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Her brow wrinkles in confusion for just a moment, her thoughts skidding and swerving before hitting my words like a brick wall. “What makes you think they want to get married?”
“Other than the fact they were curled up together when we got back and didn’t even care enough about us to get up, come over, and say hello?”
“They were probably scared of you in that furry costume.” She looks back down at the map, dismissing me.
It’s been a very long time since I’ve been so casually dismissed. Have to say, I don’t love it. “Are they spayed or neutered or whatever?”
She looks up, her smooth, alabaster brow crinkling again, her perfect, pretty lips turning down. “I didn’t even think of that.” She shakes her head. “Why didn’t I think of that?”
“Does that mean they aren’t?”
She frowns in thought. “Jared, my cousin Brittany’s husband, is a vet. He says it’s too hard to spay female goats. It’s dangerous. The males are typically castrated, but Barley came to us as a baby and we never had it done.”
I wince at the very idea of doing that to my little buddy, but I definitely don’t need a whole herd of goats running around in my backyard. “I guess I need to get that done.” Which would require me going to a vet clinic and being recognized. Maybe Clover or Asher would take Barley in for me.
I’d ask Honey, but then I’d have to explain why I can’t be seen in public.
She nods. “I can ask Jared about coming out here and—” She pulls out her phone.
“No,” I say, way too vehemently. “Look, my aunt doesn’t know I’m here, and she definitely doesn’t know about the Bigfoot thing. The fewer people who know…”
Honey nods, but she doesn’t look convinced. “Jared is very discreet. He’s a good guy.”
“I’ll think about it. My point is, they ought to be officially married in case there are babies.”
She rests her chin in her hand and her gaze goes distant. “There couldn’t be many guests because you’re in hiding or whatever.”
Most people in my life would remind me that Barley and Begonia are goats, then do whatever I wanted the moment I insisted. Honey appears to be actually considering my idea as legitimate. “Barley and Begonia probably don’t have a lot of friends.”
She nods. “They were both loners, even when they had the opportunity to befriend the other animals on the farm.” She looks up at me. “Who would officiate?”
“Are you licensed to marry farm animals, by any chance?”
She smiles, and it’s like striking the perfect note in a song I’ve been working on all day. The smile lights her entire face, making her eyes sparkle, raising her delicate cheekbones and making me want to kiss her more than ever.
With all that light in her eyes, I realize how much dark was resting in them before.
“I am, in fact, licensed to marry all varieties of farm animals, since that’s not actually a certification that exists in the world,” she says.
“Perfect.” I open my mouth to suggest inviting Clover and Asher, but remember her insistence that her sister not know about our arrangement and shut it. I don’t want to do anything to vanquish her smile. “It’ll be a small wedding, but I think that’s just what Barley and Begonia would prefer.”
“My next day off is Thursday.”
“Perfect. Thursday it is.”
“Want me to call Jared about coming out here to neuter Barley?”
I bend over the map. “Where were you thinking about trying next?”
Honey hesitates for just a moment, before accepting my subject change and pointing to a spot on the map. “This area, at the higher elevation, might have more boulders and more places to hide a treasure. Have you been up there?”
I study the area, comparing it to the places I’ve wandered. “This would be easier if we had a more recent map with trail names on it.” I straighten and head toward the stairs. “I think I might have one upstairs. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner.”
I take a deep breath as I walk away from her, because I don’t like the feeling of moving out of her orbit. I knew it was a bad idea to get closer to her, but I had no idea how much I would like her and how deep the connection between us would feel after so few hours together.
She doesn’t seem to feel it, so maybe I’m safe.
It takes me about fifteen minutes to find the map among my piles of handwritten song lyrics and books I’ve pulled off shelves for one reason or another. I grab it and turn to the door, only to see Honey standing in the doorway.
