Page 29 of Someday

“Just say the word when you’re ready to come,” I tell her. “I’ll get tickets for you guys, Cash too if he wants to come.”

“It’d just be the two of us, but I’ll be buying our tickets. Just because you’re rolling in the dough over there now doesn’t mean you need to get our tickets.”

“You’d do the same for me and you know it.”

“Yeah, I would if I could. I’d really hoped I could be there for the Fourth…just in case, you know…you needed me. But Cash threw a fit when I told him I would miss the rodeo. He swears he can’t win unless I’m there, which is ridiculous, but it also—”

“No, no, you can’t miss that,” I interrupt. “Seriously, come when it’s a good time for you. I’m going to be busy that day anyway.”

“You are?” she perks up. “What do you have planned?”

I look around the room, trying to think of a good cover. “I’m going back to Grinny’s house. She invited me.”

“Oh, that’s perfect,” she says. “I wish you could spend the night somewhere other than home afterward. Have you found anyone to help relieve you with the horses if you ever need it?”

“No, but I haven’t been looking. Until recently, I never left the house, so I didn’t need the help. And Aunt Hilary and Abby are a big help when they come…they’re coming the day after tomorrow.”

“I’m so glad. You sound really good, Sof. I can’t tell you how relieved I am.”

“I’m getting there. Don’t worry about me. You’ve spent enough time worrying about me. Just come visit me soon, and you’ll see for yourself.”

She laughs. “Okay, it’s a deal. The next time we talk, I’ll have some options to discuss.”

“K. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Dakota pipes up from what sounds like across the room. “Love you, Auntie.

“I love you, peanut.”

I hang up and decide I better figure something out to do on the Fourth, so I’m not lying to Marlow.

And so I don’t risk my mental health by being anywhere near this place on that night.

CHAPTERTWELVE

IN OVER MY HEAD

THEO

Between that episode with Sofie in the stables and Grinny saying what she did about the year before Sofie left…my head is all over the place. Because she’s right. I got the sense more than once that year before Sofie left that something was off with her, but it wasn’t anything glaringly obvious, and she certainly never said anything that gave me the impression she wasn’t happy. Particularly with me.

That’s what made me wait for her for so long. I never believed she truly was unhappy with me…I couldn’t ever make peace with that.

Because it would’ve proven that I’d been an idiot all that time.

I just knew she’d come back and clue me in on what had really been going on with her.

I still feel like I’m grasping for straws, but knowing Grinny felt that way back then too, makes me feel somewhat validated.

But really, isn’t the truth of the matter that Sofie Copewell is still leading me around by the dick?

These are the thoughts that I have as I’m in Callum’s barn dealing with a breech birth. I manage to get the cow standing and once I feel the exact placement of the calf, I very carefully rearrange the limbs. Once the calf’s head and front legs are out, I stop and cross the calf’s front hooves and turn it until I can deliver it at one o’clock on the mama’s backbone. This prevents hip lock. And then I take the calf and lay him on his mom’s back with his nose close to the ground to drain any fluids from his windpipe and throat.

“He looks good,” I tell Callum.

Callum breathes a sigh of relief. “Thanks, man. I’m good with the standard deliveries, but this one was throwing me.”

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