears us coming, stepping out of the pen and brushing her hands off on her jeans as she comes toward us. She’s about the same height as her sister, but where Greer is tougher, Thora is softer, her brown eyes kind, long auburn hair falling in loose waves down her back.
“Hey.” Her gaze moves between us.
