“Ugh.”
I had him squared away with caffeine and food in no time, then took my own coffee to sit with him.
“Hey, do you need the better truck in the next hour or so?”
“No, I don’t think so. Neither does Theo. I think he’ll be busy with the foal.”
“I noticed River took the crappy one and I need to go make a grocery run.”
Lake moaned as he chewed the burrito. “This is so good.”
“I’m afraid of you guys’ standards. River made the same sound earlier.”
Lake smiled slightly. “Honestly, we do fine on basic cooking, but things like spices and that sort of extra touch that comes naturally for actual chefs are. just different.”
Theo walked in, looking a bit tired but not as bad as I’d seen him multiple times in the past.
“How’s the baby?” Lake asked, holding his arm out so Theo could walk to stand against him.
Lake put his arm around Theo’s hip and leaned into his stomach. Theo petted his hair carefully, looking down at him with the same heart eyes I’d seen when I’d first watched them together.
“She’s hanging in there. IV fluids and getting her to drink some milk replacer. We’ve been making calls all morning to see if anyone has a mare who has foaled recently and might be able to donate some milk. Any amount would be useful.”
“How old does Seb think she is?” I asked, getting to my feet. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please.”
“Can you make him something to eat?” Lake asked as he pushed Theo toward the chair next to his.
“I don’t need—”
“Of course,” I cut Theo off, giving him a look. I was a hundred percent sure he hadn’t eaten anything since last night.
“Seb says not more than four days, but that she’s had very little nutrition during any of those days.”
“What could cause that?” I scavenged for more ingredients and decided to use the last eggs for an omelet, because most things went into an omelet just fine and I had stuff to add.
“The mare might’ve been suffering from malnutrition or maybe there was a medical condition. She could’ve also just rejected the foal for some reason, and they tried to feed it but couldn’t make it happen.” Theo shrugged. “Things happen.”
“I think, if she makes it, we should name her Delilah.” Lake smiled. “For the obvious reasons.” Then he explained his obvious reasons to us in great detail, which I agreed with.
“I’ve been thinking,” Lake said after finishing his meal. He leaned back and crossed his fingers over his stomach. “We’ve talked about how sometimes people abandon their animals purely because they’re ashamed to take them to a shelter or a rescue when they can’t afford to keep them or treat them when they get sick and so on, right?”
“Right,” Theo said, coming to get his coffee himself. “That’s a major thing in the industry.”
“So could we look into helping the locals with that, somehow?”
“What do you have in mind?” Theo took his mug back to the table and sighed happily.
“Well, some sort of a fund for sure, to begin with. For local families to get medical help for their pets in high-cost emergencies or such,” Lake started. “But I was also thinking, some shelters have drop off areas, right?”
“Many do,” I confirmed, having seen them on my travels.
“So how about we have one somewhere, too? Not necessarily even on our property, but if we could get a farmer to agree somewhere?”
I glanced at them as I flipped the omelet. “Anonymous spot?”
“Yeah.” Seeing Theo’s frown, Lake lifted a hand. “Not now, obviously. But maybe after we get the new stable built?”
