Page 4 of A Little Christmas Jericho
No, no, no, no!
The room tilted and my mind raced in jagged, awful directions. What if he'd... what if he'd put something in their food? In their water?
What if that monster made my babies sick?
"Finchie?" My voice cracked high, scared as I picked Finch up and cradled him close to me. "Baby, are you okay?"
He just meowed, flicking his tail. But I swore it looked like his eyes were more milky than usual.
Daisy nudged my arm, whining, clearly picking up on my rising anxiety. I dropped Finch onto my lap, and moved my hands to her head, and I tucked my face into her neck while trying to soothe myself at the same time trying to calm down my puppy.
A squeak from the floor had me looking over to Murphy and his lopsided, slobbery face. At least I knew the two dogs would be fine.
My heart pounded. I scrambled off the couch, quickly grabbing the bowls from the kitchen floor before Oscar's possible poisoning spread through to my other babies. I'd keep them though, in case I needed the contents for evidence or something.
My hands were shaking so hard the metal bowls clattered against the counter and Daisy backed away from me, her ears flat, like she didn't understand what was going on with me.
Everythinglookednormal. But what if… What if he sprinkled something in there? Something I couldn't see?
My eyes blurred. I checked the bowls were out of reach even if one of the kitties jumped onto the counter before crouching down to check each pet.
One by one, I ran my hands over them, fumbling, desperate andveryaware I was acting like a loon. I mean, Iknewhe wouldn't. I might not be happy with the ultimatum, but he wasn't a monster.
But what if?
Ugh!
I stumbled to my phone on the counter and dialed the emergency vet clinic, voice breaking as soon as someone answered.
"H—Hi, I don't know what to do," I stammered. "My... ex just left, and I think he might have... might have poisoned my cats. I had the dogs with me, and I don'tthinkthey had anything from the bowls when we got back, but I might have missed it and I don't know—"
The woman's voice was calm, steady, practiced. She asked me if I saw any vomiting, diarrhea, seizures, anything unusual.
I shook my head wildly, even though she couldn't see me, and then realised what I was doing. "No, but... but he left a note and we kind of broke up because of the pets and..." I paused and took a deep breath, my voice shaking with unshed tears. "I know it's probably nothing, but I can't shake the feeling thatsomethingmight be wrong."
"Okay, honey," the woman soothed, and my chest squeezed tighter because she sounded more like a Caregiver than Oscar ever had. "It's alright. You took the hardest step and made the call even though there are novisiblesigns of poisoning. Now next, take the food and water bowls away. Then you have to decide if you want to keep them there for a few hours and watch them, or bring them in."
I nodded along with her and quickly informed her that the bowls had already been removed and that I'd rather come in as soon as possible as my babies already had some health issues.
"That's fine, honey. You bring them in, and the doc will check them out."
When the call ended, I was left in silence, wondering if it would be too weird if I went to the vet with my dummy and blanket. While wearing my footy jammies.
Chapter 3
The vet's waiting room smelled faintly of antiseptic and wet dog. It should have been awful, but right then, it was nothing but comforting. Safe. The same calm voice from the phone greeted me at the counter. The lovely middle-aged woman wearing the warmest smile instantly helped thaw the block of panic lodged in my chest.
"You must be Jericho," she said gently, and it made my eyes sting again just hearing her kind tone. "You've been here before, right? I think I recognise those pretty green eyes of yours."
I nodded quickly, fiddling with the strap of my bag. "Um, the babies are still in the car. It's a lot to wrangle them all at once." My laugh came out thin and shaky. "Two cat carriers and two pups on leashes. One is as big as I am, and the other one is more energized than a darn bunny. It's kind of a circus."
"Then we'll do them one at a time," she said, sliding a clipboard toward me. "Go get them first, sweetie. We'll handle the rest together."
Sweetie.
My lip wobbled, and I had to push the overwhelming onslaught of emotion back down, down, down.
Clutching my bag strap like the lifeline it was turning out to be, I hurried back out into the cool night air. The car sat under the yellow glow of a streetlamp, the lone car in the parking lot. Inside, Finch gave me his usual wide-eyed look from behind the bars of his carrier while Tofu blinked his slow, unimpressed blink from the other.
