Love and Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson Page A

He expected her to say no, of course.
    â€œUm, I’ll have to get back to you,” she said. “You can just…feed him till then, and whatever else.”
    Grey nodded, and they stood in silence, watching the ponies hoof about the lot. “Do you want me to show you how to halter them?” Grey asked, sounding put out. “So you can bring them in yourself when you need to?”
    â€œOh.” Leeda looked at the ponies. “Oh, God, no.” She cleared her throat. “I don’t really like animals.”
    â€œToo messy,” Grey said evenly, taking in her outfit again. His tone wasn’t kind.
    Leeda stiffened. The guy clearly didn’t like her off the bat. She decided she didn’t like him back. She straightened her spine.
    â€œToo demanding,” she said, flicking a blond tendril back coolly. “Anyway, I need their names so I can list them online,” she said. “I think people like to know names. Better marketing.”
    Grey studied her critically for a moment. “Those are Sneezy and The Baron,” he said, pointing to two that were off on their own, huddled together front to back, so their tails were swishing at each other’s chests. “They’re helping each other with flies. The other ponies don’t like Sneezy, but The Baron stands up for her. They’re pals.” He pointed to the darkest one, then along to the others. “Mitzie is the beauty. Sleepy is sleepy all the time. Tinkles is clueless and she eats leaves even though they make her puke. Just in case you can use any of that for marketing.”
    Leeda arched an eyebrow at him, realizing she was probably being mocked. Her grandmom had started “rescuing” them when Leeda was a toddler, though Leeda and her sister had always considered it more as “collecting.” She had seen them on a pretty regular basis all her life; she’d never thought of them as having alliances, enmities, and weird little quirks.
    Grey started leading her back toward the gate.
    â€œDid you go to Bridgewater High School?” she asked.
    Grey shook his head. Leeda waited for him to offer where he had gone to school, but he didn’t.
    â€œI’m probably going to get an MBA. I’m at Columbia,” she offered, just to keep the conversation going without feeling soawkward, and to let him know she was not mockery material. “I want to go into marketing.”
    Grey leaned on the fence once they got there, turned around, and looked at her. “Your grandmom treated the ponies like people,” he said.
    â€œI know,” Leeda admitted. Grandmom Eugenie hadn’t just loved the ponies—they’d been her life. She used to have birthday parties for them. She’d loved to talk about them on the phone and had sometimes made Leeda talk to them on the cordless.
    â€œFor some people it’s easier to love animals than people,” Grey said diffidently. “I wonder why a lot of people who have everything tend to be out of touch with their hearts. Like their soul’s cut off below the neck or something.”
    Leeda could feel her face flushing. She didn’t know exactly where, but she knew some line was being crossed, and she felt invaded. What he was saying about Eugenie was close to things she’d thought herself from time to time.
    â€œLook, Grey, I don’t know what I expected when I got here, but it wasn’t someone being insensitive about my grandmother, who’s dead. So please just stick to your job.” She stared at him for a minute, then couldn’t help adding, “I already know the people in my family.”
    Grey calmly stuck his hands in his pockets, studying her, irritatingly unfazed. Leeda wondered if she’d gone too far, but at the moment, she didn’t care.
    â€œI should just let you know that I’m leaving in early August,” he said. “I’ll be here till then to get you situated and all.