At Home on Ladybug Farm - Donna Ball [58]
Noah finished repacking his backpack. “Take him with me.”
Lori let out a hoot of laughter. “What, on the bus? Don’t you think that would be a little conspicuous?”
Noah’s cheeks colored dully. “I never said nothing about a bus.”
“Well, how far do you think you’re going to get on foot, leading a deer on a rope? Boy, talk about not thinking things through!”
“I guess you expect me to just leave him here and let the law come get him,” Noah returned angrily. “Well, that just goes to show what a smart-ass city girl knows. You turn a pet deer like that loose in the woods and he wouldn’t last a week. He don’t know how to live on his own anymore.”
“And you do?” Lori shot back.
“I’m not letting the law come get me either!” He grabbed for Bambi’s rope, but the sudden movement startled the deer, who was, after all, still a wild animal. A single leap took him out of the building and bounding through the woods.
“Bambi!” Lori cried, and Noah shouted, “Hey!”
They both took off after him at once.
The deer was spotted a few dozen yards into the woods, plucking berries off a spiky bush. Noah made to lunge for him but Lori flung up a staying hand. “You’re the one who scared him in the first place!” she whispered angrily.
Lori crept forward, reaching slowly and cautiously for the rope that still dangled around the deer’s neck, but she needn’t have worried. Bambi lifted his head and regarded her with interest as she closed her hand around the rope, then plucked a few more berries off the bush. He made no objection as she led him back toward Noah.
“Wow,” Lori said, pressing her hand over her still pounding heart. “Now I know what Aunt Lindsay meant when she said you don’t know how much somebody means to you until you think you’re going to lose them. That was scary.”
Noah shot her a sharp look as he took the rope. “Stupid deer,” he muttered. “You don’t know when you’re well-off.”
“Yeah, well he’s not the only one.”
Tugging on the rope, Noah pushed his way through the brush back toward the folly.
“Hey,” she shouted after him, and took a couple of running steps to catch up. “What I was going to say, before you started acting like a fool and scared him half to death, is that there might be a way for us to keep Bambi and stay out of trouble with the law. All we have to do is apply for a permit to keep wildlife.”
His step may have slowed a bit, but he did not stop, or look around, or give any indication at all that he had heard her.
Lori threw up her hands. “Okay,” she said. “Run away, don’t run away. My breakfast is ruined either way. But put Bambi back in the barn before you leave.”
As they reached the folly, she veered off on the path that led back to the house. Noah said, “Hey,” and Lori looked back impatiently.
“Did Lindsay really say that? About missing me?”
Lori rolled her eyes. “What an idiot. People who don’t even know you are tripping all over themselves to help you, and you don’t even notice. You go out of your way to screw up. Well, let me tell you something, kid. A person only gets so many chances in life. Maybe you’d better start taking advantage of yours.” She started back down the path.
“Oh by the way,” she called over her shoulder, “I’m going to tell Aunt Lindsay you stole her photographic plates, so if you’re going to sell them you’d better do it quick.”
“Bitch!” he shouted after her.
She returned an expressive hand gesture without looking back, and left him there.
Ida Mae was clearing away the remnants of the lovely breakfast casserole when Lori came into the kitchen. Everyone else was lingering over coffee.
“Sit down,” Ida Mae commanded. “I kept your breakfast warm.”
“Ida Mae, I love you!” Lori beamed, and tried to kiss her cheek, but Ida Mae shrugged her away.
“Where’s Noah?” Cici asked.
“He wasn’t in the barn,” Lori hedged, taking her seat at the crowded table. “Or the studio.”
“Well, where is he?” Bridget wanted to know. “What took you so long?”
Ida Mae came to the table with two breakfast