Free Love Under Construction (The Love Under Series Book 1) by Jody Pardo Page B

like I was in a dress rehearsal for a play in high school. Stiff new Justin boots, riding jeans, a blue and white plaid western shirt with little pearl-white snap buttons on the chest flap pockets and a white cowboy hat to top it off, and I was ready to go. I was dressed the part, but I didn’t feel ready. 
    Aubrey insisted on a white straw hat. I wanted a black one. She said I needed to brighten up my face and it would keep my head cool in the sun. She sold me on the keeping cool part—it was hot as Hades and I was wearing jeans.
    When we pulled up to the auction house, it was endless rows of pickup trucks in the parking lot and a sea of ranch hands in cowboy hats waiting to get into the building. Aubrey pulled around the back of the building and parked next to Kristi’s truck, and we entered the rear entrance to avoid the crowd. 
    Kristi was in her office trying to sort through a sea of triplicate form papers on her desk. 
    “Hey, Kristi, that’s quite a crowd you got out there,” Aubrey said.
    “Yeah, I know, don’t remind me. The new calves came in today, and I have their papers, but Rufus over there—” she pointed to the black and white border collie enthusiastically wagging his tail at the sound of his name “—decided my floor looked better wallpapered. So now, everything is a big old mess.”
    “Aw, Rufus, what did you do?” Aubrey teased and pet the dog, rubbing his head. 
    “Don’t encourage him! I have 100 calves out there and only four certificates on them.”
    “We can help if you tell us what to look for,” I offered.
    “Oh, bless your heart. Do you know anything about cattle?”
    “Nope, but I do know about paper. You said you had four found. Show me what I’m looking for, and I can help before the natives get restless out there,” I reasoned.
    “Oh, they can wait, the delivery is a day early anyways, but I would like them out my office. The sooner I get these papers sorted out, the sooner I can get rid of half that are sold already and get the others ready for auction.”
    “Show me what I’m looking for.”
    Kristi held up a triplicate form birth registration and a yellow card with a small plastic tag attached to it. “I need the rest of these. Each form has a matching card with an ear tag attached. I need both for each calf. One is the birth registration/transfer form, and the other is their identification tag that matches their ear tag.”
    “Easy enough, what about the rest of this stuff?” I asked, pointing to the piles of disheveled papers on her desk and floor.
    “Oh, I will get to that stuff another time. It’s old auctions and stuff I need to file. I just haven’t gotten around to it.”
    I started sifting through the papers pulling out three ear tag cards and two triplicate forms right away. At least they were colored and easy to spot with little tags on them. “Why don’t you take care of the cowboys, and I will hunt for the papers?” I offered.
    “Are you sure?”
    “These are what you are looking for, right?” I said, holding up two matching sets. 
    “Yup, those are them. I suppose I can get them signed in. You’re a lifesaver, girl.” Kristi walked out to the front counter to the waiting ranch hands, and I heard her barking “hold your horses” and “yeah they are here but they are not yours until I say they are yours” to the impatient men. 
    “You okay in here for a while?” Aubrey asked me.
    “Sure, it’s easy enough.”
    “I’m going to go help get these calves sorted. If you need me, I will be out back.”
    “I’m not going anywhere anytime soon by the looks of this,” I said, holding up a stack of a paper in each hand from the mix. Aubrey laughed and exited the rear entrance to the corrals.

    About a two hours later, I had five stacks of papers. I managed to locate all the triplicate forms and ear tags, and as I sorted, I stacked a pile of invoices, old registrations, mail correspondence, and a small pile of miscellaneous notes and