Page 54 of Hometown Girl

“Oh?”

“Notthatkind of reputation. She’s notoriouslynot fun.” She said the words as if they left a sour taste in her mouth. “Going into business with her is smart, but if we want to have fun, there are going to be some things she can’t know about.”

He snapped his fingers at Roxie so she’d stop sniffing the sheep. “Pretty sure she’s going to find out about this one.”

“Right, but if we present a unified front, she won’t be able to say anything about it.” Molly pulled the bill of his hat down lower. “I’m counting on you.”

Drew held his hands up in front of him. “I’m just the employee around here. I can’t get in the middle of your family stuff.”

Molly cocked one hip out and crossed her arms over her midsection. “You’re not just the employee. You’re the guy who understands how all this stuff works. If you say Blue gets to stay, then she gets to stay.”

“And who takes care of her?”

Molly’s eyes darted away. “We’ll take turns.”

“Uh-huh. Maybe we should go get your sister.”

Molly turned away, startling the sheep, who hurried off in the opposite direction with enough force to pull her loosely tied leash from the pipe, sending her running off into the parking lot with Molly close behind.

Drew walked toward the lot and watched as Beth spotted her sister. Molly was now flailing her arms in an effort to capture the poor animal. Blue turned in circles, doing her best to keep away from Molly’s grasp.

“What is that?” Beth ran toward them, face flushed and fire in her eyes. “Molly! Why is there a sheep out here?”

Molly continued chasing Blue, hollering at Beth to shut up and help her.

At Drew’s feet, Roxie whined and inched forward, seemingly anxious to get in the middle of the ruckus, but he didn’t release her. He was having too much fun watching the two women run in circles around the overgrown sheep. Each time one of them would get close, they’d pull back, unsure how to best wrangle the poor animal, who had to be terrified by all the commotion.

Finally, and only for the sake of poor, innocent Bluebell, Drew released Roxie. The dog ran out to the sheep and corralled her back toward Drew. He picked up the lead around her neck and led her back to the pipe, this time tying the rope tight enough so she couldn’t escape. Roxie barked until Drew thanked her.

He turned, looked at both disheveled Whitaker sisters, called for Roxie and walked away.

Something told him this job was going to be quite the adventure.

Chapter Sixteen

“A sheep, Molly?” Beth stormed toward the farmhouse and followed Molly inside. “What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking this is a farm. It needs animals.” Molly leaned against the kitchen counter. She ignored the piles of dishes behind her, which Beth had pulled out of the cupboards for damage assessment.

“We agreed we weren’t going to make any decisions without consulting each other,” Beth said. “That’s the only way this can work.” She pulled her yellow dish gloves back on and knelt down in front of the fridge.

Molly sighed. “I got a really good deal on her. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“How do you know what constitutes a ‘good deal’ on a sheep?” Beth took her frustration out on a nasty stain in the bottom drawer of the refrigerator. She’d moved her cleaning efforts indoors when she realized she didn’t have the muscle strength to do any good outside.

“She was free. I’d say that’s a pretty good deal.”

“What are we going to do with a sheep?”

Molly reached into the Butler’s bag on the table and pulled out half a scone. “Breed her? Get more sheep? Petting zoos always have sheep.”

Beth sprayed the inside of the fridge with Clorox and starting scrubbing.

“There’s a man a few miles away with a horse too. And I was thinking we should get a dog. I like that Roxie so much.”

“Molly!” Beth threw her sponge into the fridge and stood.

“What?” Molly’s eyes were wide, her mouth full of scone.

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