11. Chapter Eleven
Chapter Eleven
A goat on the loose.
Tony’s assistant had informed him there were numerous reports of a goat loose in town.
Normally the island’s deputies would have taken care of the situation, but they were otherwise engaged.
A swimmer had swum too far out from the shoreline and gotten themself into trouble.
The deputies were keeping the gawkers from interfering in the rescue mission.
The issue with the goat was something Tony felt confident he could deal with if it was their usual visitor—Dasher. He would just give Sam a call and have him come pick up the runaway goat.
Tony couldn’t help but wonder why the goat was always escaping from the Bell farm and coming into town. He would think farm animals would want to avoid the noisy crowds more than anything else, but it never seemed to bother Dasher.
Tony drove his golf cart the short distance to the disturbance. He couldn’t see the goat from where he parked, because there was a growing crowd of spectators.
He got out and slowly worked his way to the front of the crowd. He came to a stop when he saw Lily talking gently to the goat, just like they were old friends.
But he didn’t trust the ornery goat. What if he turned on Lily? He could headbutt her. Or worse, he could bite her.
“Lily!” Tony started toward her.
Dasher lifted his head and saw Tony headed in his direction. The goat was startled. He turned to run, but he didn’t get far, because there was a ring of spectators. But when they saw he was headed in their direction, the people backed up.
Lily’s head swung around to Tony. Her brows were drawn together as she glared at him. “Stop.” She positioned herself in front of Dasher, but her measured words were meant for Tony. “You’re scaring him.”
“I’m trying to help.” Wait. Did she just roll her eyes at him?
“Don’t speak and whatever you do, don’t move.” Then she turned her attention back to Dasher. “It’s okay, Dash. He’s not going to come near you.”
The goat’s head turned back toward the mess of trash that was now all over the sidewalk and partway into the road.
“It’s okay,” Lily said in a cajoling tone. “Go ahead and eat.”
Dasher gave Tony a withering look. It was like the goat was glowering at him for disturbing his meal of garbage.
Tony stared right back at the goat. If that animal took one menacing step toward Lily, he swore he would be all over him before Dasher could hurt her.
The goat made its way back to the smorgasbord of garbage. Every time Lily took a step forward, his little body tensed. Tony didn’t know why she had to be so stubborn and insist on catching the goat.
Tony didn’t have any experience with goats or any other farm animals. They didn’t even have a cat or dog when he was growing up, because his mother said she didn’t need something else to take care of.
But when he was a kid, their neighbor had a dog that was always running back and forth the length of their fence, barking at them. One time when Tony was mowing the grass, the dog jumped up at the fence and bit him. It left a big ugly purple bruise and an impression upon Tony not to trust animals.
When Lily was within arm’s length of the goat, she paused. Tony took a step forward and was immediately met with Lily’s frown and a shake of her head. The goat gave her a quick glance, but he didn’t seem to be that upset with her presence.
The next thing Tony knew, she had her hand wrapped around Dasher’s red collar. It was then that Tony strode forward. At the same time applause rose around them.
When he reached her, he said, “You shouldn’t have done that?”
She looked at him and arched a brow. “Do what? Catch a runaway goat?”
“He could have hurt you.”
She shook her head. “Dasher would never do that.” She looked at the goat, which Tony would swear was frowning at her for interrupting his meal. She scratched behind his ear. “You’re a sweetheart. Aren’t you?”
The goat rubbed against her hand. And just like that Lily had another male crushing on her.
It shouldn’t surprise him, because he’d had a crush on Lily back in high school.
She had been a couple of years behind him, but she was also the younger sister of his best friend.
And that made her totally off-limits to him.
But he didn’t want to think about any of that right now.
“Okay. It’s time to get you home before your family gets worried about you,” she said.
“I’ll call Sam.” Tony reached for his phone.
“Don’t do that.” Her voice was firm.
“But you said Sam was at home now.” As she shook her head, he asked, “Well, how are you going to get that goat back to the farm?”
She was hunched over as she held onto Dasher’s collar. She looked around. Was she checking to see if the crowd was dispersing? When he glanced around, he realized now that the show was over, people were moving on. That was fine with him.
