Furever Friends

by Patricia Fry

  “I don’t know. Maybe it’s some deranged person who hates horses or something. Savannah, I think you should reconsider this and find a safe place out of the area for your horses. I’m sure Michael would agree with me. I mean, according to my friend, the horse community is pretty shaken by this. He called to tell me about it because he thought I’d want to get involved.”

  “Involved? You? You don’t even like horses much, do you?”

  “Well, I don’t dislike them. I just don’t have an interest in them—you know, to ride one or feed one or clean up after one...”

  Savannah chuckled. “Yeah, it is a commitment. So how would you get involved?”

  “He thought I might want to do a documentary film.”

  “Oh,” she said. When he didn’t elaborate, she said, “Hey, I’d better go. My aunt and uncle are here, and…”

  “Savannah…” he said in a warning tone.

  “Oh, Rob, I’m sure if something was wrong, Bonnie would tell me. You know how rumors can take off and fly. I’m sure they’ll determine that the fire was started by a downed wire or a spark from a piece of farm equipment or a random cigarette thrown out of a car window.”

  Rob let out a sigh. “I guess so. Well, take care, Savannah.”

  “Oh wait, I forgot to tell you something. I’m going to speak at a cat conference.”

  “A cat conference? What in the heck is that?” he asked. “Where cats get together and howl into the night?”

  Savannah stifled a chuckle. “No. It’s a group of people who are involved with cats; they write about cats, rescue them, photograph them, show them…whatever. There are veterinarians, cat behaviorists, shelter owners, and people who just like having cats around, I guess. I met the director up in the mountains over the weekend, and she thought their members would be interested in hearing about Rags. It’ll be an opportunity to sell books. I’ll let you know where to have books shipped and when. I’m meeting with the gal, hopefully this week.” She chuckled. “Can you guess what her name is?”

  “No, what?”

  “Kat.”

  “Of course.” Rob snickered. He then said, “Well, that’s fantastic. How’d you get involved with her?”

  “It was a fluke thing. Well, it was mostly because of Rags. He escaped from the cabin somehow and found us at the church. The woman approached me after the program.” She squealed, “Oh, Rob, here’s another episode for his stories, although this one might be a tad gory for our young audience.”

  “What did he do now?” Rob asked.

  “This crazy man took Rags and threatened to cut him if he didn’t get the money he wanted.”

  “Your cat was being held for ransom?” Rob asked.

  “Yeah, but the guy ended up stabbing himself when Rags slipped out of his arms.”

  “Good God!” Rob shouted. “Yeah, write that down when you get a chance and email it to me, will you? I’ll put our authors on it right away. Or,” he said, “you might want to write a book around that story. I mean, it might be a little gruesome for our young audience.” Thinking out loud, he continued, “Although we could change the plot so there’s no blood and guts—the guy could simply tumble down a hillside or something.” He asked her, “Do you think you’d like to write about it for an adult audience?”

  After a brief contemplation, she said, “Yes, I might, actually, but I don’t know when I’d have the time.”

  “Yeah, you’ll be pretty busy being a big-time horse wrangler-ette.”

  “Wrangler-ette?” she repeated, laughing.

  Rob changed the subject. “Where’s the conference?”

  “Just outside Phoenix at some fancy luxury hotel, from what I understand.”

  “Cool. Send me the address when you get a chance, and I’ll make sure you have books. When is it? I might show up.”

  “Really? It’s the weekend after next—Friday and Saturday.”

  He hesitated for a moment, finally saying, “Yeah, I think I can make it.”

  “Hey, bring your filming crew,” she suggested.

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Because there’ll be cats there.”

  “For sale?”

  “I don’t know—maybe, but some of the members bring their cats and dress them up in costumes, eyeglasses, and all,” Savannah explained.

  “What?” Rob shouted. “Are we talking about adults?”

  “Yes,” Savannah said, laughing.

  “Sounds like a kids’ party.” Rob was quiet for a moment, then asked, “You aren’t taking Rags are you?”

