Page 10 of Cabins Cows Critics
“You’re weird, you know that?”
“Weird is a guy on an open road driving twenty under the limit, who was that—“ before I can finish my sentence, the pickup truck pulls into the driveway, the window down, and the hottie cowboy is the one behind the wheel.
Well, fuck.
“Do you think he knows it was us?” Wendy asks, and like he’s got supersonic hearing, he glances our way with a stern frown on his brow.
“I think he knows,” I reply, and I turn before he calls me out and head to the car. While the cabins are set on the property of Beaker Brothers, they ask guests to park in the small lot just offthe road so that there isn’t a heap of cars coming and going all the time. It was in the info pack my boss sent me, along with the itinerary of the whole Christmas Experience. We’ve got horse riding, nature walks, private cuddle sessions, a movie night under the stars, and countless other things to keep us occupied. Oh, and a milking lesson, because who doesn’t go on vacation and think to themselves, you know what I really wish I could do right now? I wish I could milk a cow. Urgh, this is going to be a long two weeks.
I grab our bags, sling my work bag over my shoulder, pass Wendy her small carry-on, and stack her duffel bag on top of the large suitcase I brought.
“Do you want me to help with those?” she asks, but I shake my head.
“I got it, Wen, you just lead the way.”
We walk down the drive, the scratching of the pebbled drive probably doing extensive damage to the outer shell of my suitcase, but it’s way too heavy for me to lift and carry, so it’s just going to have to take the hit.
The pickup truck is parked beside a large two-story farmhouse, but there’s no one inside. Wherever the hottie cowboy went, it was far away from me, and I couldn’t even blame him. I mean, I can. He was driving slower than Miss Daisy, but I guess I didn’t have to be all horn-happy either. I should probably apologize next time I see him. If I see him. For all I know, he’s only stopping in here before heading back to his cattle ranch or horse ranch or wherever hottie cowboys go to be all hot and muscly and urgh. I have to stop picturing him shirtless, tossing a bale of hay.
“Welcome to Beaker Brothers,” a young guy with pink hair calls, jogging out from behind the house.
“Hi, we’re, umm, I have a booking. I think it’s under Franklin Lowes.”
“Yes, Mr. Lowes.”
“No, I’m Hayden Quaid. Mr. Lowes can’t make it, so here we are. He should have sent an email.”
The young guy looks like he doesn’t quite believe me.
“I’ll have to check, give me a minute?”
“Sure, take your time,” I reply, and he jogs into the house.
“I love his hair,” Wendy says, dropping her bag and walking over to the fence surrounding the cow paddock on the left of the driveway. I leave the bags and follow her over.
There are so many different-colored cows in the paddock. I thought cows were mostly brown or black and white, but there’s a large white one and a creamy kind of colored one, and ones with long hair and caramel fur.
“Aren’t they pretty?” Wendy says with a sigh.
“They’re cows, Wen.”
“But they’re pretty cows. I thought they’d all be dirty and muddy and, I don’t know, boring.”
“They do have some interesting colors.”
A throat clears behind us, and there’s hottie cowboy leaning against the back of his pickup truck.
“Can I help you?” hottie cowboy asks, staring at us from under his worn cowboy hat.
“We’re checking in, the young guy went to check the reservation,” I reply, heading back over to the bags. “So do you…umm, work here?”
“Sure do.”
Wendy walks right past me and up to the hottie cowboy.
“I’m Wendy, this is Hayden, he’s working up the courage to apologize for being a dick on the way in. His stomach isn’t used to country life, so his coffee wanted to make a quick exit on the way over.” I turn back to the cows, hoping he didn’t see my face just go immediately bright red. It has to be. It’s on fire right now. Why the fuck would Wen tell him that?
“Out this way, you can come up on an animal or a kid along any of these roads. Best to stick to the speed limit around these parts in the future,” hottie cowboy replies.
