“It’s hard for dogs to understand why they’re here,” Laura said softly, her mind swimming with unpleasant memories. “Their people leave them all alone, and strangers do mean things to them.”
Belinda regarded Marcus thoughtfully. “Yeah, I guess maybe you’re right. When I treat dogs, I think of it as helping them, but from their perspective I suppose it does seem mean sometimes.” Her mouth curved into a smile. “Very insightful, Laura. No wonder Isaiah is convinced you’ll be a great kennel keeper.”
“I hope he’s right.”
Belinda pushed to her feet. “You’ll do fine.”
“I’m going to try. This seems like a great place to work.”
“A fabulous place, actually. I love it. Mostly I work with Isaiah. He’s a great boss.” She shrugged and grinned. “The scenery isn’t bad, either.”
Laura wondered what she meant. Her bewilderment must have shown in her expression, because Belinda laughed.
“Isaiah,” she explained. “Talk about easy on the eyes. Isn’t he gorgeous?”
Heat gathered in Laura’s cheeks. “He’s all right, I guess.”
“All right?” Belinda laughed again. “Hey, it’s just us girls, honey. We can get down and dirty.”
“Okay,” Laura relented. “He’s a little better than all right.”
“Tucker isn’t bad, either,” Belinda confided. “Of course, they’re twins, so that goes without saying.” She thumped the heel of her hand against her temple. “What am I thinking? You’ve probably known Tucker a heck of a lot longer than I have.”
Laura shook her head. “No. I’ve never even met him.”
Belinda frowned. “I thought Isaiah said you were a friend of the family.”
It was Laura’s turn to laugh. “Sort of, I guess. My grandma lives next door to his mom.”
“Ah. So you don’t really know the family, per se.”
“I know his mom pretty well. Sometimes when I go to Gram’s she’s over there for coffee.”
“I see. Well, however it came about, I’m glad you got hired. Things will be hectic for you the next couple of weeks, but maybe after you settle in we can do lunch together and get better acquainted.”
Laura’s heart lifted with gladness. Lunch with a coworker. It was just the sort of thing she’d hoped might happen, but she’d never expected an invitation so soon. “I’d like that.”
“Good. It’s a date then.” Belinda flattened her hand against the wire. “Catch you later, Laura. Welcome to the team.”
Laura smiled to herself as Belinda walked away. Welcome to the team. For the first time in five years, she finally felt as if she were part of something again.
Belinda’s prediction proved to be correct; the next couple of weeks were incredibly hectic for Laura. After training all morning at the clinic, she raced back into town to walk dogs, clean houses, and do people’s ironing. As a result, she hit the floor running at five each morning and never slowed down until after five in the afternoon. She spent her evenings cooking dinner, doing dishes, cleaning her apartment, and doing her laundry. In short, she barely had time to take a relaxed breath.
But it was worth it. She absolutely loved her job at the clinic. She had expected kennel keeping to be a fairly lonely occupation, but it wasn’t. Employees from both wings frequently entered the kennel area to check on dogs or administer medications, affording Laura an opportunity to get acquainted with some twenty-odd people. In addition to Belinda, Trish, Angela, Susan, Mike, and James, who worked in the south wing with Isaiah, there were a number of people from Tucker’s team whom Laura really liked, namely Sally Millet, a short, stocky technician with curly brown hair and merry brown eyes who loved to tell jokes and had a raspy, contagious laugh; Jeri Gibson, a plump, out-of-a-bottle redhead in her late fifties who waged an ongoing war with gray roots; Tina Moresly, a tall, big-boned lady in her forties with a fun-loving personality; and Lena Foster, a white-haired grandmotherly type who had retired as a vet assistant five years ago and had now returned to the field part-time to supplement her Social Security income.
Laura enjoyed having so many new friends. It felt good to walk through the clinic and have people calling out hello. During coffee breaks she listened to gossip, laughed at jokes she didn’t get, and enjoyed a sense of belonging that had been lacking in her life for far too long. Judi always had amusing anecdotes to share about her granddaughters. Lena was always trying to get pledges for walkathons, trying to raise money for MS and breast cancer research. Tina, married but childless, brought in snapshots of her nieces and nephews. It was fun, and Laura always felt a little sad when break times ended.
