Page 45 of Home Hearts Hooves

“I’m just saying. I won’t be getting any more grandbabies unless you start dating. It’s been forever since you talked about a guy. Last was that nurse you met at the hospital when the horse kicked you. Whatever happened to him?”

“I was never dating the nurse, you asked him out for me while he was stitching up my arm, remember? Plus, how do you know that meeting a guy will get you more grandbabies, anyway?”

“You’ve been fixed on having a big family since you were Poppy’s age. I doubt that’s changed, has it?”

“Okay, so it hasn’t, but I met the librarian, he’s not really my type. Plus, I don’t really want my mother setting me up on dates.”

She scoffs, setting her hands on her hips. “All my friends set up their children. It’s the in thing now.”

“Like painting the door green was the in thing back then? How did that work out?”

“It looks fine. Doesn’t open now cause your father used oil paint and closed it before it was dry, but it’s pretty.”

“Is that why we stopped using the front door?” I ask, leaping to my feet and craning my head towards the hallway to check out the rear of the door. She’s got potted plants on the floor and on stands blocking it. I guess if it doesn’t open, there’s no need to keep it clear.

“Course it is. He tried for days to unstick it. God knows I loved that man and he had a gift for fixing up animals but give him a hammer and he’d see the inside of Doc Green’s office in no time.”

It’s nice talking about Dad like this. I wish Poppy had gotten to know him. She said she remembers him from the vet clinic when she was small, but she’ll never get to really know him. Not as her grandpa, anyway. That thought sits heavy in my gut, and I reach for another cookie on reflex. My mother bats my hand away at the last second, and I rub the spot to take away the slight sting.

“I can have a look at it if you like?” I say, and she scrunches up her nose, the same way Poppy does. Another trait that could be genetic just as easily as it could be a coincidence.

“Don’t worry about it, unless you find a lovely carpenter you start courting and need an excuse to see him again, then you can invite him over.”

Courting? Seriously, what generation does she think her son was born into? I’m definitely not interested in the new librarian, or in any carpenter that might happen to pop up around town, because ever since I moved back to town, all I can think about is Dean Beaker and it’s worse now that I know what he tastes like.

“Mom. I’m okay on my own,” I lie.

“I just don’t want you missing out on sharing your life with another person. It was the best part of mine.”

I open my mouth in awe, clutching my chest. “I should be offended,” I say sternly, but I can’t keep a straight face to save my life and burst out laughing a moment later. She tosses a chocolate chip cookie at me, which I catch easily and take an immediate bite out of. These are crunchy, not soft, and while they’re good, they aren’t as nice as the chewy ones. I won’t tell her that, though.

“We thanked god every day for you, cheeky boy. You were the blessing we never thought we’d have, but the love we have for a child is so different to the love of a husband. Your father knew me better than anyone will ever know me, and I him. That’s something special, and I hope that one day you get the chance to find that, too.”

I walk over and hug her close, kissing the side of her head.

“Me, too, Mom. Me, too.”

Chapter fifteen

DEAN

WHY WE HAVE RULES

“BeakerBrothersRanch,”Isay, answering the private number after only a few rings. I’ve got one hand holding the phone, and the other wrapped around a rope tied to Chewie’s neck as the children from cabin two laugh and splash around him in the pool.

“Hi, I was wondering if you do events?” the woman on the other end asks. Her voice sounds vaguely familiar, but I don’t pay it much mind what with Chewie thrashing about trying to pull me in with him.

“What kind of event?”

“A birthday, a child’s birthday. I was hoping we could do something with the cows, maybe?”

“Sure, I mean, we haven’t had a party yet, but there’s no reason why we couldn’t. If it’s the cows you’re after, I best grab Connor. He’s the man to talk to about the cuddle cove and all that.”

“Oh lovely, I was also hoping we could have some of the bigger cows there, too. She loves the large white one you have, and the donkey. Can the donkey come, too?”

“So your little girl, she’s been here before?”

“Oh yes, all the time, it’s her favorite place, and the only place she wanted when I asked her if she wanted to do something with her class for her birthday.”

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