Page 8 of No Bones About It

“Ryan Reynolds. Ryan Reynolds.”

Kimi laughed. “Did Stetson remind you of Ryan Reynolds, Canuck?” He was certainly handsome enough to be a celebrity, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t an actor. The man had to work with animals in some capacity.

If it wasn’t for the fact that she didn’t hallucinate, she might wonder if she’d made him up. Stetson was certainly a delicious fantasy, even if shehadpulled a rifle on him.

That made her grin. He hadn’t been afraid of her, even with the gun. The man’s animal sense appeared to be finely tuned, so he’d maybe judged her as accurately as she’d judged him.

Neither of them would hurt an animal. Both of them would protect them and do what they could to help. Apparently, the man trusted Kimi to handle Onigis on her own. Which she could.

But her thoughts strayed to the man while she worked with the horse and figured out how to minimize the mare’s movements. The small paddock and attached stable were exactly for this kind of injury. Hopefully, Onigis would become comfortable in the stable at some point. Currently, Butter was curled up in the doorway. Maybe seeing her goat buddies inside would help the horse and help her feel safe.

Kimi’s phone rang with a call from Mona Hamilton. She and her husband ran a farm a dozen miles to the east of Phail. They mostly grew vegetables, but they’d added chickens last year as well. “Hi, Mona.”

“Hi, Kimi. We found some pigs in our yard.”

Kimi took a few seconds to digest that. “Pigs?”

Mona laughed. “Pigs. I know. So weird. There are three of them. One’s bigger than the other, so I’m guessing a mama and her babies.”

Huh. “I’m guessing you didn’t order any pigs?”

Another laugh. “Not a chance. They look healthy enough, but I know nothing about pigs. And honestly, I don’t want to know anything about them. The chickens are enough for me and George.”

“Understandable. Are there any new farmers out that way?”

“No. We’ve called a few people, but no one knows anything about anyone raising pigs nearby. Can you help?”

Well, she certainly wouldn’t let the pigs fend for themselves. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.” Kimi hooked up her trailer and added some straw for bedding, along with a couple of buckets of food. Pigs weren’t picky eaters, but she needed something to entice them into the trailer, so she grabbed a variety of what she had on hand. And hoped these particular pigs weren’t fussy.

When she arrived at the farm, she found three large pigs standing ina row, watching the chickens like they were streaming their favorite show on TV. George and Mona sat in lawn chairs and waved her over. She backed the trailer up close to the pigs and then joined the humans.

George pointed at the animals. “Thought we might have to try to stop them eating the chickens, but they seem content to watch.”

For now.But she didn’t say that out loud. These weren’t small pot-bellied pigs but full-sized animals. The smaller ones probably doubled Kimi’s weight, and Mama had to be over five hundred pounds. She stood higher than Kimi’s elbow.

Mona grinned. “Wish we could keep them, but we’re not up to anything more than the food and the chickens.”

“No problem. You haven’t fed them anything, have you?”

George shook his head. “Mona wouldn’t let me. Said they’d be hard enough to move as is, harder if they know food comes from here.”

Kimi grinned. “Exactly right. Okay, let’s see how they tolerate me.”

The pigs didn’t even flinch as Kimi approached, their attention fully focused on the chickens. She spoke to them and patted the mama first, figuring she would be the one to be convinced.

Mama ignored Kimi like she would a fly. She could work with that. Aggressive pigs would have been a problem. She grinned at the couple. “Here’s hoping they’re hungry.”

She returned to the trailer and grabbed a bucket full of apples. She took out her pocket knife, snagged one apple, and passed the bucket to the couple. “Toss me one when I need it.”

Most pigs were pretty well trained to react to people, so Kimi moved in front of them and made sure they saw her. She peeled some of the apple and dropped it in front of Mama. Sure enough, her ears twitched, and she lumbered forward to grab the peel.

Mona and George cheered, making Kimi laugh. Soon, the pair were acting like full-on cheerleaders.Go piggies. Go piggies.

She wished all of her rescues were this much fun. Once the pigs were up the ramp and secured in the trailer with some carrots and greens, she locked it up and smiled at the couple. “Let me know if you hear anything about who left these animals here.”

Their faces sobered. “What kind of person would just dump them here?”

Kimi blew out a breath. “At least they left them in a place where people would take care of them. Some animals just get left behind or forced into the bush. Now, these guys have a chance to survive and find a good life, thanks to you.”

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