Luke had made coffee in the office and he handed his father a mug. They were taking a break after having spent an hour with the vet doing a herd check. The results were pleasing with many cows ready to be impregnated. “Did you remember my sugar?” Luke laughed. “Amazingly, it hadn’t gone hard.” When his mother made the coffee it was always served with thick cream but never sugar and his father had always hidden a jar of the sweet stuff in the office. “A good seal keeps out the air and the ants,” his father joked. “I’ll start on the AI for you as soon as I’ve drunk this.” A strand of guilt wound through Luke. When his father had arrived back on the farm, he’d immediately taken on the milking but as the weeks passed Vern had taken on more and more work. Luke had let it happen without comment, not prepared to discuss it with his father because he’d known if he did it would lead directly to Vern saying, “I need a decision.”
