his car and with a lift of his hand, drove away, leaving Allie standing in her driveway, feeling like hell.
MAX HAD LOST a little of his fight after his day with Jimmy. Jason didn’t know whether to be suspicious or relieved. He decided to go with relieved, although he couldn’t come up with any good reason for his father’s change of attitude. Maybe Jimmy had explained reality to him...
Naw.
Jimmy was more likely to come up with a new scheme. Whatever the cause, Jason enjoyed his evening, which he spent watching a Giants game with the old man.
“How’s your job?” Max asked during the seventh inning.
“Slow, but it’ll get done.”
“Don’t know why you don’t bring in the equipment.”
“She can’t afford it.”
“Yet she can afford to pay you an hourly wage.”
Minimum wage, but he wasn’t going to tell his dad that. Max already thought his job was beyond stupid. “When she runs out of money, I’m done until she gets more.”
Max stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. “Do you have the hots for her or something? Because there’s easier ways to get women.”
Jason debated. “She’s attractive...but she’s not real fond of professional athletes.” And she had a chip on her shoulder the size of Kansas. He’d love to know why.
Max shook his head and focused on the game. Nothing more was said about Allie Brody or the barn. Jason sent Pat another text while watching the game, but again received no response. Finally he called and was put straight through to voice mail. He was contemplating his next move when the text came in.
I’m fine.
Good to know.
Jason’s mouth tightened as he set down the phone, wishing he had his old friend back. This new Pat, he wasn’t sure what to do with him, but the one thing he wouldn’t do was abandon him. Too bad Pat made it so difficult to stick with him.
* * *
JASON DIDN’T KNOW if Allie expected him to show up on Saturday, but he much preferred pulling nails and sorting boards to hanging around the house, so he headed off to work at the usual time. When he got to the ranch, he parked near the rubble pile and pulled the bucket of tools out of the back.
“Jason?”
Allie appeared from around the corner of the canvas building. She looked both out of breath and relieved to see him. “I need help.” She looked as if she half expected him to turn her down.
“With what?”
“A calf.”
“Sure.” He could chase a calf or hold a calf or whatever she needed doing. She gestured for him to follow her to the pasture where the cattle grazed, stopping at the gate to pick up a bucket she’d left there. She opened the gate and held it while he passed through, a quizzical frown on his face. The stuff in the bucket looked medical—medieval medical, because there were chains in there.
“I appreciate you doing this. This way I won’t have to get the jack.”
He didn’t have to pretend to understand what she was talking about because she was already on her way across the field to where a cow lay on her side. As they got closer, he could see that she was straining, in the process of giving birth.
Allie set the bucket near the business end of the cow and pulled on a pair of surgical gloves. She didn’t hand him a pair, so he figured he was good. He was also a touch apprehensive about his role. He’d seen puppies born once and that movie in sex ed, but birthing wasn’t a common occurrence in his world. Judging from the cool way in which Allie was pouring disinfectant over the rear end of the cow and what he could only think of as the feet, it was a common occurrence in hers. She looked up at him, her blond ponytail sliding over her shoulder.
“Hand me the chains, okay?”
Jason reached in the bucket and pulled out what looked like a long choke chain for a dog.
“Have you done this before?” she asked, taking the chains from him.
He shook his head, but she wasn’t looking at him as she expertly looped the ends around one small ankle, so he said, “Uh, no.”
“It’s easy. I just hope we’re in time. This is one big baby and I don’t know how long she’s been down. She was pretty exhausted when I found her this morning.”
“I see.”
She attached the chain to the other ankle, having to reach inside the cow a little to get the job done. Jason realized that he was grimacing as he watched and forced his face to relax. No worse than a compound fracture and he’d seen a couple of those.
“Now you take hold of the middle, right here—” she handed him the chain “—and when I say to pull, you apply a steady pressure. We are not jerking the calf out of the cow, we’re just helping her along. Understand?”
“Yeah.” A wave of sweat broke over his forehead.
“When I say release, just keep the baby from sliding back in.”
Allie started massaging the area where the feet were sticking out, then she said, “Pull. Gently.”
Jason pulled and a bit more leg showed, and then a nose, maybe.
“Let up.”
He let up, but kept enough pressure to keep the baby where it was. It truly did want to slide back inside.
“Pull,” Allie said, reaching in the cow a little to put her hand over the calf’s head. “Let up.” She tore open the slimy bag that covered the calf’s nose and a long bluish tongue lolled out. Jason was grimacing again and he didn’t try to stop. “Pull.”
Jason pulled. Once the head had emerged, the rest of the body slipped out in a rush of fluid and flopped onto the grass.
Allie’s shoulders sank in relief. “It’s alive.” She unhooked the chains, then stood up as the mom looked over her shoulder at her new baby.
“Best stand back.” Allie shot a look at him and then the corners of her mouth twitched. “First birth?” she asked dryly.
Jason shrugged, feeling distinctly out of his element. “I saw puppies born once. I was six.”
She laughed as she dropped the chains in the bucket. It wasn’t a full-on share-the-mirth laugh, but it was a start.
“Were all of these—” he gestured at the two older calves lying side by side in the grass near their grazing mothers “—born like this?”
“No. They came out the usual way. This mom’s a heifer—first birth. They have trouble sometimes.”
Well,
