Page 134 of Strictly Business : A Lesbian Romance

“I know that must be hard. I know you want her to see and experience

as much as possible, and I know that you must want more than what you

had here, just in the way of— the way that people think about certain

things.”

That was what made Christina so different. She really listened when

people told her things. She remembered. It mattered to her.

“I sometimes wonder if I made a mistake. She really misses this place.

When the business is up and running and I don’t have to put weekends in,

I’ll try and come out here more regularly. I was gone for too long. I think

that made it worse. If she could visit every other weekend, I think she’d

have the best of both worlds.”

Christina nodded her agreement. She pushed back yet another dark

strand of hair that the soft breeze had tugged loose from her ponytail and

grabbed her bag. “I’m super excited to see everything. And— and it’s good

to be here.”

Taylor hung onto that soft statement like she’d just picked up a gold

nugget. To her, those words were worth even more.

“It was good growing up here. Especially when I was younger. A farm

is a great place to be. It can also be dangerous, if you’re not careful, but my

parents always taught me about all of that. There are so many amazing

things to see, just, like, how life recreates itself. Calving season was always

the best. And I loved looking after the other animals. We always had a dog,

some cats in the house. Animals have always been a part of my life and I’m

really excited that I can bring a little bit of that to the city for people who

never got to experience it.”

“People like me.” It was clear that wasn’t said in an I’m offended kind

of way.

“I guess so.” Taylor stared off into the distance where the shapes of the

cows could just be made out. “I kind of feel bad that you had the childhood

you did. I mean, not just kind of. I do. I feel like maybe you really didn’t

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