Page 18 of Horn in My Side
“H-hello?”she sputtered at the unexpected sight of Mal, standing by the stairs leading to the second level.Dressed in hisusual flannel shirt, work pants, and boots, he carried a bag of aquatic pellet feed over one shoulder.His shirt was rolled up to the elbows, showing off the sinewy muscles of his forearms.
A jolt of heat zapped straight to her belly.Oh Mother Goddess, how could one strip of bare green skin affect her?Now she understood the term “forearm porn.”
Turning his head toward her, he let out a grunt.“Morning.”
The indigo of his eyes startled her.Despite the early hour, they were alert and fixed on her.“W-what are you doing here?”She placed her things on the counter, turned the lights on and the music up, and then strode over to him.
“I thought you said you wanted me to help out around here.”
“Yes, but I didn’t think you would be here today.”The events of last night flooded her brain once more, but she resisted the urge to visibly cringe.“I mean, obviously you’re allowed to be here anytime you want.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Did he have to be so grumpy so early in the morning?“N-nothing at all, but”—she wrinkled her nose—“what are you doing?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”He motioned to the bag over his shoulder.“I’m feeding the animals.I ran out of the first bag so I grabbed this one from the shelf.”Without another word, he trudged up the steps, taking them two at a time.
“Which ...ones?”she huffed as she chased after him.“And how much?”
“I just started over here.”He gestured to the front row of water tanks.“And I dunno, a cup each?I read the directions on the package.”
She pressed her lips together, then blew out a breath.“You should have waited for me.I have a system to keep track of everything.”
Side-stepping him, she marched over to the tanks, reachingfor the clipboard hanging on the shelf.She pointed to the page on top.“Each tank and each type of creature has a specific time and amount they need to be fed, which also changes depending on how many of them are in the tank.”
“I didn’t see that.”
She bit at her lip as she read through the list.“Okay, it’s not too bad.The luscas got their breakfast a little too early and the kelpies should get another cup, but other than that everyone in this row should be fine with a cup each.”She nodded at the bag he held up.“Do you mind?”
Hefting it lower, he opened the top so she could scoop a cup and drop the food into the kelpie tanks.The hungry little fellows galloped toward the surface, sucking up the pellets as they drifted downwards.“There you go.”
Mal scratched at his mop of ink-black hair.“They make automatic feeders for tanks these days.With timers and everything.”
“I know.Vrig used them before, but I prefer to do it myself.My system works.”
“Doesn’t seem efficient.You have the information about how much each tank gets and when.Just program the feeders once and you won’t have to worry about doing it again.”
“It isn’t always about efficiency.”She hung the clipboard back on the hook, then proceeded further down to the next row of tanks.“This way, I can perform a check on the animals and the individual aquariums first thing in the morning, in case any of them got sick overnight or if there’s something wrong with the tanks.”
“But you have cameras all over the place and in the individual pens.”
“You’ve already checked the pens?What time did you get here?”She was pretty sure she had started checking the house for signs of him the moment she woke up.
“Around five a.m.?”
“You’ve been here since five in the morning?”
“I’m an early riser,” he stated.
“Right.”She took another clipboard hanging from the next row.“Now, the creatures in this section are all herbivores, so they’ll need a different type of feed.It’s that tub up there.”
“This one?”He plucked the white plastic container with a cartoonish depiction of a smiling seaweed-like mascot on the label from the high shelf behind him.
“Yup.”
When she held out her hand to take it, he shook his head.“I’ll do it.”
“I can manage it.”She’d been doing it on her own all these years, after all.
