Page 20 of Barbed Wire Hearts

“There are better options,” I grumble.

“Where?” Dakota grunts. “Because they sure ain’t coming out here to ask for a job. We’re short already, and even if you don’t like it, she’s happy to help.”

“I don’t trust her,” I admit. “She’s hiding something.”

“Well, if it isn’t the pot calling the kettle black,” Dakota growls. “Get over it. Kate’s nice and we need her help, even if it’s just an extra hand.”

She’s not doing half bad, really, despite my best efforts to set her up for failure. I’d known the box was too heavy for her to carry, just as I knew the calf wouldn’t come willingly. Still, as I watch, she manages to calm down the mom and then the calf, petting them like they’re fucking dogs. I’ve never gotten that cow to let me touch her without proper gear, let alone petting her. What fucking magic does this woman have that she can do that?

Dakota grins over at me when he sees the same sight. “And she seems to have a way with animals.”

Christ. Okay. Yeah, I’ll give her that.

“Wiley says she pet Harry Trotter, too,” Dakota says. “He didn’t even try to bite her once.”

I blink over at him. “No.”

“Yep,” he nods. “Don’t underestimate her, Levi. Give her a chance. She’s trying and while I didn’t think it was a good idea at first, you can’t beat someone willing to try.”

I look out at her again, at the way her small hands pat at the calf as she starts to coax it to the truck. The gloves I brought for her will be four times too big for her hands. The tennis shoes aren’t good for anything around here. She needs some boots. Her cheeks look sunburnt and will probably get worse with the high sun today. Those pants will rip the first time she rubs against a fence post, but at least her ass looks nice in them.

I sigh. “We’re gonna have to take her to get the proper gear,” I say, glancing over at Dakota. “If she’s going to stick around.”

In the distance, the calf decides it’s all a game and jerks away from Kate. Instead of getting angry, she laughs and gives chase again. Her hair reflects in the sunlight, and at the roots, I see her natural brown coming through the black, as if she dyes it but hasn’t gotten to it in time. As she laughs and slips in the mud from our recent rain, going down in it, her laughter only brightens, and something about the scene, of her covered in mud, of the calf sniffing at her to see if she’s okay, makes me realize what Wiley sees in her. Despite where she’s from, she seems at home here. Even if her hands are covered in ripped blisters and her ass in mud.

Dakota laughs at the sight. “I’ll take her into town soon. In the meantime, go easy on the woman. Go on and help her.”

“But this is so much more entertaining,” I say, but secretly I just want to watch her out there. She’s beautiful, bright, like a sunflower tipping it’s face up to the sunshine despite her clear preference for darker clothing.

“You sneaky thing,” she chastises the calf. “I’ll have you know these shots are for your own good. We wouldn’t want you getting polio.”

I snort. I don’t know whether it’s cute or foolish that she thinks we’re vaccinating for polio. But when she laughs again, I realize she was only joking, and I’d not given her the chance to appear intelligent to begin with.

“Yes,” Dakota says as he claps me on the back. “But she needs to learn the proper way. She’s already doing good. Just give her some pointers.”

“Fine,” I grumble, uncrossing my arms and going out to help her.

Even if I just want to keep watching her be a sunflower.

Even if I want to be the sun.

ChapterEighteen

Kate

I’d seen Dakota and Levi talking but thought nothing of it while I focused on the calf. The silly thing moos at me playfully and bounds off, and for whatever reason, the mom has decided I’m not a threat. She watches us carefully, chewing at the grass in her mouth, not once making a move to come after me after my pets and reassurances.

Laughing at the calf’s games, I give chase, only to slip in the mud I hadn’t been paying attention to. I go down hard, my tailbone smacking nicely into the ground in a way I know it’ll bruise later. The calf comes up and sniffs at me as I sit in the mudhole, wondering where on earth I went wrong.

“You sneaky thing,” I say, shaking my finger at him despite the feeling of wet mud seeping into my pants. “I’ll have you know these shots are for your own good. We wouldn’t want you to get. . . polio.”

I don’t actually know what we’re vaccinating for. Levi didn’t supply the information and I’ve never looked into cow diseases. Maybe it’s a mad cow vaccine? I don’t know, but polio sounds good. Cows with polio wouldn’t be great for the environment, right? So it’s a good idea to vaccinate them for it.

The calf presses closer, rubbing against my hand as I sit on the ground and smile up at him. He’s adorable, and like most, I can’t resist the attentions of a baby animal.

“What a good boy you are,” I coo to him, pleasantly surprised at how soft he is. I expected his fur to be rough and dirty, but he’s anything but. “I bet you’re gonna grow up into the biggest bull. Big and strong. Your proud mom over there thinks so, too, I bet.”

I glance over at mom to find her coming up to sniff at me as well, asking for pets. This isn’t so bad. This is amazing actually.

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