contaminant. So, you know.” She shrugged, regarding Mia as she sipped her coffee. “You don’t have to hike the trails if the woods aren’t your bag. There’s a lake with a wide path around it and a nice, civilized picnic area. And of course, the springs are really popular this time of year.”
“The springs?”
“The springs that feed Cooper Creek. There’s a few natural swimming holes up there. Including the Holler, which is clothing-optional if you’re into that.”
Mia stared at her in surprise. “There’s a nude swimming area?”
“Been here for years.” Andie took her ponytail out and raked her fingers through her thick, glossy hair that was the same shade of dark brown as her brother’s. “The area was settled by Czech and German immigrants who brought nude sunbathing over from the Old World.” Gathering her hair up again, she refastened it into a bun as she spoke. “Then in the sixties, the hippies discovered the Holler when old Earnest King started up a folk festival to promote the dance hall here. They started coming down from Austin for the music, and a lot of them put down roots and never left.”
“Hippies? Really?” Mia hadn’t expected to find hippies in a place like this.
“Hell yeah. A whole bunch of artists and musicians moved here in the sixties and seventies. Between the music festival and the ice cream factory, there was enough tourism to support a decent living.” Andie grinned as she leaned forward, resting her arms on the table. “Birdie’s parents—my grandparents on my mother’s side—used to own a head shop right on Main Street.”
Mia’s mouth fell open. “You’re kidding?”
“Nope.” Andie shook her head as she leaned back in the booth, crossing her arms. “They sold other stuff besides weed paraphernalia, of course. New age crap like crystals, incense, candles, and whatever else stoners were into. My grandmother used to make the candles herself. And my grandfather made these hand-carved pipes and incense holders. They did pretty well in the seventies and eighties before internet sales became a thing.”
Mia found Andie’s stories about the town and her family’s history fascinating. She didn’t have any interesting stories about her own straitlaced and upwardly mobile family. “So where’d the goat farm come from?” She remembered Birdie saying it had been in Josh’s family for years.
“That was my dad’s brainchild. He was a geologist for one of the big oil companies. He came here to do a survey, met my mom, and fell in love with her and the town.”
“So he just stayed here? Did he have to give up his job?” Mia couldn’t help thinking about her last conversation with Paul. She’d hoped he would offer to move here with her, but only because he had the option of working remote—he could have done it and still kept his job. As crushed as she’d been by the breakup, she’d never once been the slightest bit tempted to sacrifice her own professional ambitions in order to stay with him.
“Not at first,” Andie said. “My mom moved to Dallas after they got married and worked as a bookkeeper for a while, but Dad traveled so much she was miserable all the time. After Josh was born, my parents moved back here and bought a piece of land to raise dairy goats.”
“Wow.” Mia couldn’t imagine doing something like that. Giving up your career for the person you loved and moving to the country to become a farmer? It was unfathomable. Her parents had never given up anything for each other. Or for their kids, for that matter.
“Everyone thought they were off their rockers. My dad was a city boy and neither of them knew the first thing about goats.” Andie shrugged. “But they ended up loving it, so I guess it was the right choice.”
“You grew up on a goat farm?” As she sipped her coffee, Mia tried to picture what that must have been like. Very different from the Park Slope brownstone where she’d spent her youth.
“Yeah, I knew how to milk a goat before I could ride a bike.” Andie eyed Mia as though she were sizing her up. “Aunt Birdie said you moved here from California?”
“I was in Los Angeles for graduate school, but I grew up in Brooklyn.”
Andie arched an eyebrow. “A New York City girl. Wow. This place must feel like you’ve landed on Mars.”
“A little.” Mia was self-conscious about seeming like an outsider. She knew she was one, but she hated the idea of sticking out like a sore thumb.