Page 45 of Love Off-Limits
“I’m just saying, for never having been on a farm, you seem surprisingly comfortable.”
He raised an eyebrow, but a faint blush tinged his cheeks. “You did seeme chasing the chickens earlier today, right?”
I smiled. “If that’s your only blunder, I’d say you’re doing pretty okay.”
“So I shouldn’t worry about the tractor I got stuck in the mud at the edge of the apple orchard?”
“That...could have happened to anyone.”
“Or the fact that I locked myself inside the freezer in the catering kitchen when I dropped off the blueberries we harvested? I was in there an hour before someone finally let me out.”
“Did you have your phone? Why didn’t you just call for help?”
“It’s a giant metal box, Liv. There’s no service inside the freezer.”
“I hope I am never in a situation where that knowledge proves useful.”
We chatted a few more minutes until Mom returned with the mama goat and two additional babies. One of the farmhands, Trey, came in just after with the first batch of goats ready for milking. The milking machine only accommodated sixteen goats at a time, so it took a few rounds to get everyone milked and fed and ready to settle in for the night. With the barn so full of activity, and Kelly’s reassurance that she was on her way, I left Tyler with Penelope, knowing there was no shortage of experts to help him know how to get her settled.
If the mama goat wouldn’t accept Penelope—and this late in the game, she likely wouldn’t—she’d need to be bottle-fed about every four hours for the next day or so. Mom might end up taking her back to the house, but sometimes Kelly had one of the farmhands handle the round-the-clock bottle-feeding, depending on who she had on staff and who was trustworthy. Would she ask Tyler?
He’d been the first to feed her, which meantPenelopemight choose Tyler.
Either way, I needed to get away. To clear my head. To breathe away the attraction that sizzled and sparked whenever I was around him.
Tyler Marino was off-limits.
He had to be.
But I didn’t want him to be. And that had never been so clear.
***
Two days later, Kelly called me an hour or so before quitting time. “You’ve got to come and see this,” she said as soon as I answered the phone.
“See what?”
“Are you busy? Just meet me where the road splits. You won’t be sorry, I promise.”
I’d mostly finished up for the day, so I jumped in the gator and drove over to meet Kelly. The sun was still high in the late afternoon sky, but at least the road was shaded by the sprawling maples on either side. In the fall, when their leaves turned a vibrant yellow, it was the prettiest stretch of road on the whole farm.
“Okay, I’m here,” I said to Kelly, who stood at the top of the hill, her arms crossed. “What do I need to see?”
She motioned with her head. “Walk with me a ways. We just need to get a little bit closer.”
I shot her a questioning look, but she only grinned, so I followed her down the hill until we could see both the chicken coop and the goat barn entirely. “Here he comes,” Kelly said, nudging me with her elbow.
I looked down the hill to see Tyler cross from the supply shed and head toward the chicken coop, a fresh watering can in each hand. Penelope trotted behind him, a red bandana tied around her neck.
She waited for him while he let himself into the chicken yard and replaced the watering cans, then followed him back to the supply shed where he retrieved a bucket full of chicken feed. Again, she followed him, stopping outside the yard while he fed the chickens.
“She’s been following him all day,” Kelly said with a giggle. “And he gave her that bandana, by the way.”
Once Tyler was done with the chickens, he scooped Penelope up, who bleated happily, and carried her into the barn.
“It’s probably time for her to eat again,” Kelly said, “not that I wouldeverhave to remind Tyler of that. He’s taken to parenthood quite nicely.”
I shook my head. This was maybenothelping quell my growing desire for Tyler. He’d given the goat hisbandana.How impossibly cute was that?
