Page 9

CHAPTER 9

Tom waited until Lorissa joined him at the table with the two steaming mugs of coffee before he spoke. He scrubbed his face, leaned forward, and sighed heavily. “I need to give you a little bit of background before I can explain what happened earlier. Without it, I don’t know if you’ll understand why I did what I did, and why it happened.”

“Okay.” Lorissa nodded as she settled back and sipped her coffee. “I’m listening.”

Tom drew in another deep breath and let it out in a rush. “I’m not vain, but I’m not as old as I look.”

Lorissa cocked her head to the side and frowned. “You’re around the same age as Duane, right?”

“No, I’m only thirty-four. Like I said, I know I look older. Let me explain.” He waited until she nodded and launched into his story. “Up until I was about ten, I always wanted to join the military. That was my lifelong dream. When I found out I couldn’t join any branch of the military, I buckled down and harnessed what was going on inside me. I know I’m not making any sense, but I was smart. My parents and teachers thought I was lazy and disruptive.”

“First, why couldn’t you join the military? You don’t have to answer, but was it due to a medical condition? And what did you do to make them think that about you?”

“Nothing medical was wrong with me, but I was the only son, of an only son, of an only son.”

“Ah, so they wouldn’t let you join because the blood line might die with you.”

“Correct. I’m not saying this for you to feel sorry for me, but as the truth. I have no aunts and uncles, nor do I have any cousins. Growing up, my parents would send me to my grandfather to try to work some of my excess energy off. But I digress. The other part of your question, I wasn’t lazy and disruptive. At least I didn’t think I was.”

“Then what were you?”

“Bored out of my ever-loving mind. One year, during a long weekend break from school, it wasn’t Thanksgiving. It was in October, I think it was Columbus Day where we had a three-day weekend. I was so bored, I took the workbook we had been given at the beginning of the year in math class and did the entire thing. I even read the entire history book and wrote a ten-page report on the entire book.”

“Oh my,” Lorissa said in shock, then smirked. “So, you weren’t lazy, but you were smart.”

“Yes, and it wasn’t until I went back to school after that weekend that things started happening for me.”

“Can you describe some of it?”

“First, I waited until after school let out. I was a walker, so I didn’t have to catch the bus. After the other kids left, I approached the teacher. I knew he didn’t like me, but he tried to, I guess the word I’m looking for here is tolerate. He tolerated me because he thought I was lazy.” He shook his head and finally lifted his cup of coffee to sip. With it in his hands he leaned back in his chair and stared at the floor before he resumed his tale. It was like he was seeing what he was describing.

“I asked the teacher if I could talk to him. Yes, it was a male teacher. He acted like I was putting him out, but there must have been something in my expression that made him pause. Once I knew I had his undivided attention, I apologized for my actions, and explained I flopped around at my desk during his lectures because I was bored. I then told him what I did over the weekend and handed him all the work. I don’t know if he didn’t believe me or what, but he never said a word. I quickly left because I didn’t want to get into trouble. ”

Lorissa giggled. “What happened next?”

“I gave him what I had done on a Tuesday. On Friday, when I was getting ready to leave for the day, he stopped me. He never said anything about what I had given him, but he handed me a backpack. His only words were to see what I could do with what was inside, and turn it in on Monday.”

“What was it?”

“School books from three grades above me. This went on every week until Thanksgiving weekend. So, like six or seven weeks. On the last day before that break, he handed me another backpack full of books. I don’t know if this is important, but Mr. Booker never said a word to me about what we both did. After I gave him those first books, he handed me a backpack with books and instructions. I received it on a Friday, and returned it on Monday.”

“This went on for weeks? May I ask what type of work was in the packs?”

“Upper classmen work.” Tom sat forward, put his coffee mug on the table, and scrubbed his face. “When I returned to school after that break, I handed in the pack, and went about my day. That day Mr. Booker asked me to accompany him to the principal’s office.”

“Were you in trouble?”

“No, well, I won’t lie, I was crapping bricks on the walk to the office, and when I saw my parents waiting for me, I was even more scared. I was only eleven by this time.”

“Wow,” she said as she shook her head at him in awe. “What happened?”

“It took some time to explain to my parents that I wasn’t in any trouble, nor was I failing. See, those packs Mr. Booker gave me was books, but the paperwork was the actual final exams in those courses.”

“No.”

“I kid you not. He only gave me the books to read so that I could take the test. It was all explained in the instructions on how I was doing things. I didn’t find out until that meeting that I had aced all those exams. The meeting was to tell my parents that the school I was attending couldn’t really help me anymore. Not to toot my own horn, but they said I knew it all. The teachers present at the meeting as well as the principal apologized to my parents for labeling me lazy and disruptive. They said it was because I was bored.” He shook his head as he finished his coffee and got up to refill both their mugs. He settled back down with a small smile and a shake of his head.

“The rest of that school year had me taking the regents classes at the high school. I was in every single grade for a month. That wasn’t worded correctly. I completed a grade in a month. I could have graduated, but my parents refused to allow an eleven-year-old to enter college. ”

“I can see where they would be concerned. What did you do?”

