Page 29 of August Heat
“Hey, Chev.” This felt like the wrong time to start calling her that, but Krys only had precious seconds to lose. “One of the kittens isn’t looking too great. Can I bring her over? Or maybe you should stop by my place to look her over. I’m not sure if moving her is a good idea.”
Siobhan didn’t answer for another fifteen minutes. She must have been indisposed.
Shoot. I don’t have time to wait for her.Krys looked up the number for Dr. Global’s office. At least the receptionist answered within two rings.
Chapter 14
SIOBHAN
Her phone was off. It had been off for two days, since anyone with a medical emergency had a landline to call. A landline her aunt Gabriella could answer and subsequently summon her niece from the darkened dregs of her room.
Not since the days of breaking up with Emily had Siobhan been so sequestered to her bedroom, the curtains drawn and the TV playing the same videos over and over. A woman could only watch an old copy ofIndependence Dayso many times, yet the white lines on the screen or the scratchy dialogue didn’t deter her from constantly rewinding and replaying it again. Wasn’t like Siobhan fully absorbed it every time Will Smith came back on the old analog TV screen.This is the same TV I had when I moved here with Emily. We bought it from a thrift store when we first got together and had our own tiny apartment. I was in vet school. She was working two part-time jobs so I didn’t have to.That time seemed so long ago now. Another life. A time when a forever together seemed possible. Why would Emily go through all that trouble for Siobhan if she never intended to stay?If she intended to stray…
Since kissing Krys the other night, Siobhan had been in this constant cycle of self-beratement and disbelief. She chastised herself for falling for the playgirl’s flirtations. Why, if she insisted on ever dating again, did she have to go for the most dangerous woman in town? Krys may have been interested in hernow,but it was only a matter of time before Emily Part 2 happened.
Right?
Siobhan couldn’t help it. If there was one thing that hurt the most, it was knowing that she had once tasted unconditional love. Maybe that person wasn’t the right one for her, but it hadfeltreal. Emily had given her such happiness that, even after it was yanked away, Siobhan remained tethered to its chains.I thought I had moved on…She really had. A few years should have been more than enough time to get over that heartbreaker. Wasn’t that the importance of distance? Maturity? Aging? Aunt Gabriella had been on Siobhan’s case for over two years about “getting back on the horse,” which was always a strange analogy for a vet who spent some of her days with her arm up a certain animal’s rectum.Anyone who dates me has to be okay with where my hands go…Emily had often joked about that. Sometimes in front of other people!
That seemed so long ago now. It also felt like yesterday.
No… yesterday… or was it the day before… I acted like a fool in my own car.There had been that part of her desperate to go inside with Krys and make wild love all night long.The wildest. Like I’m an animal who can’t control herself.Maybe that was the only way Siobhan could stand to do it again. Don’t think about anything. Jump right in and pray that she didn’t regret it. Rip off the Band-Aid that was celibacy since saying goodbye to the only woman she had ever loved.
I make it sound like Emily really was something special…
Jeff Goldblum made another joke toward his ex-wife. Siobhan slumped across her bed, waiting for the inevitable, sassy comeback. Soon it would switch to a bunch of people on top of the Empire State Building getting blown to smithereens. Then Vivica A. Fox would rescue her dog in the middle of an LA tunnel. Randy Quaid would come out of retirement to save a few lives. Once Jeff and Will were in space, though, Siobhan knew it was time to rewind the tape. She didn’t want to be around for the happy ending. She was there for the exploding White House and snappy jokes.
And for Mary McDonnell, one of Siobhan’s biggest celebrity crushes. She pretended certain scenes did not happen in the movie.
“Somebody save that little girl,” Siobhan muttered about the president’s daughter. What was it about ‘90s movies that envisioned presidents having small children in the White House?I watched the shit out of that First Kid movie with Sinbad back then.Did Siobhan have a distinct interest in movies featuring the White House? Why did she enjoy watching it blow up?
Somebody knocked on the bedroom door. Siobhan winced when Aunt Gabriella allowed the hallway light to spill into the dark abode calledsanctuary.
“Oh, my goodness. You’re still doing this?” Gabriella sighed, hand hanging on to the doorknob in case Siobhan got any ideas about closing it again. “When are you going to finish whatever the hell this is? Don’t you have appointments to get to? Cows to save?”
“I haven’t gotten any calls,” Siobhan muttered. “I’ve honored my appointments. There ain’t no cows dying out there?”
“You sure about that? Because I just got off the phone with somebody.”
All right, that would get Siobhan off her bed, but not to indulge conversation about her personal life. If a cow needed saving, she supposed she could get off her ass and back to work. At least it took her mind off other things. Like how much her heart hurt every time she saw another couple reunited in that stupid movie.
“What happened?” Siobhan asked. “Who is it? Is it an emergency?”
Gabriella was not quick to answer.What? Seriously. What’s going on? If something or somebody’s in trouble, I better be told sooner rather than later. Is time of the essence?
“Krys called me a few minutes ago.” Gabriella cocked her hand on her hip. “Said you weren’t answering your phone.”
“Come on, now!” Siobhan sat back down on the edge of her bed. “That doesn’t count! I thought this was a real animal emergency.”
“It could have been, since the reason she was calling you is because one of those kittens got sick and she was worried half to death about it!”
“What? What’s wrong with it?”
“Hell if I know. She said she got it in to see Dr. Global since you weren’t answering.”
“For the best, then.” Siobhan sighed. “If she’s in town, it’s much faster for her to take it to Dr. Global. Might not be much I could do to help it.”
“That’s not the point, Chevy.” Gabriella sighed. “I thought you were sweet with her! Weren’t you two going out?”
