Page 50 of Nave
On top of that, I’d seen her every single day for two weeks. Granted, some of the visits were on the short side since she was enjoying spending time with the animals, helping weed the garden, and learning how to bake bread and sew. She was busy. And I didn’t want to get in the way of her newfound hobbies.
But, yeah, I liked having her around.
I liked her gentle familiarity, the way she would nudge me or hip-check me. How, when she was upset or worried, she leaned into me; she happily walked into my arms.
It was nice to have a new friend.
Justa friend.
No matter what ideas popped up in my head in those quiet moments before sleep. Or in the morning when I woke up hard and aching. Or in the shower when I couldn’t seem to stop myself from reaching down and dealing with the problem… with thoughts of her in my mind the whole time.
“Oh, wow. You weren’t exaggerating,” she said as we pulled up to the security checkpoint.
“Nope. If anything, I was underselling it. We’re going to leave the car here. They can be squirrelly about cars.”
“Look at the chickens!” she cooed as we climbed out. “Oh, there’s a bunch of bantams.”
“What are bantams?”
She stepped closer to me, her body nearly against mine as she reached out past me to gesture. “Those ones. With the fancy feathers on their feet? Those are bantams. They don’tallhave feathered feet, though. Just a lot of them. They’re my favorite. Next to the Polish ones,” she pointed those out as well. “And I have one mutt that is my all-time favorite.”
“A mutt?”
“Yeah. The girls have several purebred breeds, but they also have a few who went ahead and mingled, then produced babies.”
“Why is the mutt your favorite?”
“She just has so much personality. She wants to be involved in anything you do. She’s always clucking and chirping and trying to escape. Her name is Kevin.”
“Hername is Kevin?”
“The girls thought she was a roo when she was little. But, nope, she was just loud and confident and crazy like the boys.”
“You’re really loving the homestead, huh?”
“I’m loving the freedom. Honestly, I don’t know how the girls do everything they do in a day. Just weeding seems to take forever. And they muck out stalls, feed animals, drain and scrub duck pools and ponds, cook, mow—I mean it just goes on and on. But they seem tireless. Meanwhile, I need a two-hour afternoon nap after just completing one of their tasks. Though, I wouldn’t object to having a few sweet chickens as pets one day. They’re not as much work.”
We moved through the security checkpoint and out to the grounds, where one of the dogs—a shepherd mix—came running up to meet us.
“I adore Edith, but I’m starting to have a soft spot for large breeds. The Great Pyrenees and the Anatolians have grown on me. And Edith loves them. She thinks she’s their queen and they her minions.”
“As it should be,” I agreed.
“Heya, Nave,” Fischer greeted me, holding open the door. “Trust you know the way.”
“Yep.”
“Congratulations, sweetheart,” he said to Lolly before wandering off.
Her curiosity melted into a sweet, soft look.
“I don’t want you to think I’m spreading your news around,” I explained as we stepped inside. “But Fischer is a higher-up around here, so I think Chris must have mentioned to him why we were coming here.”
“It’s okay. I mean… it is going to come out eventually. Wow, this place is winding.”
It was. And the deeper we went, the more dumbstruck Lolly became.
“It didn’t seem this sprawling from the outside.”
