“Should I go over there?”
“No. That would be a terrible idea. You could get in a lot of trouble for showing up uninvited. Don’t even think about it.”
Nev tapped her laptop screen, drawing Ronnie’s attention back to the rams. The rams had been photographed against blurry green backgrounds by people with expensive camera lenses. Nev could do that: take glamour shots of livestock, make them look like movie stars. “What about that one?” Nev said, pointing to a Border-Leicester ram with a majestic profile and a bald head. “What’s his name?”
Ronnie pulled the computer onto her lap to get a closer look. She said the first word that came into her head. “Blue.” Nev’s eyes were a sort of pale sky color that changed depending on the light.
Nev accepted her laptop back.
“True Blue. That’s the best I’ve got. I like Border-Leicester and Southdown. I’d also be fine with Dorset, White Suffolk or Corriedale. You pick.”
Nev looked disappointed. “I thought we agreed to make the lambs less cute and fluffy next year so we wouldn’t grow so attached to them.”
“That plan is flawed, mate.” They would grow attached to the lambs regardless of what they looked like. All lambs were adorable.
Ronnie called Maude. The line rang. Maude answered. “Hello?”
“Please don’t hang up again.”
“Sorry about that. I wasn’t trying to. Rainbow and I had to have a talk about mobile phone safety.”
“I thought we agreed she could call me any time.”
“She can. I didn’t know she was talking to you. It’s after her bedtime. She’s supposed to be sleeping right now. Let me bring her the phone.”
She drew a deep breath in, then let it out slowly. Maude wasn’t angry. Everything was fine. False alarm. Over the phone she heard Maude walking up the stairs and could picture the antique wooden staircase with the Victorian railings and redwood banisters, so out of place in the otherwise dumpy old Queenslander. She swallowed. “You’ve been trying to call me? I saw I missed a call or two.”
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“Sorry, babe. Sometimes I turn it off at work. I’ll keep it turned on.”
“I thought you were on medical leave?”
“I am.”
“You’re hanging out at the farm not working.”
“Um, yeah?”
“What happened? The rumor mill about you is wild right now—I keep hearing stories about you getting hurt at work. Are you all right?”
She couldn’t explain the ectopic to her ex over the phone right now. “It’s a long story, but I’ll be fine. I can’t lift anything for eight weeks.”
Maude swore. “That sucks. Can you drive?”
“Not currently.”
“Maybe we should hold off on you taking Rainbow until you can drive again?”
Ronnie’s stomach dropped.I need to see her.“My dad or Blaise have been picking her up and dropping her off, so nothing has changed from that perspective.”
“If you think you’re up to it. I feel bad for sending her with you two weekends in a row. I wouldn’t have if I had known you were laid up. Can you still supervise her properly? I don’t want Nev driving her around. Like, that’s a red line in the sand for me.”
Ronnie stole a sideways glance at her friend. Nev was still oogling rams.
“She doesn’t.”
“I know you’re like the friendliest person ever and haven’t experienced stranger danger, but we’re still on the same page about not letting her be alone with people outside of nuclear family members, right?”