  “I sure am. He’s the topic of my talk. People will want to meet him, don’t you think so?”

  “I guess, but aren’t you tempting fate? He could easily get lost in the confusion and certainly cause a commotion.”

  Savannah laughed. “Now you’re sounding like my husband.”

  “Well, Michael is the voice of reason—like I am.” When Savannah didn’t respond, Rob said, “Listen, I’ll let you go, but I want you to keep an ear to the ground about that horse situation.”

  “Yes, big brother. You’re sure getting bossy there and maybe a little paranoid.”

  “Yeah, well, just be careful. Talk later.”

  Savannah stared down at her phone after ending the call. When she realized that Marci and Eric had arrived to pick up Adam, she pocketed her phone and rushed to greet them.

  Chapter Two

  “So construction has begun,” Michael said, wrapping his arms around Savannah as she stood looking out the kitchen window the following morning.

  “Yes. Rather overwhelming, isn’t it? It’s like we’re being invaded.” She turned and looked into his eyes. “How are you this morning? Feeling a void?”

  He hugged her tightly and murmured, “Somewhat. Yes, I miss them.” He kissed her. “But it’s sure nice to have my own family back, all to myself.”

  “I know what you mean. The rut is always attractive after a few weeks away, even when you’re enjoying a wonderful vacation.”

  He grinned and spat, “Rut? You’re calling my beautiful life a rut?” Before she could defend her comment, he gazed out the window again and asked, “So when will you be in business?”

  “In business?” she questioned with a laugh. More seriously, she said, “Bonnie thinks they’ll have all the corrals and shelters up and serviceable within a couple of days.”

  “Really?” Michael said, obviously disbelieving.

  “Yes. Look how many people are working out there. I understand there are volunteers, along with people who actually know what they’re doing.”

  Michael watched the workers for a few more moments, then sighed and poured himself a cup of coffee. “How’re you doing this morning, little man?” he asked, tweaking Teddy’s cheek. When the baby held a piece of fruit out to Michael, he pretended to gobble it up, and that made the fourteen-month-old laugh.

  Savannah laughed as well. “You two crack me up,” she said. “You have the same personality—both jokesters and both…” She listened toward the dining room. “That’s my phone.” Walking away, she called over her shoulder, “It’s oatmeal today.”

  She returned to find Michael eating a bowl of oatmeal with raisins, banana slices, and walnuts. He and Lily were playing a game. “I just ate a giant raisin,” he said, goading the child.

  “I’m going to eat a…what is this, Daddy?”

  “Walnut.”

  She looked at it suspiciously. “Do I like walnuts, Daddy?”

  “I don’t know; why don’t you try it and see?”

  Lily picked it up with her spoon and whined, “I might not like it.”

  “Then I’ll eat it,” he said, biting it off her spoon.

  “Hey,” she cried, “that’s mine. Mommy, Daddy ate my…what is it, Daddy?”

  “It’s okay,” Savannah said, “there’s more of everything on the table in front of you.” “Don’t tell her that,” Michael carped, grabbing a serving spoon from Lily and dumping a few of the nuts
she’d scooped up back into the bowl. “Here, try this one and see if you like it,” he suggested. He asked Savannah, “Who was on the phone?”

  “Oh,” she said livening up, “Kat, the gal I met from the cat group. She’ll be in the area working on an article this week and wants to meet to discuss my presentation. She’d also like to spend some time with Rags—you know, in his home environment. In fact, she might want to do a whole article about him. She even talked about a book.”

  “Really?” he said. He thought about that for a moment, then finished his coffee, stood up, and announced, “Back to work.” He kissed Savannah, then Lily. He hugged Teddy, saying, “Now don’t you start walking today, okay?”

  Savannah rolled her eyes at her mother. “Michael, you want us to keep him from walking until you get home?”

  “Yes,” he insisted. “He’s so close—he took three steps last night. I just know he’s ready to take off across the room and I don’t want to miss it.”

  “Okay,” Savannah said, patting Michael’s chest. “I’ll do my best to keep him off his feet until you get here.”

