“Webb’s busy.” Knox tilted his head toward the dance floor. “So we’ll do it the Knox way—” He held up a hand to forestall argument. “I’ll get the job done.” He glanced at me. “And Goodman will come with me.”
I huffed out a slightly panicked laugh. “Goodman will go with you? What Goodman?ThisGoodman? Nooo. No way. Forwhat possible reason would I put myself in the path of a cow on purpose? Knox, seriously. It’s probably hard to tell from my blinding smile and myjoie de vivre, but I’m actually a fairly risk-averse, realistic person?—”
“Call Drew,” Knox repeated to Hawk, ignoring my protests.
Hawk nodded. “On it.”
“Come on, Goodman. I needed to talk to you anyway.” Knox wrapped one big, warm hand around the back of my neck and squeezed gently, and I sucked in a shocked breath I couldn’t quite hide. Then he led me out of the gym and into the big Sunday Orchard pickup.
And that washow I came to spend my eveningnotfinding a hookup but instead sitting on a metal rail inside the Sundays’ cow barn, watching the miracle of life happen right in front of me.
Sadly, the beauty and majesty of my fuck-me jeans were entirely lost on my companions in this endeavor. Knox wouldn’t have noticed if I’d been wearing a cancan dress and fishnets just on principle. Uncle Drew was busy trying to stay upright on his crutches. Marco was busy muttering baleful warnings about how Drew’s FOMO would lead him to break his other ankle. Murray the Farm Chore Guy was too young and too incredibly straight to appreciate my pants. And Wendy Reemer, the vet, was too busy using a device called a calf-jack on Stella, who had a condition called dystocia and needed Wendy to help “pull” her calf. She swore this process didn’t hurt Stella or the monster calf baby, but judging by the cow’s pissed-off expression, Stella would be staying away from the vetandfrom smooth-talking bulls for the foreseeable future.
The whole experience had been simultaneously miraculous and horrifying—maybe a little heavier on the horrifying—and even a half hour later, after the vet had left for her next emergency and Knox had driven Murray home just to be sure he was okay, I was still kinda stunned.
“They say zombie movies are gory.” I wrinkled my nose as Stella licked a bunch of viscous yuck juice from her calf’s coat. “Resident Evil’s got nothing on this.”
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 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 worthnoting 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?”
