“That we get snow?” Eli glanced over at Sarah, her pale skin reflecting in the night sky.
“No. Calving season.”
“Yeah, it starts as early as January for some, and goes as late as April for others. Depends on when we inseminate.”
“I’m sorry?” Sarah turned with wide eyes as Eli came to a stop at the highway.
Narrowing her gaze, Eli’s gaze slowly roved over Sarah’s confused and surprised expression. It took her a minute to realize Sarah had no clue what she was talking about. “Ranching.”
“Huh?”
Eli bolstered herself to teach. “We’re ranchers. I run a B&B, yes, but I also ranch, and I am trying my hand at farming this year, too. I have cattle, and this time of year is when the babies are born. We call it calving season.”
“They’re all born at the same time?”
Snorting, Eli nodded. “Yeah. We give them hormones so their cycles are all the same and then inseminate at the same time. That way, they’re born at the same time, I’m not staying up at all hours of the night all year long, they’re ready for auction at the same time so I’m not making multiple trips out to auction, and I don’t have to pay the artificial inseminator more than once a year.”
“Oh.”
Eli didn’t wait another second as she pulled onto the highway. She sped up and then slowed down. She could see Dwaine’s truck lights off in the distance, so luckily, she wouldn’t have to take her trusty truck too far into the fields. She followed the barely-there tracks, inching her way through the mud to him.
When she pulled up, she lowered her window. “Hey.”
“Eli.”
She grinned. “Mrs. Hargrave wanted me to check on you.”
“I’m fine, as you can see.”
“I can see. Any calves yet?”
“No.”
“Let’s hope it stays that way until morning.”
“Yup.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“Evening.”
Shaking her head, Eli rolled up the window and drove around his vehicle before following her tracks back out to the highway. That had been how just about every conversation with him had always gone. He was not the conversationalist. Mrs. Hargrave was, and they made an interesting pair for sure.
“You’re just going to leave him out there?”
“Yeah.” Eli looked down both ways of the highway before she pulled onto the pavement. It was going to be a long drive home. Checking the time, she knew she was going to be late for her three o’clock check, which meant she was going to get less than three hours of sleep that night. She’d have to remember to set the coffee maker to go automatically when she got back before she left again. Her front door seemed to be revolving.
She didn’t really speak again until they got to the turn off for her road. “Should only be another ten minutes.”
“Another ten?” Sarah’s wide and dark eyes turned on her.
Eli’s stomach flipped. Something in the way Sarah was acting was doing something to her stomach, and she couldn’t help wanting to reach over and touch her again to comfort her, but she resisted the urge. Clearly Sarah was there for a reason, and she did not want to risk messing up that or her future in any way.
“Yeah.”
“I didn’t realize it was so far out.”
“Yeah,” Eli answered, her voice softer. “It’s gorgeous with the sunrise though. Well worth it.”