“I understand, but now is not the time to be lax on any of them. Are your dogs and horses up to date on vaccines?”
“Yes, Doc Lucy takes care of all of that.”
“From this point on, nothing goes in the pens with the cattle. No horses, no dogs or cats…unless they’ve been vaccinated within the last year for leptospirosis.”
“Is that what this is?” Wade asks quickly, his eyes wide.
“I can’t confirm that without the tests, but the symptoms are close to respiratory disease. The stillbirths may not be related, but I don’t want to take a chance at the entire town getting infected with a zoonotic disease.”
Tanner and Wade’s eyes widen. “Okay, we’ll double glove and keep the sanitizing station fully stocked, too.”
“I need to know immediately if you or your guys notice any jaundice or dark urine.”
“Of course,” he says.
“Keep the protocols in place, keep up with these antibiotics I just prescribed, and I think we’ll keep it contained. Check with Doc Lucy, too. If there are cattle that haven’t been vaccinated, or other animals, as long as they’re healthy they need to be vaccinated ASAP.”
“I’ll call immediately. Thanks, Doc.”
“Great. Here’s my card if you need anything else. I’ll be back in a few days to check on you. I took urine, blood, and stool samples, and I’ll let you know if I get them back sooner.”
“Perfect, thanks again, Doc,” Tanner says as he reaches out to shake my hand.
Wade and I return to the truck, removing our hazmat suits and using the cleaning station in the bed of my truck to sanitize before climbing inside.
“Lepto?” Wade asks. “Were you thinking that before?”
“It’s been a thought, but everything is pointing more toward BRD. The stillbirths could be a fluke, but I have to cover all the bases. I haven’t noticed any jaundice in any other cattle, no one has reported stillbirths, either.”
“Hopefully, it’s just a one-off with Tanner’s ranch,” Wade sighs. “Otherwise, things just amplified tenfold. I’ve never known any humans to get lepto, but I know it’s a possibility.”
Wade is behind the steering wheel as he drives us back to his ranch. I’m making notes on my laptop, also going through, looking for keywords to see if I missed the jaundice or other lepto signs at other ranches. Nothing is populating, thank goodness.
“I know it’s easy for me to say, but don’t stress. I’m certain you’re looking to see if you missed something, but you’re really good at what you do, and I think you should know that, hear me say it, at least. I’m really impressed.”
I smile softly back at him before going back to my laptop. I’m not really used to compliments and don’t know how to react. I let out a sigh.
Wade is a really good man. I glance over at him and let myself imagine what it would be like if things were different—if I wasn’t so tangled up in my own mess, and if I didn’t live in Billings.
He’s a distraction that I can’t afford right now. At the same time, it feels so right to say yes and see where this goes between us.
“Okay,” I reply.
Chapter Twenty-One
Wade
Ipull her truck into my driveway. She doesn’t move to get out and neither do I.
“Hey, Sutton,” I say softly. “You got plans tonight?”
She brushes a strand of hair out of her face and narrows her eyes at me. “Why? You need a babysitter for Caleb?”
I throw my head back and laugh, shaking my head. “Not exactly. Thought maybe you’d like to head into town and grab something to eat.”
She blinks at me, clearly caught off guard. “What, like a date?” she teases, crossing her arms to mirror my stance.
“Exactly like a date,” I say evenly. “I want to date you. Is that okay? Plus, I’m starving, and I figure you’ve got to be, too.”
