Page 5 of For Him

She nodded, sucking in her bottom lip and still not moving.

Cassidy shook his head subtly and she wiggled her fingers in a small wave. “Hi, Carly,” he politely said, acknowledging her.

She giggled. “Hi,” she replied, her voice sounding dreamy. She continued to stare at him in awe.

“Carly, we are fine out here. Thank you though,” Doc reiterated.

“Oh, right.” She blinked rapidly several times and then gave me a brief wave before disappearing back inside the clinic.

Cassidy cleared his throat and raised a brow towards me, gesturing for me to continue.

“Anyway,” I began. “A blood test and finding out where they’ve been would confirm the diagnosis, but I believe they have locoweed poisoning,” I responded, raising a snarky brow towards a cocky Cassidy.

He snorted and leaned against the chute. “Right. We clear our pastures of it every spring. Riding inch by inch to make sure that it won’t happen.”

“Every inch? Even in places that aren’t pasture? You said they got out and you couldn’t find them.” I raised my chin and stared at those hazel eyes full of wicked schemes.

“Every. Inch,” he spoke lowly, stepping my way and raising a brow. We stood there locked in battle, silently unwilling to back down from our positions. It took every ounce of strength in me to not give into his devilish brow raise, the perfection of his features that were trying to beat over my knowledge and certainty.

And eventually, I won. Saved by Doc himself. “I am inclined to agree with Doctor Mayn, Cassidy.”

I grinned maliciously in triumph as Cassidy’s brow faltered.

“What?” He glanced away, towards Doc with shock.

“Garlic scent on her breath, the way she’s lost coordination and clacking her hooves together; both of them act almost drunk, and are lethargic. Plus, they’re both underweight, and I know your family, your cattle. This is highly unusual right before winter.”

“Yes, but like you said, it is before winter. I thought locoweed was mostly gone by now.” Cassidy ran a hand over the heifer’s neck and furrowed his brow.

“You feel it. The coarseness of her coat,” I added, and he gave a subtle nod.

“Couldn’t it be anything else?” he asked.

Doc sighed. “Let’s rule this out first. Blood test, and either myself or Doc Mayn needs to go with you to see if you can find any locoweed anywhere. I’ll give them some fluids and turn them out to pasture here, but you know what the prognosis is.”

He nodded. “Time will tell. Weston is going to be so pissed,” he muttered, watching the two sick heifers.

“They from Eugene?” Doc asked.

I glanced in confusion between the two men.

Cassidy nodded briefly, then returned his gaze to the two black cows. “Luckily not the first, but they were two of the largest ones yet.”

“Eugene always produces big babies.” Doc chuckled.

“So far.”

Finally, I’d had enough. “Who is Eugene?” I snapped.

Both men laughed as Doc guided the two heifers into a new run. “Probably the best prized bull I’ve seen in years,” Doc answered and then told me I was up.

The conversation ended quickly as I preg checked the two cows and we ran a few more tests before the two healthy ones were loaded back into that nice, silvery trailer.

Doc shook hands with Cassidy and spoke. “I’ll send Tenley here, out tomorrow, and y'all can try and locate the culprit. Try and figure out where they went before then.”

Cassidy’s beautiful face turned towards me and he grinned, tipping his head. “See you tomorrow.” He winked and jumped into the truck, speeding out of the clinic.

Doc had me take every small-animal visit, which was only two of them, and then had me assist on everything else. He told me several times how proud he was of how things were going, and I couldn’t help but smile inwardly. Maybe I wasn’t going to be so bad at this after all.

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