  “Good,” Michael said. He stopped before walking out the door and waved. “It’s been fun, gang.”

  “Bye-bye, Daddy,” Lily shouted.

  “Ba-ba,” Teddy mimicked, waving one little hand.

  Gladys kissed the baby on top of his head. She kissed Lily’s cheek before asking, “Did I hear you say that cat gal you met up in the mountains called this morning?”

  “Yes. We’re going to meet tomorrow for lunch.” She faced her mother. “That is if you can be here with the kids.” She studied her mother for a moment. “In fact, why don’t you take some time away today? You could probably use a break.”

  “A nap. That’s what I could use. How about you, Vannie? Aren’t you tired?”

  “Yeah, kinda. But I’m also keyed up because there’s a lot going on, so I can’t relax too much yet. But you can. I’ll be here doing laundry, keeping the kids and animals out of the way of the workers, grocery shopping, checking the orchard. Auntie said she and Max picked quite a bit of fruit and even did some canning while we were gone these last weeks. Colbi and Damon picked a basket of plums. Iris had people come over and pick some things for guests at the inn. Iris said that Maddie has been making all kinds of fruit cobblers and pies and even freezer jam. I don’t think much fruit went to waste.”

  “Good. You grow some nice fruit. I noticed that Antonio’s garden looks pretty good, too.” She frowned. “Those corrals they’re putting up won’t interfere with the orchard and the vegetable garden, will they?”

  “They’re not supposed to. I think they’re going to put three over near Peaches’s corral, including one for Gypsy. As you know, I’ve been keeping her in the riding ring, but we’re going to need that for exercising the horses that aren’t being taken out on the trail regularly. They plan to set up another five corrals on the other side of the orchard—they’ll be just far enough away from our house and the neighbors’ to be within code. We shouldn’t get any citations.”

  “What about all that manure,” Gladys asked, wrinkling her nose.

  “Oh,” Savannah said, brightly, “they’ll haul it away.”

  “How large is the Teagues’ staff, anyway?” Gladys asked.

  “Not all that large ordinarily, but Auntie told me they’ve brought in family from Bonnie’s and Barney’s home country to help out.” Savannah faced her. “Actually, I didn’t know Bonnie had such recent roots in their homeland. I thought she was a third- or fourth- or more generation American.”

  “And she might be,” Gladys said, buttering a slice of toast. “With all those genealogy websites available now, more and more people are connecting with relatives in their homeland as well as here in the U.S.—you know, that they wouldn’t otherwise know; like me and my newly discovered cousin, Janet.”

  “I guess that’s true,” Savannah said. “But I am curious about Bonnie’s heritage. I think I’ll ask her first chance I get.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t asked before, as exotic-looking as she is. How long have you known her?”

  “A couple of years—wait, maybe like four years. She sold us Peaches, you know? Yeah, we just became friends and I never asked about her background.” She turned to Gladys. “There’s nothing wrong with taking someone at face value, is there?”

  “Absolutely not.”

  Before Savannah could respond, there was a knock at the kitchen door. “Hello. Got coffee?” Margaret asked, pushing the door open.

  “Sure, Auntie, come in.”

  “Hi, Maggie,” Gladys said “Did you come over to see what all the commotion is about?”

  “Yeah, that’s quite a work crew out there.” She took a cup of coffee from Savannah and sat down next to Teddy.

  Savannah started to sit down, but changed her mind. “I’d better start the laundry. It’ll take a week to get it all done.”

  “No it won’t,” Gladys insisted. “We were able to do laundry at the beach house and we pretty much wore the same clothes every day in the mountains. We shouldn’t have too much to do.”

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Bring your stuff down and I’ll do it, too.”

  “Okay,” Gladys said, “I’m not going to turn down that offer.” She rose to her feet and started to walk away. She’d taken only a few steps when Rags tore into the kitchen and leaped up onto his windowsill perch. “My goodness, Rags,” Gladys cried, “you nearly knocked me over! What’s he so excited about, anyway?”

