My brain short-circuited at the number of types she knew. For me, there was only one—the goat. I had no idea what the different ones were like, but I wasn’t so dumb that I didn’t realize pygmies were small and fainting goats fainted. I mean, it was right there in black and white what was special about them.
But a goat was a freakin’ goat, right?
Thankfully, I didn’t say any of that. What I did say was, “There are long-haired goats?”
“Yes,” she squealed quietly. “They’re gorgeous.”
Again—they were fucking goats!
However, yet again, I didn’t say those words out loud. “Sean said some of his had given birth a couple of weeks ago. I don’t know which types, but he’s keeping them in the barn away from the public and noise because the babies are so little. He’s going to let us go and see them, though. I just have to give him a call when we’re ready.”
That’s what I’d done today. I’d called the guy—who was a stranger aside from his hand and ass— and explained briefly about tonight and that I wanted to see her smile. After I’d finished, he’d told me what to do and said he’d be waiting for me to let him know when we were ready. I thought she might think it was dumb, but seeing the new look of excitement on her face, he’d gotten it right.
When we finally got to the area where the meat was laid out, I looked around, trying to get over what I was seeing. I was a carnivore I loved meat as much as the next guy (although, not the one standing next to me who was discussing the vegetarian option available with his friend), but what was in front of me was every animal lover’s worst nightmare. Mountains of steak, different sausages, patties, jerky, bacon, pot roast…
“That’s a lot of meat,” Ariana mumbled as she reached for a plate and eyed the table.
Looking behind us, the answer to why was clear when I saw how the line went almost back to the parking lot now.
“Apparently there’s a lot of meat eaters,” I whispered, not wanting to upset the vegetarian who was guesstimating how many animals had been killed.
Choosing what we wanted, we put it on our plates and moved down the row of tables to where the sides were laid out, then made our way over to an empty table with scary plates of food.
As soon as we sat down, a woman appeared beside us.
“Sean says you need beverages. You can’t eat big meat without one. Whatcha havin’?”
“Uh, soda water?” Ariana hedged, looking at me for help.
“Y’all are having sweet tea and a beer,” she told us firmly, totally negating her previous question.
“I can’t have beer,” I told her and did my best not to shrink under the glare she shot me like I was almost spitting on the sanctity of ‘big meat,’ even though I was driving and on-call.
Grunting, she turned and disappeared, leaving us gaping at where she’d been standing. We’d only just snapped out of it when some drinks were dumped on the table in front of us.
“Drink. Eat.” It wasn’t a request, it was an order, so the two of us smiled at her and stayed frozen until she’d disappeared again.
Reaching for the bottle of beer, Ari took a mouthful out of it and choked. “She put whiskey in it,” she wheezed, reaching for one of the cups of sweet tea. “I think half of it’s whiskey.”
Picking the bottle up, I sniffed it and shuddered. “I think it’s whiskey with a shot of beer.”
“She obviously thought the date needed something,” she winked and stuck a fork full of what looked like brisket into her mouth, chewing and groaning loudly. “Holy shit, this is better than sex."
I really hope not, that would be embarrassing for my skills.
Forking up some of my own, I shoved it in my mouth and quickly decided I’d get better at sex, nothing would get better than what I’d just eaten. I’d intended to pick her brain to see how she was after last night, but the two of us were so busy eating that it didn’t happen.
And then, almost like he’d been watching and waiting, Sean appeared after we’d taken our last mouthfuls.
“Doc,” he greeted and then looked at Ariana. “Female Townsend.”
There was a flash of something in her eyes, but it was gone before anyone who didn’t know her would see something was up.
“Sean, this is Ariana,” I introduced, getting a warm look from her like I’d said something right.
I was replaying the words that’d gotten me that look, trying to figure out what I’d done right, and missed what was being said until Ari kicked me under the table.
Looking up at both of them, I shook my head and smiled. “Sorry, I was just thinking about something. What’s up?”