Page 107 of The Nanny and the Beefcake
“Yes, I guess I am.”
“It’ll have to be both your areas of expertise,” Bob added. “And yours, too, Sebastian, since you’ll be living here and caring for the donkeys this summer. The connection between a pack burro and their team is essential. You ever heard the phrase as stubborn as a mule?” the wobbly man asked, looking squarely at Raz.
And rightly so!
If anyone was acting like a stubborn ass, it was Erasmus Cress.
“Sure,” the boxer barked.
“If you and your donkey aren’t on the same page,” Bob continued, “you’re not moving forward. That pack burro weighs close to five hundred pounds, and in the race, you run with thirty-three pounds of mining equipment. You only move forward if you do it together.”
“It’s about trust,” Maud added.
“Trust?” the boxer echoed.
“When you bond, you become the animal’s home,” Bob explained.
Raz looked past the Victorian toward the barn and the garage. “But the barn is their home.”
Bob studied Raz. “That’s the physical enclosure. Home is created through bonding. Home is your heart.”
“The donkeys already have a home in my heart,” Sebastian crooned.
Raz crossed his arms and looked away. “Yeah, okay, I get it.”
“Word to the wise,” Maud added, leaning in. “You’ve got to watch Plum. If you’re on the trails and she catches sight of a butterfly or a bird, she can wander off the path.”
“So, you’re saying Plum can be a little spacey in her own world?” Raz asked, injecting a touch of beefy arrogance into the question.
“She can,” Maud agreed.
Libby pasted a plastic grin to her lips. She was out of line with her comment about Sebastian being their kid, but that didn’t give Raz the okay to act like a put-off prick. He needed to be taken down a peg.
“What about Beefcake?” she pressed, playing it breezy but going in for a punch. “Is there anything we need to watch with him?”
Maud grimaced. “Lord, help me! Where to start with Beefcake? He can be willful and a little bit of a showoff.”
Libby gave Raz the once-over. “Is that right? A stubborn, cocky showoff, you say?”
“And if Beefcake happens to get into the wild alfalfa,” Bob added, waving his hand in front of his face. “I’ll warn you now. His farts are strong enough to knock a man into next week.”
How’s that for karma!
She didn’t even have to look at her beefcake to know what he was thinking.
Luckily, Sebastian perked up.
“Beefcake farts like you, Dad! My dad’s a car farter, Wobbly Bob. He farted in the car on our drive here. Did you eat wild alfalfa before we left?” The child cocked his head to the side and scratched his chin. “What is wild alfalfa?” Sebastian mused sweetly as Raz’s cheeks burned crimson.
Maud and Bob chuckled. Libby wanted to high-five the boy, but she restrained herself.
It served the sourpuss beefcake right!
If anyone deserved a little ribbing, it was Erasmus Cress.
Raz cleared his throat. “For the record, there was no car farting—especially, not by me. And now that we’ve cleared that up, we’ll be sure to keep Beefcake away from the wild alfalfa.”
Bob jiggled the latch. “All right, here we go. We’re about to see if you’ve got what it takes.”
