A Temporary Arrangement

by Roxanne Rustand

  "This is real pretty," Lily murmured. "But there's no place for us to sleep."

  "That's why Connor dropped off your sleeping bags and duffels this morning. I figure you can each camp in a different corner. You're welcome to make tents out of chairs and my extra blankets."

  Tyler grinned. "Cool."

  "I'm over by the TV, and I get it first," Drew announced. He pawed through one of the duffels and pulled out a black plastic box with cords and controllers dangling from it like an electronic octopus. In seconds he was behind the small TV, figuring out the connections.

  "That's not fair," Tyler complained. "We didn't even draw for it."

  Draw for it? Abby realized she should have managed the first TV rights equitably. "How about giving Drew an hour, then you and Lily can draw straws for who goes next?"

  Lily, who'd settled on the couch with a Harry Potter hardcover book that weighed almost as much as she did, shot Abby a look of gratitude, then dropped her gaze to the open book in her lap.

  Tyler stuck out his lower lip. "Drew's always first, just 'cause he's bigger. And if Lily wins, that's not fair, 'cause her dumb movie lasts forever."

  Reminded of her one—and only—disastrous babysitting job as a teen, Abby smiled. "Then how about helping me bake some cookies while you wait? You could be the one to decorate them before they go in the oven."

  The television blared to life—a cacophony of gunshots and screams that nearly shook the rafters before Drew found the volume button on the remote.

  Startled, Lily jerked and her heavy book slid to the floor.

  "Jeez, Drew. Wake up the dead, will you?" Tyler snapped.

  And from downstairs they heard muffled curses... then the thud! thud! thud! of Hubert's broom handle beneath them.

  Abby managed a reassuring smile as she motioned with her hands for quiet. They were good, normal kids. They couldn't help making noise. But this whole idea had obviously been a mistake.

  She already knew she'd be hearing from Hubert in the morning.. .and the news wouldn't be good.

  to the lake and feed the ducks the rest of these waffles."

  "Ducks?" Drew rolled his eyes. "We're not little kids."

  "So then, how about feeding the ducks and then going on a hike?" Belatedly, Abby remembered Lily's weak left leg, from a club foot that hadn't been properly treated when she was in foster care. She thought up a fast excuse to avoid a long walk. "I'm too tired to walk very far, but we could follow Sapphire Lake and watch the Jet Skis and sailboats for a while."

  Tyler and Drew exchanged bored looks that revealed just how exciting that sounded. Then Drew gave Tyler's shoulder a playful shove. Tyler bent to tackle him at the waist and they hit the floor, wrestling like a pile of puppies until Abby managed to call a halt.

  "Monopoly? Scrabble?" Abby searched her memory for anything she'd liked at their ages, but without siblings or close friends, she'd spent most of her childhood between the pages of good books. "Cards?"

  Drew dove in for a sneak attack on Tyler and they crashed against the sofa. It screeched against the hardwood floor.

  "Stop!" she ordered. u Nvm"

  Chastened, they fell apart, breathing hard—and then Tyler punched Drew in the ribs and they were at it again.

  "Grab your shoes. We're leaving." She thought

  fast. "I could use your advice, really. Do you guys know anything about pets?"

  That got their attention.

  "Why?" Tyler asked, dodging another feint by Drew.

  Hubert's broom handle began pounding an all too familiar rebuke.

  "L um, think I'll be moving very soon." Maybe sooner than I planned. "And I was thinking about checking out the animals at the shelter. Would you like to go there and help me look? We'll need to hurry, though. I think they close at eleven on Saturdays." <*•

  "Awesome!" Drew spun away and pulled his Nikes from the pile of shoes the kids had left at the door. "A big dog would be really cool. Like, a guard dog, or something."

  "Something cuddly," Lily ventured, her eyes downcast. "With big brown eyes and lots of white fur."

  "Maybe a hedgehog." Tyler grabbed his own shoes and jammed his feet into them. "You could even keep it in your pocket when you were at work."

  The image made Abby laugh out loud. "Interesting idea, sport. Now tell me how you'd get it out of your pocket!"

