Nova shuddered at that. Elizabeth had shown her pictures of damaged utters and her go-to methodology for treating such injuries, which were… not great to look at. As far as Nova was concerned, the best measures were preventive, and the best preventive measure was plastic nose tags.
“Hey there.”
Nova let out a short cry and jumped, her knee protesting with a sharp jolt of hot lightning up her thigh. Whirling, she saw none other than Sal there, wearing a white athletic shirt that was about two times too small and casual looking joggers.
“Hello?”
They hadn’t spoken since her baked goods hit-and-run a few days earlier, and she’d finally breathed a sigh of relief that all the dust seemed to be settled and they could go back to their everyday lives. Seeing Sal in front of her again was making her nerves spike. What did he want?
“Hey, I have a question but feel free to say no—this isn’t compulsory or anything—my mom was wondering if you would be willing to help her out with the upcoming baking this Thursday and Friday so she can deliver it into the city on the weekend. It’s for some food pantries and charity stuff. You would be paid, of course. It would be a regular workday for you, but, uh, in the kitchen instead of with the animals.”
It was strange to see him jilted and uneven after how smoothly he had handled her when she’d been stuck in the mud in the rain, but it made her feel better that he got flustered too. Like she wasn’t a complete and total dork.
“Really? Your mom wants me to help her bake?”
“Yeah, she was real impressed with those cupcakes of yours. Cookies too, judging by how fast they vanished, but I didn’t see that one in person.”
“Your mom liked my cupcakes?” Nova repeated as if she hadn’t heard right. Because she couldn’t have heard right. Mrs. Miller, the wife of the Mr. McLintoc Miller, liked her cupcakes?
“Practically inhaled one right in front of me.”
Huh. Wasn’t that something?
Nova nodded. “Sure, why not? I like helping people out. If your mum doesn’t think I’d just be in the way, I’m game.”
“Considering that she sent me on a mission specifically to recruit you, I doubt she’ll think that at all.”
“Wow, that’s going to go straight to my ego.”
“Not sure you really needed that.”
She let out a short laugh and that seemed to surprise both of them. “Fair enough. I’m sure seeing her bake will put me right in my place.”
“Hey, everything okay over there?”
Nova looked over her shoulder to see Elizabeth standing at the far side of the calf pens, dropping off a box that had to be more nose tags. Her tone wasn’t one of concern over seeing Sal, or at least it didn’t sound that way to Nova, but the same professionally crisp tone that the vet always had when it came to animal care.
“I’m about a third done!” Nova called back. “No one’s having a huge temper tantrum, but Indigo had an attitude.”
“Alright, good work. I’ll check back later; I think one of the horses might have a case of rain rot and I want to catch it early.”
“Yikes, rain rot? How do you think that happened?”
Elizabeth shrugged. “I aim to find out. Oh, also, the twins are out on a walk with their horses. If they swing by, tell them to park their mounts at the spare stable, would you? They’ve been terrible about answering their phones the past couple of days.”
“Right!”
Elizabeth gave a polite nod to the two of them then headed back the way she came, disappearing into her own golf cart.
Nova turned back to Sal, almost having forgotten that he was right there. He was standing with his arms crossed, emphasizing his chest, and Nova forced her eyes up to his face. She was not going to ogle her boss right to his face.
…although technically she supposed she shouldn’t be ogling him period. Whatever. She was only human.
“What exactly are you doing here?” he asked haltingly, like he was trying to find a conversation topic but had accidentally switched to a new language midway.
She held up a plastic tag, and when no recognition flashed across his eyes, she gave him a skeptical look. “What kind of cowboy doesn’t know what a nose tag is?”
“A nose what?” he shot right back, sounding more comfortable. “And I’m not a cowboy.”
“You sure do look like a cowboy to me,” Nova said, her eyes flicking down to his nice boots. “You live on a ranch. Your last name is Miller. What’s that one American phrase? Oh right, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, chances are it’s probably a duck.”
“That’s not really how it goes.”
Nova just waved her hand. “The intent is there. You know what I mean.”
He smiled, shaking his head, and finally he looked less like he was going to panic and run for it at any second. If Nova wasn’t still so busy trying to figure him out, she might have been flattered that he was so flustered by her, but it just made everything that much more confusing. Was Sal secretly a twin too, and there was a confident, jerky one then a shy, stilted one who talked about baking? Seemed more plausible.
“Do I?”
“Aw come on now, you keep playin’ pedantic with me and I’ll think you’re one of those rhinestone cowboys.”
The look he gave her was far more endearing than it had any right to be. “A what now?”
“You heard me. A rhinestone cowboy. Someone who’s all dolled up for the role but too shiny and rich to actually do anything useful.”
“You calling me pretty?”
She leveled him with a look. “What, are compliments so dried up around you that you have to go fishing for them now?”
He chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that seemed to slide along her skin before reaching her ears, leaving goose bumps along their path. Her heart skipped a beat and she did her best to cover her slightly hitched breath with a cough.
“Well, I guess I ain’t much of a cowboy in any respect, rhinestone or not,” Sal answered after a beat.
There was a sort of earnestness to his statement that Nova hadn’t expected. Sure, they had just been bantering back and forth, but she was pretty sure that he’d transitioned right to being serious.
He continued, “I’ve never been much for ranch life except riding and teaching my horse tricks. Past five years or so, seems I’ve gotten away from even that.”
Several thoughts flashed through Nova’s mind all at once, and all of them were completely hilarious. First of all, the thought of a massive Sal riding atop a horse was pretty comical. He had to have a truly gargantuan mount.
Then there was the image of the massive Sal teaching his gargantuan mount tricks. It was impossible and fascinating at the same time.
But then there was also another thought, quieter and dripped in melancholy. It was clear that there was tension between Sal and his brothers, and she couldn’t help but wonder if a good chunk of it was from the young man not fitting in anywhere. Solomon was clearly all about the finances of the ranch and expanding their charitable enterprise. Silas and Sterling both seemed pretty into improving their animal’s lives as well as community outreach. Nova was pretty sure she’d heard something about a soil experiment too? Though she wasn’t sure about that one.