Page 55 of When We Met

Camdyn giggles. “That’s the bunkhouse.”

“Yeah.” Sev sneezes again. “Cowboys seeps there.”

“Cowboys, huh?”

White dust clings to our feet as the rest of the bunkhouse comes into view. Tractors line the building, horses in pastures, everything you’d expect to see on a working ranch. It’s all new to me. The most animals I’ve seen have been at the San Diego Zoo.

The girls show me the way. All the while, I’m searching for Barron. “Where’s your dad usually at?”

Camdyn points in the other direction toward what looks to be a fast open space with rolling hills. “That way.”

I eye the space she’s pointing out, but there’s nothing but white on white and faint tire tracks. “What does he do out there?”

“Brings in the cows,” Camdyn mumbles, letting go of my hand, rushing toward a small animal running and bucking with excitement. “Elsa!”

Another herd of what looks to be five baby goats rush Sev. One headbutts her in the stomach, and she cackles, falling to the ground dramatically. I panic, not sure if I’m supposed to stop this madness or watch. Brown, black, white, peach, all different colors come bouncing toward the girls and me.

“They look like puppies,” I gush, falling to my knees in the snow to gather a brown and white one with a pink collar in my arms. “Oh my gosh. How can you resist them?”

Camdyn grins, as if it’s the best day of her life. “That’s Bubble Nubble. She likes to eat hair.”

Forgetting about all my frozen body parts, I grab the velvet-soft ears as she baas at me and tries to eat my hair. “Aren’t you the cutest thing I’ve ever seen!”

We spend a good five minutes with the goats, and I’m convinced I need to keep Bubble Nubble and install a car seat in my car for her.

“Do you want to see the cows?” Camdyn asks, pointing behind her, a goat licking her face and trying to ride piggyback on her.

Being attacked by cuteness, I turn to look where she’s pointing. And now I see the barn. It’s like four times the size of the bunkhouse. “I’d love to see cows. Are there baby ones?”

“Yeah.” Her face lights up, pink cheeks and the widest smile I’ve ever seen. “We feed them bottles.”

The girls lead me into the barn, the goats following. “Always close the gate,” Camdyn warns, using all her force to slide the door closed once we’re inside. “Daddy says if it’s closed, keep it closed it. If it’s open, close it.”

“Got it.” I smile, thinking of the way these girls are growing up with country memories and farm life while I grew up shopping in Beverly Hills and had my belly button pierced before I was eleven. The smell hits me, a puff of musty odor, animal fur, shit, and sharp old smells of metal and machinery, kind of like the shop.

They show me the baby calves, which I fall in love with too. Camdyn fills a bottle up with what looks to be formula and I’m impressed at five-years-old she can do all this herself. She hands me a bottle with a nipple on the end. “Here. You try.” And then she motions toward a brown fluffy calf at my feet. “Give that one to Bear.”

Bear… he’s eager and starts to run after me. So I run too. “Why is he chasing me?” I yell out to the girls, who can’t stop laughing.

“Because yous holdin’ his food,” Camdyn says, giggling into her hands.

I’m tackled by the calf and hand over his food.

Camdyn grins at me. “Come on. I show you Lulu.”

Covered in dirt and hay straws, I follow her, unsure if I want to meet a horse at this point.

Horse stalls line the sides of the building and hay is stacked high into the loft above the rafters I imagine bats hang out in.

“Lulu is in here. Come see.” Camdyn tugs on my hand as Sev runs through the barn, her boots scraping against the wooden floor.

There’s groaning from animals, their heads hung over the doors, sunlight glimmering through the windows. Camdyn hurries toward one stall in particular and shows me a beautiful horse wrapped in what looks to be a blanket. She’s a smoky gray-brown color with a black mane and eager to see Camdyn.

The second she spots her, Lulu starts lifting her head up and down and practically trying to leap over the stall door.

“Lulu!” Camdyn shouts, rushing forward.

Beside me, Sev tugs on my arm. “Do yous like spiders?”

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