The sadness never lasted long. Working so closely with the animals gave her a deep sense of joy and satisfaction. There were sweet-faced felines who purred and nuzzled for more petting when she held them, and dogs with all types of personalities to keep her from growing bored. Every time Laura washed a blanket, cleaned a cage, or stole a moment to give an animal special affection, she knew she was making a difference. That felt indescribably wonderful.
One day she had just finished cleaning the last dog kennel and was about to leave for home, her thoughts on the upcoming weekend, when Isaiah appeared in the aisle behind her. “Hey,” he said. “Long time, no see.”
It had been days since they had spoken. She had caught fleeting glimpses of Isaiah occasionally as she scurried about, doing her job, but both of them had been too busy to do more than nod. Seeing him up close again kicked her pulse to a faster rate. How did he manage to look so good? His plaid shirt was in sore need of ironing, his boots were nicked and dusty, and his Wranglers were faded almost gray. He clearly put very little effort into his appearance.
In a classically masculine stance, he stood with his hands resting loosely at his hips, one knee slightly bent, his broad shoulders relaxed. A stethoscope was looped around his neck. His dark hair fell in attractive, tousled waves over his high forehead. When she looked into his blue eyes, every rational thought in her head leaked out.
“Hi,” she managed to say. “It has been a while.”
He rested an arm against the dividing wall between two kennel stalls. “Two weeks, to be exact.” His gaze warmed on hers. “It’s time for your first performance review.”
Performance review? Laura’s stomach dropped. Oh, God. If he fired her, she would just die. She loved this job, and she’d made so many new friends. Val Boswell, the office manager, a thin, sunbaked blonde in her late fifties, was always ready with a warm smile, and being a dog lover she often visited the kennels just to hang out for a few minutes. And that wasn’t to mention all the techs and tech assistants from both wings. Laura’s favorite person of all was Trish Stone, one of Isaiah’s techs, a petite brunette with merry brown eyes who talked incessantly about her kids, and about her dogs, two rambunctious Airedales named Kip and Rip.
And the animals. Laura’s heart squeezed at the thought of leaving them.
“Would you like me to come to your office?” she asked, and then wanted to kick herself because her voice quavered.
“Nah, nothing so formal as that.” He flashed her a slow, crooked grin that made her feel as if she’d just swallowed a dozen live goldfish. “Everyone tells me you’re doing great, the best kennel keeper we’ve ever had. You’re well liked. Tucker’s people think you’re fabulous, and so do mine. You’re always eager to work, no matter how nasty the chore. I’m even told that you hang around after your shift is over to spend extra time with the animals.”
Laura released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. “I get to stay, then?”
He threw back his dark head and laughed. As his mirth subsided, he said, “Try to leave, and every-one may stage a revolt. As far as I’m concerned, we can forget our original agreement to keep you on probation for thirty days. The position is yours, Laura. Everyone here, including me, feels that you’re ready to become a bona fide member of the team. Stop by to see Val on Monday. She’ll have a work schedule drawn up for you.”<
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Laura was so delighted that she almost hugged him. “Oh! Well, then. I, um—thank you, thank you very much.”
“Don’t thank me. You’ve been working your tail off back here. I thought about waiting until tonight and calling you at home. During the day I’m always so busy that there’s hardly any time to talk. But there’s really nothing we need to discuss, no areas where you need improvement, no areas where you particularly shine. By all accounts you shine at everything.”
A quick, informal performance review suited Laura just fine. In fact, she was anxious for him to go so she could hug herself and do a happy dance.
Instead of leaving, he frowned slightly. “Can I pick your brain about something?”
The question tickled her funny bone. “I don’t have much of a brain to pick.”
He narrowed an eye at her. “Don’t say things like that.”
Laura shrugged. “Sorry. It’s just not often that someone asks me for advice.”
