Page 24 of The Great Maple Mistake

“Hey.” He nudges Williams. “When we get back to the station, you wanna play some Call of Duty?”

“With you?” Vega rolls his eyes and nods, giving him a look that screams ‘duh.’ Williams’ eyes widen, and he sits up, obviously surprised by the offer. “Yeah, man. That would be great.” Vega looks a little pink in the cheeks. If he hadn’t just said he was straight, I’d swear these two were flirting with each other. Alenko snorts, and when I look at him, he rolls his eyes. Okay, so maybe it’s not just me thinking there’s something going on.

My attention is yanked back to the kittens in my shirt as they move a little, digging their razor claws into my chest. “Ouch!Shit!” I pull out the neck of my T-shirt and glance down at the little furballs. “Look, I’m trying to help you here. Please don’t use me as a pincushion.”

Alenko laughs. “Yeah I’ve been trying to ignore the poking.”

Vega holds out a hand. “I’ll take one for a bit.”

Alenko shakes his head. “Nah. It’s okay. We’re almost at the station. What you can do for me once we’re there is grab the first aid kit because we’re gonna need to clean out these pinpricks from the cats and get some antibiotic ointment on the wounds.” He winces, and I assume he’s being slashed again.

“And can you find a box to put them all in so I can get them to the vet? Maybe put one of my old sweatshirts in there or something? It’s probably easier for me to get it back from Finn.”

Vega nudges me. “Why’s that? Because you’re dating his best friend?”

Thankfully, we pull into the station, and everyone piles out of the engine. Vega takes off to gather the box and something to line it with, and with a little help, Alenko, the chief, and I all extract the kittens from our shirts. Vega charges back with a med kit and a plastic storage container with a few sweatshirts in his other hand. “I wasn’t sure if one sweatshirt would be enough so I grabbed one of mine too.” He hands the first aid kit to Williams and drops the tub to the floor. He arranges the sweatshirts into the bottom, making sure they cover all the plastic. “Okay. Time for the little guys to snuggle in.”

I had no idea that I work with a bunch of big softies. It’s adorable. I place my kittens into the bin and tear off my gear, hanging it up in my cubby. I’ll deal with it after I get the kittens to Finn. I’m sure he’ll have some antiseptic for the claw wounds. “Okay, I’ll be back once I drop them off. Thanks for the help guys!”

As I hurry out the door, Alenko yells after me. “Shep, let us know what Finn says!”

“Will do!” I manage a half walk, half jog across the parking lot so I don’t jostle the kittens too much. When I get to the truck, I yank open the passenger door and settle the bin on the floor where it’ll be safest. Then I gingerly close the door so I don’t scare the babies, jog around to the driver’s side, climb in, buckle up and head for the vet clinic.

Chapter 11

Cody

I burst into the clinic and immediately spot Finn behind the registration desk. He gestures to a door on my right. “Through there. I’ll meet you on the other side.” He disappears through a swinging door at the back of reception, and I hurry to meet him.

He waves me into an exam room, and I dash in, carefully setting the storage tub on the stainless steel exam table. Finn’s right behind me, peering into the bin before he even comes to a stop on the other side of the table. “So tell me again what happened.”

“We got a call yesterday about a huge warehouse fire.” God, was it really just yesterday? “It was over in Milton. It was huge, several companies were called in, and we were there overnight.” Finn picks up one of the lethargic kittens and turns it this way and that, making sure it doesn’t have any injuries, before listening to their lungs with a stethoscope. As Finn does the same quick check on the rest of the fur babies, I tell him all about rescuing them from the dumpster and how we took care of them. “Then I rushed them here.”

Finn circles back through the litter, doing a more thorough check of the kittens’ lungs, eyes, and ears, making sure their joints are sound, and giving them a good initial checkup. Thankfully, he also trims their razor-sharp claws. “So, we have three boys and two girls. They’re about four weeks old. All weaned, and they seem to have been taken care of decently. No fleas, not much matting of the fur, so they couldn’t have been in the dumpster long. They obviously all need baths and food.” He finishes with the initial exam, places them all back into the plastic tub, and opens the exam room door, leaning into the employee area. “Al, can you bring in some wet kitten food, please? I’m hoping we have five hungry kittens.” He turns back to face me. “I think they’re okay. We’ll see if they eat. At this age, they should be starving. If they get food in their bellies and keep it down, then I think they’re good to go home. If they don’t, then I’ll keep them for observation.”

