Page 20 of Pick Me
Drew laughed and leaned his weight more fully against the fence. “I see you haven’t immediately been converted to the wonders of farm life, eh, Gage?” He grinned. “Don’t feel bad. Marco’s lived next door for years now and he still doesn’t know if he likes it.” He clapped Marco on the shoulder. “Do you, honey?”
Honey?
Oh.Huh.
I had not clocked that at all, but it sorta made sense when I thought about how they were with one another. I wondered why Marco didn’t live at Sunday Orchard, but I supposed that was none of my business.
Marco made a tsking noise. “Hush. I admit it took me maybe a year…anda couple gallons of stain remover…andan industrial snowblower… before I got on board with rural living, but I realized a long time ago that the beautyisthe mess around here. Can’t have one without the other. Fortunately, the beautiful parts more than make up for it.”
As if on cue, Stella’s calf raised itself up on shaky legs, unaware that three grown men were holding their collective breath watching her.
“Oh my word, would you look at her?” Drew breathed. “Beautiful little girl.”
“This cuteness is how the cows lure you in to slay you later,” I reminded all of us.
Knox appeared on my other side just in time to hear my comment—because of course he did—and leaned both forearms on the gate to watch the mother and baby.
“Goodman, you cannot possibly be afraid of cows after watching one give birth,” he informed me.
“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong,” I said with confidence. “My capacity for cow-related fear is basically unlimited.”
But then the baby calf made a surprisingly loud bleating noise, like she was as pissed at the universe and all the useless humans in it as her mother was, and I felt a kind of kinship with her. After all, she hadn’taskedto be jacked out into the cold October air, had she?
“Sheispretty cute, though,” I admitted. “Just this one particular miniature cow. The rest are still killers just biding their time, but she might be the exception.”
We heard a car door slam outside, and running feet announced Emma’s arrival, with Webb’s measured tread coming up behind.
“Oh my gosh!” Emma whispered. She climbed up to sit on the rail beside me. “I can’t believe we missed it. Last time Pattie calved, it took hours and hours.”
I shuddered lightly. “This was plenty long enough. The veterinarian had to use acalf jack.”
“Wide shoulders on this baby,” Knox explained. “I wouldn’t have been able to deliver her myself, even if I weren’t so out of practice.”
“Gage, if you’re still here when Muriel calves in a couple months, you can help out next time,” she offered. “You and Knox.”
While I wasn’t opposed to spending more time with my moody roommate within stampeding distance of any number of bovine assassins, this plan didn’t sound like something worth noting on the calendar. “Mmmm, I’ll probably be down in Boston or New York by then, but you can text me about it.”
Meanwhile, Webb elbowed Knox hard. “Why didn’t you get me, fucker? I looked around the gym for you for half an hour before I tracked Hawk down and he told me what was going on. I would have come home, and you could have stayed. I wouldn’t have minded leaving.”
“Oh, I bet you wouldn’t.” Knox’s lips twitched. “How was your dance with Katey? Gosh, she reallylovesunderprivileged athletes, huh?”
“Asshole.” Webb elbowed him again for good measure, then turned to Drew. “Aiden okay?”
“Oh, yeah. Perfect,” Drew assured him. “Not sure what his stomachache was about this morning, but he ate a huge dinner tonight.”
“And some plum tart,” Marco added. “I told him Sunday Sundaes would be too hard on his digestion. All those pretzels, you know?” He winked.
Webb smiled, gratitude in his eyes. “Was Wendy concerned about anything with Stella? Should I give her a call?”
“Nope,” Knox said. “Stella came through it like a champ. The doc got another callout, but she said to keep an eye on Stella for a couple hours, call her if you need her, and she’ll bill you.”
“And what about—”
“Murray’s fine,” Knox said. “His pride was injured more than anything.”
“Oh. Good.Great.” Webb nodded like he was trying to get his bearings. “Right. Well, I’ll go check on Aiden, I guess, and then I’ll come out and watch over Stella for a bit—”
“Nonsense.” Drew pushed himself off the fence and got his crutches under him. “I’m going up to the house, soI’llcheck on Aiden. Marco would’ve fireman-carried me back to the house ten minutes ago if I wouldn’t flatten him like a pancake. Everything’s going just fine, Webb, even though you weren’t there to oversee it. You have help now that Knox is home, remember?” He patted Knox on the arm, and Knox smiled back, but it seemed forced to me.
