Page 53 of Tom's Chance
“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 toldthat 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 theback 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 petit.” 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.”
