Page 28 of Mistletoe Misses
“The jury’s still out on that.”
“Maybe, but we can make the most of it while you’re here and see what happens. Ready to get to work?” He slaps his thighs and rises off the couch with a laugh. “You can fill me in on what’s been going on since you disappeared after discharge.”
Sighing, I follow him out. “I didn’t disappear.” Even if I did, isn’t it old news? “Don’t make me regret bringing your ornery goat back.”
We make our way to my truck, and I navigate the twists and turns of the farm’s snow-packed roads like I’m a teenage farmhand again. Good to know I can remember something other than pain from that life-altering time.
???
“Tell me about Boston,” Jamie asks between shoveling a pile of manure from the horse stall next to mine and dumping it into the wheelbarrow. “What’s the scene like there?”
I straighten to see him fully over the middle wall separating us. “The scene? How old are you?”
“Not as old as you, big guy.”
“We’re only six months apart, and I wouldn’t know aboutthe scene.”
Ignoring his chore, he props his elbows on top of the wall and glares at me. “Are you telling me that you live in one of the most exciting cities in the country, and you haven’t been taking full advantage?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.” There’s no relishing a place where the criminals know you by name, and you’ve turned into a workaholic, trying to forget how miserable you are.
“It’s the model all over again.”
Bumper, the black colt in my stall, stomps his hooves on the wooden floor, frustrated with us disrupting his peace. I give him a rub to make up for it. “The what?”
“The sexy surfer whose car broke down outside the base our last year. She wanted you something fierce, and what did you do?” He waits for me to answer.
“Nothing.”
“Exactly. Teddy was so pissed when you turned her down. He did all the work in the muggy California heat to get her car running again, and she couldn’t ignore you for one second to notice.”
With a shrug, I push my pitchfork through the soiled hay, wondering if I will be mucking the rest of the stalls by myself. “Wait.” I lean on the fork handle to face him, and his smug smilewidens, knowing what I’m about to say. “Was he also pissed atyoufor sleeping with her days later?”
“More than my stallion when his supper’s late.” The massive animal neighs outside the barn as if in agreement.
“Good.”
Jamie moves into the next stall and digs in, cleaning the area in half the time it takes me. Guess I’m out of practice.
“So, why the solitary confinement in Boston?” he asks. “When we served together you were always ready for anything and everything—the crazier the better.”
“As you know, life’s a little different in the real world.”
He chuckles and grabs hold of the wheelbarrow handles to push it out, securing the door behind him. “Our time in the Army was real life.”
“Yes, but we were rarely alone there.”
“Ah. You wouldn’t be alone in Boston if you’d get out more.”
“You sound like Nana. Are you done?”
“With this barn? Yes. With forcing you out of your comfortable grumpy zone. No.” He beams and struts past me and Bumper.
Rubbing the colt’s neck when his snout snuggles against my hip, I lean down to kiss his head. “If it weren’t for you, I might regret coming here.”
Following Jamie out of the barn with my own full cart, I meet him by the wide-plank fence. His heavy hand drops onto my shoulder like he’s about to say something profound, and I brace for what might seep out of his gutter brain next.
“How about we saddle up and go for a ride? Like the old days.”
