Page 12 of Home Hearts Hooves

He’s talking super fast, but I can keep up.

“I didn’t know that,” I say, taking a bite of my burger and letting him tell me all about the places he’d love to visit one day. More than half I’ve already seen, but I don’t tell him that right now. It’s too much fun seeing how excited he is at the idea of exploring the world one day.

“You should plan a trip,” I tell him after we’re done eating our burgers and the waitress has gone to collect our pie.

“I will, one day. Maybe when my own kids are grown and they take over the ranch, I’ll do an entire world trip like you did. You can help me plan it.”

“Happy to help. Just say the word and I’m there.”

Chapter five

DEAN

CHASING WATERFALLS

DinnerwithPrestonwasrelatively easy. Easier than I’ve ever found talking to him in the past and I don’t know why. I was a nervous wreck when I was getting ready to meet him, but then Chewie got into the pool, and I had to rush around with Skye getting him out and locked back up in his enclosure. Then it was a rush to get here, the Miller tractor was taking up more than half the road and only crawling along. I finally hit a straight part of road I could overtake him and then the time from when I parked to taking a bite of the most disgusting burger I’ve ever eaten is a blur.

Hopefully, I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself.

“So what time is Preston getting here?” Nial asks as we start leading in the first of our cows for their afternoon milking. Gordon is waiting behind the herd to make sure he’s not separated from them or left out of the barn.

“Should be here any minute. He thinks it will be easier tagging the herd while they’re in the barn milking. We won’t have time to input all their data, but as long as we’ve got the tags set up with their tattoos and names in the system, we can add the extra info in later.”

“Sounds good to me. Need me to do anything?”

“Maybe get Connor up here to help with the girls so I can focus on the tagging. I had a read through the literature last night, too. If this thing does what it says it does, it will make everything a lot easier. I’ve left the flyers and that on the desk in the office for you to have a look at.” I glance over at Skye, who’s coaxing the girls into their stalls at the end of the row. “You’ll need to get familiar with the app, too. So after Nial is done, he’ll give you the info.”

“No problem, I’m good with apps. I’m sure it will be pretty easy to follow.”

“For your generation, sure. Everything we used to do manually is an app now.”

“Yep, including dating, did you see someone from a few towns over set up a Country Bumkins app for outback hookups?”

“No,” Nial and I both reply, though while mine is a stern no, his is a more excited one as he pulls out his phone and starts tapping away.

“That’s exactly what we need out here. I wonder who’s on it.”

“There is time for that later. Go fix up your girls already.”

“I’m just texting Connor,” he replies but turns his phone to the side so I can’t see what he’s really up to. “Have you told Perry?”

“Nope, I’m going to wait until it’s all set up and I know what I’m doing before I bring it up.”

“Good plan.”

Perry is old school, and while he doesn’t mind technology, like the satellite dish that lets us pick up every sports channel in the country, he isn’t the biggest fan of when tech starts to encroach on the way he’s been doing things for fifty years. I get it, change can be scary. But this app has the potential to make all of our lives easier and help keep our herd healthy and he’ll be up for that, I’m sure.

Preston swings open the barn door, a big smile spreading across his face when he sees us.

“Ready for me?” he asks.

“Some of us have been ready for years,” Nial replies, and thankfully, it gains a confused frown from Preston. Fucking younger brothers. Never confide in a younger sibling about a crush, even if it was a decade ago, because you can guarantee that same younger brother is going to take every opportunity to make things weird.

“Sorry if you’ve been waiting on me,” he says, but I shake my head.

“We’re just hooking the girls up now.”

“I’ll start preparing the tags then, and we can get started.”

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