  Given an interesting activity, the boys seemed to have forgotten their wrestling techniques. Abby breathed a sigh of relief. After an hour at the shelter and an hour or so at the lake, they could stop at that little malt shop in town for lunch.

  With luck, she could find something else to en-

  tertain them until three, and then she could give them all back.

  If she lasted that long.

  How on earth did mothers survive day after day after day?

  The kids bounded out of Abby's car when she pulled to a stop at the animal shelter. She rested her palms at the top of the steering wheel and dropped her head against them for a moment, still reeling after Hubert's announcement from his porch.

  That's it. Your phone jangles day and night. You come and go twenty-four hours a day and create a ruckus. Be out of here when your month's rent is up July eighth. If you find another place sooner, I'll gladly refund the difference.

  He'd stalked back into his house but, Hubertlike, didn't slam the door. He closed it quietly., .with the finality of a judge passing sentence on a habitual felon.

  She'd tried explaining the late-night calls from the hospital staff. The times she'd had to go back to the hospital for emergencies or to cover for a nurse who'd called in sick. The fact that the kids were just a one-time deal.

  But to Hubert the explanations hadn't mattered.

  If she hadn't been so aware of the stares of several neighbors watching from their porch swings and the curiosity of the three kids, she might have found it almost funny.

  At a sharp rap on her car window she looked up to find three eager young faces plastered to the glass.

  "Come on!" Drew urged. "They won't let kids in there without an adult!"

  Hurry, Tyler mouthed, as if she couldn't hear through the door.

  She got out of the car and took them into the shelter where the smell of pine disinfectant, dogs and cats assailed her nostrils.

  An employee on the phone waved them on back. Down a short hall behind her, two rooms housed dogs and cats, and a third held a variety of small pets.

  The boys headed straight for the door marked Dogs, while Lily veered off into the room at the left with a cat decal on the door.

  Abby wavered, then bore to the right, figuring that the cats could scratch.. .but dogs had bigger teeth and she already knew the boys were impulsive.

  Sure enough, Drew was on his knees in front of a giant black dog, his finger wiggling through the wire mesh. "Drew!"

  He shot an unrepentant glance at her and went back to cajoling the dog to come closer.

  "Drew" Abby repeated, touching his shoulder. "We have no idea about that dog's temperament. I want to give you back to your mother in one piece."

  He reluctantly pulled his hand back. 'This is a really cool dog."

  Several cages down, Tyler had passed a pen of gamboling beagle mix puppies to crouch at a cage

  S

  that appeared to be empty at first glance. "What did you find?"

  He looked up at her, his eyes swimming with tears, then threaded his fingers through the mesh and whistled softly. "Here, boy. Come, on."

  At the back of the cage, a medium-size dog had pressed itself as far into the corner as it could. Possibly a springer-golden retriever mix, Abby guessed, given its dingy gold-and-white-spotted coat and the freckles.

  Drew's favorite glowed with good health, its coat and eyes gleaming. This poor fellow, with one bandaged leg, was covered in mats and burrs. His thin sides were heaving as if he'd just run a long way. Pneumonia, maybe?

  'This is the saddest one here," Tyler whispered. 'This is the one you should take. He n
eeds you."

  "He does look sad, but I can't choose one just yet." Abby rested her hands on Tyler's shoulders. "I need to find a new place to stay—and there aren't many options. I might not be able to find one that allows pets."

  "That almost happened when we moved here. We had to get permission before we could keep our dog Scout. Maybe you could ask?"

  The dog in the corner lowered its head and painfully eased onto its belly to crawl forward a few inches. Its sad brown eyes were fastened on hers as it moved, and its timid approach drew her more than any of the bouncing, excited tail-wagging in the neighboring pens. "I wonder what happened to this one."

  At the sound of footsteps, Abby turned to see the attendant coming down the aisle. "Stray. She's not doing too well, though:'

  "So it's a girl, then."

  "Yep. Looks like she had puppies a couple months ago, but no one has seen any sign of them. Maybe the owner found homes for them and just dumped her off in the country."

