Page 17 of Run, Run Rudolph
He knew I’d spent too long dating his brother when we clearly weren’t a strong enough match. His gaze made that clear. The way he’d look at me when I’d roll over and let Mr. Gregarious Kade take over our social life. Not only was I an ooey-gooey animal lover softie, I was a softie with his brother, too.
I guess tonight would be just one more thing Haden could add to his list.
And anyway, it didn’t actually matter what he thought. He already knew I was a bleeding heart when it came to animals, so my message wasn’t that weird, was it? He understood that I sometimes treated animals like they were my non-human children.
Not that I would ever take a dog for a walk in a stroller—they had legs, and even I had my limits. But I did believe that animals had rights, and should be treated as though they had feelings. Because they did.
Honestly, I think he agreed with me on that one.
Although, he hadn’t thought it was cute—at all—that I’d dressed up my rescued tomcat for Halloween. I mean, a black cat was just begging to wear a Batman costume, right? Everyone had agreed he was adorable. Well, everyone except Haden. He’d been the one bit of rain in the comment section of my kitty’s social posts.
Ugh. Why did I even care what he thought? I mean, he was following my cat’s account. What did he expect?
And my voicemail had been to the point, which was something he appreciated. Although, maybe I’d given him too much information, or the wrong kind of information, and now he was going to have me put on Fish and Wildlife’s Wild Animal Bad People list for hurting and transporting an undomesticated wild animal without a license or whatever you needed.
I wouldn’t blame him if he reported me.
I dialled the clinic again, leaving a new message, telling him to contact me before anybody else.
I groaned as I repocketed my phone. That was worse. Now I sounded suspicious. He probably thought I was going to make venison stew or something. Bringing the animal home… Could that be construed as poaching?
No. Only if it was dead.
I glanced toward the back stall, surrounded by arguing reindeer.
Rudolph had better not die.
Chapter 5
~ Haden ~
My phone buzzed and, out of habit, my eyes shifted from the dark snowy road to the screen on my truck’s dashboard. There was a new voicemail on the clinic’s after-hours emergency line. I rubbed my twitching left eye, wondering when my day would end. It had started long before winter’s dawn, and I was ready to go home, eat supper, and kick up my feet. Then, maybe wrap up the Christmas gifts for my parents and brother.
After tapping a few buttons, the voicemail played over the truck’s speakers. I frowned. Tamara Madden.
My brother’s ex-girlfriend. The most curious, animal-loving woman I knew. Her curiosity had fuelled my own, leading me to veterinarian medicine.
She sounded stressed. Why hadn’t Tamara called me directly?
Right. Despite once being friends, she no longer wanted to be around me. My brother Kade had made it clear she believed I led women on, and that I wasn’t nearly as charming as the rest of the world seemed to think I was. She was likely hoping someone else was covering my after-hours emergencies tonight so she could avoid me.
I frowned as the message ended, a spear of alarm awakening my nervous system. Why did she have a deer in her barn? Didn’t she understand she wasn’t Snow White, and could get seriously hurt trapping an injured wild animal indoors? Yes, she was good with animals, but that would be dangerous for anyone.
The next voicemail played—having come in while I’d listened to the first one. It was another from Tamara, and my senses shifted into high alert as she begged me to call her before anyone else. Me.
She needed me tonight.
What on earth was going on over at Carl’s old farmstead?
I slowed the truck, turning it around on the dark, snowy road. Then I pushed the accelerator down as far as I dared.
Chapter 6
~ Tamara ~
I returned to Rudolph’s stall, noting that Blitzen was nudging the cooler where I was making yukaflux. I’d taken a combination of chopped fresh fruit along with the vodka and rum leftovers from my housewarming party a few months back and mixed it all together. The boozy concoction was something I’d be serving at the small New Year’s party I was holding for the GAL PALs where we’d live up to our group name. We’d Giggle And Laugh, Pour our drinks And Listen to each other. Just like when we’d all lived together back in Calgary. I missed them and those days, but not the city.
“Get out of there,” I told Blitzen as I walked by. He looked up at me with rounded, deep dark eyes, the Christmas tree ornaments swinging from his antlers, clinking as he moved.
