The winner had been someone who’d been going there for most of her life, an older lady. And as predicted, the chili won. The guy was over the moon, being congratulated by a someone who I could’ve sworn pinched his ass and kissed his cheek. I guess there were more out gay people here than I’d given it credit for.
And that didn’t count for the guy who was taking thirst traps near all the animals with guys fawned over him. I heard from someone he had a bit of a secret identity in the adult entertainment industry. All I could think about from that was about how many alpacas he could buy with the money I’d seen some of those people make. Granted, that figure was probably inflated for clicks and views, but I bet Jace would’ve been a very happy boy with all the alpacas I’d buy him.
Saddle Up in the end was a very successful trip, and on the last day, cutting it close, I got the call. We were in the bedroom, packing up the suitcase we shared. Jace had gone to the bathroom to collect our toothbrushes.
“It’s all gone through,” the man on the other line said. “The three alpacas you picked out have been earmarked, tagged, and ready to be hand delivered to Vermont next week. I’ll send over all the details via email, and their paperwork will follow.”
“Three? I only—”
“Who’s that?” Jace asked.
“Three, I know you paid for two, but she’s an older one and the story you told me about your friend, I wanted to make sure I could give you a little extra,” he said.
My friend aka Jace. “Right, well, thanks for letting me know.”
Jace stood by me, trying to get me to answer. Almost like he knew there was something in it for him on the other end of the call.
“Don’t be afraid to call about any future purchases, alpacas are social animals, the more the merrier,” he said.
They were also expensive, but looking at the wide gaze on Jace’s face continue to stare at me of an answer. It was worth every single cent. “So to recap,” I said in front of him. “That’s three alpacas to Wilde Ranch, end of March.”
“Yes sir!”
“Perfect.”
Jace squealed, tackling me with a hug, his arms around my waist, squeezing me. Tears in his eyes, almost like I’d just asked him to spend the rest of his life with me. I suppose buying animals for him was akin to that, if not the next best thing. I was going to be too broke to think about that other potential… of marriage.
“Is it real?” he asked.
“Yes, three, originally, only supposed to be two,” I told him. “They were taking their time with the paperwork. I think they were hoping to have sold the lot at auction but they didn’t, so they probably took pity on me.”
Olivia appeared in the doorway. “Oh my god, I thought someone was dying in here. You know, you two need to make less noise.”
“I’m getting new alpacas,” he said. Although this wasn’t exactly new information to Olivia, but she smiled nonetheless.
All the way through packing and on the flight, Jace hugged his alpaca stuffy tight and spoke at end in little whispers to me about all the fun he was going to have with his new alpaca friends. It was like his little side had come out so publicly and it wasn’t going back in, but that was ok, because I was there to give a scowl and cocked brow at anyone who dared look at him weird or funny.
The alpacas weren’t arriving immediately, and neither was all the business Olivia and Tom had gathered from all thenetworking they’d been doing. It turned out, there was a whole lot of interest for either stabling their horses under what I could only assume was my care, or the novelty of those rich folk getting riding lessons from a cowboy. Half of them were only at the event to look at the horses and cosplay anyway.
Jace told everyone who would listen about the alpacas, especially when they engaged first about the stuffy. If that had been my first impression of Jace, I wouldn’t have known what to do. But it was safe to say we would’ve still been right here, together.
After that first kiss, I was certain that it wasn’t going to be the only kiss we would share—and I was right. I should’ve put a bet on it, but I rarely gambled, even on a sure thing.
Once we were back at the ranch, Jace was proactively preparing space for the new animals coming in. I was far too busy with the construction of the stables and making sure the horses were getting their exercise. All four of them seemed to follow my lead now, it was nice, even Coal let me lead, but only when I was riding him. And I was the only one he allowed to ride. Each day, he was up early, and each night, he was exhausted. The petting zoo trips had been back on the ranch schedule, and he was squeezing everyone for tips to support the new animals coming in.
I caught Jace drawing in the bedroom all of his crayons and paper on the bed. I stood in the doorway waiting for him to see me. In a beige alpaca onesie with the fluffy tufts on the head and around the mid section like he was going to turn into one of them.
“I thought I said no pens on the bed.”
He jumped, gasping. “I—I—” He collected all his crayons into the large pouch. “These weren’t pens though. They were pencils, so I think it’s ok.”
“Mhm, well, I’ll let you off this one time,” I said. “But if I see those gel pens, I might have to—” I gnashed my teeth together a couple times. “Bite that little ass.”
He giggled, shuffling everything together into a pile. “I think the punishment is fine, you can go ahead and give me my bite now, Daddy.”
“Well, rules are rules.”
“There’s also another rule, remember?”
