Page 12 of Tommy

He nodded, flashing that cheeky grin again. “They’ll peck at you.”

“Oh, balls.”

Hardin laughed. “Not your balls, don’t worry, they won’t reach those.”

Both the dogs had gone ahead to the large red barn, and I was nervous. My palms red hot inside the gloves. I’d had an encounter with the cats and their hissing, the goats and their head butts, and now I’d be going inside the chicken coop to get pecked while picking their eggs.

“Relax,” he said as we were at the barn door. “If they cut ya, I’ve got a first aid kit.”

The moment the small door opened, the entire barn erupted with sound. The chickens clucked and attempted to flap their wings like they could ever fly. Chickens chased goats and cats chased chickens, all of it to be disrupted by the dogs jumping up at the fencing.

Hardin tapped me on the shoulder. “You do the honors,” he said.

I stared up at him, a single brow raised. “Uh—”

“There’s a fence in the way, they’re not gonna get you—” he paused, tapping me once more, “yet.”

In the barn, the dogs acted like negative magnets repelling the animals from them, while the fence I approached was swarmed.

“How do you even get anything done?” I asked, raising my voice over the animals.

“We feed them,” he said. “Once the chickens have their feed, they’re occupied. Then we milk the goats, we feed them, then collect the eggs. Then we go check on the horses, the snow isn’t too bad today, so I might take them out later, depending on how it is in the afternoon.”

I thought I’d have more time to prepare my crotch area to ride a horse, but I also wasn’t going to give him any reason to be annoyed at me. So, I put my biggest smile forth and nodded. “Sounds like a plan.” A plan, I was going to regret.

6. HARDIN

I woke in a much better mood. The kid was already here, and I’d made a judgement call before he arrived that didn’t really go with any of his actions. He was getting stuck into the action, and the poor kid had been through the trenches it seemed, at least mentally speaking.

The morning routine with the chickens and goats were cut in half, which was also another large bonus to having him around. I could admit when I was wrong, and sure enough, I was wrong about the thoughts I’d had about him, but I was also a proud cowboy, and I wasn’t going to let any of that show on my face.

“I’ve never felt so many warm eggs,” he said as looked at the basket of eggs we’d collected. All the animals had quietened since our initial arrival.

“They do lay them and then sit on them for a large portion of the night,” I told him. “I’d be worried if they were cold.”

“I mean, obviously, that makes sense when you say it.” He rolled his eyes, but had the biggest smile on his face. He was difficult to read, because eye rolling was something I put down to being pissed.

We kept the eggs and bucket of milk with the lip latched by the barn door, left slightly ajar for fresh air to circulate. The horses were all awake and gave the kid some second glances as we walked into the stables. He naturally navigated himself toward Belle, while I went checked in on Scout and Thunder.

“Spring through fall, some locals come up for riding lessons,” I told him. “Most of them prefer Belle as well.”

“She’s sweet,” he said as she bowed her head to him over the fence, pushing her nose to his hand for some strokes. “Nobody is going to believe that I got to ride a horse.”

It was going to be his first time. “You’ll just need to show them how you’re walking once you’ve finished,” I snickered. “They’ll believe that.”

“Does it hurt that much?”

“First time, it’s like an ache,” I said. “But unless you fall, which you won’t, you won’t hurt that much. You’re in capable hands.” I clapped mine together.

“If the locals come up here for riding lessons, why do you have such a bad rep in town?” he asked, catching me off-guard with the question.

I fed Scout a carrot as I thought about it. “I have a reputation for being a hard ass, not an actual hard ass, but being strict.”

“I think when it comes to horses, it’s life or death sometimes, right. So many accidents and stuff, I don’t see why they’d be annoyed about you wanting to be strict on that.”

It was the easiest conclusion to make for me, I didn’t want to tell him too much, I’d only known him for a single day. “What people decide to think about me might say more about themselves than of me,” I grumbled, staring into Scout’s big brown eyes. “Isn’t that right, Scout?” He neighed in response to his name.

“Well, the first time we spoke, you shouted at me, so I can see why they’d think it,” he said. “What did you think about me before I came?”

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