Page 34 of Cattle Stop

“Drew, pizza shop,” Cooper says.

“Have you two seen my tape measure?” Drew asks.

“Just sell the cheese to a pizza shop,” Whit says. “It’d make more sense.”

“I thought I had it, but I must’ve put it down somewhere,” Drew says, turning in a slow circle. “I was going to get some more work done in the attic before dinner.”

Cooper taps a stalk of asparagus against his chin and pushes another piece of cheese toward Sadie. “Huh.”

“Sadie shouldn’t be eating all that cheese,” Whit says.

“Sadie, don’t.” Drew pats at his pockets and turns around again. “Did I leave it in the attic?”

“No, wait.” Cooper points the asparagus at Whit. “That’s…that’d work.”

“What would work?” Whit asks.

Drew looks over too, his hands still pressed to his jeans.

But Cooper doesn’t answer, just digs his phone out of his pocket and flicks to his texts. What had Brad said? Moving up the supply chain? Cooper quickly types out, Any interest in selling some of our cheese at the market? I’ve got some ricotta I can get you at a good price.

“Totally going to work,” Cooper mumbles. We got mozzarella too, he adds.

“Coop?” Drew asks.

Cooper’s phone lights up immediately. Enough for wholesale? Brad asks.

Definitely, Cooper writes.

He catches the corner of his lip in his teeth. Kind of definitely. Almost definitely. Whatever, Drew can make more, and hell if Brad isn’t apparently by his phone right this minute ready for an answer. All the cows are coming into their milk now, and if this works out, then why couldn’t they just empty out the stock room, pack it up for Brad, and get started making more? So, yes, definitely. They have enough. Or they will have enough, at least.

I’d love to talk about it more, Brad writes. You around sometime?

Absolutely. He grins at Drew and waggles his eyebrows. “Problem solved.”

Whit tips his chin toward the counter. “Sadie’s eating our dinner.”

Cooper’s phone buzzes again. Tomorrow? Want to grab a bite to eat?

Sure, he replies and then sticks the phone into his pocket. “Wholesale. We’re doing it. Nobody has to drive to farmers’ markets, we’ll have more time to increase milk production with all those extra hours each week, and we’ll ramp up the entire farm. Brad, a wholesale account, the ricotta. Done and done.”

“What?” Drew asks. “Sadie, no.”

Cooper catches her by the collar just as her tongue takes another swipe at the pile of mozzarella on the cutting board. “This is genius. I’m a genius. You’re welcome.”

“Ramping up production?” Whit asks. “With what cows?”

“Cows make more cows,” Cooper says. “A bull, plus a lady cow, ’cause see, Whit, when two cows love each other special, etcetera, etcetera.”

Whit rubs at the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry, what?”

“This is—Drew, this is what we need. A big wholesale account, right? Scale up from selling to local folks and hit the major leagues. We’ve got the herd size for it, you’ve got the cheese skill, so what we do is increase production and sell to Brad. Hell, beyond Brad.” Cooper pats his hands at the air in front of him, his smile growing as his words speed up. Drew’s never tried this, not once, Cooper knows. Of course he hasn’t, if Whit’s had anything to say about it. Too risky, he can already hear in Whit’s voice, shooting down the idea before it can get any traction, digging his heels in like he always does whenever there’s the slightest possibility he might fail.

“How many grocery stores are there around here? Or in Albany? Hell, down in New York City? Other farms make this jump to a wider market. Why can’t we?”

“Coop…” Drew says slowly.

“You need a ton more income for the size of this farm, right? Which worked fine back in your uncle’s day when milk prices were higher, but times change and we gotta change with them.”