10. Clay
Clay
E ven I had to admit, the city girl was doing a good job.
She had the weirdest ideas at times that made me think she needed professional help, but at least she was putting her head down and getting on with her work.
I wanted to dislike her—no, I did dislike her. Just because every now and again she did something slightly endearing, did not mean I suddenly found myself fond of her. Yes, she was doing her job well and without complaint, but that didn't change the fact that she didn't fit in on a ranch.
My pack mates were smitten. It was almost embarrassing for them.
Maisie. Our sweet little girl loved having Piper around.
It had taken her a day or two to warm up to Piper, but now that she’d gotten to know her, Maisie was obsessed.
I love my daughter more than anything else in the world, and I wasn't going to be too big an ass now that she finally had a female influence in her life.
I just wished that female influence was a bit more country and a little less city.
It had been scorchingly hot the last few days, so we got most of our work done before the sun got too high in the sky. If we left it until the middle of the day, we would all be dying of heat-stroke.
Having my employees pass out on me would make me a pretty bad boss.
Kicking off my boots, I followed the sound of giggling voices to the kitchen, where Maisie was sitting on the counter and Piper prepared food.
It was neither lunch nor dinnertime, but I had quickly realized that the pair of them liked to cook at all times.
Sometimes they were preparing things early for dinner, and sometimes they were making cookies.
And fuck, were those cookies good.
Grudgingly, I’d had to admit that they were delicious when Piper asked me. It didn't help that my daughter was staring up at me with those wide blue eyes, full of hope that she had done a good job. I knew full well that Maisie did minimal to help, and it was actually Piper who had made the cookies.
Even though I wouldn't admit it, I was excited to see what they were making. Piper was a decent cook. Since she’d moved to the ranch, we’d stopped relying on takeout from Evelyn's several times a week.
Sauntering over, I smiled at my daughter. “Hey, baby, are you having a good day?”
Her face lit up as she noticed me. “Daddy!” she squealed. “We making salads.”
Salads.
Rabbit food.
I really hoped she wasn't planning on feeding us that shit, because we were fully grown alphas who did hard manual labor. We could not survive off of rabbit food.
Piper chuckled. I’d been so busy looking at my daughter, I hadn't noticed that she was looking my way. “Don't worry, your salad will include steak. You guys could use a few more nutrients, and having a steak salad with a side of fries won’t hurt you.”
I grumbled quietly to myself. That sounded almost edible.
Only… she was cutting up fruit, not steak.
“What is this?” I asked, leaning over and looking in the bowl with a sneer of disgust. It looked like watermelon, leaves, and some crumbled up white stuff. Its smell was sweet and salty and very foreign to me.
“Oh, it’s watermelon, feta cheese, and some mint! It’s a lovely summer salad, perfect for this kind of weather.”
I stared at her, trying to comprehend the words she’d just said as she returned to the kitchen counter, chopping up some other unknown food.
Probably some of that damn free-range tofu.
“Cheese? On watermelon?” I asked incredulously. “Who on earth is going to eat that, because I can promise you it isn’t going to be me.”
Piper leveled me with a glare. “It's healthy, and I know that new things are scary to you, but Maisie's being such a big girl and trying new things.”
“I big girl!” Maisie declared happily. “Daddy, you try salad?” she asked sweetly, grabbing a fork and spearing a piece of covered watermelon.
More than anything, I wanted to say no. There were a million things I would rather do than put that piece of crumble-covered watermelon into my mouth. Muck out horse stalls. Rewire all the ranch fences with bare hands. Eat kale.
All those things seemed far more appealing than eating the piece of butchered fruit my daughter was holding out for me.
But I had to be a good influence for her. I was totally going to tell Piper off for it later, but in front of Maisie, I couldn't. I was trying to encourage my daughter to try new things.
I shot a quick glare Piper’s way. She was biting her lip, trying her best not to laugh at my indecision.
But I refused to look like a baby, especially in front of my daughter, so I shoved that watermelon straight into my mouth and started chewing as Maisie beamed at me, pleased I was trying it.
Oh god, it was awful.
I was a simple man. Fruit should be fruit and should have nothing added to it. I wasn't opposed to trying new things, like dragon fruit, which Zeke had bought at the market a few weeks ago. But I would much rather have my fruit just be a fruit with nothing fancy added.
It was incredibly hard to describe what I was eating, other than it simply felt wrong.
Only…I didn't want Maisie to know that. I didn't want to encourage bad habits and pickiness. So, I chewed that bite of watermelon slowly and swallowed it, my face probably looking less than pleased, while Piper bit back a laugh.
At least they were getting a giggle out of the situation.
“Don’t worry,” Piper said quietly as I swallowed, and Maisie went back to stirring the bowl in front of her. “There is a chicken salad sandwich in the fridge ready to go for you.”
“You couldn’t have said that earlier?” I asked, glowering at her. A chicken salad sandwich sounded far better than the fruity cheesy crap that she was making.
She laughed, a beautiful sound I couldn’t help but take notice of.
“And miss you going all green around the gills when you had to eat this? Clay, I wouldn't miss that for the world.”