Page 89 of Townshipped
The connection feels different between us. Our other kisses were stolen moments, filled with something tenuous and possibly forbidden. No matter how right they felt, there remained a vague question about her past attachments. Tonight those obstacles have been obliterated.
I embrace her, savoring the way she feels in my arms. Everything in me saysmine.
We kiss in the cold night air on hay bales like two teenagers making out in a barn because they can’t find any other place to be alone. We’re finally grabbing what has been just out of reach. Claiming. Exploring. Knowing.
Her lips, her skin, the soft sounds she’s making … and oof! Em falls onto me and we topple backward toward the flat top of the haystack, a tangle of arms and legs.
“What the?” I blurt as we go down.
Em starts laughing and I look over her shoulder.
“Billy Jean!” I shout at my lead goat.
Em’s head falls onto my chest as she collapses in hysterics, her laughter filling the night until Billy Jean makes a bleating noise that overshadows it. I wrap my arms around Em and hold her as we both shake with belly laughs.
“She rammed me,” Em gasps out between bursts of laughter.
“Why did I think owning animals was a good idea?”
Billy Jean stands over us with a devilish look in her eye. I pull Em to a sitting position, maintaining eye contact with my renegade goat the whole time.
I tell Em, “Follow my lead. I don’t want her to headbutt us again while we’re up here. She’s trying to dominate over you and stake her claim, so to speak. There’s a pecking order with goats, and I’m Billy Jean’s alpha.”
“Maybe we should get you a T-shirt.”
“A T-shirt?”
I help Em to stand, carefully moving her so she’s behind me. Billy Jean has the look of a lover scorned … a cross-eyed lover with horns.
“Yes,” Em says. “A T-shirt that says Billy Jean’s Alpha.”
“I’ll pass,” I say, chuckling. “Jump down and I’ll follow you.”
Em jumps. There’s a scratchy noise followed by a squawking sound from the receiver handset, and then Ty’s voice comes through.
“I need to go pee pee, Pay Pay.”
“Aww, I love how he calls Paisley Pay Pay,” Em says in a hushed voice with her hand to her heart.
Paisley’s drowsy response crackles through the monitor. “You’re a big boy, Ty. You can go pee pee without me. You know where Uncle Aiden’s potty is.”
“Wite dare,” Ty says, obviously pointing in the direction of the bathroom.
I jump off the haystack and Billy Jean follows, giving me a playful nudge to the hip once we’re all on the ground.
“You are on my short list, missy,” I say to Billy Jean. She makes a sound like maaaaaaah blah-ahh-ehhehhehh. I think it’s goat fordon’t make out in the barnyard if you don’t want group participation. I’m loosely translating here.
“I’m going pee pee rie now, Pay Pay,” Ty shouts, probably from the restroom.
“Good job,” Paisley’s sluggish voice answers him.
I put my hand on the small of Em’s back to lead her out of the goat pen and toward the house.
As we near the back door, Ty’s voice carries through the monitor. “Nie nie, Pay Pay.”
“Night, Ty,” Paisley answers.
I picture kissing Em in the kitchen when we wake in the morning, sitting with my arm around her as we watch movies, holding hands as we check on the animals. But Ty and Paisley need something solid right now. Life has been unstable and confusing enough for them.
