Miles Ever After (Miles High Series)(50)

Eddie comes and stands next to us as he listens in.

“You said I could do whatever I wanted at the farm,” I reply.

“Key word farm,” he whispers. “It’s not a fucking zoo.”

“I told you that I need working dogs. I’m not sure if you realize this, but a farm is not a farm without animals.”

“You don’t have cows yet, where are you going to work the dogs, in the kitchen? Newsflash, Hayden, they don’t cook.”

“We need dogs,” I tell him.

Eddie’s eyes widen in excitement as he looks up at Christopher all hopeful like.

“Don’t gang up on me. All I’m saying is, you need a pedigree and I think you should look into this further, you don’t just buy the first brown dogs you see next door because they are cute,” he whispers angrily as he looks between us.

“Best guard dogs too,” Keith adds.

Christopher’s ears prick up. “Guard dogs? Are they vicious?”

“No, but they’ll let you know the minute someone is on your land, very protective over their family.”

Christopher’s eyes hold his and I know he’s piqued his interest now. “What about wolves, do they kill wolves?”

Keith throws his head back and laughs out loud. “You’re hilarious, man.”

Or just plain stupid.

“You won’t even know they’re there; Eddie and I will look after them, won’t we, Eddie?” I say.

Eddie bounces on the spot. “Yes. I promise,” he stammers, barely able to get the words out through his excitement.

Christopher fakes a smile.

I giggle. “He’s a bit too citified, Keith. This is his first farm and we’ve got to train him up.”

“I am not citified.” Christopher gasps, indignant.

I hold my fingers up to symbolize a pinch. “Little bit.”

“Okay Eddie, pick two, one boy and one girl.” I smile.

Eddie’s eyes widen with excitement. “Are you serious?”

“Aha.”

Eddie drops to his knee and gets to work playing with the pups, while he works out which ones he wants. “This one’s a girl.” I point to the little one in the corner.

“No, she’s too timid, she won’t be a good worker,” says Keith. “Get the naughty ones, they’re the best.”

“Timid works for me,” Christopher whispers with an elbow.

“Come, I’ll show you something else,” Jane smiles to me.

She takes me around the corner into another set of sheds. “Look at these ones.” She opens the door and there are kittens as far as you can see, there must be twenty.

“We had two girls get pregnant before they could get desexed, you can have these for free.”

My eyes widen. Kittens. Christopher really is going to go postal.

His words come back to me: This is your farm, you can do whatever you want to run it and make it feel like home.

“Okay, I’ll take two.” I smile. “Another boy and a girl.”

“Which ones do you want, love?”

I look them over, they’re all pretty similar. The two mothers are sisters, gray and black, there’s a few tortoiseshells and one ginger.

“I’ll have the ginger, if he’s a boy.”

“Yes, I think so, let me check.”

“And the girls, are they ready to go now?”

“Yes, nine weeks old, we really want them to go to a good home. I would be grateful if you take them.”

“Okay, how about this little gray one here.” I pick it up and turn it over, oh, it’s another boy. I put him back down.

A little darker gray one comes over to me and I pick it up and roll it over. “This is a girl.”

“Yeah, she’s cute, that one, real mischievous.”

“I like her already, we’ll take this one too.”

“Let me put them in a box for you, I’ll go inside and get one,” says Jane. She disappears inside and I walk back out to find Christopher and Eddie on their knees surrounded in puppies.

“Do these dogs eat shoes?” Christopher asks.

“If you leave them out they will,” Keith replies dryly.

Christopher twists his lips, unimpressed.

“Do they eat much?”

“They will eat whatever you give them.” Keith frowns over at Christopher. “You’ve never had a dog before?”

Christopher straightens his shirt as if annoyed. “I come from New York, we didn’t have animals growing up.”

“What the hell did you move out here for, then?”

I roll my lips to hide my smile, Christopher must be asking himself the same question. “I fell in love with a country girl and I’m trying to make her happy so I’m learning how to be a farmer now.”

Keith smiles and then chuckles. “You got a big learning curve coming for you, boy, especially if she’s a cowgirl.”

Christopher stays silent as the puppies circle him “I kind of like this little one with sticking-up ears,” he says.

“That’s a girl.”

“Which one do you like, Eddie?” I ask.

“I like this little one here.” There’s a little puppy chewing on his hand.