Page 12 of Mother Clucker

Anna’s brows rose as she glanced at her husband.

“I’ll clean it up if the bugger poops. Promise.” The man must have read his wife’s mind.

“All right,” she agreed. “Let him loose. We’ll see what happens.”

I caught a glimpse of Rowdy’s temporary owner’s face and saw her hesitation.

“I’ll catch him again. No worries,” I said, to alleviate her concern.

She nodded and I bent at the waist and set the bird on the floor.

He blinked a few times, took a step and then realized humans circled him. So he did the one thing a bird might do in that situation—he took to higher ground.

He hopped up on the goat’s back and just stood there, looking around, as if he’d found his spot.

Charlie laughed. “Well, look at that. Trixie’s got a passenger.”

The rooster settled in and went from standing to sitting on the goat’s back. While the goat, amazingly, stood perfectly still and looked content.

“Trixie doesn’t seem to mind,” Anna said.

“Actually, he looks pretty comfy there.” The woman turned to Anna. “Thank you so much for taking him. I’m Heather Wilson, by the way.”

Finally. A name to go with the bad attitude and killer body.

Heather. I rolled it around in my mind the way I’d like to roll around with her.

“I’m Anna. And this is Charlie. But, Heather, I’m not sure yet that we can take him.” Anna shook her head.

“Please,” Heather begged. “I don’t know what else to do. I can’t bring him back to the condo.”

Anna cringed. “I mean I guess we could buy a cage somewhere. The pet store maybe. Keep him out here in the lobby.”

“I’ll take him.” I’d said it before I’d completely thought it through. All I knew was I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to this little spitfire. The best way I could figure to keep in touch with her was to take possession of her rooster.

“You’d take him to your chicken farm?” Heather asked.

“My ranch is in Texas,” I said. “But while I’m here in California, I’m staying with a friend at his place. He’s got a barn and a whole flock of ladies this guy here might enjoy getting to know better.”

She glanced from Rowdy, who’d now fallen asleep on his furry perch, back to me. “Okay. I guess so.”

There was a hesitation in her voice. “What’s the matter? You don’t trust me? I promise I won’t lock him in a hot truck to roast.”

“It was only for a minute.” She glared at me then said, “I’m just sad to say goodbye. You think maybe I could call and check on him?”

Exchange numbers? Oh hell, yeah. I controlled my glee. Playing it cool. “Sure. You can even come visit him if you want. Make sure he gets settled in okay.”

“Really?” She looked excited. I know I was.

“Sure.” I nodded, even though this would all be a surprise to my host.

I could always call Drew from the road on my way there. We were good friends and more, Strickland was his biggest customer. He’d want to keep me happy even if we weren’t old buddies from college.

Besides, what’s one more chicken? He already had thousands.

“I’d like that.” She smiled.

Damn she was pretty when she wasn’t scowling at me. Hell, even then, she was easy to look at.

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