Flirting with Love Read online

  Moving to the farmette had filled some of those gaps. She was up at dawn feeding animals and cleaning out stalls, and now that she was mostly unpacked, starting this week she’d spend the mornings baking and the afternoons delivering pies. She’d been lucky; her aunt’s clients had agreed to continue with their previous standing orders, and they’d been gracious enough to give her time to get unpacked and settle in before she began baking and delivering the pies on a consistent basis. She found it strange that they’d continue their orders when people weren’t that friendly to her, but maybe they were just that addicted to pie. Or, as Ross had mentioned, maybe they just needed time to get to know her. At least they hadn’t closed that door completely.

  She’d circle back and care for the animals again at night. Most days, she’d been able to fit in her daily yoga before taking on the chores, but some days she’d had to put it off until evening. She preferred doing yoga in the morning and promised herself that once she began baking and delivering the pies, she’d wake early enough to do it before the chores. All in all, she’d found Trusty to be a nice change of pace—and exactly what she’d hoped for, as far as the property and her lifestyle went. It was the people and the larger animals she was trying to figure out.

  And Ross. Definitely Ross.

  After taking care of the deliveries and everything else she had on her plate, Elisabeth stopped at the library and picked up a funny, sexy read, at least according to the nice librarian. She could use a little of both at the moment. She went to the park in the center of town and set out a blanket beneath the afternoon sun.

  When the sun began to set, she closed the book feeling rejuvenated. There was nothing like the escape of reading a good book. She bundled her blanket under her arm and headed back to her car thinking of the chores that awaited her. At the far end of the park, she noticed a couple walking arm in arm along a narrow path. Elisabeth sighed. She stopped walking and watched as the woman leaned her head against the man’s shoulder. Elisabeth’s insides warmed. She loved love, and more than that, she believed in it.

  One day…

  Back at home, she went to the kitchen where the last cardboard box sat against the wall. The side of the box read, PERSONAL STUFF. The flaps were open and bent to the sides. She’d been putting off going through this box because she didn’t want to face the contents—or the memories. But she’d seen Ross’s eyes linger on it, and it was enough to kick her into motion. She lowered herself to the floor and stared at the box for a long time.

  She picked up the framed photograph and ran her fingers over Robbie’s face. She smiled, remembering when the picture had been taken. They were at an outdoor music festival with stars and celebrities all around them. She’d felt out of place among them, but Robbie had been happy as a clam. When his brother took the picture, Elisabeth was laughing at a couple behind him who were doing a sixties-style dance. She set the frame aside and withdrew a folded cotton shirt. It was one of Robbie’s. She used to sleep in it. She brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply. It smelled like a shirt. Nothing more. She couldn’t imagine how she’d thought it had smelled like him for so many weeks after they broke up. It had been more than a year since the night they’d broken up. She didn’t even want to think about that night. She was over him. Over them.

  She set aside the shirt and took out a thick stack of envelopes fastened with a thick rubber band and read the return address: 17 Staynor Way, Trusty, Colorado, written in her aunt’s handwriting. She’d saved them all. She held the stack of letters against her chest and peered into the box, thinking of her aunt. Cora had talked to her about coming back to Trusty several times over the past few years, but she’d never pushed her. You’ll know when the time is right, Cora had told her. Elisabeth had wanted to come back sooner, but after college she’d started her business while she was deciding when she should come back, and that decision had gotten lost in the chaos when her business took off faster than she’d ever imagined. And when Aunt Cora’s attorney told her that Cora had left the property to her, she didn’t care what it cost. She knew it was time to escape LA and return to Trusty to see if she’d made a big mistake by holding out hope for something more, or if believing in fate and all things love related was the best thing she ever did. She’d been excited to take the risk, and on some level, Aunt Cora must have thought it was the right thing for her, too. She drew in a deep breath and shifted her thoughts back to the box.

  There were more pictures of her aunt, her mother, and several of the pets she used to care for. She was in a good mood. She’d had a nice evening getting to know Ross and a lovely day in the sun. Seeing the picture of Robbie sent her back to an unhappy place, and the letters and pictures of Aunt Cora would only make her sad.

  I don’t need to do this now.

  Ross was sending someone named Tate to pick up the van. That was enough cleaning out of memories for now. She’d deal with this box another time. She stuffed the shirt back in the box, along with the letters and the picture, and blew out a breath. Then she pushed to her feet and headed for the door. She had animals to care for.

  She brought Chip and Dale into the barn for the evening, fed the animals, and went in search of Dolly. She called for her and walked into the pasture, but Dolly was nowhere in sight. There was a lot of ground to cover, and the sun was descending quickly. She jogged back to the shed and climbed onto her aunt’s old silver bicycle. She grabbed the black rubber grips on the straight handlebars and glanced at the old pink bike leaning cockeyed against the shed wall. She’d ridden it as a child, and she couldn’t believe her aunt had kept it all these years. She couldn’t believe her aunt was gone.

