“I was thinking more like lunch. I work the next two days, but maybe Thursday?” he asks.
“I don’t think I can,” I reply.
“Oh… okay. Yeah, that’s cool. I—”
I cut him off before he spirals. “I have to work the lunch shift on Thursday. How about Friday?”
“Friday.” I can almost hear his smile widening through the phone and it brings nerves to my stomach. “Okay. I’ll text you.”
“Bye, Ryan,” I say before hanging up and trying not to think too much about what a second date might entail. Instead, I focus on what my mom said about giving him a chance, about how it might take time like it did with my parents.
I shake it off and shoot Nora a text.
Meet me at the meat shop. I’ve got something for you.
When I arrive twenty minutes later, I’m so caught up in the excitement of telling Nora that I totally forget that there might be someone else working here today. Luckily, when I walk through the worn door, it’s not her mom. Instead, the guy I bought the tickets from is standing behind the counter. Nora is nowhere to be seen, but he is staring expectantly at me, waiting for me to order or something.
“Uh, hi. I’m Stevie. I won the cow.”Never thought I’d say those particular words in my entire life.
“?’Ey, congrats! I’ll be right back…” His voice trails off as he points behind him. I nod and he disappears through the doorframe. God, I hope he doesn’t walk it out here and expect me to put it in my backseat.
“Is Nora here?” I call out. If he brings it, I guess I’ll walk it out to her.
“I think she’s out working on the fence right now,” he says. I can hear him rummaging around back there.
“Okay. Do you know when she’ll be done?” I ask, checking my phone, but there’s no reply from her.
“I’m not sure. But it’s taking her forever. If you ask me, I bet she’s been sneaking around with some boy instead, but she keeps denying it,” he replies, emerging from the back, dragging a cart behind him.
Nora never mentioned a boy, but I guess it’s possible.
“Okay, well, I actually won the cow for—” Before I can finish, a giant vacuum-sealed slab of red meat smacks down onto the counter in front of me with a thud… followed by another and then another. I watch with horror as he empties the whole cart, until the counter is covered with enough meat to fill the entire display case at our local grocery store.
“Oh my God,” I gasp as I picture the cute brown cow that was lying on the barn floor at the fair and then fully take in the pile that’s stacking up in front of me. Ribs, ground beef, steaks, tenderloin, roast…
What have I done?!
“Stevie?” a voice asks from behind me, making sweat break out across my brow and goose bumps rise to the surface of my skin.Oh no.
Sure enough, I turn around to find Nora stepping in through the front door.
“Nora!” I quickly slide in front of the counter, as if my 120-pound frame and stick arms could even comecloseto covering the enormous pile of raw beef behind me. “I-I,” I stutter, unable to string an explanation together. What started as an idea to do something nice for her by saving this cow’s life has ended with her seeing me take home five hundred pounds of meat. She’s going to think I’m amurderer.
“I got your text. What are you doing here? What’s that?” she asks, her eyes shifting to look behind me. This was abadidea. I should never even have bought tickets for it. Why did I ever think they would give me the opportunity to take alivecow from a meat farm? But she’s standing there looking at me, waiting for an answer, so Ihaveto get myself together.
“I won the cow at the raffle… for you,” I tell her, and she twists her face up in confusion.
“Why the hell would you do that?” she asks, walking across the small space to stand next to me.
“Well, it was supposed to bealive,” I explain, trying to clear everything up, but she looks even more lost, if that’s possible.
“Again… why would you do that?” she repeats, and nowI’mthe one looking atherlike she’s not making any sense. The answer is so clear.
“You seemed super bummed at the fair that night and I know you’re vegan, so I thought maybe it was your favorite cow or something and it was about to get… you know.” I run my thumb across my neck, clicking my tongue.
Nice, Stevie. Way to be delicate.
But then to my surprise, Nora laughs. “You know I live on a beef farm, right? We slaughter hundreds of cattle every single year. You think I’d have a problem withonecow?”
