“I look pretty damn good to be that old, don’t I?” No way was Cody getting ahead of her, not when she had a healthy calf on the ground, and a heifer that was doing what she was supposed to do without any coaxing.

“Oh, honey…” Cody laid a hand over his heart.

Was he flirting? She was prepared for bantering, even arguing, but not flirting.

“What I was saying is…” She tried willing her pulse to slow down, but it didn’t work, so she took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and went on, “That the rest of this week is going to be a real trial for you and Jesse. With a herd the size of what you’re running, you could see half a dozen calves dropped every day. January is always cold, and babies can survive in normal cold, but this is far from our usual winter weather. They’ll have trouble in ice, snow, and below-freezing temperatures. I’d suggest that you put up some temporary panels and turn this whole barn into stalls. Tomorrow or the next day this lady and her baby could probably be turned out into the corral, but you could need extra places for newborns for a couple of days.”

“You’re the doc,” Cody said. “Jesse and I’ll get busy bringing the panels and gates in from one of the other barns. Maybe you should start riding with us tomorrow morning.”

“I told you, I’m more than willing to help,” Stevie said. “We’ve got a while before supper. Mind if I take one of the four-wheelers and drive through the pasture while y’all put up some temporary stalls?”

“Keys are hanging inside the door of the tack room. Call me if you run into trouble,” Cody said.

Stevie grabbed her coat from the stall gate and patted the pocket. “I won’t be out that long. I just want to take a look at the pregnant cows. I’ll be back in time for supper.”

Cody nodded and was talking to Jesse on the phone when Stevie fired up one of the four-wheelers parked over against the wall. She drove it around her pitiful-looking van, which was leaning to the side because of its flat tires, and stopped at the barn door. Before she could shut off the engine, Cody had jogged over and slid the door open for her.

“Thanks,” she yelled over the noise of the vehicle.

Freedom! she thought as she shifted into gear and headed around the barn. The cold wind bit into her face. When she reached the gate leading into the pasture where the herd milled about, she stopped the four-wheeler and opened the heavy gate. “This is why you always bring backup,” she muttered. “That way someone else can take care of gates.”