Page 20

CHAPTER 20

Two weeks later, on a whim, Lorissa strode proudly into Tom’s vet clinic and encountered utter chaos. There were dogs barking, a bird screaming, and cats hissing. The only human she encountered was a woman screaming at the top of her lungs for everyone and everything to shut up. Taking in the situation at a glance, she immediately jumped to action. The first thing she did was get the attention of the human and told her to shut the hell up. She was so shocked she did, then she turned to the person holding a leash of a dog, but ignoring them to put a muzzle on her dog and get control of him. She said the same thing to the other person and pointed to the muzzles beneath their chairs. As for the cats, she walked over to their cages, bent to their level, and hissed back at them. That shut them up. When it came to the bird, she only walked over to the cage and stared at it. She never took her eyes off the animal until it ducked its head beneath its wing. Only then did she turn in a circle, and demand, “Anything else?” No one said a word. She looked up and shrugged when she saw Tom standing there watching her with a grin on his face.

“Thank you,” he said as he walked right up to her, took her face in his hands, and kissed her. “I was just coming out to deal with the chaos.” He kissed her again, then stepped back. “What brings you here?”

“I thought I’d stop by to see if you could get a bite to eat.”

“Unfortunately, as you can see, I’m swamped.” He turned and glared at the woman behind the desk. “ Someone overbooked the clinic, not taking into consideration that we are down a vet.”

“Need help?”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You’re not asking, I’m volunteering.” She looked at him, crossed her arms beneath her breasts and huffed so hard her bangs flew up. “Come on, Tom, I haven’t been able to do jack shit for the last two-and-a-half-weeks. Give me something to do. You even went with me out to Jared’s house to check on the horse. I had the stitches removed last week and was given a clean bill of health. I have no restrictions.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am.” She uncrossed her arms and rubbed her hands together. “I’ll be honest and tell you I’ve never worked in a clinic like this before, but I know what I’m doing. If you have routine patients, I’ll take them.”

“Okay the two Shepherds you yelled at are here for their annual check-up and three-year shots. Three of the cats are in for the same thing.”

“Got it.” She grinned and rubbed her hands together, then turned to the woman who still hadn’t said a word. It was Tom that spoke to get her attention.

“Sally, this is Dr. Gibson, she’ll take Max, Duke, and the three cats.”

“But, but, but…”

“But nothing. She’s a vet, and I know her. I also trust her.” He snapped his fingers several times, but not right in her face. Someone walked in from the back, and he repeated the instructions, and nothing was said as the first dog was led away, and Tom took Lorissa back to where she could wash her hands and change into some scrubs.

Several hours later, Lorissa sat down heavily in a chair in front of Tom’s desk and sighed just as heavily. “Holy hell, is it always like this in here?”

Tom tossed his pen on the desk, sat back, and rubbed his face. He looked at her tiredly. “No, at least I don’t think so. I’m trying not to point fingers, but Sally is new, she’s been here for a month. I was told that Miriam told her not to overbook because Dr. Pam’s last day was yesterday. There were hardly any animals in here for the last three days, but all of a sudden, today, while we’re down a vet, and my office manager took a personal day to catch up some errands, I swear every animal in the county was scheduled for something. All I can say it that thank goodness I didn’t get an emergency call.”

“I’m not being mean, but you look exhausted.”

“I am. I’m not being mean back,” he said, and grinned when she snorted a laugh. “But was there a reason you stopped by. You told me when you first arrived, but I don’t recall.”

“I stopped to see if you wanted to get something for lunch. Now, I’m wondering if you want me to call Mattie’s and order something to take home. I forgot to get something out for supper.”

“I could go for one of her double decker burgers with the works, extra fries, and a side of mac salad, unless we still have some at home.”

“We do have that. And that sounds good, but I’ll get the single decker, and single order of fries.”

“Or,” he said with a grin. “You could get a double order of onion rings, and we could share.”

“I can do that.” She pulled her phone from her back pocket then looked at him in concern. “How long before you’re done here?”

“Twenty minutes tops.” He reassured her and as she placed the order, she helped the others in the back clean up, and together they all walked out of the back of the clinic, and Tom frowned at the vehicle she was driving. “Who does that belong to?”

“Cole, he was visiting Nana, and said I could use it if I put gas in it. I have to call the insurance company tomorrow, and I hope they’ll have good news for me.”

“Let’s keep our fingers crossed. Meet you at your place?” He leaned in and kissed her and smiled against her lips when she agreed.

By the time Lorissa made it home, she was happy to see that Tom had showered, changed into more comfortable clothes, the table was set with silverware and the animals were eating. As they ate, she looked over at the animals as they clambered into the kiddie pool, and sighed heavily.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

“I don’t want to do this, but I think it’s time to put up flyers to advertise that the puppies and kittens are ready to go to forever homes.”

“Can we hold off on that until the weekend?”

“Sure, can I ask why?”

“Let’s let your Mom, Nana, and Dr. Henry to get their picks first. Once they take who they want, then we can take photos.”

“Oh, yeah, I can do that.” They looked up when there was a knock on the back door and four people joined them at the table. They immediately held up their hands and shook their heads when Tom and Lorissa offered to share their dinner .

“We’re not here to eat,” Laurie said. “I’m probably overstepping here, but I have a question for you. I talked it over with Mom, and Cole has a question too.”

“What’s up?”

“When are you releasing the babies?”

“Now,” Lorissa laughed at their expressions of shock. “I had just suggested to Tom that we needed to take photos and get them to their forever homes. He asked me to hold off because we know you want a kitten, Nana wants a puppy, and someone we know also wants a puppy.” She looked at the others. “He wants a female.”

