Page 33 of Revelry
Tate
She thinks I have a stick up my ass.
My eyes flicked to Gertrude as I stuck the syringe in the cow who lowed softly but otherwise didn’t flinch. Why did it bother me so much that I knew she thought that way about me? The woman in question rubbed the cow’s neck gently to ease the sting before she led it away. The animal was huge compared to her and I could barely see the top of her head around the cow.
She wasn’t speaking to me except in clipped responses or when necessary, which irked me more than it should for someone who preferred not to socialize.Except I was going to have to change my stance on that or I would lose my therapist. The therapist with whom I’d actually made the most progress.
Gertrude returned with another cow, staying at its head, holding firm and murmuring to it softly. I pulled the cap off the next syringe with my teeth, inserting it into the bottle and pulling back the plunger. “How many more?”
“Ten,” she replied, not meeting my eye.
I pushed my glasses up my nose, my nostrils flaring in irritation.
Previously, she’d annoyed me with her insistent questions and interfering, but it annoyed me even more when she was like this. She wasn’t herself with me, wasn’t prodding at me and asking inane questions. I’d done that. I’d snapped at her that we weren’t friends so now she treated me like a stranger. Exactly how I had wanted her to.
Or so I’d thought.
I needed to fix this. I actuallywantedto fix this but I would pick over that another time.
“So,” I began, reluctantly. “How would one remove a metaphorical stick from their ass?” I watched her over the top of my glasses as I smoothed a hand over the cow’s neck and down her back, making her aware of my presence so as not to startle her and have Gertrude injured.
Her lip quirked at one corner and my eyes locked on it, wanting to know how to tease the other side to do the same. “Do you think you have a metaphorical stick that needs removing?”
“It’s been mentioned that maybe I do.” I tilted the cow’s head at an angle, letting the vein fill with blood, ready for the injection.
“I would start by hanging out with friends. Have a few drinks. Feel yourself relax and get loose. Maybe laugh, I dunno,” she shrugged, murmuring to the cow when she started to shuffle from the discomfort.
“Hold tight, Gertrude,” I grunted, trying not to snap the needle.
“I’m trying, Tate,” she replied through gritted teeth.
Finally, I was done and released the cow, stroking her gently.
“You were such a brave girl,” Gertie cooed. “Yes, you were, the bravest girl in the pasture.”
I shook my head at her, torn between smiling and finding her tone of voice ridiculous. We continued on with vaccinating the last nine cows and then I was done for the day, but the frost still lingered between me and Gertrude.
“I’m sorry about what I said. That we weren’t friends,” I said, as I zipped up my leather bag containing all the empty bottles and syringes.
I waited for her trademark smile to lift her lips, but it didn’t. She considered me with those piercing eyes that I now knew hadflecks of mauve in them. “It’s fine Tate, you were right. We aren’t friends.”
With one last look, like she hadn’t just knocked the wind out of me, she left the pasture. All warmth followed her, leaving me standing there feeling the chill of fall that I hadn’t felt while she’d been here with me.
I didn’t want friends,hadn’twanted friends.
Except when she confirmed we weren’t, it struck a chord in me. Now, strangely all I wanted was for her to be my friend.
*
Glancing down at the pint of ice cream in my hand, I knocked on Gertrude’s door.
I could feel the butterflies in my stomach taking flight. I was a grown man, why was I nervous to speak to her?
Maybe because you’re not her favorite person right now?
Good point.
I saw her shadow through the glass and then she was standing in front of me. A white oversized sweatshirt readingIn My Cowgirl Eraadorned her chest and she was wearing some more pulse pounding black denim cut off shorts paired with her lilac cowgirl boots. My heart stuttered in my chest at the sight of her.
