A Highlander in a Pickup - Laura Trentham Page 0,3
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.
Ozzie did move but only to the next pot to decapitate a burst of yellow pansies. If she’d been in boots, she would have stomped across the field, but she was in thin-soled ballet slippers and pranced rather than marched with a full head of steam powered by frustration.
At this rate, Anna was going to have to cancel her intermediate ballet class. The tall grass irritated her bare legs and left her itching as she quickstepped closer. Ozzie looked up from her flower munching and regarded Anna with bland amusement. Or at least it seemed that way.
“Oh, is that how we’re playing it? You don’t think I can handle you? You’ve never seen me corral a bunch of four-year-olds.” Anna sidled closer, her hands out and ready to grab the lead.
Ozzie shuffled to the side and made a sound that Anna hoped didn’t mean she was ready to attack. Anna stopped moving. What were the statistics on sheep-related deaths? She didn’t want to end up on the news as an amusing freak accident. “Little Bo-Peep Trampled by Sheep.”
Anna and Ozzie were at an impasse.
* * *
A loud clang roused Iain Connors out of his jet-lagged stupor. The unnatural sound shot enough adrenaline into his veins to make going back to sleep impossible. Sun sliced through a narrow opening of the curtains, and he stared at the dancing dust motes. For a moment, he was adrift, and it took a few blinks around the room to place himself in the universe.
Highland, Georgia. Stonehaven. He’d arrived late the night the before after a long flight. The shuttle he’d taken from the airport had been loud and bumpy, and besides the brightly lit road signs, he’d seen little beyond shopping centers and then tree-lined roads as they’d left the city.
A muffled voice outside sharpened his focus on the window, and he hauled himself out of bed to peel the curtains all the way open, squinting at the brightness. He shook his head and blinked