Herd That (The Valentine Boys 1)

“I’m glad that they cleaned up for us.” She laughed.

I shrugged. “Cleaning up a farm is nearly impossible. I mean, it’s like asking your non-trained animals to be house pets for just a little while. It ain’t gonna happen.”

She smiled at me over her shoulder. “I realize that. We had goats and chickens when I was growing up. If anyone knows that, it’s me.” Her smile was whimsical. “We used to have this one goat that used to try to sneak in the house all the time. The only problem was that he used to shit everywhere and eat only my dad’s shoes. I’m not sure if that’s because he was attracted to my dad’s scent or what, but Dad wouldn’t allow him in the house. When ol’ Sore Mouth finally died, I think my dad was just as sad as we were.”

“Sore Mouth?” I asked with a grin, getting the door for her.

Her eyes went wide as she took in the inside of the building. “Yeah. When we got the goat she had an infected gum or something. We got her fixed up, but the name stuck since at the time we didn’t have a name for any of them. Wow, this place is gorgeous.”

I agreed wholeheartedly.

This place was the epitome of what I wanted to make out of my own house. The old barn wood all the way down to the stained concrete floors.

All I needed was about four more years in the black, and I might be able to accomplish it… with a miracle.

“One day I’m gonna have a barndominium that looks like this,” I said softly.

Codie’s eyes came to me. “You don’t like the place you’re living in now?”

I shook my head. “It’s a roof over my head, but it needs some work. We couldn’t afford much when we first moved here, so we bought the double wide from a man who was selling. It’s old as fuck, has saggy floors, and I’m more than ready to have a place that doesn’t have something break in it every single day.”

Her face softened as understanding lit her eyes.

“One day you’ll get that, Ace,” she replied. “And when you do, I hope you’ll let me come ooohh and ahh over yours, too.”

I winked. “You can help me decorate it and design it if you want to.”

Her mouth opened to reply, but a hearty ‘ho-ho-ho’ had us both turning as Santa made his way into the room.

“Wow,” she said softly. “They got a really realistic looking Santa.”

I agreed. The Santa was perfect, and you could tell that the beard he was sporting was real and not fake. His face was rosy and he was fairly chunky to boot. There was no fake anything about him.

The kids were going to love him.

Andddddd, apparently so was Codie.

She’d walked straight to him and walked right into his arms.

I blinked, surprised by the move.

“Santa!” she crowed. “You’re here!”

I brought my hand up to my mouth to cover my smile.

God, she never ceased to amaze me.

“Why hello there, little lady,” Santa said to Codie. “And who might you be?”

And that was how Codie ended up talking to Santa, and hogging him, for a good five minutes while there were eager children practically bouncing in their seats to meet him.

I saw all the parents getting a little miffed, so I went to save her before there was a revolt on our hands.

“Uhhh, Codie?” I called out, touching the palm of my hand to the small of her back.

She looked over at me with bright eyes.

“Ace, this is Santa,” she introduced me.

I bit my lip and nodded my head. “I know.”

“He’s actually not Santa,” she said so low I could barely hear her. “His name is Scott, and he used to work with my dad.”

My brows rose. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “And you better get to work. I’m glad to see you.”

Scott winked at her and gestured at her with a nod of his head. “I’d like to stop by your house and check on you. Your grandfather hasn’t been receptive to having visitors lately.”

She rolled her eyes. “If you just show up, he won’t be able to argue, now will he?”

***

Codie

Grinning at the man who was looking quite old, I said, “Well, I’ll let you get…”

“Do you mind?” a man’s voice said from behind us.

Ace and I turned to find none other than Jace, the man my grandfather and I had been talking about just last night, standing directly behind us. “We have to go somewhere after this, and we’d like to let our son take a picture with him before we have to go.”

“Oh, sorry,” I apologized. “You remember Santa, don’t you?”

Jace’s eyes shone with amusement.

There was no doubt in my mind that Jace knew who Santa really was.

“I do,” he confirmed.

Jace looked at me with a warm grin. His wife, however, who was holding their young child? Yeah, her look wasn’t so welcoming.