Page 34 of Take My Love

After she throws out the trash and washes her hands, I’m surprised when she sits on the couch next to me.

“Whatcha watchin’?”

I click play on the remote. “Golden Girls.”

She looks at me and although I can’t see underneath her mask, I can tell by the movement that she’s smiling. “Marjorie loves this show. I’ll come home to it playing when I never turned on the TV.”

“That’s what I was hopin’.”

If I can’t get Posey on my good side, the least I can do is get her house ghost on my side and to stop fucking with me.

When the dryer buzzes, she stays put to finish the episode. Then she returns without her mask and hands me a dry washcloth.

“Here, pat it dry,” she orders after removing my mask for me.

I do as I’m told, then rub my fingers over my clean face. “My skin’s never felt smoother.”

“For ten dollars a mask, it better.”

“Foronemask?”

“Yep. But I buy ’em in bulk so it’s a smidge cheaper.”

“For that price, it better give me a shave job too.”

She snorts. “Wait until you learn how much facials cost.”

“Trust me, I know,” I groan, thinking about the time I boughtAundrea a gift certificate as part of her birthday gift and one session blew through half my budget.

As if she can read my mind, her expression shifts to one of pity.

“Well, thanks again. I’m gonna crash out too.” I stand, and we go to our separate bedrooms, catching each other glancing over our shoulders before closing our doors.

“You ready to learn how to milk?” Ian asks a half an hour after I clocked in.

I smack my hands together to brush off the dust. “If you think I’m ready, sure.”

Today’s my fifth day working here and the last day of my week-long trial. Up until now, I’ve been on cleaning and feeding duties.

His grin turns wicked as he smacks me on the back. “Guess we’ll find out.”

This must be some kind of test to determine if I’ll get to return on Monday. After yesterday morning’s goat yoga, which I thought couldn’t get any worse than what it was on Tuesday, Posey had me in a revolved triangle pose. On its own, it’s already hard for a newbie, but add a goat standing on my back while I bend and twist my spine, my hips and thighs were screaming.

I sucked it up because I didn’t want everyone to see me fail, especially since a few of them were recording me.

And of course, she teased me about being a city boy who needed to stretch more.

She’s not wrong because I woke up stiff with a pinched sciatica and it still hurts.

As Ian leads the way to the milking area, Emily waits next to a stand with one of the goats tethered and a bucket of grain to keep it distracted.

“She’s gonna teach ya how to do it,” Ian says.

“Wait…I’m doing it by hand?”

I’ve seen them use a machine.

“Everyone has to learn how to hand milk before they use the portable machine. If there’s an issue and they can’t be used or we’re down a machine, you gotta know how to do it on your own ’cause they’re on a schedule since some only get milked once a day and the ones who are twice a day gotta be twelve hours apart.”