Fine.
She could just stay here all day and wait until someone more experienced came along, right? Colette growled, causing a cow to lift her head.
“Come on, ladies,” she said again, waving at them to move in the direction opposite her. After a few complaints from the herd, Colette could see a shift, a slight movement. The animals were trained to move, and thankfully, they began to listen as a group.
“Let’s go. Move it,” she shouted, trying to make herself sound authoritative.
Slowly, the herd moved back inside the pen, eyeing her as they moved, while Colette kept shouting and waving for them to move. Never mind that she was scared out of her wits and forget that these immense animals could kill her if they charged. She was fucking doing it.
Later, she would take time to wonder how and what had propelled her to be so brave, but for now, thinking was a hindrance.
“Let’s go, ladies, almost there,” she shouted, while Hank supervised. The dog was satisfied after having sounded the alarm bells and surrendered the responsibility of containing the cows to Colette.
After much grunting and some definite begging, Colette was able to capture the two gates and pull them together to close. Did she have a key for the lock?
Absolutely not.
Did that matter? Nope.
As she eyed the chain that wrapped around the gates to keep them secure, she noticed something concerning.
It looked like the lock had been cut, making the chain useless.
Why would anyone do that?
Even if she managed to open the lock for this gate, she wouldn’t be able to close it, because the thick, rusted metal chain was compromised.
Great, she had gotten the cattle contained, but now had to contend with her arms being the only thing keeping the gates closed. She threw a desperate glance at Hank, hoping for some support, but the exhausted dog was already stretched out and nodding off in the grass.
“Thanks for the confidence,” Colette said.
The cows were docile and sweet, making their way back deeper into the pasture and putting less pressure on the gate, for which Colette was grateful. She searched desperately for something to use to secure the double gates and keep them closed.
A rope or another chain, maybe?
Seeing nothing, she despaired of having to stand here all day.
Leaning against the gate with her butt, she pulled out her phone, calling Marshall.
Unsurprisingly, he didn’t answer.
Again, she needed to meet the ranch hands and have more people to contact in a crisis. This was ridiculous.
She texted him another message and turned back to her problem.
Tucking her phone into her pocket, her hand grazed against her belt. Her thick leather belt. An idea lit up her brain. Though she wouldn’t tell him, she was so happy she had listened to Marshall and worn jeans that day.
It wasn’t a great solution for the long term, but it was the best one she had right now.
Undoing her belt buckle, she tugged on the belt, pulling it out of her pant loops.
Thankfully, there wasn’t a huge gap between the two parts of the gate, and she was able to twine the leather strip around both sides of the gate. Sliding the tongue of the belt into the buckle, she secured it around both doors, tying it as tight as she could.
There.
The situation was once again under control. Now she just had to sit here and wait until someone came to fix the gate. Settling into the grass next to Hank, she passed her hand over his back, and his tail lifted slightly in appreciation.
“Nice work, buddy,” she said, kissing the top of his messy head.