“I want a male,” Lois said firmly and turned to Cole, who hadn’t said a word at their exchange. “Go ahead, they don’t bite.” When he remained silent, and removed his cowboy hat to worry in his hands, Lois laughed and gently took his upper arm in her hand.

“Cole wants to know if he can pick out a kitten for Ducky.”

“Are you sure he wants a kitten and not a puppy?” Tom asked in concern.

“Definitely a kitten,” Cole spoke for the first time. “I overheard him tell Clem that as much as he wanted a puppy, he didn’t think he had the energy for one. Said something about getting up and down all the time to train them to go outside. He said if he had a kitten, he could set up a litter box, and hope to train it to sit on his lap every night so he could pet it.” That was the most Lorissa had ever heard him speak at one time and it shocked her that he wasn’t done.

“With Carter overseeing the building of the bunktels, and cabins, sometimes Ducky stays in the house to stay out of the way. Clem and I thought a kitten would keep him company. Though Clem and I live in the main house, we won’t be there forever, so maybe a kitten would be good for him.”

“I agree,” Tom said with a nod. “Baby goes in and out, and I’m sure the kitten can be trained also, but I think you’re both right in this, a kitten would be better for him.” He looked at Laurie with a raised brow. “Which one did you want?”

“First, when should I get them fixed? Can your clinic do it?”

“Yes, and I’d say in a few more weeks possibly months. You want the females to go through at least one heat cycle, possibly two before you spay them. It helps in the long run if they can run through the hormones. For the males, I’d say around six months. They don’t go into heat, but you’d want their hormones to get started before you get them fixed.”

“What are the chances of a male cat spraying before they’re fixed?” Duane asked.

“That actually depends on the cat and their owners. I’ve known some male cats that were never fixed, but then also never sprayed. There have been some that again were not fixed, but sprayed everything they sniffed. The most common factor of males spraying is when they reach sexual maturity.”

“So, if we get him fixed before he reaches that point the chances of them spraying diminishes?”

“Yes, normally, but again, there are a lot of factors to consider. The breed, the lifestyle of the cat, the age, the litter used, the food they eat.”

“Wow, I never thought of all that.” Duane looked at Laurie. “I don’t mind, as long as we can get it not to spray in the house, then I’m okay with you getting a male. However, I don’t want to neuter him too early, or too late.”

“Which one were you thinking of getting?” Lorissa asked and thought she knew which one, but was shocked when her mother walked over to them, bent down, and picked up the male that was solid white and had green eyes.

“Really?” she asked in shock. “I thought you’d want the half tiger one.”

“I thought about it, but I keep going to this one.” She laughed as the cat climbed up on her shoulder and stayed there, looking at everyone, like he was the king of the world.

“Thank goodness.” Cole laughed. They all looked at him and he grinned. “Ducky wanted the tiger one.”

“Nana, which puppy do you want?” Lorissa stood and they all went over to where the puppies were sleeping, and Tom looked confused .

“When did their ribbons change. I thought they were pink or blue. When did they turn green?”

“I did that,” Lois laughed. “It was the only way I could keep track of him.” She picked up the mostly golden puppy. “I want to name him Yari. That’s Y-A-R-I. It means gold, and since he’s mostly golden in color, I thought it was fitting.”

They all admired the name and saw how much the dog settled in with Lois.

“Mom, do you have a name picked out yet?”

“Not yet, Duane and I are still discussing it.”

“We want a human sounding name, and no offense to Baby, we don’t want a cutesy name like that either. But we want something regal, like royalty.”

“I’m thinking Archie,” Laurie laughed when everyone looked at her and as soon as she said the name, the cat looked at her and rubbed his head against her face.

“Archie it is,” Duane laughed. They agreed they’d come back the next day to pick up their choices and as they cleaned up from their meal together, Tom called Dr. Henry, and they set it up that the other man would bring his wife out to look at them on the weekend. They wanted to bring their male dog, and Tom said that was fine as long as he was kept on a leash until they were introduced to Rose. Later that night, while they were in bed, Tom turned to Lorissa and with a serious expression and tone said two words.

“Thank you.”

“For?”

“For giving me a chance to having a family. I know when I first met you, I wasn’t nice to you. But you gave me a chance to get to know you, I feel accepted by Laurie, Duane, and Lois. I’m mean accepted like I’m part of the family. We both have the same views on a lot of things, and I love that we are in the same profession.” He sat up, turned to look at her, and took both her hands in his. “I also want to look at you when I say this next part.”

“Which is?” she asked when he didn’t say anything for several minutes.

“I know we haven’t known each other that long, but Lorissa Gibson, I love you. I love everything about you, and eventually, I want to marry you. Until then, I just want to love you for who you are and watch you become an established member of this community with your farrier business.”

Lorissa laughed and pulled a hand from his to place on his face. “I love you too, and I want to thank you for you being you, and for supporting me in that business. I also want to thank you for taking a chance on me. I’m not the most beautiful woman, nor am I a girly girl.” She stopped when he placed his fingers on her lips.

“You’re beautiful, and just the right type of woman for me. You check all my boxes, and I can’t wait to start our lives together.”

“What are you waiting for then?” She reached up and pulled his lips down to hers for a wild kiss. Almost an hour later, they lay there breathing hard, still holding hands, and looked at each other with a sappy smile on both their faces.

“I love you,” they whispered together, and with their hands still linked, fell into a peaceful sleep. Neither of them felt the bed move when Rose and Baby joined them at the foot of the bed and made their own little spot at Lorissa’s feet.