Sleighed by the Farmer’s Daughter (Sweet Christmas Kisses)

Chapter Five

Mackenzie was greeted by the smell of freshly brewed coffee and a plate of scrambled eggs and sliced ham when she trudged down the stairs the next morning.

“Coffee?” Seth asked from his place at the table where he sat working on his laptop.

“Don’t tell me you’re an early riser?” she grumbled, pouring herself a cup and adding a healthy dose of creamer.

“Not as early as some, but I can be described as a morning person, whereas by the look of things, you are not.”

“My job is nine to five, and my office is a thirty-minute train ride from my apartment, so no, mornings really aren’t my thing. Thanks for this,” she said, holding up the mug of steaming liquid. “Another one of these, and I’ll be ready to face the day.”

She quickly finished the breakfast he had prepared and then searched the laundry room once more, returning with two pairs of folded denim.

“Today’s chores will require a little more elbow grease. Try these and see if either will work.”

As Seth changed in the bathroom off the kitchen, Mackenzie washed and dried the dishes, guzzling one more cup of liquid energy. She nearly choked on the last gulp when he exited the small room wearing her father’s overalls.

“Are all the men in your family munchkin-sized?” he asked, looking down at his exposed ankles.

“I never thought so, but compared to you, they definitely have short legs. Come here. If we lengthen the shoulder straps, the legs will come down a little.” Mackenzie quickly made the adjustments, trying not to laugh at the sight of him. He reminded her of her brothers after they went through a sudden growth spurt.

“I thought it was normal to stack your pants on top of your boots. Your family can’t be that short,“ he commented, noticing that the pants were still several inches short of being comfortable.

“My oldest brother is close to six feet, coming in at 5’11. Dad’s a little shorter. Some folks stack their pants, but unless you really like scrubbing manure out of the bottoms, you let your boots get dirty and keep your pants out of the muck. Dress pants might be different. I’ve never really noticed how long their Sunday best are.” She gave him a smirk. “Are you finished being a fashion diva? The calves can’t wait much longer.”

“Diva!” Seth protested as they pulled on their boots and zipped up their coats. “I’m pretty sure living in the city, you have met some real divas, and I resent being compared to them with their fancy colognes, cashmere sweaters, and tiny little sports cars.”

Mackenzie only smiled as she pushed open the door, and they walked arm in arm against the wind back to the barn.

They fell into the rhythm of feeding the calves. Seth had picked up on the routine from the night before and managed to keep the hungry little beasts at bay while delivering their bottles.

“See? You’re a natural,” Mackenzie said, handing him the last bottle.

“Yeah, just call me the Calf Whisperer,” Seth replied with a grin.

After completing both feedings and washing the containers, Mackenzie handed him two pitchforks and pointed to a wheelbarrow. “Bring those to the baby pen, will you?”

When he arrived, she had moved the little herd of calves to a holding area and was closing the gate.

Removing one of the pitchforks resting in the cart, she said, “Now, we muck.”

It didn’t take Seth more than a moment to see she was scooping up the dirty hay and manure from the floor and transferring it to the cart, and in no time, they had scraped the floor bare.

“Now, follow the ramp down to the bottom, and you’ll find the manure chute. I’ll spray off the floor while you do that and then on to the next pen. You’re really cutting down on the time this is taking. Thank you for the help,” she said earnestly, gazing into his stunning green eyes.

“Be honest, you thought I’d be a worthless softy. Didn’t you?” Seth returned with a cheeky grin.

“Maybe,” Mackenzie said with a small lift of her shoulder before turning away to retrieve a hose off the wall. “You seem to be slowing down, so maybe you are.”

“Ha!” Seth scoffed as he stabbed his pitchfork into the cart of manure and pushed it out the door. “I drive a truck, live in a camper, and am currently wearing manure-covered boots. What more do you want, woman?”

“The day is still young, Seth. You will have plenty of opportunities to prove yourself. Are those real muscles or the pretty useless kind you get from a gym?” she challenged.

Turning when he reached the main aisle, he asked, “Is there such a thing as fake muscles?”

“Yeah, one comes with stamina, and the other comes with false bravado,” she replied, one hand on her hip, her eyebrow raised once more in challenge.

“You live in the city, not me, Mack. When this day is over, we’ll see who crashes first. I may not be a farm boy, but I am country through and through. None of the boys in my small town made it to graduation without working in the lumber yard. I may have gotten softer over the last twenty years, but I came by these muscles honestly, and I know what an honest day’s work means. Challenge accepted.”

And then he was gone. Mackenzie stood for a moment, wondering which of her comments had struck a nerve. She was used to smarting off to her brothers and was often in trouble as a kid for speaking her mind. Insulting Seth had not been her intention, though. Shaking her head, she decided not to worry about it right then, and she got to work spraying down the pen and tossing fresh hay.