“I still went to my regular school, but I was in a special program. I had four different teachers, and they were all professors from the local college. When I was thirteen, I graduated from high school, but my parents still refused to allow me to attend college at that age. I continued to do in-person and on-line classes.” He shook his head and chuckled.

“Grandpa was a vet my entire life, Dad went into finance. Because of all the times I was sent to Grandpa’s because of my laziness, I worked with him, and really liked the idea of becoming a vet just like him, and eventually taking over the business. Back then, Grandpa did it all. All the office hours and went out to the surrounding ranches. When I turned fifteen, I entered the college campus as a junior. I received my Doctorate in Veterinarian Medicine at the age of eighteen. I started working for Grandpa, and…” he paused to lean forward, looked over both his shoulders, and leaned in closer to whisper, “No one knows this about me.”

“What?” Lorissa thought it would be something bad, but when he spoke next, she stared at him in utter shock.

“By the time I was twenty-five I had a second PhD in Bio Chemistry.”

“No way. ”

“Way.” He sighed and sat back. “When Erin asked me about something years ago, I knew that second doctorate would come in handy.”

“With?”

“Do you know about Riceman Stallions?”

“No, what is that? Wait, isn’t that the on-line business? I heard about it, but other than being a stallion dating app, I don’t know about it.”

“I’ll get into that later. I’m not blowing you off, but I wanted to give you some background information, so you’d know what happened earlier today.”

“Oh, okay, I’m sorry, I forgot all about that. Please, continue.” They both froze when two different alarms sounded, and they looked at their watches. Without saying a word, they both stood, grabbed their coffee, and went into the clinic to feed the puppies. As they worked with the babies, he continued his story.

“Anyway, after Grandpa got up in his years, I took over going to the ranches to work with the large animals while he stayed back in the clinic. Fast forward to him retiring, I was out in the field more and more, so I hired vets to run the clinic. I have three full time vets, and three vet technicians/assistants, along with an office staff consisting of six women. They man the phones, do the billing, and keep the vets on track.”

“So, your clinic is run like a well-oiled machine? ”

Tom looked up from feeding his last puppy and smirked at her. She hadn’t realized that it affected her until her stomach lurched. She quickly dropped her eyes and concentrated on the puppy she was feeding.

“More like a well-run military mission,” he chuckled as he shook his head, and picked up the next puppy. “Anyway, because of the business, and me being out in the field, I hardly ever work in the clinic. Lately, it seems like I’m only there to do the paperwork and sign the paychecks. I’m not complaining, much, but I don’t have time to try to find someone to date.”

“Ah.”

“Anyway, my office manager took it upon herself to sign me up for a dating app. It didn’t go live until she sat me down one night after hours and explained what she did, and why she did it. She said I was too young to work eighty to a hundred hours a week, then go home to an empty house. I didn’t think I had anything to lose, so I told her to go ahead and make it live, but on one condition.”

“Oh my, what condition was that?” she asked as she put her puppy back and grabbed the last one to feed.

“That if I get a date from hell, then she closes the app and never butts into my love life ever again.”

“Was there a time limit?”

“What do you mean? ”

“I mean did you state that if that date from hell happened in a three-month period?”

“No, whenever it happened, the app was to be closed. Be it the first date or the fortieth date, once it happened one time, I was done.”

Lorissa nodded her head in understanding and placed the last full puppy back in the nest with her siblings and mother. She checked on Rose, then Baby and her babies. Together, they both reset the alarm on their watch and went back into the kitchen. Tom had grabbed both their cups after he’d washed his hands and waited for her as she did the same. They settled back at the table, and she looked at him with a smirk.

“So, how many dates did you go on before you had the date from hell?”

“Technically?”

“Define ‘technically’.”

“Boy, girl, meet in person, sit down to a meal or coffee, have a conversation.”

“Oh, okay. What happened?”

Tom didn’t say anything as he pulled his phone, accessed a program, scrolled through it, then handed her the phone. “I’ve been a brutally honest person my entire life. Even back when I was labeled lazy and disruptive, I told the teachers I was bored, but no one listened to me. It is better for you to read the conversation I had with Melissa, my first date from the app. This happened a couple of weeks ago.” He waited until she looked at him and shook his head sadly.

“I don’t know if this is mean or not, or not the norm, but this is my philosophy on first dates. Hell, it’s my philosophy on the first four or five dates.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t believe in taking a woman to an expensive restaurant on the first couple of dates. I feel that isn’t the atmosphere to get to really know a person. It’s too fancy, and both parties might be putting on airs. Hell, I’m not a fancy person to begin with, and I know that I would be extremely uncomfortable trying to have a meaningful conversation with a stranger while in that type of setting.”

“I totally agree. What’s wrong with going to a café to sit and have a cup of coffee and a muffin, or a sweet snack. It’s not as pretentious and you should be able to be more yourself in a comfortable setting.”