  She pushed away her sadness and pedaled through the thick grass parallel to the paddock. The cool evening air stung her eyes as she passed the play equipment for the goats and the big oak tree that looked miniature from the house and enormous as she pedaled by. Still no sign of Dolly. The farther from the house she pedaled, the more her stomach plummeted. She pedaled faster, passing what felt like miles of fencing and empty pasture. Where are you? She stopped to catch her breath, gazed into the paddock, and wondered if she’d missed Dolly. Could she have fallen ill? Was she lying in the paddock and Elisabeth had just pedaled by too fast? Looking for a standing cow rather than one lying down?

  Her stomach took another nosedive as she pushed her hair from where it had stuck to the bead of sweat above her brow, set her feet on the pedals, and pushed on toward the end of the property.

  Her heart leaped at the sight of Dolly grazing in the field near the very end of the property. Dolly lifted her head and looked at Elisabeth with her big round eyes.

  “How on earth?” She pedaled closer, then set the bike down in the grass and looked over at the fence. She didn’t see any broken areas, and the gate was closed.

  “Hi, sweetie. How did you get through the fence?” As Elisabeth approached, Dolly backed away. She needed to get Dolly back into the paddock, and while there was another gate not far from where they were, she’d never been successful in getting Dolly to go anywhere. Not even into the barn. She should have picked up a book on cows from the library instead of a novel.

  “Please move, Dolly,” she urged. She knew that cows had blind spots and she remembered something about flight patterns, but she didn’t remember where Dolly’s blind spot was, or what the flight pattern was, exactly. She pushed on Dolly’s side. “Come on, baby. Let’s go into the paddock.”

  Dolly swept her head around, then went back to grazing.

  Elisabeth sighed and tried again. She pushed, but it was like pushing the side of a barn. After half an hour of pleading with Dolly, she pedaled back to the house as fast as she could, grabbed a hoodie, put one of her doggy treats into the basket—desperate times, desperate measures—and pedaled back to Dolly, who had moved about twenty feet in the wrong direction.

  Lovely.

  She held the doggy treat in her palms. “Come on, Dolly. Let’s walk to the fence. I’ll give you a treat.” She pleaded, begg
ed, held the treat beneath the cow’s nose, and finally, she blew out a loud breath and gave up. She should have baked cow treats made with grass. A doggy treat, what was I thinking? She walked a few feet away and plopped down into the grass.

  Who does a person call when they can’t get their cow inside the paddock? The police? Animal control?

  Ross?

  He’ll think I’m calling just to see him again.

  Elisabeth wondered again whom she could call. She didn’t have any friends in town yet, and Ross was her closest neighbor.

  I am such a loser. She pulled out her cell and dialed his number. He answered on the second ring.

  “Hello?”

  “Ross? This is Elisabeth. Your new neighbor?” Like he wouldn’t remember having wine with her.

  “Ah, yes, my wine and swine neighbor.”

  She smiled. “Yeah, that would be me, but now I’m the wine, swine, and bovine neighbor. My cow must have sprouted wings, because she’s out of the fence and I can’t get her back in.”

  “Wings.”

  She imagined his thick brows pinched together, a crooked smile on his lips. Oh, those lips.

  “The gate is closed and I don’t have any idea how she got out. Do you think you could help me get her back in? Or tell me how? I don’t know who else to call.” Please, please, please.

  “I’m in Allure right now, and I’ve got another client to see, so it’ll be a while. Have you tried to move her?” Allure was the next town over, probably a thirty-minute drive.

  “Hm, I hadn’t thought of that.” She rolled her eyes. “Yes, of course I did.” Being bitchy wasn’t going to help, and she had no one else to call. “I’m sorry. I’ve been trying, but she just looks at me like I’m crazy.”

  “I’ll try to swing by after I’m done; just don’t do anything sudden. You don’t want to scare her.”

  “Thank you, Ross.”

  Now she was worried about Dolly and nervous about seeing Ross. She sank down to the grass to do a little meditating.

  A COW THAT sprouted wings. Now, that was the best line he’d heard all year. He doubted Dolly would go too far, no matter how she got out of the fence—and he’d have to check that out, too. An hour and a half later, after seeing his last client and driving back to Trusty, he headed over to Elisabeth’s. Chances were pretty good that she’d already corralled Dolly. He knocked on the door, and after a few minutes, he realized that Elisabeth wasn’t there.

  “Let’s go,” he called to Storm. He grabbed a flashlight from the back of his truck and checked the barn for Elisabeth. She and Dolly were nowhere in sight. There was a good chance that Elisabeth had walked along the side of the fence nearest the house. He walked to the far side of the fence, where it followed the edge of the forest, and headed out to find them. He checked the fencing for breaks while keeping an eye on the pasture, looking for Elisabeth and Dolly. If this was just an excuse to see him, then she must have really wanted to, because an hour and a half was a long time to wait.

  When he neared the end of the property he found a break in the fencing. A large limb had fallen from a tree and taken out a section. He knew what he’d be doing later tonight.

  He came around the end of the paddock and crossed to the other side, where he saw Dolly standing in the pasture. He didn’t see Elisabeth anywhere. He moved the flashlight across the grass and it reflected off of something. A bicycle?