“Okay.” I sit down on the wooden bench next to the exam table, suddenly exhausted. The clock on the wall shows 7:24 a.m. When was the last timeIate? Probably dinner Friday night at Red’s. Although I vaguely remember eating a protein bar at some point. Or was I wishing I had a protein bar and imagined I ate one? Was it last night? I have no idea. After my date with Alex, I went home to Aunt Viv’s to get some sleep before my shift. I was only at work for a few hours when the call came in. I rushed to the firehouse and joined the responding team as they rode out, totally skipping breakfast. Shit. So Friday evening was my last meal. Now it’s almost thirty-six hours later, and I’m fading. Fast. And there’s still cleanup to do at the station. I may have to call Alex and cancel dinner tonight. Fuck. That’s not what I want to do. Maybe I’ll give him a call and explain—

“Cody!”

My head jerks up, and I blink at Finn. “Sorry, what?”

“When was the last time you slept?” I know that look. He’s assessing my health.

I smile, even though I’m almost too tired to pull it off. “Finn, I’m not one of your patients.”

“If you were a patient, you’d be one of Dr. Stockton’s. She works with the big animals.”

I snort because I don’t have the energy for a full laugh. “Since I’m here, do you happen to have any antibiotic cream I can put on these little razor cuts from the kittens’ claws?” I lift my shirt and examine the bloody splotches on my upper abdomen. “Good thing my T-shirt is navy blue, or people might wonder if I’ve been stabbed.”

Al walks into the room with a dish of water and another filled with wet cat food. It smells awful. But not as bad as some of the store brands I’ve smelled in the past. “Breakfast is served.” He sets the dishes on the exam table, and one by one, he and Finn set the kittens in front of the dishes. Now that they’re starting to dry out, I can see the coloration differences on them. There’s one all-black kitten that Finn announces is male. He’s already wiggling to get to the food before Finn sets him on the exam table. The second one is also male and has a big white splotch on his chest, but the rest of his fur is all black. He’s a bit less enthusiastic about eating, but not by much. The next kitten is one of the females, and she’s mostly black, but her underbelly is all white. She waits for Al to set her on the table, and she glances around nervously, then tiptoes to the food. But when she gets her first mouthful she loses all hesitancy. The fourth kitten is the last male. Like the rest of his siblings, he has black fur, but there’s an upside-down triangle of white on his chest that runs to an all-white belly. He also has two white front paws. It’s like he’s wearing a little tuxedo, and it’s absolutely adorable. The minute he smells the food, he’s scrabbling to get out of the bin, and whenhe’s set in front of the dish, he practically dives in headfirst. “So far, so good, right Finn?”

He nods. “Yeah, so far. Last one.” He lifts the little female out of the bin and sets her on the table near the food. Like her siblings, she’s mostly black with an all-white belly, but she has a white blaze down her nose. She sniffs at the food, then looks at Finn, then she sits down. “Uh oh. That’s not good.”

My stomach drops. “Is she gonna be okay?” I know human medicine, and if she were a toddler, I wouldn’t necessarily panic just yet. But I know nothing about animal physiology.

“Probably, but we’ll keep an eye on her.” He lightly strokes her back and puts a bit of the food on the tip of his finger, trying to coax her to eat. She licks at it but doesn’t get a whole lot into her mouth, and my heart aches. We sit for what seems like forever as her siblings chow down on the meal, but she lethargically licks little bits from Finn’s finger. He turns to Al. “Will you get us a bottle?” Al nods and heads back into the employee area while Finn continues to focus on the kitten. “Just like with people, sometimes trauma can set animals back a bit. So maybe if we give her a bottle or two, we can get her eating wet food again.”

“How do you know it’d be again? Maybe they weren’t weaned yet.”

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