Page 42 of Love Off-Limits
Without really thinking, I jumped over the pasture fence and walked toward what I was pretty sure was a baby goat. I didn’t see any other goats around though. What would one little one be doing out here on its own?
I slowed as I got closer. Itwasa goat. I didn’t know a lot about, well,anythingaround Stonebrook, but it didn’t look like it could be more than a few hours old.
I pulled out my phone and dialed Kelly’s number. When she didn’t answer, I called Olivia. Whenshedidn’t answer, I started to panic. Even in full summer, the temperature still dropped into the sixties in the mountains. That felt chilly for a newborn of any kind, especially one that still looked damp.Where was its mother?
I tried Kelly again. “Come on,” I said when she didn’t pick up a second time.
I considered walking toward the pavilion where a wedding was probably starting any second. That’s likely where Olivia was and why she hadn’t answered her phone. I sent her a quick text.
Can you call me? It’s an emergency, I think.
Seconds later, she called me back. “Hey, you okay? What’s going on?”
“Um, I don’t know, actually.I’m out in the east pasture and there’s a baby goat here that looks like it was just born. I called Kelly, but she didn’t answer.”
“Okay. Kelly’s at a family thing tonight, but that’s okay.” Her breathing shifted, like she’d started walking. “Where are you right now? How close to the barn?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a seven, eight-minute walk?”
“I’ve got to get away from this wedding, then I’ll run over and grab my mom and we’ll head that way.” The calm in her voice was comforting. “Do you see any other goats?”
“Not any of them. But I’m way back in the corner, close to where it slopes down to the woods.”
“Tyler, are you sure the baby is alive?” Olivia asked.
I crouched down to get a closer look. “Yeah, she’s breathing. And trembling. She looks cold. It’s shady where we are.”
She swore under her breath. “Poor thing. Okay, I need you to carry her back to the barn, all right? Do you have something you can wrap her up with? Even just your shirt would work.”
“What, like the one I’m wearing?”
She laughed lightly. “You didn’t hesitate to take it off earlier today.”
“Very funny,” I said, even as I started to tug it over my head. “Give me a sec.” I shifted the phone from one hand to the other as I got my shirt completely off. “Okay. Now what do I do?”
“Wrap her up, keep her close to your body, and head back to the barn. Then call me when you get there. We shouldn’t be too far behind you.”
I shoved my phone into my pocket, shifted my camera bag so it hung behind me, and did as Olivia instructed.
“I’m holding a baby goat,” I said as I walked back to the barn. “I’m holding ababy goat.”
The goat bleated a tiny response, and something inside my heart sparked to life.
I called Olivia as I approached the barn door.
“How’s it going?” she said when she answered.
“Um, she just bleated, and I think I love her.”
Olivia chuckled. “Are you back at the barn?”
“Almost.”
“We’ll be there in five. We’ll meet you inside.”
It wasn’t exactly ideal for my first meeting with Olivia’s mother. Shirtless. Holding a shivering farm animal. At least I’d scrubbed off the pig stink.Hopefully.
“What have we here?” Mrs. Hawthorne said as she approached me.
