hit-and-miss out at the ranch, too. But I have a landline, so I was going to take Annabelle there. Do you have the name of someone we should contact?â
âSure. There are a couple of good garages. Donnaâs teenage son is always looking for an excuse to drive the tow truck, so Iâd say call her. Heâll be here in a flash.â
âDonna?â Annabelle asked with a frown. âDonna, as inâ¦â
Nevada laughed. âSomething for you to get used to here in Foolâs Gold. We are a town of women. For years there werenât enough men, so a lot of the traditionally male jobs are held by women. The police chief is a woman, as is the fire chief, most of the sheriffâs department and nearly everyone on the city council.â She held out her hand. âNevada Hendrix.â
Heidi sighed. âSorry. I should have introduced you. Iâm a little scattered. Some of the wild cows got into the goat pen this morning and scared us all.â
âWild cows?â Nevada asked.
âThe cows that seemed to come with the land. Theyâre feral, assuming cows can be. Theyâve been living on their own for years, breeding. The herd is a pretty decent size. I think theyâre trying to influence the goats to rebel and go live with them.â
Nevada looked at Annabelle, who raised her eyebrows. âYouâre concerned about goat corruption?â
Heidi laughed. âWhen you put it like that, it sounds pretty silly. But I swear, every time the cows show up, the goats act weird.â
âMaybe theyâre territorial,â Annabelle offered. âMaybe they donât like sharing.â
âI hadnât thought of that. Iâve never had to deal with wild cows before.â
Nevada grinned. âYou should find yourself a handsome cowboy to take care of the problem. Youâd have to import him, because we donât have any around here, but that could be fun.â
âMaybe.â Heidi sounded doubtful. She shrugged and looked at Annabelle. âOkay, letâs go to the ranch and you can make your call.â She turned to Nevada. âThanks for stopping.â
âYouâre welcome. Itâs what we do here.â
âI know. One of the reasons Iâm happy my grandfather and I settled in the area. People are very friendly. And theyâre cheese eaters, which is good for business.â
âNice to meet you,â Annabelle told her.
âLet me know if I can do anything to help you get settled,â Nevada offered.
âI will.â
They started to head toward their cars when a large truck pulled up next to them. Nevada recognized Charlie, a tall woman with short-cropped hair. Charlie stuck her head out the window.
âInteresting place to call a meeting,â she yelled, then saw the tire. âNo way. Do not tell me none of you are capable of dealing with that.â
âFire department,â Nevada murmured as Charlie pulled over and parked in front of the string of vehicles.
âSheâs going to yell at us for sure,â Heidi whispered back.
Charlie got out of her truck and stalked over. Shewas nearly five-ten, and looked as if she could wrestle all of them into submission at once. Her features were pretty enough, but she never wore any makeup and her clothes were nothing more than practical. Even Nevada, who generally preferred jeans and a T-shirt to anything fancy, managed to put on lip gloss every now and then. She had a feeling Charlie would rather have a root canal.
âItâs a flat tire,â Charlie announced.
Nevada pointed to the other women. âAnnabelle Weiss, the new town librarian, and Heidi Simpson. Heidi and her grandfather bought the Castle Ranch.â
âGoat girl,â Charlie said. âIâve heard of you. Great cheese.â
âThank you.â
âThis is Chantal Dixon.â
Charlie glared at Nevada. âYou did not just say that name.â
Nevada
Dominique Sylvain, Michael Moorcock, Jerome Charyn, Jason Starr, Cara Black, John Williams, Barry Gifford, John Harvey, Scott Phillips, Stella Duffy, Maxim Jakubowski, Jean-Hugues Oppel, Dominique Manotti, Sparkle Hayter, Jake Lamar, Jim Nisbet, Romain Slocombe