Red Hot

by Cat Johnson

  She was breathing heavily and looked close to tears. It was enough that I dropped the bag in my hands on the pile and strode over too.

  Stone grabbed her shoulders and leaned low to say, “Harper, tell me.”

  “It’s . . .” She paused to let out a big breath. “It’s so horrible. People are so horrible. This town, I swear.”

  Harper was a master storyteller. Like literally. She was a professional, award winning, bestselling writer, but whatever had happened today had been so upsetting, Stone couldn’t get a straight answer out of her.

  “What are you talking about?” he asked. “Start from the beginning. Slow.”

  As Boone wandered closer to stand next to me, she sucked in a gulp of air. Finally, she said, “Last night, Red found a cow.”

  “Wait, what?” Now she had my attention. I took a step closer. “Red found a cow? Last night?”

  She nodded but I still didn’t know what she was talking about.

  I was five seconds away from pulling out my cell to call Red and get the whole story when she finally pulled herself together enough to calm down and start explaining.

  “A baby cow must have escaped from the stock auction and was in Bethany’s yard. She didn’t know what to do so she texted Red. So of course, Red went over to help her.”

  Of course, she did. I could picture it now. Red and Bethany chasing after a calf. Baby or not, that calf wasn’t going to want to be caught.

  My lips twitched at the vision in my brain. I’d pay good money to see a video of how that went down.

  “So, Red caught it,” Harper continued.

  “Caught it how?” Boone asked.

  “Bethany said Red had a cookie as bait and a dog leash from the store to tie it up. She like jumped on it, got the leash around its neck and somehow was able to get it back to her carriage house. And that’s when she posted a picture of it on Facebook. Because, you know, it was cute.”

  Of course, she’d post it on Facebook, because that’s what Red did.

  I smiled again, about to take out my cell to find this picture when Harper said, “Then the nastiness started. And the threats. And all the mean people in this town showed their true colors.”

  My smile faded. “What do you mean?”

  “There are all sorts of nasty comments on her Facebook post. Then some people started private messaging her. Saying she stole that cow because it belongs to the auction house. Someone said they were going to turn her in and she’d go to jail. Then other mean people were sending her pictures of steaks and telling her he was going to be veal chops soon once the auction house got him back.”

  Harper leaned into Stone as he rubbed her back, comforting her.

  Meanwhile, I needed a little comforting myself because I was getting pissed off. How could people be such dicks to Red for trying to help a helpless animal?

  “She didn’t steal it. The auction was days ago. It must have been running loose all this time,” Boone pointed out the obvious.

  “Well, whether they had a case against her or not, they really upset her. She was crying when she called me. She’s worried if she doesn’t return it—which of course she doesn’t want to because, you know, veal—then they could say she did steal it. She said she was contacting the authorities to see what she could work out.”

  “What authorities?” I asked, realizing now was not the time to be jealous she might have called Carson, but I had to ask anyway.

  “I don’t know. But she was going to call the owner of the stock auction too, to try to buy the cow. She’s really upset by this. I don’t blame her. He’s so cute with those big brown puppy dog eyes, I don’t think she can part with him now. She sat up with him all night in the little pen she built in her carriage house.”

  I could picture that. But at the same time, I was disappointed that she didn’t feel she could call me for help. Instead, she’d obviously called Harper instead.

  “What do you think’s going to happen?” She turned her teary eyes to Stone.

  He cringed. “Harper, you have to understand that small farmers make a living raising and selling cattle for meat.”

  “I know that. And I’m not a complete hypocrite. I eat meat and wear leather. What I’m saying is this poor baby cow was running around town for days, starving, probably dehydrated, cold, scared, and no one bothered to report it or look for it? Then, now that Red found it, people say it’s not hers and she has to give it back? How is that right? Isn’t there such a thing as finders keepers?”

  Stone was obviously between a rock and a hard place, no pun intended. Agree with his girl, or his hard place would not be rocking into her any time soon.

  Personally, I could see Harper’s side. This calf had been basically abandoned by the auction company—probably already written off as a loss. A cost of doing business. And Red had gone to the trouble of capturing it and caring for it.

  But on the other hand, Stone was right in that this calf was not a pet. It had originated as a valuable asset to a small farmer who’d brought it to auction to sell to put food on the table for his family.

  And what the hell did Red think she was going to do with it when it was no longer such an adorable little baby cow, as my brother’s city-born girlfriend kept calling it?

  More than that, Harper kept calling it a he. If this calf was indeed a male, which it might well be if it had been in the meat pen for sale, it would soon become a bull. And bulls did not make the best of pets.

  Harper’s Aunt Agnes might have successfully rescued and made a pet out of that pig of hers that had escaped from the auction, but not all escaped livestock could be domesticated.

  The future of the calf aside, I was most worried about Red and how this was affecting her.

  I knew the woman. I’d bet better than she thought I did. I’d personally seen customers treat her with a complete lack of common courtesy, and she’d respond with a smile and a kind word. Not only did her business depend on it, but I think that was just the kind of person she was. The type to show kindness in the face of those being far from kind.