  Outrage burned Abby's stomach. "That's horrible "

  "The jerk probably figured it was cheaper than paying to have her spayed." The middle-aged woman shrugged. "Happens all the time, and we end up with whatever survives. This one got hit. I'd guess she was out on some road, trying to follow her owner's car after he dumped her."

  Abby's stomach churned. "Someone who didn't even care if she starved."

  "She's still starving. Won't eat. Barely drinks. I'd guess she's homesick, in addition to her injuries."

  Sure enough, full pans of food and water in the pen appeared to be untouched.

  "But she'll find a good home. here. A second chance?"

  The woman glanced briefly at Tyler, who was still staring at the dog. She shook her head. "People want young and healthy dogs. Outgoing, playful animals. This one's so scared and nervous, we haven't even been able to brush the knots out of her coat."

  The dog stopped at the center of the cage and rested its chin on the concrete between its outstretched front paws.

  The pain and sadness in its huge brown eyes seemed to wrap around Abby 's heart. "I wish I could have a dog where I live now."

  "Don't worry about it."

  "I just moved here, but I'll be looking for another place to live. Do you think she'll still be here at the end of the month?"

  "There'll be other dogs. Young, healthy, low-maintenance dogs."

  "And I work full-time, so a dog would be alone..."

  "Then you should get a cat. Me? I prefer cats. No worries about letting them in and out."

  "But..." The pager vibrated at her hip. Abby looked down at the text message and sighed. "Hey, guys, we've got to go."

  "Aw, can't we stay longer?" Drew had ventured to the other side of the aisle, where he'd started fondling the silky ears of a cocker. "Please?"

  "I've got to get to the hospital." Abby fingered the shoulder strap of her purse before meeting the woman's eyes. "How much time?"

  "Time? Oh, you mean for Belle." The attendant lifted a page on the clipboard fastened to the front of the run. Her expression turned sympathetic. "Tomorrow, I'm afraid."

  "If I paid..." Abby hesitated, then plunged ahead despite the warning bells in her head. "Like a deposit, or something. Would that save her for a while?"

  "We can't do layaways, ma'am. The manager says its strictly cash and carry."

  "You can't hold her? For just a while?"

  "People walk out and forget to come back, leaving us wondering what to do." The woman held out her hands, palms up. "We've had animals in limbo for months that way. Our budget is so tight we just can't afford it."

  This clearly was not meant to be. Abby didn't have a home herself, much less one for the sad creature staring up at her. There'd be vet bills— maybe huge ones. And the pager at her hip was buzzing again, so she had to leave now.

  "How much does adoption cost?" Abby said as she herded the boys toward the door.

  "Eighty, with spay, worming and shots. But, ma'am—"

  "What if I pay that, plus her daily board until I can take her? I'd give you my phone number and come back every day to check on her. Deal?" Abby spied Lily studying a canary in the Small Pets room and motioned for her. "But right now, I've got an emergency at the hospital and I've got to leave."

  The woman frowned. "A rushed decision isn't always a good one. Come back tomorrow morning and I'll make sure she's still here. Okay?"

  "Perfect." Abby handed her a business card, then followed the kids out the front door. "I'll be back!"

  'The doctor will be here in just a moment, Mr. Matthews," murmured the ER nurse as she took his vitals. Ethan winced and looked away when she lifted

  the edge of the blood-soaked bandage on his forearm. Keifer's voice filtered down the hallway from the receptionist's desk, where the woman had promised to keep an eye on him. "Where's my dad? I want to see my dad!"

  An indistinct voice responded and his son quieted, but Ethan knew this ordeal had to be terrifying for him.

  Hell, the boy's mother had just dropped him off last night for the summer, and at this very moment she was flying out of the country. And then on his very first morning here, the poor kid had seen his dad nearly lose an arm in the power-take-off mechanism of a grain auger.

  The stuff of nightmares, surely, and the irony was almost as painful as Ethan's injury.

  He'd wanted the next three months to be a wonderful adventure. He only saw his son for part of each summer and on alternating holidays.