“Mark the moment. I have this birthday party to attend tonight, and”—he glanced at his watch—“after I leave here, I’ll have approximately thirty minutes to stop somewhere and buy a gift. It’s for this older guy, Sly Glass, who works as a ranch foreman for my brother-in-law’s family. He and his wife just remodeled their place, and she says he’d like something for their den. You’re good with rooms. I thought maybe you’d have some ideas and possibly know a store where I can go.”
Laura thought for a moment. “What’s he like?”
“Sly?” Isaiah rubbed his jaw. “He’s a wiry old cowboy in a droopy tan Stetson with a face like a crinkled brown paper sack.”
“The Stubborn Mule,” Laura said.
Isaiah gave her an odd look. “He is a little stubborn, I guess.”
“No, no, not your friend. The Stubborn Mule is a Western store. They have some neat stuff, things an old cowboy might like.”
The perplexity in his expression gave way to another lopsided grin that creased the corners of his eyes. “The Stubborn Mule, huh? I’ve seen it, I think. Out by the overpass, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“Any ideas about what kind of gift?” he asked. “What’d work for a den?”
“For an old cowboy, I’d look for horse stuff. An old saddle would be cool. Or a picture of a field with horses in it, maybe? They also have some pretty leather throw pillows, all hand-tooled.”
“An old saddle, did you say?”
“Lots of people keep old saddles in a den. They set them on a . . .” Laura’s brain went blank. “I can’t recall the word.” She gestured helplessly. “I hate when this happens.”
“A sawhorse?”
She snapped her fingers and nodded. “Right, a sawhorse, only a pretty one.”
“You know, he might really like that. He’s a saddle kind of guy.”
Laura smiled. “You’ll find the right thing there. It’s a fun store.”
After Isaiah left, Laura hugged her waist and twirled down the aisle, so happy she wanted to shout. A bona fide member of the team. She tucked in her chin and tugged her name badge around to look at it. Right now it read, LAURA, TRAINEE. Next week, she’d get a new one that said, KENNEL KEEPER in big block letters.
It was official. She was here to stay.
Midshift on Monday, Laura went to Val’s office to get her new work schedule. Val, slumped behind her desk and frowning intently at a blank notepad, finally glanced up. “Hi, Laura,” she said, her voice lacking its usual enthusiasm.
“Hi. Isaiah said you’d have a new work schedule ready for me today.”
“Oh, damn.” Val made a fist in her short blond hair. “I totally forgot. Can you stop back by before you leave?”
“Sure.” Laura studied the office manager’s face, noting the way her mouth turned down in weary defeat. “Is something wrong?”
Val rocked back on her castered chair. “At the staff meeting last week, Isaiah and Tucker decided we should decorate for all the holidays from now on, starting with Halloween. They think it’ll lift everyone’s spirits and make the clinic seem friendlier.”
“It is pretty bare,” Laura observed. “But then, I like lots of color.”
“I’m all for the place looking better.” Val thumbed her bony chest. “But guess who got elected to do the decorating?”
“Uh-oh. And you’re not happy about it?”
Val tossed down her pen. “I’m terrible at decorating. Out front, they want it to look tasteful.”
Laura rocked back on her heels to glance around the door frame toward the front desk. “It won’t be so bad. Almost any old thing will go with cedar trim and white walls.”
Val gave Laura a speculative look. “Are you good at decorating?”
Laura lifted her shoulders. “Okay, I guess.”
“They don’t want cutouts of jack-o’-lanterns and witches plastered everywhere.”
“What do they want?”
Val puffed at her bangs. “Tasteful stuff, not that Tucker or Isaiah would recognize tasteful if it ran up and bit them on the butt.”
Laura snickered. “Ah, now. You’ll do fine.”
“No.” Val wiggled her eyebrows like the villain in a children’s cartoon. “You will.”
Laura threw up her hands and fell back a step. “Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes. You’re bound to be better at it than me.” Val propped her bony elbows on the desk blotter and leaned forward, her expression suddenly pleading. “Please, Laura, please, please, please? Just bring me the receipts, and I’ll reimburse you for anything you buy. I hate to decorate.”
