She shook it and nodded. “Nice to meet you, Mr.… I mean, Ewell.”
He pushed a sweat-stained Atlanta Braves baseball cap off his forehead with a thumb and grinned at her with tobacco-stained teeth. “Weren’t expecting you to get all gussied up for me.”
Anna looked down at herself and smoothed her tutu made up of lengths of different colored tulle. Her young kids loved the rainbow vibrancy. “I’m a dance teacher, but that’s not important. I only drove out to say that you need to take these animals back with you.”
“Cain’t.” Ewell sauntered to the trailer and lowered the gate to form a ramp.
Musky animal scents hit her like a slap in the thick air. The large trailer rocked with the shuffling of hooves, punctuated by grunts. Were they doing something X-rated in there? She squinted, but the trailer was shadowy inside compared to the bright day.
“Of course you can.” Anna waved a hand, wishing she could spirit the entire problem away. “Just leave the creatures in there and drive away. Keep the deposit. How much was it again?”
“Not about the money. Got two steer in there to deliver south of Nashville, and I’m picking up a full load of milking cows. Ain’t got room.” The first animal out of the trailer was a sheep with a black face and luxurious white coat. “I left her unsheared in case Gareth wanted to demonstrate.”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you. Gareth isn’t here.”
Ewell spit another stream of brown tobacco to the side. “Obviously.”
He handed her the rope lead to the sheep, clopped back into the trailer, and pulled out a hairy brown animal with a set of curved horns. It tossed its head, less docile than the sheep. The cow wasn’t at all like the ones she saw grazing behind fences on the side of the road or the one that jumped over the moon in picture books. Although, honestly, she’d never been this close to one before.
The Highland cow had long, silky-looking brown fur and stubby legs. Hair flopped into its eyes like an adolescent pop stars. The cow seemed to have an attitude to match. It shook its head as if trying to free itself from the harness. Or maybe it wanted to gore one of them with its horns. She took two steps back.
“Gareth is not just not at Stonehaven; he’s not in the country. He’s not here to care for the animals.” Desperation crept into her voice.
Ewell held out the cow’s lead, and she took the rope instinctively. Immediate regrets surfaced while he closed the trailer and walked back toward the cab of the truck. She tried to follow, but the Highland cow refused to budge. All she could do was hang on the end of the tether, putting as much space between them as possible.
Ewell returned with a clipboard and pen. He tapped a blank space at the bottom of the paper held in place on the clipboard. “Sign there.”
She skimmed the paper. It was a lease agreement with a clause to buy at the end of the lease if both parties agreed. The leasing amount would be deducted from the final sale price.
“I can’t sign this,” she said.
“Here. Lemme hold ’em, so you can sign.” He exchanged the leads in her numb fingers with the clipboard and pen. He squinted at the sun. “Not to rush you, but I gots a long drive and an appointment to keep.”
Feeling backed into a corner Gareth had built, she sighed and signed.
Ewell touched the brim of his ball cap with a forefinger. “Thank you, ma’am. Now this here is Ozzie.” He held out the lead of the blackface sheep. “And this’un here is Harriet.” He held out the cow’s lead.
“Ozzie and Harriet?” she murmured. Innocuous names for such large animals. They looked more like a Bonnie and Clyde. She took the leads with a feeling of overwhelmed exasperation. “What the heck am I supposed to do with them now?”
Ewell nodded toward the barn. “That’s what a barn’s for, ain’t it?”
Was it? She thought barns were for drinking and smoking and making out. At least, that’s what they’d been good for in high school.
Ewell swung himself back into his truck and hollered, “Good luck!” out his window as he rolled down the lane toward the main road. Anna was left holding the leads.
“Come on, then. Let’s throw you in the barn while I call for reinforcements.” Anna prayed Holt had time to help her out. It was a busy season for him on his family farm, but he was always willing to lend a hand. The Piersons were avid supporters of the festival, and Holt was training for the athletic competitions, like the stone throw and caber toss, to win Laird of the Games.
Ozzie the sheep followed her with a good-natured, docile attitude Anna appreciated. Harriet, on the other hand, was being a real bitch.
“Move, you foul creature from hell,” she muttered, pulling on the lead. The cow cast a baleful eye in her direction and jerked her horned head. A game of tug of war had commenced, and Anna was losing.
She wasn’t a country girl. She had never owned an animal, not even a dog, and she’d certainly never had to maneuver a cow into a barn. Trying a different tack, she circled around to the cow’s haunches to push. Except, Ozzie’s position put her too far away and now the sheep had turned stubborn and refused to move.
Anna dropped Ozzie’s lead, pointed at the sheep, and said in the voice she reserved for especially rambunctious classes, “Don’t you dare move. Not a step.”
When Ozzie just blinked and stuck her tongue out to work her jaws, Anna turned her attention back to Harriet. Very slowly, not sure what to expect, Anna put her hands flat on the cow’s rump. Her fur was surprisingly soft and springy and felt like a padded cushion. Anna nudged the cow, but she didn’t move. Then, she put her weight into the effort. Nothing.
The cow’s tail twitched up. The plopping sound registered before the unmistakable earthy smell. Anna reeled backward while Harriet left a steaming pile of poop on the driveway. “That’s just lovely. Real ladylike, Harriet.”
The deposit seemed to be what Harriet had been waiting for, and she finally lumbered forward. Anna turned with relief to get Ozzie’s lead and froze. The sheep was gone. Anna turned in a full circle, scanning and seeing nothing that resembled a sheep or a path left by a sheep.
A trickle of sweat ran down her back and into the low scoop of her black leotard as she tried to steady her discombobulated thoughts. First thing she had to do was secure Harriet in the barn, then she would go in search for her lost sheep like Bo-Peep. If she were going to be dropped in the middle of a fairy tale, she would have preferred one with a hot prince.
Fleeter of hooves now that she’d dumped her load, Harriet rambled toward the barn. Anna peeled the doors open and blinked to adjust to the sudden shadows. It was much cooler inside the barn, and Harriet quickened her step to reach the shade. Water and some sort of food would be needed soon, but the most pressing concern was finding Ozzie.
Anna closed the door and made sure it was latched securely before circling around through the line of pine trees and the field behind the barn. She shielded her eyes from the sun and scanned for movement. A shot of relief made her feel dizzy.
Ozzie had made it farther than Anna had expected, but there she was at the edge of the patio, plucking the heads off the flowers in Rose’s prized flowerpots and eating them.
“Get away, you scallywag!” Anna hollered, waving her arms in the air.