Page 42 of The Last Second Chance
Summer dug through the pantry until she found the box of bandages they stashed there for emergencies.
“Okay, both of you come here. But no one look anyone else in the eye. Possibly ever again,” she ordered.
Jax shuffled over to the island and Carter dragged himself up to standing.
Jax didn’t have the chance to look his brother in the eye. “At least put it back in your pants!”
Summer tossed Carter the dishtowel. His brother grinned. “Consider it payback for that time you and Mr. Mayor dragged your balls all over my couch.”
“The couch that I fell asleep on last night?” Summer was back to shrieking.
“Put your dick back in your pants and slap a butterfly on your face before you bleed out,” Jax smirked.
“We’re gonna need to work out a system,” Carter said as Summer taped up the cut on his cheek.
“Yeah, it’s called doing it only in the bedroom with the door locked like I wanted to,” Summer grumbled. “And same goes for you when you finally talk Joey into bed.”
“Joey has her own house,” Carter grumbled.
“Stop frowning,” she ordered. “It makes you bleed more.”
Jax slapped some gauze on his elbow. “You know what? How about I go out for dinner and you two can carry on with your depraved behavior in peace?”
Carter reached for the wallet on the island. He pulled out a twenty and tossed it to Jax. “Go buy yourself something greasy.”
“That’s my wallet, ass.”
“That’s my wife’s rack you just saw, dick.”
Summer turned an even deeper shade of scarlet and slapped the bandage in place on Carter’s face. He winced.
“Point taken,” Jax said, tearing the tape with his teeth. “I think I’ll head into town and show off my battle wound. There’ll probably be a lot of questions.”
“You both suck,” Summer groaned.
11
Joey’sfirst day as partner was a busy one. Between feeding and turn out, she scheduled an end-of-the-day appointment with the large animal vet to check out Apollo and Calypso. She lent a hand with the mucking until Carter took over and then beat her head on her desk over lesson billing and paperwork for an hour before grabbing a thermos of soup and working her way through the stalls inspecting for damage that needed to be repaired.
She often thought of running the stables as playing housemother to a bunch of teenagers. They each had their own personalities and bad habits—including kicking the shit out of the boards beneath their food bucket—and it was her job to keep them as safe and happy as possible.
She collected the lightweight horse blankets from the stall hooks and, after a quick hosing, tossed them in the industrial washer in the supply closet. She’d let Colby deal with the heavier blankets later. Waffles divided his time between following her around like a shadow and sleeping in the dog bed she’d put under the desk in the office earlier that week.
Joey took an early afternoon break to groom a couple of the horses that wouldn’t be used for lessons that night and scheduled a potential tack cleaning pizza party for the end of the month. It helped to have extra hands and, in the past, she’d learned that students and their parents had no problem with lending said hands in return for pizza and a ten percent discount on lesson sessions.
She was reviewing the spring show schedule when she spotted a big blue pick-up pull up to the stables on the security feed.
Dr. Sammy Ames was as good with animals as her mother, the original and now retired Dr. Ames. Joey was thankful that, unlike her mother, Sammy also had a way with people. During a particularly scary colic case two years ago, Joey and Dr. Ames had nearly come to blows. Thankfully, Carter had stepped in with his cool head and a cooler six-pack, saving Joey from a potential arrest.
She met the vet at the door and waved her in.
“How’s it going, Sammy?”
The woman yanked a red wool cap off of her short honey blonde curls and tucked her gloves into the pockets of her down vest. “Not too bad, minus the wind chill. Were you aware that hell froze over, by the way? Other than that it’s been a nice quiet day of vaccinations and well checks.”
“That’s a good day.”
“Sure is,” she said, bending down to ruffle Waffles’ ears and offer him a treat that she pulled out of her pocket. “We finally got the authority from Animal Control to cownap those emaciated jerseys over in Greenburg. Carter got any room for two hungry ladies?”