  As he made his way across the pasture, he heard Elisabeth singing softly. He stopped and listened for a minute. He couldn’t make out the words, but her tone was a happy one. He followed her voice and found her sitting in the deep grass a few feet from Dolly, singing and humming and braiding blades of grass together.

  She looked up and smiled. “You came.” One hand lifted and twisted a lock of hair.

  “You’re singing. In the dark.” To a cow. Lucky cow. He reached for her hand and helped her up.

  “Yeah.” She drew in a breath and brushed grass from her butt. “I couldn’t leave her out here all alone. Without Chip and Dale, she seemed lonely, and I had no success getting her to move toward the gate. I’m sorry for bothering you again, too. You must think I’m a nut.”

  She had that wrong. He was the nut for taking so long to get there.

  Singing in the dark so the cow wouldn’t be lonely. Why did he find that so charming?

  He drew upon his professional demeanor to force his mind away from heading down that road any further. “I found out how she got out. A limb fell on the fence. I can fix it for you tomorrow, but we’ll have to do a temporary fix tonight.”

  “I didn’t even check the side near the woods. I’m such an idiot. I was so focused on Dolly. Ugh. Thank you, Ross. Really, I’m not usually flighty.” She put her hands in the pockets of her very short shorts and smiled again.

  Alone in a pasture with a beautiful woman whom he actually enjoyed spending time with. He could think of a million things he’d like to do besides the one thing they had to, and only two good reasons not to. She was a neighbor, and he didn’t really know her well enough to trust that she was as good as she seemed, both of which were feeling more and more like lame excuses not to kiss her.

  He pushed his lustful thoughts away and focused on the issue that had brought him back to Elisabeth.

  “Let’s get Dolly safely back into the paddock, and then we’ll patch the fence so she can’t get out again.” He explained what he was doing as he moved Dolly toward the paddock. “Your aunt was really good with Dolly, and she’s used to being handled. She’s a very gentle cow, but all animals can be spooked, so it’s important to approach slowly, and when you want to move a cow forward, you approach from the side, right behind the shoulder.” He moved into position, feeling the heat of Elisabeth’s gaze.

  “A cow’s point of balance is the shoulder area, so if you approach ahead of the shoulder area, she’ll turn away or back up. Cows see differently than we do. They can see more than three hundred degrees, while we see one hundred eighty degrees. Their blind spot is directly behind them.” He pointed behind Dolly. “So if you stand there, she can’t see you.”

  “What’s the flight zone?” Elisabeth asked as she walked alongside him.

  Flight zones? She was constantly surprising him, and it made it harder for him to keep his distance. “You know about flight zones?”

  “No, but I remember the term from an article or something. Maybe a documentary. I can’t remember.”

  “Well, the flight zone is the area surrounding her where she’ll move to when she’s approached and feels threatened. You want to be aware of her point of balance, and the distance you keep from her body. To keep her moving forward, stay out to the side, like where I am, and at the edge of her flight zone. See how far away I am?” He waved his arm between him and Dolly. “This is about right. If she starts going too fast, then ease off a little until she slows, and if she slows too much or stops, move closer to encourage her to move.”

  “I approached from the side, but closer to her shoulder, and she let me pet her.”

  “You have your aunt Cora to thank for that. She spent a lot of time with Dolly.” He reached for Elisabeth’s hand. “Here, you do this, and I’ll get the gate.”

  “I don’t know. What if I send her running the wrong way?”

  He smiled to ease her worry and guided her closer to Dolly. “You won’t, and if you do, then I’ll go get her.” He walked beside her until they were closer to the gate. “You’re doing great. See? It’s not too difficult when you know what to do.”

  She took over as he opened the gate. “I think I need to study up on husbandry.”

  “Maybe we need to take a trip over to the library at some point. Callie, the librarian, is my brother Wes’s girlfriend.” He liked it better when they were side by side, but he allowed himself another greedy glance at her smile, her eyes, her shoulders, her breasts…He turned back toward the paddock and drew in a deep breath. He needed to focus on the cow and fixing the broken wood, not the rising wood in h
is pants.

  “I was there today. Does she have dark hair? Really pretty and sort of quiet?”

  He noted that she wasn’t afraid to say another woman was pretty. Sometimes women were weird about those things. Chalk another one up to the What I Like About Elisabeth list. He wondered how many more surprises she had in that pretty head of hers.

  “Yes. That’s Callie. She’s a sweetheart. You’re doing great, Elisabeth.” He closed the gate behind Dolly and assessed the broken fence. It was a center break. The railings formed a V-shaped opening. The rails needed to be replaced. It wouldn’t be difficult to fix, but Ross wondered what Elisabeth would have done if he hadn’t come by.

  “I’ll walk Dolly up toward the barn. Why don’t you ride your bike up to the house; then I’ll run out and get wood to fix the fence.”

  “You don’t have to do that, Ross. I’m sure you have better things to do than fix my fence. I appreciate all you’ve done already.”

  “Elisabeth, what would you have done if I hadn’t come by?”

  She shrugged.

  “Would you have stayed with Dolly all night?”