“I bet the girls would be glad for a fresh face,” Ellie chimed in happily.
“I’d love that,” I said, sitting back a little, still watching Cricket, but she was ignoring me. Click.
“Are you good on a horse, son?” Emmett asked, changing the subject.
It took me awhile to turn my gaze away from Cricket. “Yes, sir,” I answered. “I used to play polo in prep school.” Our half of the table laughed. “What?” I asked, slightly offended.
“Not quite the same,” Ethan said.
I leaned a little toward him, not sure why I was letting him get to me, I was usually very schooled at playing the upper hand. “I bet I’m a little better than you think.”
He nodded as if he didn’t believe me. Let’s go, dude.
“Well, I guess we’ll just have to see then,” he added.
“You’ve got good arms and shoulders,” Ellie said, appraising me. “You’ll be handy come birthing season and that’s just around the corner.”
I exaggeratedly flexed my muscles, imitating a bodybuilder, making Ellie laugh. “Point me the direction of your nearest cow,” I joked.
She slapped the table and actually hooted. “Boy, you are cuter than a button!”
“Thanks,” I said, my cheeks feeling peculiarly warm.
Someone entered the room, another young ranch hand, but he appeared out of breath. “Emmett, we’ve got a heifer gone into labor and she’s having some trouble.”
“What in the Sam Hill!” Emmett exclaimed. “She’s two weeks early!” He stood and Cricket followed.
“I’ve got it, Pop Pop,” she told him.
He nodded and sat back down, picking up the drumstick he was still working on, thinking nothing of her offer.
She started for the room with her coat and boots, Eugie nipping at her heels. They’re going to let this tiny nothing of a girl deliver a calf by herself?! I jumped up and everyone’s eyes turned toward me. Bridge eyed me strangely. I stood there a good minute, debating whether I should chase after her like a goon.
“Would you like to go?” Ellie asked me, saving me.
“Is that too weird?” I asked.
“Not at all. I didn’t think you’d be able to see this for a while, but the ranch is fickle and the heifer had different ideas. Go.”
I followed Cricket but not before noticing Ethan’s furrowed brows. He was catching on, but I couldn’t seem to care.
I grabbed my coat and gloves and opened the door to freezing temperatures. The cold was so bitter; it made me step back slightly. I pushed through the frozen wind and saw Cricket’s little frame entering the barn, Eugie right behind her. The wind whipped against my face and I raised my scarf higher against my mouth and nose, reveling in the warmth from my breath. I made an immediate mental note to buy a cap of some kind.
When I entered the barn, it was several degrees warmer than the outside, the cows and hot lights brought it to a tolerable temperature. I looked around and noticed Cricket crouched in a corner messing with something. “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots” began to play. Oh my God, could she be any sexier? She stood and did a little shimmy dance move and my jaw went slack, but then she left out the other side of the barn. Where in the hell is she going? I started to follow but she quickly came back into the barn leading the heifer by a rope. She still hadn’t noticed me. She guided the animal into a metal stall and it tried to ram itself through to the other side. It was caught by a hinged gate butting against its shoulder blades and enclosing its head. The gate prevented the heifer from stepping back, most likely to stop her from trampling Cricket. I stifled a shudder.
“You gonna just stand there?” I heard, startling me. Okay, she had noticed me.
“Uh, no, Ellie said I could come down? Is that cool?”
“Sure,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.
I walked over to her corner of the barn and carefully made my way around the heifer.
“She’s early,” Cricket said.
The cow kept shaking her head up and down, side to side, snorting through what I could only assume was labor pain. She had a shiny auburn brown coat and the heat from her skin permeated in clouds above her from being so long in the cold, but she didn’t look at all uncomfortable in that respect. It was as if she was made to survive those temperatures. The heifer saw me and stilled. I placed my hand on her head but she didn’t flinch.
“How now brown cow?” I asked seriously.
Cricket snorted but stifled a smile, shaking her head. “You’re a troublemaker. I can already tell.”
“Can you?”
“You’re inciting Ethan’s wrath. Yes, you’re a troublemaker.”
I lifted my shoulders in question, feigning I had no idea what she was talking about. She rolled her eyes and started making her way around the barn. I followed her, keeping pace with Eugie. Hey, lapdog, looks like you’ve got some competition.
“Do you do this a lot?” I asked.
“About ten percent of our cattle will need help birthing during the season. I’ve gotten pretty good at wrestling a calf from its mother when I have to.”
I looked her up and down in appreciation, but she mistook it for skepticism.
“I may look small but I’m capable,” she huffed.
“Oh, I believe you.”
She furrowed her brows but continued walking. She grabbed some wicked chain thing with metal-handled grips covered in black rubber as well as two metal bars and some strange contraption I couldn’t put a name to. The barn was made of wood, much like all the buildings on the property, but this one had a concrete floor, sloped slightly to meet several drains at the base of the slant running through the middle of the barn. There were approximately twenty other cows inside, each in a stall lined heavily with hay.