Page 8 of Dairy and Deadly

He snorted. “I’m a dairy farmer, remember?”

Right.She wanted to kick herself for sounding like such a city girl.“About that tour you offered me…”

“How does right now sound?”

Wow! Okay. Now is good.“I’m gonna need directions.”

Johnny rattled them off.

“Can you spot me about thirty minutes?” She glanced toward her suitcases, hoping to unearth one last clean change of clothing from one of them. Her next trip to the laundromat was long overdue.

“Yup.” He sounded eager to see her again, which was a point in her favor toward landing an interview.

I hope.

She sent up a quick prayer that he wouldn’t balk too loudly when she broached the topic of a wounded former police detective trying her hand at dairy farming. She’d wait until the end of the tour, of course, to provide the maximum amount of time to worm her way into his good graces.

If things went according to her latest brainstorm, Johnny Cuba would ultimately agree to hire her, placing her in a strategic position to continue her investigation. And once he became her employer, she would have all the more reason to keep things professional between them.

She hadn’t missed the vibe of awareness zinging between them. Not that it was entirely unwelcome. She’d been serious, though, about not being in the market for a rebound relationship. Friendship was all she had to offer right now. That, and an unlimited amount of elbow grease for helping out around the farm.

The more she thought about her plan, the better it sounded, especially the part about making Mr. Tall, Dark, and Dreamy Cowboy officially off limits to her. Her heart was nowhere near ready to absorb another disappointment so close on the heels of the last one.

Yep, it was a solid plan. She was proud of herself for coming up with it.

Chapter 3: New Farm Hand

Since she was in a motel room, Ashley didn’t bother making the bed. She changed into her last clean pair of jeans and a white tank top that she was pretty sure was clean. Then she blew her hair dry as fast as she could before tugging on a navy hoodie that she’d already worn once. It still smelled okay to her. She zipped her coat over it and promptly forgot about it.

She twisted her hair into a quick ponytail while stepping into her ankle boots. If Johnny agreed to hire her, she’d probably have to invest in some work boots, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

One of her suitcases was so full of dirty laundry that she had to sit on it to zip it shut. There was no way around it. She was going to have to make that long overdue trip to the laundromat today. She rolled her suitcases outside and tossed them in the backseat of her Camaro. Then she hurried to the front desk to check out.

“Leaving so soon?” The attendant looked surprised as she collected the room key Ashley was holding out to her. She was a motherly woman in a comfy red-and-black buffalo plaid shirt.

Ashley forced a smile as she slid her debit card across the counter. “I have a job interview today.”

“Oh, really? For what?” The woman typed busily on her computer before swiping the debit card through her card reader.

“Farm hand,” Ashley mumbled vaguely.

The woman’s expression grew notably less interested. “That’s nice.” She sounded so unimpressed that Ashley almost laughed out loud. The woman didn’t even bother looking up when she handed Ashley’s debit card back.

It was as if Ashley had become invisible to her. Working undercover had its clear perks. There was a skip in her step as she returned to her car. She was in a good enough mood that she plugged in her phone and turned on a playlist before she started driving. A country western singer belted out a favorite tune of hers.

That’s more like it!

She sang along as she cut through the downtown area of Heart Lake and set her course for the outskirts of town. Large grain silos rose on either side of the road. A dusting of snow covered the dead grass, rocky outcroppings, and mounds of dirt. All in all, it was a beautiful start to the day she had planned.

It wasn’t difficult to find the entrance to Johnny’s farm. She grinned as she approached the tall log archway and read the hanging sign — Johnny’s Dairy. It was short, sweet, and on point with his brand. It was a name that brought to mind a local, hardworking farmer. Someone a person wouldn’t mind purchasing a gallon of milk from.

The road leading up to his rambling white farmhouse and trio of barns was one of freshly graded gravel. She drank in the sight of the white painted fences outlining the pastures on both sides of the driveway. They were in good repair, and the black-and-white Holstein cattle grazing on the other side of them looked well fed and content.

The number of calves huddled near the full-grown cows drew a wistful sigh from her. A few were nursing hungrily. “Sweet babies!” There were at least a dozen of them out there — grazing, nursing, and frolicking among the bigger cows.

She parked in front of the entrance to the biggest barn, not sure where Johnny would be meeting her. Then she went back to gawking at his beautiful herd of cattle. The way some of them were bumping noses and rubbing necks, she could’ve sworn they were friends. More clusters of cattle formed huddles here and there, whether to share body heat or swap water cooler stories she had yet to determine. She smiled at her fanciful thoughts, finding it easy to dream up personalities and stories to go with the lively creatures grazing and flicking their tails in front of her.

She did a hasty count and determined there were more than a hundred of the creatures, maybe two hundred. For a guy who came across as a bit of a jokester, Johnny Cuba owned an impressive amount of cattle. How did he find time to care for all of themandwork as a PI?

---