Page 26 of Tommy

“Calling you a kid is probably nice considering what you were doing to those goats,” Sully said, flashing a wink. “But I’m not here to judge.”

We walked around the barn to the stable as we all chuckled about the play onkidand baby goat. I suppose it made sense to be called that. There was a lot of motion in the stables as Sully was backed against the side wall, scared of the animals.

“I’m not sure what you want me to do with those things, but I don’t know if I can get any closer,” Sully grumbled.

“Relax,” Hardin said. “They can smell the fear.”

“No. Can they?”

“Of course,” I said, playing along. At least I hoped I was. If they really could smell fear, then I was getting off lucky the first time I met them. “I heard they’re like the sharks of the land with their big teeth.” I held myself up on the fenced stable hatch. My legs had been ripped to shreds. I was lucky I made it out of bed.

The excitable dog jumped up at Sully as the other sniffed around Belle’s stable. “Har-de-har, you two are hilarious. Hardin knows I don’t go near them.”

“You actually did better than I expected,” Hardin noted. “You rarely come inside.”

“It was an accident,” he grumbled, fighting for his life as the dog jumped up at his, slobbering all over his coat. “Tommy was behind and I was just walking on in. It caught me by surprise.”

It was nice to be in on the joke, rather than being the one accused of fondling goats. Hardin checked each of the horses over, throwing extra hay into their stables, and then covering them up securely with blankets just in case it got extra cold throughout the night. The barn and stable always radiated heat though, the type that had me walking out attempting to blow cold air at my face.

Out of the stable, Sully fanned a hand at his face. “That horse on the end had evil in its eyes,” he said. “Well, I guess you twoshould go start moving stuff from the cabin over, I’ll get started on salt gritting the paths.”

Hardin scoffed. “Since when were you in charge?”

“Yeah, I’m not taking orders from you,” I joined in, giggling to myself.

“Come on, I’m just trying to be helpful,” he said. “Besides, kid, it was my idea for you to actually be in a house that wouldn’t come tumbling if a strong gust of wind came knocking.”

I looked from one to the other. “Seriously?”

“No, the cabin is sturdy,” Hardin said. “He’s just misremembering a situation that happened when the cabin was snowed in and started leaning because of the weight of the snow.”

Either way, that didn’t sound good. “I’m on Sully’s side now. And I might need to bring more things with me.”

“Kid, you’ve got twenty minutes,” he said. “If it takes longer than that, you’re fending for yourself again.”

With my brows furrowed, I nodded ferociously. “Don’t you worry about that. I’m going to get this done in less than twenty minutes. And if not, what are you going to do? Leave me out in a snowstorm in a cabin which could collapse?”

Hardin scowled back at me, but behind it, there was a smile creeping in. He nodded, tipping his head before squashing it a little further on his head. “We’ll see,” he said. “I guess making sure you’re not injured goes as far as making sure you’re in a cabin that won’t be blown down.”

I hadn’t completely processed that Hardin would be coming inside the cabin, and I’d not kept it the cleanest. It’s partly why I was up and ready before he could knock and get a glimpse inside. He woke parts of my little side that could only be explored at night, when I was feeling a little more frisky and playful.

“You’ll have to take down the blanket fort,” his first words when he crossed the threshold into the cabin. “But it’s fine, there’s plenty more blankets at the house where you can build another, if that’s your thing.”

“My thing?”

“Oh, right, we’re still pretending that we don’t see the same thing in each other,” he said. “Same, but different, I suppose.”

My thighs and knees were already far too weak for this type of back and forth. He’d need to be straight up with me, I’d end up comatose on the ground from too much shock. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, everyone loves a blanket fort.”

His soft raspy voice rumbled from his throat. “Littles, especially.”

And there it was. My left knee almost gave out beneath me. He reached out and took my arm. “I—I—I” I pulled my arm away and screamed a little in my mouth. “How did you know?”

“Relax,” he said. “I kinda saw it from the day you arrived. The suitcase, I knew I’d seen some of designs before. And then, yesterday, I saw the coloring books, which everyone loves, so it wasn’t completely that. And then, the duckies in the bath. I heard you, but I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Oh my god,” my voice broke. “Guess you saw my briefs as well.”

He snapped his fingers then pointed directly at me. “That was it. The last part. I’m not mentioning it to make you feel uncomfortable. I’m mentioning it because I want to let you know that I understand.”

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