Chapter 4
"I'm sure she does."
"She's easy to milk."
"I believe you."
"Then I don't understand."
"I have nobody who knows dairy work."
"Your cook?"
"My cook believes milk comes from a tin."
That nearly got me again.
Adrien leaned forward.
"Your cow would arrive at my place, get handled by men she doesn't know, milked badly, fed wrong, and dried off before winter."
"Then why did you answer my card?"
His eyes held mine.
"Because I misunderstood what I was buying."
I said nothing.
His gaze moved once toward the yard.
"That animal isn't livestock to your boy."
Heat climbed into my face.
"She is still a cow."
"Yes."
"Forty dollars is still forty dollars."
"Yes."
He reached into his coat.
Two twenty-dollar bills appeared in his hand.
He placed them on the table.
For several seconds I simply stared.
"The price was forty," he said.
"I know."
"But you don't want Clover."
"I don't."
"Then I cannot take your money."
"That is what I expected you to say."
My eyes snapped to his.
He had the irritating calm of a man who had already had the argument by himself and believed he knew how it ended.
I pushed the bills back.
He pushed them toward me again.
"I owe you nothing."
"You owe Peabody thirty-six dollars."
I froze.
I felt the blood leave my face.
"How do you know that?"
"Peabody mentioned a note when I asked about the property."
My chair scraped back.
"You asked about my property?"
"I did."
"You had no right."
"No."
His answer came so quickly that it stole some of my anger.
He nodded once.
"I probably didn't."
"Probably?"
"No. I didn't."
I folded my arms.
"Then why did you?"
"I wanted to know why a woman with one milk cow that earns her living would sell it for forty dollars."
"That was none of your concern."
"I agree."
"You certainly concern yourself with many things that are none of your business."
"That has been said before."
For the first time, I saw something in his expression that might have been dry amusement.
It only annoyed me more.
"Take your money."
"No."
"I will not accept charity."
"Good. I don't offer it."
He placed one hand over the bills.
"I have a proposition."
I should have told him to leave.
Instead I remained standing.
"What proposition?"
"I need somebody who knows dairy work."