Page 74 of Finding the Forward: Part One
“Please tell me you didn’t tell her to get me new cows. That’s not what I meant.” I rubbed my temples as I watched an intern make a house for one out of empty file boxes.
“All I told her was to make things right with you.”
“Jonas, there arecowsin my office.” I sighed in exasperation. Why wasn’t he getting it?
“I’m sure your sister would love some baby cows in sweaters. Anyhow, I have to run. We’ll call you before the game like always.” He ended the call.
“Shit.” I put my head down on my desk in frustration.
“Alex, why were cows delivered to you at the office? Did you land some sort of livestock account?” My boss, Myra, stood there in her heels and suit, a baffled look on her face. The polished alpha and I had known each other for years and played on the same recreational hockey team.
“They mistakenly were delivered to me. The true recipient is on the way,” I told her. Hopefully. If my sister didn’t want them, what did I do with them?
“Understood.” With a nod, she left.
I called my sister, anger simmering under my skin. What gall Verity had to assume that my sister could afford to feed more cows? She could, and I’d help her if she couldn’t, but animal food wasexpensive.
“Hi, little bro,” my older sister, Leila, said.
“I ran into Verity Thorne the other day. Now there arecowsin my office. I know it’s asking a lot, but how fast can you get them?” Desperation tinged my voice. Her farm wasn’t that far away. A lot of people from the city liked to go there for apple picking and schools visited for field trips.
Leila chuckled. “Are you telling me someone delivered cows to a high rise? I need pictures.”
With a sigh, I took a picture of one of the account managers putting a tiara over the flower crown of a cow in a yellow sweater with daisies on it and sent it to her.
“Why is it wearing a sweater?” She was still laughing.
“I don’t know. They’re from some place called the Happy Hills Cowtisserie.”
“Oh. That explains it. Fancy. I should be there by the end of the workday. Um, where did you run into her? She keeps a very low profile. Then again, if I had a teammate willing to blow up a wedding to teach me a lesson, I would, too,” she told me.
True. The situation was awful. But my sister wasdependingon that promise and hadn’t sued the culprit because Verity had offered. It was the lack of follow-through that bothered me.
I raked my hair with my hand. “She’s seeing Grif. Which I’m not happy about, considering she isn’t dependable.”
Sure, she was pretty. Fucking smart if she was in a PhD program at NYIT. But Grif needed stability. Reliability.
Me.
My assistant stood in the doorway, holding a baby goat wearing fucking pajamas, another on a leash. “Your baby goats are here. Is it okay if I take them over to accounting? I’ll bring you the papers and card in a moment. Oh, you’re on the phone, sorry.”
“Um, sure, Calista,” I said, waving her off as she left.
“Grif is seeing someone? Huh. Look, we don’t know the full story,” my sister replied. “That poor girl had a lot going on. She was taking a job to buy the cows. Maybe she didn’t get paid.”
“She could've communicated it. Leila, now I havetwobaby goats wearing pajamas in my office. Why are they wearing clothes?” I didn’t understand what was happening here with the clothing.
“Now we just need a hutch of bunnies in dresses, no, bathing suits,” she laughed. “I have to say, I like her style.”
There were bunnies, too. Shit. I’d forgotten that she’d promised cows, goats,andbunnies.
“I’ll call you when I get there. It’s nice that she’s making good on her promise. Cows to your office? That’s legendary. Honey, my brother has cows in his office,” she yelled. “I’ve got to go. I love you.”
“Love you, too.” I ended the call and opened my laptop.
Calista came back in. This time with an envelope from Georgie’s Goatessen. Where did Verity even find these places?
“Thanks, Calista. Are there bunnies?” I asked, over the top of my laptop.