  From the lobby area, Ethan heard kids arguing over something. He frowned, remembering the icy blonde who'd walked into the hospital just ahead of him with her three children.

  She'd breezed through the lobby with an offhand, "Keep an eye on these three, Beth!" And then she'd disappeared down the hall.

  Some people, like his ex-wife and that presumptuous blonde, certainly showed little interest in motherhood, far as he could tell.

  A woman in a white lab coat with a stethoscope draped around her neck hurried into the room. "I'm

  Dr. Jill Edwards," she said with a sympathetic smile. "I hear you had an argument with an auger."

  "It won. The painkiller is really starting to kick in, though." Ethan rested his head against the paper-covered pillow on the gurney and regretted every moment of this day as Dr. Reynolds carefully unwrapped his haphazard bandaging.

  She sucked in a sharp breath. "This is beyond the scope of a hospital this size, Mr. Matthews."

  Startled, he looked up at her as she gently cleansed the edges of the wounds and then firmly wrapped the arm again with clean bandaging. She nodded to a nurse, who quickly shoved an IV stand next to the other side of the bed and opened a package of IV supplies.

  He winced when she placed the IV needle in his arm. "It's only a few lacerations, right? You can sew them up?"

  Dr. Edwards shook her head. "It's more involved than that. You've lost a lot of blood and you stand a good chance of losing function of your hand—or worse—if this isn't done right. I'm referring you to an excellent surgeon in Green Bay."

  Ethan closed his eyes as the deadline he had to meet and the activities he'd planned for Keifer all went up in smoke. 4 That isn't necessary. Hell, last year I needed thirty stitches when a bull took after me. Doc Olson stitched it up in his office and it healed good as new."

  "The tendons and nerves are involved, and the wound is badly contaminated." The doctor nodded

  curtly to the nurse, who moved to an intercom on the wall and instructed someone to make arrangements for transport and admission to a hospital in Green Bay. "You need this taken care of as soon as possible/'

  fck I...can'tdoit:*

  "Mr. Matthews—'

  "No. I have my son with me for the summer. I don't have relatives here, and there's no one else to take care of him."

  Removing her gloves, Dr. Reynolds murmured something to the nurse, then she turned back to him and lifted the rail on his gurney. "We're going to find someone to help you out, so don't worry."

  "If...if I do
go, that would just be an outpatient deal, right? Back here today?"

  "Maybe. And perhaps you could come here for follow-up care."

  "Follow-up?"

  "If you should need IV antibiotics and dressing changes." She looked over her shoulder. "Ah, here you go. I need to check on someone else, but I'll be back in a few minutes."

  Someone slipped into the exam room just out of Ethan's visual range and spoke quietly to the doctor, then moved to his bedside.

  It was the blonde who'd, like the Queen of England, so casually dumped her kids on the overworked receptionist. "I'm Abby Cahill. the director of nursing. I understand there's a problem?"

  He was starting to feel woozy, now that the pain

  meds were hitting his system, but he wasn't too out of it to catch her patronizing tone. "I just need to take care of this here and get home. In fact, I could probably just leave right now." He started to sit up, but she gently pushed him back down. "If I keep it bandaged—"

  "Mr. Matthews!" She blew out an exasperated sigh. "I really don't believe you're thinking clearly right now. Do you realize how serious this is?"

  First patronizing, now insulting. He felt his blood pressure kick up another notch. "I can't go to Green Bay. What about my son? Keifer must be terrified."

  "Beth is entertaining him," Abby said quietly. "As for you, the helicopter should be here in fifteen minutes. When it arrives, you need to get on it."

  He swore under his breath as the room began to spin. "You don't understand. He's only ten, and—"

  "He'll be fine. I'm sure the hospital social worker can handle this."

  He bristled at her nonchalance. "I—I will not pawn him off on a total stranger."

  "Mr. Matthews—"

  "This is.. .the first time I've had him for an entire summer. I don't know any child-care people. But—" he gripped the rails of the gurney as his stomach started to pitch "—that.. .doesn't mean I'll let him go with just anybody."

  "Our social worker is very trustworthy. I'm sure