  But how long before they broke her? Before she couldn’t take any more? I would have cracked long ago.

  Boone cringed. “It’s only a matter of time before the town slaps a violation on her. Fining people is Animal Control’s favorite pastime.”

  “Boone’s right. There are rules about keeping animals in the village.” Stone nodded.

  “What about Petunia?” Harper asked.

  Stone shook his head. “Agnes only gets away with having Petunia because the board voted in a special variance just for her.”

  Boone nodded. “Yeah, and they only got away with doing that by making Petunia the official Mudville Hogs mascot.”

  “Well we need to do something. We need to help Red,” Harper said.

  I agreed whole heartedly with Harper. Red hadn’t asked for my help, but I was going to help her anyway. Somehow.

  “How?” Stone asked, looking at a loss.

  “I don’t know. Can’t Morgan Farm buy the cow, legally, so they can’t take it back to the auction?” Harper asked.

  Stone shrugged. “I mean, I guess. If they’re willing to sell it. And at a fair price.”

  I scowled at my frugal older brother. “I don’t care if it’s a fair price or not. I’ll pay for it out of my own damn pocket if I have to.”

  Stone shot me a glance and finally sighed. “All right. I’ll call the guy at the auction and see what I can do.”

  I had the number for the office of the guy who ran the auction in my phone too, but since I was a wee bit emotionally involved in this because of Red, I let Stone make the call.

  As the older Morgan brother, and probably the heir apparent to the family business in the eyes of the auction company, he was the best choice anyway. And if there was one thing Stone did do well, it was act like he was the boss around here. For once, that would come in handy.

  I’d never realized how annoying it was to only hear one side of a phone conversa
tion until now. Between Stone’s yups and nopes and the occasional I see and I understand, I was ready to wrestle the cell out of his hand and take over myself.

  Finally, he disconnected the call and glanced around at all of us. I didn’t like the expression on his face or the way he was dragging his feet to report what had been said.

  Apparently, neither did Harper. “What’s happening?” she demanded.

  “Red is there right now at the office,” Stone said.

  “That’s good, right? She must be there to pay for the calf,” Boone guessed.

  Stone drew in a breath. “No. Not exactly. The sheriff’s department and somebody from Animal Control are both there too, to supervise the calf being turned over to the rightful owner. The auction house.”

  “What?” Harper’s eyes widened as my own narrowed.

  Stone nodded. My only solace was that he didn’t look happy as he said, “They were just about to head over to Red’s to get it.”

  Fucking idiots.

  Couldn’t they see how much this calf meant to this woman? And they couldn’t see clear to selling it to her, or to us even?

  There was only way to deal with idiots. You couldn’t argue with them, but you could go around them. And that’s exactly what I was going to do.

  Turning on my heel, I stalked out of the barn, past Boone’s truck and directly toward my own.

  “Where are you going?”

  I heard Boone’s question behind me but I didn’t respond.

  First of all, there was no time to waste. Second, though Boone and Harper would support me, I was pretty sure Stone wouldn’t like my answer.

  I might have sped a little bit getting to Red’s place, but I adhered to the speed limit coming back home.

  First off, I really didn’t want to get pulled over with a stolen calf, hog tied and hidden under a blanket, in the bed of my official Morgan Farm pick-up truck. And second, I was transporting precious cargo. The calf Red had fallen in love with.

  This might be the one thing in the world that I could give Red that no other man could. The life of this, admittedly, exceptionally cute little calf.

  The calf who was, without doubt, a girl, not a boy. Thank goodness for that. It not turning out to be a bull would definitely help when it came time to admit to my parents what I’d done. And when it came time to assimilate this little girl in with our own milk herd.

  I had to plan ahead for that even though, up until now, planning ahead was something I didn’t generally do.

  Funny how I was looking to the future now . . . and not just in regard to this calf.

  TWELVE

  Red

  I stared at the owner of the stock company in disbelief.

  In fact, I’d been walking around pretty much in a constant state of disbelief ever since Bethany’s text last night just before midnight.

  Silly me had thought it might be a booty text from Cash, and I’d been open to it. Then I’d seen it was from Bethany about a stray calf running around her yard.

  Things had just gotten crazier from there.

  The calf. The evil people in town threatening me. And now this—the owner of the stock auction going back on his word to sell me the calf.

  I tried to keep my cool as I said, “Mr. Philbin, you said on the phone that I could buy the calf for fair market value.”

  That was why I had closed up the shop, driven to the office and was standing there with my checkbook in my hand trying to pay the man for the calf currently stashed in my carriage house.

  “Did I?” The man lifted one shoulder.

  I felt my blood pressure rise. Torn between anger and tears, I only hoped I could keep from breaking down in front of this bastard. He didn’t deserve to think he had the power to make me cry.

  The door behind me opened, making his focus move from me to whoever had come in. I turned to see who that was and frowned as Carson Bekker, in uniform, walked in.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked.

  “Got a call at the department asking for somebody to come over here. Something about having to recover some livestock. I was told it might possibly be a hostile situation.”

  Hostile situation.