Laura loved to decorate, and she liked Val so much that she really hated to say no. “I can’t promise it’ll look good,” she tried.
“If I do it, I guarantee it won’t.”
“It’s almost Hallo-ween,” she reminded the office manager. “There’s not much time.”
“Tell me about it. Men. They have no clue what it takes to decorate a lobby. Save me, Laura. Please?”
On Friday Laura had called and quit all of her odd jobs. Over the coming week she would have plenty of time to take on an extra project. “Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll try my hand at it. Why not? If you don’t like what I do, I’ll pay you back for the stuff and use it at home.”
“Deal!” Val beamed a grateful smile. “Just be sure to log in the additional hours so I can add them to your paycheck.”
“I don’t have to get paid,” Laura protested. “I’ll have fun doing it.”
“Are you sure? If I stayed over to do it, I’d get paid. Why shouldn’t you?”
Laura shook her head. “There’s a cap on how much I can earn.”
“Dinner out, then, my treat.”
“That sounds great.”
“It’s settled then.” Val shoved aside the notepad. “You came in here for a reason. Now I can’t remember what it was.”
“My hours,” Laura reminded her.
“Oh!” Val rolled her eyes. “I think I’m coming down with something. My brain feels like mush, and I’m a little sick to my stomach.”
“I hope you start feeling better.”
“Oh, I will. Some crackers and tea may help.” She rubbed her forehead. “Can you stop back in before you leave, Laura? I’ll have a schedule ready for you.”
After leaving Val’s office, Laura paused near the reception desk to peruse the waiting room, which was milling with customers and their pets. In her mind’s eye she pictured what kind of decorations might look good. Seasonal wreaths would be fabulous against the cedar. Baskets filled with gourds would lend touches of much-needed color, with the added convenience that the baskets could be redone for Thanksgiving and Christmas and filled with season-appropriate floral arrangements the rest of the year.
That thought propelled Laura into a U-turn. Val looked up questioningly when Laura appeared in front of her desk again. “About the walls,” Laura began. “They’re all bare.”
“That’s a news flash? Two bachelors own this joint.”
/> “The whole clinic is bare. I know we can’t have a lot of stuff on the walls. That would make it hard to dust. But with nothing at all, it feels so cold. I go to garage sales a lot. What if I start buying this and that? It wouldn’t cost much to dress up the place.”
“It is pretty boring out there.” Val considered the suggestion. “If it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, I’m sure Isaiah and Tucker won’t object.”
“I see nice framed paintings at garage sales all the time. They never cost a lot.”
Val nodded decisively. “Go for it, then.”
After leaving Val’s office, Laura trailed a finger along the wainscoting as she walked up the hallway. Decorating a clinic would be a challenging endeavor. Her experience ran more to houses. She wasn’t sure what kind of wall hangings would work best. Maybe she could get some ideas by leafing through magazines.
Yes, that was a good idea, she decided. At the end of the hall, she turned to study the waiting area again, trying to envision how it might look. A clear picture wouldn’t take shape in her mind. She only knew that the Crystal Falls Animal Clinic was about to get a makeover.
Chapter Four
Laura was cleaning kennels five and six the next morning when Isaiah appeared at the end of the aisle. He wore a blood-smeared blue lab coat, a surgical cap, and a mask. His eyes burned with urgency above the swatch of white cloth.
“I need you in the surgery, stat!” he yelled.
Laura dropped the soiled bedding she’d just gathered into her arms, latched the kennel gates, and hurried after him. When she entered the surgery, he tossed her a sterile smock, a cap, and a mask. “Hurry. Over half the staff called in sick. We’ve got a compound fracture of the femur. A main artery is severed.”
Rooted to the spot, Laura stared in mounting horror at the dog on the operating table. An IV tube, fed by a see-through bag of clear liquid suspended from a tripod, was already taped to the animal’s front leg. Its left hind leg rested at an awkward angle and had been tightly wrapped in a towel, which was now soaked with crimson. Beads of blood dripped from the stainless steel table onto the tile floor.
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