MacKenzie Fire(42)

I grab the cow’s head and turn it to look up at me. “Might as well give it a try,” I say to no one in particular. Clamping the calf’s mouth closed, I lean down, preparing to lock my lips to its nostrils.

“What in the sam hill are you doing?” Ian asks, ceasing his rubbing.

I don’t look up at him, all my attention focused on the disgusting good deed I’m about to do for this ranch. They’d better appreciate it, that’s all I can say.

“I’m going to give it CPR.”

Before Ian has a chance to respond, the calf’s body bucks up in some kind of seizure, and a big glob of something warm hits me in the face.

I’m suddenly blinded, afraid to open my eyes. Whatever it was she projectile vomited begins to slide down my forehead.

“That’s-a girl!” Ian yells, his voice full of joy. He claps me on the back several times. It makes me burp once. I would probably care enough to respond if I could open my eyes, but I can’t see a thing. My eyes, nose and mouth are covered in what I can only assume are cow loogies.

“Oh … Jesus Mary and Joseph …,” Ian says in a low voice.

And then he starts to laugh.

Keeping my eyes closed, I spit out everything that’s anywhere near my mouth and say in a very calm voice. “Ian. Get me a towel.”





Chapter Seventeen





“SO WHAT YOU’RE SAYING IS that you stay here in Baker City because there’s always a chance that you’ll be covered in cow loogies.” I nod as I use the only remaining non-disgusting towel to remove crud from my hair. I’m sitting in the front seat of the truck and we’re headed back to the ranch. “Yeah. I can see why you don’t move away. Who’d want to miss that?”

“Don’t try and lie and say that you’re not happy as a pig in mud right now.” Ian’s poo-eating grin is almost unbearable. Almost.

I look over my shoulder at our back seat passenger. “I’m not saying anything about anything.” The little black heifer is blinking her eyes, looking at me. It’s like she knows she goobered on me and it somehow connects us. We’ve bonded on an elemental level. Maternal feelings I’ve never had before well up in me.

For a cow.

I must be crazy.

I turn to look out the windshield so I won’t get suckered into anything dangerous. “So where to now?”

“We’ve got to get her back to the barn. Bottle feed her.”

“Are you serious?” I look at him to see if he’s laughing at me. “Why not just leave her out there with her mother?” I saw all those other babies out there. Seems like it wasn’t too dangerous. They looked happy.

“I can’t be sure the mother’s going to take care of her or that one of the other cows will adopt her, and she’s too little to fend for herself.”

I look back again at the beautiful long eyelashes that are just starting to show as the goop around them dries. “You mean … she might die? After all we did to wake her up?”

“Nah, we won’t let her die.” He pats me on the leg. “Don’t worry. She’ll be fine.”

I give up trying to ignore her and stare at her the rest of the way back to the ranch. She really is pretty beautiful, especially as she dries out. Her fur is all black except for a small white star shape on her forehead.

Ian parks the truck next to a big barn and slides her out of the back seat, taking her in his arms and bringing her inside. There’s a stall with some straw in it, and he lies her down there, taking the ropes off her legs that he said were necessary to keep her from trying to stand up in the truck. He closes us inside with her.

“Go ahead, little Candy, try and stand up now. You can do it.” He nudges her with his boot as he steps back.

“Candy?”

He looks at me and grins. “Yeah. Pretty cute, right?”

“You named a cow after me?”

He shrugs. “You mad at me for it?”

My emotions are a whirlwind. This is completely crazy. I can’t tell if he means it as an insult or a compliment but I feel like crying with happiness.

In the end, the little cow baby standing up and wobbling around on her spindly legs wins me over. “No, I’m not mad.” I cannot wipe the smile off my face.

Ian leaves me there to ogle her. She appears unsteady for a while but then she starts acting like an expert cow. It doesn’t take long before she looks like she’s ready to try running. Cows are way more coordinated than humans, apparently.

“Here,” Ian says, bumping me on the arm with a big white plastic thing that has a giant brown nipple on it. “Give her some of this.”

I stare at it and then him. He doesn’t look like he’s messing with me. “Seriously?”

“Yep. It’s all on you. Feed her and she lives. Don’t and she dies.”

My jaw drops open. “Harsh!”

“That’s life on the ranch.” He leaves me there holding the bottle.

I look at Candy and she looks at me.

“You want some of this?” I ask her.

She takes a couple steps in my direction and stops. I take one towards her and stop, holding it out.

She touches her nose on the end of it and bumps it. I almost drop it.