The vet told me I should just euthanize him, but this was a new volunteer vet, first time she had been out here, and I growled at her for such a suggestion. I reminded her that this was a no-kill shelter and unless the old boy was in pain, he would have a comfy life here. The vet just shrugged her shoulders and moved on to her next patient.
Since then, I’ve watched him carefully, spending extra time with him so he would know the soft touch of a human before he died. I named him Jethro, because he just looked like a Jethro, and for a dog that had been away from humans for probably a long time, he amazingly had no problem in warming up to me. Sometimes I would go sit in his cage with him, and he would lay his head on my lap and snooze. Jethro only gets his old bones up when he has to go outside to the bathroom or when it’s time to eat. Past that, he just wants to sleep, and I’m not about to tell him he has to do otherwise.
“Hey, Jethro,” I say softly, watching his ribs move up and down as he breathes. He doesn’t respond, so I know he’s deeply asleep. After watching him for a few more minutes, I stand up, noticing with a wince that my knees are creaking more and more. This job is physically demanding… cleaning cages, hauling forty-pound bags of dog food, dealing with wily animals, and bathing said wily animals. I have a few volunteers that help me out, one in particular that comes every Saturday so I can have that day off, but I run this place mostly on my own. I work between twelve and fifteen hours a day, six days a week. So while my young twenty-three-year-old body is already having creaks and groans, damn if it isn’t worth it. I go to sleep every night with a smile on my face, thankful for the opportunity to do something that means so much to me.
My phone rings and I hastily pull it out of my pocket, hoping it’s Frank.
Sadly, it’s not, although the person calling always puts a smile on my face.
“Hey Casey,” I chirp when I connect the call.
“Hey. Ready for tonight?” she asks.
“Hell yeah,” I tell her enthusiastically. “Are you sure she has no clue?”
“She’s oblivious,” Casey assures me. “Meet me there about six o’clock to help me decorate, okay?”
“Sure.”
“And don’t forget the cake.”
“I won’t forget the cake,” I assure her, although I had completely forgotten about the cake. Now along with my stress over the hay and new horse, I had to go get Gabby’s birthday cake.
Because tonight we are throwing a huge surprise party for her. Her birthday isn’t until next Wednesday, but we figured she’d never see it coming if we did it a bit early. Hunter is in charge of getting her to Last Call under some pretext, and I’m tasked with the cake. Casey is handling decorations, so we should have it covered.
“Okay… peace out,” she says with a giggle and hangs up.
I quickly pull up the calendar on my phone and set myself a reminder to get out of here at five so I have time to run home for a quick shower and to get the cake.
Just as I finish my calendar entry, the phone rings. I see it’s Frank.
Thank God.
“Frank… you better have a good excuse,” I warn when I answer.
“How about the fact my wife went into labor, and I’m at the hospital,” he says flippantly.
“Holy shit… are you serious?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry. I just now saw your messages and honestly, I completely forgot about it. When Jeannie’s water broke this morning, I wigged out.”
“It’s no problem,” I assure him, my brain spinning, trying to figure out what the hell I’m going to do.
“The hay and bags of pine shavings are already on the trailer, Alyssa. If you think you can get it hooked to your truck, you can go haul it yourself. I’ll cut the price, of course.”
Bingo! That would work.
“Awesome. I’ll head over there now. And I hope all goes well with Jeannie,” I tell him.
“I’m sure it will,” he says before he hangs up.
Shoving my phone back in my pocket, I leave the kennel and head toward my truck. I’ve never hooked up a trailer before, but it can’t be that hard, right? My bigger concern is how to unload it all by myself, but I figure I can push the bales and bags off and drag them in. All I need are a few to get the stall ready.
I open the door and step up into my truck. Of course, I have the seat pulled completely up as far as it will go because I’m so short. Taking a deep breath, I turn the engine and put it in drive.
I have things to do.
Chapter 3
Brody
Glancing at the clock on the wall, I sigh and pace back and forth across Hunter’s living room. I can hear the plumber in the back, clanging around. He’s installing a new water heater, and I’m tasked with the job of waiting here while he does the job. Hunter had far more important things to do today, like getting Gabby out of Dodge while preparations were underway for her surprise birthday celebration. As such, he drove her down the coast to New Bern to have a late, lingering lunch and a slow drive back up to waste time.