Page 55 of Home Hearts Hooves

“Hello, Preston.”

“Hello, Poppy. I hope school was fun today.”

“It was. Is Dean here?”

Before I can answer, he steps out from the back room.

“Why, hello there, little darlin’.”

Poppy rushes over to him.

“Can I please play with Cuddles?” she asks, bouncing on her toes.

“Sure, it’s about time this lazy bones woke up anyway,” he says, reaching into the sash and scooping up Cuddles. Poppy lets out a little squeal of joy, and the pigmy goat’s eyes shoot open, and it starts pumping its little legs in the air.

The second Dean puts him down, he’s prancing and bouncing around Poppy through the waiting room.

“Only two weeks until your birthday, isn’t it?” Dean asks.

“Yes, oh I have an invitation for you, and one for you, too, Preston,” she replies, grabbing them out of her bag and shoving it into our hands before returning to play with Cuddles on the floor.

I open the small white envelope and slide out the cow-shaped card.

“Come for a cuddle and cake to celebrate Poppy’s eleventh birthday,” I read aloud.

“I’ll be there,” I say, and Dean chuckles and slides the envelope into his back pocket.

“Considering the party is on my ranch, you can count me in, too,” he says, and she smiles up at him.

“You can give me a cow for my present if you want.”

I interject. “Now wait a minute. You know your mom already told you no animals. Your grandparents don’t keep livestock.”

“But if it’s a present, they can’t make me give it back. It wouldn’t be polite.”

Dean staggers over to the seats near Poppy and lowers himself slowly.

“Now, little darlin’, do you think it would be polite of me to get you something I know you’re not allowed to have?” he asks, and she scrunches up her nose and frowns.

“It’s not fair. Tommy Dukes has a whole flock of sheep. I just want one cow. Just one. It doesn’t even have to be a big one.”

“I know it doesn’t seem fair, but your farm isn’t really set up to keep animals. I’ll tell you what, though. If, when you’re grown up, you get your own land, I’ll give you a cow, as a housewarming present.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

She leaps up and slams against him, hugging his neck tight. I catch a slight wince, but it’s replaced quickly by a smile.

It’s sweet, but there’s also a pang of jealousy that stirs inside me that she’s never hugged me like that. She still calls me Preston when my mother was Grandma from day one. I catch Dean watching me, his brow turned down in a soft frown, and he mouths, “Are you okay?” and I force a smile and nod before moving to busy myself at the computer.

Poppy finally lets him go, and they play together with Cuddles while I finish up placing a few orders and checking on tomorrow’s appointments.

I still watch them, out of the corner of my eye, hear her giggle and him laugh, and if you’d taken a picture of it, you’d think it was a beautiful shot of a girl and her father. Only he isn’t her dad. I am. I hate that it feels like he’s been given something that should be mine. It’s not fair to him or to her. How can I be mad that she finds it so easy to be near to him when I feel the same way? I just wish I knew how to have that with her, too.

“Poppy, you need to do your homework,” I tell her, and she whines.

“Five more minutes.”

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