Page 20 of Till The Cows Come Home
“Wow, that’s actually a tragedy.”
“It was, and unfortunately if I don’t milk these cows soon you’ll have to hear about another. Will you be able to wait till tomorrow to find humor in any more of my life’s misfortunes?”
“I thought we were switching to once a week?”
Miles stood, a grin stretching from cheek to cheek.
“Nah, Sage Baker, I still have nineteen questions.”
Chapter Eleven
Miles
Sage and I had met every single morning for almost a week now, and I quickly realized the aggressiveness I initially sensed was actually just a defense mechanism to guard all the soft gooey parts she was protecting. I snuck a few momentary glances behind the wall she surrounded herself with and began to understand the reasons she built it in the first place, most of it being her own self sabotaging vision of her success.
“Question.”
“Sage, this is your fifth twentieth question.”
“Not all of us can hoard their questions.”
“You don’t let me get a word in to even ask with all your yapping.”
“Are you going to let me ask or not?”
“Fine. Go ahead”
“Do you think you could show me how to age cheese?”
I looked up. That one caught me off guard. Most of Sage’s questions were just downright nosey. She’d asked me everything from my shoe size to how many girlfriends I’d had in my lifetime, which was apparently not enough in her opinion, but she’d never asked me for anything. It took me a moment totame my excitement over what I considered a milestone within our friendship, and attempted to play it cool.
“Sure.”
“Sure? That’s it?”
Apparently I played it a little too cool.
“Sorry, ask me again. Really sell your interest, though.”
“Dear lumberist of jacks, could you please show me your expansive skill set in regards to hard cheese production.”
“I would be honored, but unfortunately it may have to wait a bit. I gotta go to the market and then I have about a hundred things to complete afterwards.”
“Why don’t you just hire help? You’re always running around here like a chicken with its head cut off.”
“Help costs money, my friend.”
“Well sincewe'refriends now, I could give you a hand. Your disorganization gives me immense anxiety.”
“You’d do that for me?”
“No, I’d be doing it for me. I wouldn’t mind milking on the weekends. Maybe I can take over Saturday mornings so you have less to do before the market? And afterwards I can work on clearing up the registrations. And if you don’t mind, I'd like to keep feeding Blossom in the mornings.”
“I don’t mind at all, but about the market…I was hoping eventually you’d come with me.”
“Why?” she asked, her nose involuntarily scrunching up at the idea.
“This town is loyal to your family. I see that the community is interested in the products, but people are deterred when they look up and see a stranger. If they saw you, someone they already love, I think they’d be drawn in.”
