Page 3 of August Heat
Siobhan chuckled. “Careful that you’re not summoning your grandmother’s spirit in that cat. She might have been sent to spy on you.”
“Oh, now don’t go putting that crazy stuff in my head! I’ll totally believe it!”
The cat raced back with a trill in her throat. Rita gave her a light pat to the rump while Siobhan took another look at the twisted tail crinkling up into the air. The poor baby had been hit and ran over in such a way that she would have lifelong hip problems and lose half her tail, as soon as it got around to falling off. But she seemed to be in good spirits and better shape than most cats like her would be.Like I said to Rita, it’s a will to live.This cat had bugs to catch and sun to sleep in. Sooner or later she’d succumb to the end like every living creature, but with any luck, she’d enjoy a nice, full life first, because there was no way she was any older than a few months right now.Her growth will be stunted because of her injury, and she has extra toes, which means she’s probably inbred somewhere in her recent genetics. Good golly, maybe the cat is too stupid to realize she shouldn’t have made a full recovery.She certainly would look goofy once she fully grew into forced-munchkin status and lost half her tail. Siobhan hoped for plenty of photo updates. Hell, was this an awkward time to suggest Rita learn how to use Instagram and get to photo-taking?
Siobhan didn’t treat a lot of house pets in her career as a big animal vet, but there were more than a few rural pet owners who couldn’t afford to drop everything and take Fluffy to the only vet clinic for thirty miles. So they called Siobhan, who dropped by whenever she had a chance. In the case of surgery, though, she referred them to an animal hospital on the coast.Not like I can perform surgery right there in their living room, anyway.It was easier for her to charge a little extra for a house call than to convince some people to take their pregnant dog to the vet to make sure everything was in order. Besides, if she had the time, dropping by to say, “Yes, take the dog to the damn clinic,” at no charge usually got people moving.
Cases like Rita’s cat, though, were exactly what she made time for in her busy schedule of hopping from farm to farm to check on livestock. She occasionally got a call to help a sick or injured wild animal as well. The bigger, the better!Never forget the time I looked an elk right in the eye and saved his leg, and therefore his life.Rita, on the other hand, had called her two weeks ago bawling that she had found this poor, injured cat in the middle of the road. “Thought it was dead first, so I kept on driving,” she said between sobs. “Then I look in the mirror and she pokes her little head up like she’s saying help me! I had to turn around and now I’ve got this cat on my porch that I don’t know is gonna make it. You gotta come at least look at her, doc!”
After a thorough exam that determined no surgeries were probably necessary, Siobhan prescribed some antibiotics and wrapped the crinkled tail in a bandage. She came back today to check in on the kitten and was pleased to see her bounding across the couch and beseeching attention around every turn.
“She’s very lucky you drove by that day,” Siobhan said to Rita. “Too bad we can’t figure out who put her in that position to begin with, but she should be fine. It all works out in the end.”
“A thousand years of bad karma to whoever dumped her there, anyway,” Rita spat. “Who the hell dumps pets? There’s a damned shelter not too far away from here. Why are people…”
“One of many human mysteries.” Siobhan stood up and shook Rita’s hand. “Give me a call if anything comes up with your new addition. I’ll check in from time to time.”
Siobhan hopped in her truck and checked her phone for any messages. The only thing of note was a garbled voicemail from her assistant back at the office.AKA my aunt Gabriella.They shared a house off the county road that conveniently doubled as a vet office. Nothing fancy, of course, but it gave Siobhan a place to treat the occasional animal and to safely store her equipment. Sometimes that was a bigger boon than renting out a space in town. Kept out the nosy people that way.
Besides, Siobhan liked being by herself. She preferred life away from the hustle and bustle of a town, even a small one like Paradise Valley.To think, I moved here to be closer to people “like me.”It hadn’t been her idea, but she went along with it because her ex insisted it was the place for them to make their “homesteading dreams come true.” Siobhan needed a new place to practice and discovered there was an opening for a livestock vet more local to the area. It had seemed like destiny at the time.
You may notice a lack of a partner in this house, though.Her aunt didn’t count. Gabriella picked up the pieces Emily the ex left behind. Namely, she came to make sure Siobhan didn’t die from the breakup. She stayed because she loved the area and the isolationist lifestyle it provided.
Siobhan shut off the engine as soon as she parked in her usual spot, right between the house and the RV garage she converted into her office space. She wouldn’t head into the house yet, though. First thing? Into the office, where she’d fill out some paperwork about Rita and anything else she did that day. Luckily, she currently had no wounded or sick animals staying for treatment in the back of the office. Otherwise, she’d spend the rest of her evening there.
“Oh, there you are!” Gabriella popped out of the office, her windbreaker freshly put on and her hair up in a messy bun. “Been trying to get a hold of you. Did you get my voicemail?”
“Not really. I got it, but it’s not super understandable.”
“Dangit. You’ve got somebody coming by with some kittens soon.”
“Kittens?”
“I guess that old barn on the side of the route burned down or something. One of the firefighters called earlier, saying they found a box of kittens nearby. Owner of the barn says they aren’t his and suggested the firefighters bring them over here.”
Siobhan slammed her hands on her hips, a worried look gracing her freckled visage. “Kittens? Isn’t that more suited for Dr. Global?”
Her aunt shrugged. “She’s coming by soon.”
“She?”
“Yeah, it was a female firefighter who called. Is that weird or something?”
“No.” Siobhan pushed past her aunt and entered the office. “Not weird at all.”
She didn’t want Gabriella seeing the dread on her face. Although Siobhan didn’t personally know Krys Madison, sheknewwho she was.The only female firefighter in Paradise Valley. Kind of a big deal.Krys had many, many acquaintances. When she wasn’t at the firehouse, she hung out at the gay bar or got into trouble with her friends. One of those was her ex-girlfriend Jalen Stonehill, a plumber who sometimes came by the O’Connors’ to take care of their ongoing issues. Jalen hadn’t been around too much lately, though. She was too busy living it up in Hollywood with that new celebrity girlfriend of hers.
Sheesh. Siobhan made a point of avoiding town gossip, yet she still knew all aboutthat.
Like how she also knew that Krys was the kind of trouble Siobhan didn’t need in her life.
A car pulled down the driveway a few minutes later. Siobhan had barely begun her paperwork when she caught sight of a muscular woman popping out of the car and turning around to pick up a box from the backseat.
Here we go.
Chapter 3
KRYS
