Page 33 of Jasper

He opened the pantry door and pulled out the remaining donuts. He’d stocked up, knowing he wasn’t going to be back to the bakery for a few days, which turned into a week. They’d need to make a trip into town anyway for Thanksgiving supplies. He’d load back up on donuts then.

He heated two donuts in the microwave and filled his travel mug full of strong coffee before heading out to start his chores for the day. Farming took a lot of work, and he was more than grateful Sloane helped out in the evenings to feed and bunk the animals down for the night.

The two of them settled into a routine. He worked outside most of the day while Sloane did whatever the hell she did. He cooked, and she baked. The woman really couldn’t cook. Jasper grinned as he walked toward the barn thinking about last night’s efforts. He still wasn’t sure what she’d tried to cook, but he’d walked in to the smoke alarms going off and black smoke rolling out the open kitchen door.

She’d been in front of the sink running water over a blackened pan, angry and disgusted. He took the pan and tossed it outside then took them into town for pizza.

Give her a crock pot, and she was good. If it required actual cooking…well, things went south fast.

Shaking his head, he let the horses out into the corral so they could work off some energy. The pasture was out of the question for today since another storm was brewing and he sure as hell wasn’t about to chase a damn horse in a snowstorm.

The cows and pigs came next. Once he was done with that, he strapped on his toolbelt. He’d fixed all the downed fencing, but the back porch needed some repair.

He pulled the toboggan low over his head, shielding his ears from the cold as best he could. It was freezing outside. Only bad thing about being this close to Canada was you got the Canadian cold and all the storms that went along with that.

Thankfully, he’d unloaded the lumber yesterday beside the porch. Maybe he’d duck inside and top off his coffee first, though. It was cold as balls out here.

Jasper started up the porch steps when a flash of orange caught his eye at the edge of the bottom step. He bent down and peered under to see a small orange ball buried under the snow. He reached for it, not sure what it was.

He pulled out a kitten, its fur stiff and its little body cold. Thank God he found it before Sloane did. The girl cried at the drop of a hat. She’d had the Hallmark Channel going non-stop and tissues laid out on the coffee table. She’d be devastated to find the poor thing.

There were enough boxes inside he could give it a proper burial. If he’d known it had been here, he’d never have left it out in the cold. It wasn’t more than a couple of months old, by the look of it.

He opened the kitchen door and peeked in. The house was still quiet. He went inside, kicked off his boots, and snuck through the house like a thief. He still had a few of the Amazon boxes in the office.

“Sorry, little guy.” He put the kitten in the box and stroked its fur. Its head moved, and he stilled. There was no way…he stroked it again, and again its head made the barest of movements. “Well, I’ll be damned. You’re a scrappy little thing, huh?”

He took the steps two at a time to get to the bathroom upstairs where he knew Sloane’s hairdryer was still plugged in. He closed the door, turned on the hot water in the shower to generate heat, and then sat down on the floor with the cat. He wrapped the kitten in one of the fuzzy bath towels and turned on the hairdryer. Jasper had no clue if this would work, but he’d seen stories on Facebook where people saved frozen animals with hair dryers. It was worth a shot.

It took several minutes of constant heat, but the kitten started to move, and not long after that, it began to meow pitifully.

“There you are.” Jasper stroked its tiny head, realizing it was even smaller than he’d thought. It was maybe a month old, six weeks at most.

“Jasper?” Sloane knocked on the door. “Are you okay in there? The shower’s been on a long time.”

“Come on in,” he called while he continued to warm the kitten.

“Uh, no. I don’t need to see all that this early in the morning.”

He laughed at her disgruntled voice.

“I know it’s hard to resist the glory of me, but my naked self is not what I want you to see. I found something outside.”

“Something that requires the shower? Uh uh. I’m not stupid.”

“It’s a kitten, sweetheart. I found it outside half-frozen, and I needed the warm air to help thaw it.”

The door opened so fast, it almost hit him in the head. She wasn’t even apologetic as she dropped down beside him. “Let me see…oh…you poor thing!”

Sloane picked the towel up and pulled the kitten to her. It was so tiny. “Where did you find it?”

“Under the back porch steps.” Jasper handed her the hairdryer. “Keep the heat going. It needs to get warmer.”

“Did you find any others?” Sloane gently put the towel in her own lap and started to move the hairdryer back and forth.

“Others?”

She looked up and nodded. “He’s a baby, so his mama and potential brothers and sisters could be out there freezing to death too.”

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