When Seth finally returned, she was already hard at work on the second calf pen. Mack had assumed he was off brooding somewhere, but when he turned up covered from head to toe in manure, she stopped in her tracks and then burst out laughing, unable to control herself.

Seth didn’t say a word as she laughed, merely walked over, and when she didn’t stop but instead laughed harder, he wiped a manure-covered hand down her cheek.

That sobered her, and she quickly took a step back, tripped, and sat hard in the pile of muck she had just scooped together. Lifting her hands from the pile of muck surrounding her, she looked at them and raised her eyes to Seth. Once more, she lost her composure, laughter ringing out in the cavernous room.

The alluring sound soothed Seth, who had been seething since his mishap at the manure chute. He took in the situation and joined in her amusement, realizing that now they were both pretty well covered in cow poop.

After several minutes of hysterical laughter, Mackenzie was able to gather herself enough to ask, “Seth, what happened?”

He shook his head. “I don’t really know. It took me a minute to figure out how to open the chute doors, and then when I went to dump the cart, I guess I didn’t hold on tight enough, or maybe it was too tight. One minute, I’m at the top dumping it, and the next, I’m tumbling down behind it onto the pile.”

“Oh man, I’m so sorry. I can imagine how unpleasant that would be,“ she said, trying to contain her laughter. “Well, we have a lot more work to do, but this won’t work. Let’s get you, and now me, cleaned up, and we will try this again. Next time, I’ll dispose of the manure, and you can spray down the pen.”

Less than an hour later they were freshly showered and in clean clothes as they finished the calf pens and made their way to the reindeer barn.

“Are there any unpleasant surprises I should be prepared for?” Seth asked as Mackenzie pulled out the necessary tools for mucking out the stalls.

Attaching a lead rope to Prancer’s halter, she led her out to the center aisle. “No, this should go much smoother. I’ll pull them out of their stalls and groom them while you muck. They will be interested in you and might sniff or nibble a bit, but they won’t attack or anything.”

Satisfied with the routine, Seth set to work on the stalls. Soon, they were in a good rhythm, making swift work of the chore. He hadn’t spent much time around horses, but reindeer seemed to be much louder with all their grunting and chuffing.

As he reached the end of the barn, he noticed the two much larger animals for the first time. “What’s the story with these guys? Why don’t they get to go in the same communal pen as the others?”

“Oh, Dad is very particular about when the boys get to spend time with the girls. Until he gets home, they are on their own. I’m not about to try to separate them once they get with the ladies,” Mackenzie answered, leading one of the large males into the aisle.

“Wait a minute. Dasher, Prancer, Vixen, and all the rest are females?” Seth asked incredulously.

“Yep, if they have antlers in winter, they are a female or a male who has been castrated. Dad doesn’t do that, so all of Santa’s reindeer are ladies, and these two hunks are kept around for making babies. The four in the pen at the end are pregnant, and the eight in this pen are for the sleigh, which you probably figured out from the names on their stalls. We will let them hang out for a few hours, and then tonight, when I come back to feed them, they will go back to their stalls to rest and enjoy their personalized meal plans. Come on, I’m starving, and there’s a lot more work to do today. These are the last two stalls, then we get to head back to the house.”

She didn’t have to tell Seth twice. Within the hour, they were warming up in the kitchen, enjoying tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Mackenzie reached across the table and gently squeezed Seth’s arm. “Thank you for the help. That usually takes me the entire morning, and I still have so much work to get done for Santa’s Village in two days. I’m sorry you had trouble in the manure chute. I wasn’t playing a joke on you; I honestly didn’t realize it would be a problem.”

Seth gazed into her eyes, noticing for the first time how the brown reminded him of his morning brew. “I know. It was my fault. I should have paid better attention. I was annoyed, and your laughter rubbed me wrong at first, but in the end, I have to admit the whole thing was pretty funny. I should apologize for smearing manure down your face. That was not gentlemanly of me. My grandfather would have tanned my hide if he had seen that. Will you forgive me?”

“Are you kidding? That was part of the whole thing. I was surprised by it, but if it had been one of my brothers, they would have hugged me or knocked me down and rolled me around in it for revenge.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course! Growing up on a farm, manure is involved in the best pranks. Although Mom hated it when we brought it inside, so in the summer months, we had to strip down outside and hose off, but it was all par for the course. It’s a farm; you’re going to get dirty,” she chuckled, returning to her meal.

“Well, it was a first and hopefully a last for me. Now that I know how things work, I’m pretty sure I can help with the chores without wearing them in the future. Please tell me we only have to muck the stalls and pens once a day,” he said a little dramatically.

“Yes, thank the Lord! Feeding twice, mucking once. I will have to separate out the reindeer later, but the girls don’t usually give me a hard time. They like their grain buckets too much to protest.”

After clearing his place and washing his dishes, Seth asked, “Okay, what other chores did you have to get done today?”

Smiling broadly, excitement thrumming through her petite frame, Mackenzie declared, “Why, it’s time for Santa’s elves to get back to the workshop.”