Page 46 of Big Island Horizons
“I’m with mom,” Piper said as she walked in and deposited a basket of mud-spattered eggs near the sink. “We never get to do the real Hawai’i stuff.”
“This lifeisthe real Hawai’i stuff,” Paige protested. “Horses and chickens and mud.”
“You know what I mean. Like vacation stuff.”
“I need to go meet the woman who’s here to see the cows.” Tara took the brownies out of the oven, all four trays of them, and put the veggies in to roast. She touched Paige’s shoulder in passing. “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you ahead of time. Even if she does want them, they’re not going today.”
“What do you even care?” Piper asked her sister as Tara walked away. “They’re just big dumb bovines.”
“You’re just a big dumb human!” Paige retorted.
Tara sighed and walked out into the light drizzle. Her dogs trotted happily at her side as she walked out to the gate and apologized to the woman she had kept waiting.
As she stood in the back pasture answering questions about the two cows, the distant hum of the chainsaw was a warm comfort to her. She hadn’t even asked Liam to help her clear the wreckage or fix the aviary. He had offered to help, and when she was too busy to work alongside him, he had gone ahead and started on it himself.
Mitch had never, not once, helped with a task on the homestead without her asking several times. Eventually, she had stopped asking. He worked a nine to five, and she managed everything else.
To spend time with someone who shared her values, someone who had the capacity to step up and do the work without even being asked… it was a lot to wrap her head around. Especially with everything else she had going on.
By the time the woman left, Liam had cleared enough of the fallen branches to begin work on the aviary.
“I don’t think you’ll have to buy any new materials,” he said. “We can get this straightened out and put it back together. That fence is another matter, though.”
“Yeah, that’s not such an easy fix.” She didn’t know where she was going to find the money to replace the section of fenceline that the tree had taken down… maybe she could sell the cows in time. For now, she had put all of the animals together in the back pasture where the fenceline was intact.
“I have a roll of fencing in my barn that I can bring down tomorrow. It’s pig wire, not chainlink, but it’ll do that job.”
“That would be amazing. Thank you.” She turned to survey the wreckage of the aviary. “I’m just glad that it didn’t take out the guava tree. Ricky and Lucy love that thing.”
“Those albizia trees are a hazard.”
“They’re a menace.” Tara glared up at the trees that swayed above them, beautiful against the pale gray sky. “I’ve tried for years to contact the owner of the lot next door and get the trees cut down, but I’ve never gotten a response.
“I’d do it myself if I could. I don’t even care about the legality of it anymore. I should have done something about it when they were still small enough for me to cut down. But hiring someone to deal with trees that size must cost a fortune.”
“I know a lawyer who could write a letter threatening legal action.”
“I can’t afford to sue.”
“Just the threat of it might be enough to get whatever faceless conglomerate that owns that property to hire tree trimmers and take those trees down. Maybe you can write up an estimate of the property damage you’ve incurred over the years, and he could put a letter together.”
“It’s worth a try. Thank you.”
Her phone buzzed, and she pulled it out to check the message.
“Sorry,” she murmured as she tapped in her passcode. “Between the meal deliveries and the lost bird postings, I can’t not check my phone.”
“No worries.” Liam set to work straightening out the crumpled mess of wires that had been the southern wall of the aviary. Tara wasn’t so sure that any of it was salvageable, but she supposed it was worth a try. The materials would cost a fortune to replace.
“Someone spotted Ricky!” she exclaimed as she read the message. “He’s just one block over. But… oh, he’s way up in an‘ohi?atree. They say fifty feet, at least. Making all sorts of noise. He’s probably stuck, poor boy. He’s never been that high before.”
“Do you think you can coax him down?”
“I hope so.”
“What if you bring his mate? Would he come down if he hears her?”
“She’s been shrieking so loud he can probably hear her from there. But no, I won’t try to bring her anywhere. She’s been so stressed that she bit Cody, which had never happened before.”