Lily continued to look around. “I need a piece of rope or something. I don’t want to walk him around all bent over. My back will start to hurt.”
She had a good point. A rope would help keep the goat from running off again. Tony scanned the area. The only thing around was the overturned trash.
And then Tony had an idea. He didn’t like the idea, but he dismissed his hesitation. In the middle of the street, he undid his belt and slid it off.
When he went to approach Dasher to put it on him, the goat showed his teeth. Tony immediately backed up.
“What are you doing?” Lily asked.
“I was going to hook my belt on his collar so you could use it for a leash, but then the beast threatened to bite me.”
Lily laughed.
“It’s not funny,” Tony grouched. “You shouldn’t be handling him. He could bite you.”
“Dasher isn’t going to bite anyone.” She turned to the goat, and in the sweetest voice, she said, “Are you, sweetie?”
The goat was eating up her pampering him. Fine. So the goat wasn’t going to bite Lily because he was in love with her. Who could blame him, especially when she smiled like that?
Her gaze shifted back to Tony. “Are you sure you don’t mind me using your belt?”
“Nah. It’s old.” It wasn’t, but if she knew that she’d insist on bending over to hold the little beast’s collar, and that couldn’t be comfortable.
When Tony handed over the belt, their fingers touched. The jolt reminded him of when they’d been stuck in the elevator. And that warm sensation he’d felt in his chest just like he was feeling now.
All too soon she pulled away. He felt like an opportunity had passed him by to...what? Tell her he cared about her? That he wanted to take her out on a date?
And if he did any of those things, what would her brother Neil say when he found out? And did Tony care what his best friend thought? Of course he did.
But Neil’s warning had been when they were much younger. So, did any of that matter now? It was definitely something to ponder.
However, he didn’t have any time to think about that now. Lily had attached the belt to the goat’s red collar, and she’d started walking.
Tony rushed to catch up with her. “Where are you going?”
“Back to the Lily Pad to get my cart,” she said matter-of-factly.
“You’re going to drive him to the farm?”
She cast him a sideways glance. “Unless you have a better idea.”
He did, but he definitely didn’t like it all that much. “My cart is right over there. Let’s take it.”
She stopped walking and turned to him. With an arched brow, she asked, “You want to drive Dasher home?”
Did he really have to answer that question? His gaze moved to Dasher, who was looking around for the next thing to chomp on. Tony just hoped it wouldn’t be his cart. This summer he’d traded in his old cart. This one was still like new. Or at least it was until he put a goat in it.
Instead of answering her question, Tony said, “Let’s go.”
Tony turned and retraced his steps back to his cart. All the while thinking this was a bad idea—an even worse idea than giving her his belt. What was it about Lily that had him doing things he wouldn’t otherwise do?
He didn’t like that feeling of being out of control. He liked to control his environment. He supposed that was why he enjoyed the position of mayor, even though it was a job without normal office hours. The position seemed as though it encompassed his whole life, but he still enjoyed it.
If he could control things on the island, then he could keep bad things from happening to good people like he’d witnessed time and again at his old job. He rubbed his upper arm as old, disturbing memories came to him.
“Are you okay?” Lily’s voice drew him from the unhappy memories.
He immediately lowered his arm. “Uh, yeah.”
Lily didn’t want anyone taking care of her—least of all him. She’d made that clear in the elevator. But he could at least help her with the goat. By driving them to the farm, he didn’t have to worry about the goat distracting her and causing an accident.
Tony got in the driver’s seat. When he looked over at Lily, he found she had the goat in her arms. And that little goat looked quite pleased with himself.
Although Tony couldn’t tell if the goat’s happiness stemmed from his buffet lunch or if it was because the most beautiful woman on the island was holding him close.
When Lily went to get into the front seat with Dasher, Tony arched a brow. He didn’t want Sir Bites-A-Lot munching down on him.
She sent Tony an eyeroll before retreating to the back seat with that goat. Once she was settled, she said, “Let’s go.”
And so, they were off. He definitely would have preferred having Lily in the front seat, where they could have talked.
He didn’t know what they would have talked about, perhaps just the upcoming arts festival.
Anything would have been better than this silence that was drowned out by the motor of the cart.