  I felt my nostrils flare as my jaw clenched. “Is that what they said?” I turned slowly and glared at the older man through narrowed eyes before turning back to Carson. “Well, I hope you brought backup. You know, in case you can’t control me and all my hostility.”

  “This is about you?” Carson asked, a furrow forming between his eyes.

  “Apparently.” I cocked a brow high.

  Carson’s appearance and the information he’d revealed had worked to move me further away from tears and smack into the middle of the anger zone.

  “This woman is holding one of my calves at her place,” Philbin said, looking as if he believed he was firmly on the side of right. We were in a gray area as far as I was concerned.

  Carson’s brows drew lower. “Where are you keeping a calf at your place?”

  There was one good thing. If anyone would listen to my side of the story, it would be Carson.

  “For now, the carriage house,” I answered. “But now that you’re here, maybe you can help.”

  Carson nodded. “I’ll do my best. If somebody tells me what’s going on.”

  “I—” Philbin began.

  “I’ll tell this story,” I said, shooting a glare at him before looking back to Carson. “A calf escaped during the last auction. The poor thing was on the loose for days when it wandered into Bethany’s yard. It was cold and hungry and thirsty and as far as I can tell no one was looking for it and, correct me if I’m wrong, no one had reported it. So, I took it to my place then contacted the office here to offer to buy it.”

  Even though the bastards hadn’t even been looking for the poor thing.

  Carson nodded. “All right. So why am I here to go get the calf?”

  “Mr. Philbin said I could buy it on the phone for fair market value, but now he’s reneging.”

  Looking very official with his hands resting casually on his gun belt, Carson asked, “What’s the problem, Mr. Philbin? Why did you change your mind about selling Miss Meyer the animal?”

  “I don’t need a reason. The animal belongs to me. I don’t have to sell it if I don’t want to.”

  “See, that’s where we disagree. Does the animal belong to him? Isn’t possession nine-tenths of the law?” I asked Carson.

  “Look, I can prove it’s mine. It’s got my tag in its ear. I’ve got all the paperwork,” Philbin continued, indicating the stack of papers on the very messy desk.

  Carson drew in a breath and cut his gaze to me. “He’s got proof the calf is his property, Red.”

  “But he wasn’t even looking for it,” I defended, resisting the urge to stamp my foot in frustration. “The poor thing could have starved or frozen to death and he didn’t lift a finger to try and find it.”

  While we talked, or rather while I tried to sway Carson to my way of thinking, Philbin stepped out of the room to take a phone call.

  Carson looked pained, torn between doing what the law said he had to and what he really wanted to. “I know, Red. And believe me I’m going to put all that in the report. We can levy a fine on him for not reporting the animal missing. There are proper procedures that have to be followed when livestock gets loose in the village. But there’s also no question that the animal is his property.”

  They kept calling the calf property, but over the hours I’d been with her, she’d become more than an animal, more than a commodity to me. I’d fallen in love with her as her big brown eyes looked up at me while I bottle fed her milk.

  And yes, I was very aware I’d had a big juicy steak for dinner just hours before I’d rescued the calf. But I’d gotten to know her over the night and this morning.

  She had a personality. She recognized me when I walked in the carriage house. I swear she knew I’d saved her and was grateful.

  Just like Petunia over at Agnes’s pl
ace, this little girl felt more like a pet than a product to be sold.

  She’d been so hungry. So scared. I’d fed her. I’d made her a bed and set up a heater so she’d be warm. I’d sat with her for hours to make sure she was all right. She should be mine, free and clear. Not the stock company’s.

  I firmly believed that, but even so, I was willing to pay the man for her. And now he wouldn’t let me, in spite of what he’d said on the phone.

  What kind of person did that? Broke their word? Backed out of an oral contract?

  A horrible one, that’s what kind.

  Just as horrible as all those mean people commenting on my Facebook post. And the one who’d called me on the phone in the shop to tell me off. And the other one who’d come into the store to yell at me. They seemed to be willing to go out of their way to accuse me of being a stock thief or taunt me about how the calf would make some nice veal chops.

  People were terrible.

  But no, not all people. For every one mean spirited person, there were ten who felt the same as I did. Who commended me on giving the calf a safe and warm place to stay. Who felt she’d earned the right to live a long happy life when she escaped from the stock auction and survived days and nights on the loose all on her own.

  The door opened again, triggering the door alert. Philbin returned to the room, still on his phone as a man in another Mudville uniform walked in.

  “Now who is this?” I mumbled, mostly to myself.

  “Animal control.” Carson cringed as he glanced at me. “I called them. I didn’t know what I was walking into and I thought I might need help recovering the livestock.”

  I cocked a brow high. “It’s a baby calf. I picked it up by myself and put it in the truck last night.”

  “Again, I didn’t know that. I had no idea what I was walking into here.”

  I sighed. “I know.”

  This wasn’t Carson’s fault. And since he was my only ally, I should probably be nicer to him.

  But I was all out of nice at the moment. It had been beaten out of me by Mr. Philbin and the mean people of Mudville.

  “We ready?” the animal control officer asked Carson just as Mr. Philbin disconnected his call and stashed the cell in his jacket pocket.