  “Good question,” Savannah said, joining the cat at the window. “Oh,” she grumbled, “someone brought their dogs to work.” She glanced at the others, who were now also gazing out the window. “Why do people do that? What makes them think a homeowner appreciates having someone else’s dogs tearing around and pooping on their property all day? I guess some guys just have to have their dogs with them all the time—how crazy is that?” When Savannah saw Margaret grinning at her, she asked innocently, “What?”

  “Well, you seem to like having Rags with you all the time.”

  “But I don’t let him run all over someone’s property like that—you know, infringe on the rights of others who might not want an animal tearing up things. It’s so intrusive,” she insisted.

  “Oh?” Margaret said, still grinning. “I’d say your cat’s probably the most intrusive animal I’ve ever known.”

  Savannah faced her aunt. “Why would you say that?”

  “Oh, Vannie, he’s always getting into some sort of mischief, and you have to admit you take him a lot of places with you.”

  “Yeah, he went to church with us on Sunday,” Gladys said.

  “Adam told us something about Rags finding you at church.” Margaret cocked her head. “That really happened?”

  Savannah nodded, then asked. So Auntie, you think he annoys people? It seems to me that people find him rather—you know, interesting and entertaining.”

  Margaret motioned toward the window. That’s what those workers think about their dogs—that everyone loves them as much as they do.”

  Savannah frowned. “Oh. I never thought of it that way. Yeah, I guess it is kind of the same thing, but Rags…”

  “What?” Margaret challenged.

  “Well, he’s a small cat—well, a large cat, but smaller than those dogs that are running all over the place out there.”

  Gladys and Margaret laughed.

  “Men with pickup trucks like to take their dogs everywhere with them,” Gladys said. “I had a handyman when I lived in LA and he always showed up with his dog in the back of his pickup truck. I’d sometimes feel sorry for Buster and take him a treat or a drink of water.”

  Savannah ran her hand over Rags as he jumped from the perch and trotted into the living room. “Well, those dogs are upsetting Rags,” she complained. She watched the cat for a moment. “He’s going to run from window to window all day like that.”

  “Good, that’ll kee
p him busy,” Margaret said.

  Savannah stared at her aunt for a moment, then asked, “So the cat alliance meeting is day after tomorrow? Where is it?”

  Margaret looked sheepish. “Here.”

  “Here?” Savannah screeched.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll help you straighten up. I know you’ve been gone a lot lately.”

  When her phone chimed, Savannah picked it up and looked at the screen. “It’s Michael.” Into the phone, she said, “Hi.”

  “Hi. What are you doing?”

  “Visiting with Mom and Auntie, why?”

  “Oh nothing.”

  “Do you want me to do something for you?” she asked.

  He spoke more quietly. “No, I just called to say that I miss you.”

  “Awww, that’s sweet. I miss you, too.” When Savannah saw Gladys smile and Margaret roll her eyes, she walked into the next room with her phone.

  Michael continued, “I really had a blast spending every day with you and the kids.”

  “Me too. I guess we’ll enjoy retirement together if we aren’t too old and decrepit by then.”

  He laughed. “Yeah, I vote that we work hard and retire early.”

  “Deal,” she said.

  “Well, I’d better get back to work. See you this evening.”

  When Savannah ended the call, she was still smiling.

  “You two lovebirds,” Margaret said when Savannah joined them in the kitchen. “You act just like you did when you first saw Doctor Michael Ivey—what, six years ago?”

  Savannah blushed. “He was just about the best-looking man I’d ever seen. And he still is.”

  Margaret patted Savannah’s hand. “Little did I know you’d make a love connection while you were helping me out when I broke my foot.” She winked at Gladys. “Am I a matchmaker or what? You know, I’m the one who introduced those two.”

  “You did good, Maggie,” Gladys agreed.

  ****

  Later that day Savannah was going through their mail when her phone chimed. She picked it up quickly so it wouldn’t wake the napping children. “Hi, Bonnie. How’s it going?”