“He kissed you, didn’t he?”
Hot humiliation ran through Lenore, but she pushed it away. “Yeah. We’re seeing each other,” she said. “I think that’s pretty normal for people who are dating.”
Arizona sighed and folded her arms as she looked over to the cowboys. “Yeah, but you’re different.” She moved to the back of the truck and lifted out a carrier with squabbling chickens inside.
“What does that mean?” Lenore asked, but April pressed a carrier of chickens into her chest, and the three of them walked past her with a cacophony of clucking happening around them.
I’m different?she thought, and then she hurried to follow the other women so they could release all dozen chickens into their new nesting area at once.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Brandon said, rushing toward them. “I wanted to take a video of this.”
Lenore felt silly, and yet she couldn’t erase the smile from her face either.
Arizona grinned like a child on Christmas as well, and she entered the coop area and set her carrier down. “Let’s line up, ladies.”
Lenore did what she said, as did her daughters.
“Okay, on three, two, one.”
Lenore opened the catch on the crate at the same time as the others did, and one beautiful, fluffy, brown chicken emerged from the crate. She sucked in a breath, because this was no ordinary chicken.
With the beautiful golden feathers fading like a river delta into the deep, dark brown body, Lenore realized Arizona had gotten a Leghorn.
These chickens could lay over three hundred eggs a year.
A snowy white Leghorn followed the brown one. She looked over to the carrier next to her, from which emerged three dark red chickens with a single red comb. Those were Rhode Island Reds, and they also could lay up to three hundred eggs a year.
Lenore could definitely sell eggs with just these two birds—and Arizona had brought a dozen.
April had released a trio of beautiful black and white Plymouth Rock chickens, who laid brown eggs—perhaps not quite at the rate of the other two breeds, but still plenty.
Doing the math, with just these nine chickens, Lenore estimated they could produce twenty-five hundred eggs a year. That was seven eggs per day, and there was no way she would eat that much.
Down on the end, April had released three dark black birds, and they almost had a greenish-purple sheen to their glossy feathers.
“These are Black Australorps,” Zona said, as if no one there knew. “And of course, the Rhode Island Reds.” She beamed at the beautiful auburn birds. “And we have a few Leghorns and some Plymouth Rocks.”
Duke whistled and said, “Those are some pretty birds.” He grinned at his wife, and Zona did a little curtsy for him.
“We couldn’t get any Golden Comets,” she said matter-of-factly. “But I put six on preorder for you. They’ll be perfect in your mobile mini coops.”
Lenore opened her mouth to say something, but she had no idea what.
“I was thinking we should’ve gotten the Isa Browns,” Brandon said. “We can put those in the second mini coop.”
Lenore felt whipped around, but in the best way possible, once again riding that wonderful roller coaster with Brandon and now his family.
“All right, girls,” Zona said. “Let’s go show her what else we got.”
She picked up her now-empty carrier and led the way out of the coop. Lenore, as overwhelmed as she was, fell a few steps behind them, but she managed to make it out, and she let Brandon lock the door behind her.
“What else did you get?” he asked, a certain wariness in his voice.
“You’ll see.” Zona climbed up into the back of the truck and stacked the carriers along one side of it. Then she lifted out a flat of plants, and Lenore sucked in a breath and covered her mouth as she came to a complete stop.
“Strawberries,” Arizona proclaimed.
Lenore burst into tears. Everyone stared at her as the sobs wrenched through her chest, and she shook her head, trying to tell them she was okay. She just needed a second.
