Page 55 of Salty Pickle

“What?”

“Butt her head. Be aggressive. She’ll chase you then.”

“Shit.”

“She won’t do it with me.”

Court closes his eyes for a second. The elevator continues its horrible buzzing.

Then he bends over, head down, and rams Matilda in the nose.

“Run!” I say.

Court whips around and takes off down the hall.

Matilda gives chase, taking off like her life depends on it. The blanket falls to the floor.

I bend down with great difficulty to pick it up, then move out of the elevator. The doors close, and the terrible noise finally stops.

Matilda chases Court down the hall, and they disappear around a corner.

I guess I better try to catch up.

16

COURT

When we’re finally safely inside the apartment, I have to sit down.

I consider myself to be in good shape, but the mental wear and tear of the last two hours have been more than I’m used to.

Dashing back for Lucy, loading the goat. Unloading the goat. And the mad dash.

The rear of my pants feels weird against the cool leather cushion. I hop up and run my hands over the cloth.

“Yeah, Matilda got a good chomp on those.” Lucy stands with her goat near the French doors to the balcony. “I like your boxers, though.”

I look over my shoulder to spot a long swath of fabric hanging from my ass. What boxers did I put on today? Oh, right, the red silk ones. I’m sure they’re quite the contrast.

“I’m going to change,” I tell her.

“That’s a leather sofa, isn’t it?” Lucy asks.

“I didn’t know you were coming.”

“It’s all right.” She kneels behind it. “Thank you, sweet cow, for your sacrifice so that we might have furniture.” She pets the back of the cushion as though she’s comforting the long-dead bovine.

I shake my head and move on to my bedroom, phone in hand. I put through a call to Devin as I shuck my suit and put on workout shorts and a T-shirt.

“Everything okay, boss?” Devin asks.

“I won’t be in today. Lucy is with me. We’ll need to figure out a new situation for her.”

“It will probably have to wait a few days.”

“Why?”

“I started looking after I got the car. There’s some farming event happening this weekend, and everything rural is booked for miles. We’d have to go three hours out of the way.”

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