“Exactly. Now that we’re on the same page with that thought, then go ahead and read the texts. It starts out where I reach out to her after we were quote, unquote, matched on that dating site.” Tom sat back and watched Lorissa’s face intently as she read and smirked as it went from indifference to outrage. At one point he covered his mouth with his hand to block his smirk.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” She looked up to demand, then went back to reading. When she was done, she had a white-knuckle grip on his phone and glared at him. “I repeat, are you freaking kidding me? She expected you to pay for her hair, nails, and eyelashes before you even went on a date, then she expected you to take her to a particular restaurant. What’s so important or special about that one?”

“You’re not from around here, are you?” Tom asked as he took the phone back and accessed another screen, but turned the phone upside down on the table in front of him.

“No, what’s that got to do with anything?”

“I don’t know about you, but when I sit down to a meal, I want a meal. I mean I want at least a twelve-ounce steak, a baked potato, some veggies, possibly a side salad, and an unlimited supply of bread and butter.”

“What’s wrong with that? That sounds delicious.”

“I know, but picture this. Picture that twelve-ounce steak shaved to within an inch of its life and made into at least forty different plates. Meaning it’s forty individual servings with a little bit of green grass on top. The price for that little shaving could be well over two hundred dollars.”

“For a freaking bite?” Lorissa stared at him in shock. “Those fancy restaurants that are considered fine dining and you’re starving when you leave?”

“Yes, that’s the type of restaurant Melissa demanded I take her to. The one she named in the text conversation is booked at least nine months out. I looked at the menu on-line and the cheapest thing on the menu is the bottled water and that was one hundred and two dollars a bottle.”

“For water? What the hell?”

Tom shrugged, picked up his phone and passed it to her. “This conversation occurred earlier today. I didn’t mean to do what I did with you, and I’m so sorry if I offended you by grabbing you and kissing you, but I didn’t know what else to do.” He nodded to the phone and watched as she read that conversation.

“Holy freaking hell,” Lorissa practically yelled at him as she looked up in shock. “She said you owed her five thousand dollars for breaking the date with her. That is because you’re a doctor, you can afford it. Now, I hate to swear unless it’s warranted, but this is one sick gold-digging bitch.”

“My thoughts exactly. I was stopping into Kora’s to get a coffee and something to hold me over until dinner and hadn’t expected to see Melissa storming down the sidewalk. She called my name, I looked up, and when I saw her, I ducked into Kora’s. I’m not proud of my actions, but you were the first person I saw, I never moved when you turned from the counter. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Melissa outside and had to act. I’m sorry for using you like I did, but I had to get my point across that I wasn’t interested in her, that I had moved on. The first conversation you read happened over a month ago.”

“Damn, so your first attempt at a date was a date from hell? ”

“Yeah, and I had Duane help me with my second date.”

“How?”

Tom told her about the background check and what had transpired when she had been arrested.

Lorissa sat there shaking her head, and finally asked, “What happened after I left? I saw the police car show up.”

“First, Jake and Stone were there from Brotherhood Protectors. They are a bunch of former military people that operate a protection agency. Before Duane arrived, Erin used them to do background checks on the people coming to live and work for her. I’m sure she had checked out you, your mother, and grandmother.”

“She said that she had, but she didn’t use Duane to do it.”

“Then it would have been Jake. Anyway, because of the background check I had Duane do on my second date, Jake was there when she was arrested. He was able to back me up when Jim showed up for the Melissa situation. Because she slapped me, I had witnesses, and she dug her fake-ass nails into my arm enough to draw blood, she was arrested for assault. The last time I saw her, she was literally kicking and screaming as she was being dragged to the police cruiser. I have no idea what they will do, but I was told not to leave town in case I have to testify.” He shook his head, sipped his coffee then chuckled. “Oh, I failed to mention that she kicked Jim, and tried to spit on him.”

“Eew. Who is Jim?”

“Jim Faulkner, he’s the local sheriff.”

“Holy crap.”

“Yeah, she’s in a lot of trouble all because I wouldn’t cater to the whim of a perfect stranger.”

“Does she realize that you’re an animal doctor, and not a people one?”

“I have no clue, and personally, between you and me, I don’t give a damn. I’ll talk to my office manager in the morning and tell her to close the app or she’s fired. I told them I attempted to close it, but I want her to make sure I did it properly and didn’t snooze it or something.”

“Don’t do it yet.”

“What? Why?”

“Can you have communications with people there?”

“Yes, that’s the first conversation you read. I never gave out my personal information.”

“Then it’s proof to them that they don’t screen their applicants correctly. Maybe use the conversations to tell them how badly they run their business.”

“It’s something to think about.” Tom nodded as he finished his coffee then sighed heavily. “Thank you for the conversation, and I hope you understand why I did what I did. I didn’t mean to use you like that.” He stared at her and started to get worried when she stared back but didn’t say anything for several minutes. When he started to shift on his feet, she spoke,

“No problem. If you want to kiss me like that again, I wouldn’t be offended.”