Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 74968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“How much clean pellets?” Adler typed away on his phone. A quick glance revealed he was in some sort of note-taking app, complete with bold bullet points.
“You’re taking notes?” I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or alarmed.
“Of course.” Adler tapped his temple with the phone. “Highly distractible brain. I’ll forget otherwise.”
“See that you don’t.” I wasn’t always this stern with new hands, but I also wasn’t above laying it on a little thick to get Adler to abandon this notion of his. “We don’t measure bedding, but you don’t want to put much more down than what I did. Over-bedding makes your cleaning time that much longer and increases respiratory risks for the horses.”
“Don’t want that.” He nodded up and down before typing more notes.
“Our vet will appreciate your diligence.” I gestured at the now-clean stall. “Not enough bedding causes its own set of problems, as does not adequately cleaning. Ammonia is another respiratory risk for horses, especially in a barn this size.”
“I’ll do a good job.” Adler’s tone was so earnest that a muscle in my jaw twitched.
“See that you do.” I moved to open the next stall. “I’m gonna watch you do the next one.”
“Watch?” Adler made the word sound like a curse. “I’ve got my notes.”
“So you do.” I leaned against a post, gesturing at the stall. “Go on now. Do like I showed you.”
“Okay.” Adler fetched the rake with about as much speed as the last drop of ketchup from a bottle. “I do the poop first.”
He paused midway through the work to consult his phone again.
I made a warning noise. “That phone of yours is gonna end up in a pile of manure.”
“Sorry.” His cheeks went bright red. He sure was pretty when he blushed, which was a thought I needed to not be having right now.
“Don’t be sorry to me.” I shrugged, keeping my expression indifferent. “I’m not the one who’ll be out the replacement fee.”
“Okay.” He pocketed the phone again, motions clumsy in the work gloves I’d given him to use. “Then I rake the bedding.”
He moved the bedding so gingerly that we’d be here till supper if I didn’t intervene.
“Less like you’re berry hunting.” I made a clucking noise. “You’ll spend an hour on each stall if you keep moving like you’re scared of a little horseshit.”
“I’m not scared.” Glaring, Adler bristled up to his full, gangly height. “I don’t do well watched.”
“Says the guy who loves attention and showing off,” I countered.
“Who said I like to show off?” Adler narrowed his eyes, glancing around like a pack of gossips might be around the next stall. Again, I had to work double time to not chuckle at his antics.
“Anyone with eyeballs.” I gestured at the half-raked pile of bedding. “Back to work.”
“I’m on to you.” Adler let out a chuckle a few moments later. “You’re trying to make me hate the work so I run back to Maverick and drop this plan.”
“Ain’t no one who loves mucking stalls.” I wasn’t going to flat-out lie, so I neatly sidestepped his accusation. “But it’s part of barn life.”
“And I’m happy to learn.” He let out a cheery whistle like some sort of six-foot elf, a merry little tune as he finished the pile and fetched fresh bedding. He stepped back to admire his fifteen minutes of handiwork on the stall. “There. Did I add enough dry pellets?”
Adler’s small, proud smile was going to be the death of me.
“Fair enough.” I needed to walk away before a real compliment slipped out. “Okay, you do the next two or three stalls on your own while I go check some other things around the barn. I’ll show you where we dump the muck cart when I get back.”
Kat caught me to discuss whether to summon the vet for a pregnant mare who was acting a bit off, then I got pulled into a lengthy discussion about winter hay needs that necessitated a call to Maverick. By the time I made it back to Adler, I was certain he’d either be done with the work or ready to give up, possibly both.
Instead, however, I found him dancing in the third stall I’d requested he clean, using the rake as a dance partner and a pole. That dang phone of his was propped up near the stall window, blasting some sort of beat better suited for four shots of tequila and last call at a Denver bar.
“What…?” I trailed off as Adler spun around, not embarrassed in the slightest. Yeah, he liked showing off. He grinned at me.
“What?” Smile firmly in place, he mocked me with no shortage of glee. “I work better with music and didn’t have my headphones with me.”
“This is a barn, not a nightclub.” I glared like I hadn’t watched him wiggle his ass for a good thirty seconds before he’d noticed my presence.