My truck, which had been a secondhand purchase from the family of a late army buddy, had seen me through vet school and the past decade. My father had driven his last truck well over two decades until, like most of his things, it was held together by duct tape, epoxy, and sheer stubbornness. To my mind, I should be able to eke another five years out of my truck at least, but the Baldwin men had never been great with change.
“Winter’s a ways off.” Luna was as accurate as ever.
“Yep.” I matched her dry tone before switching the subject deftly as Grayson had earlier. “How was your day?”
“The usual. Kitten season.” Luna gave a weary shake of her head as she flipped off her computer monitor and rose from her office chair. “My voice is hoarse from spay and neuter lectures and calls to and from the rescues.”
“Keep fighting the good fight.” I clapped her on the shoulder before she hung her white coat on a hook near the doorway where I stood.
“Always.” She graced me with a smile as she collected her purse. “I’d better get on home to Mitch and the kids. He’s grilling tonight, so I don’t want to miss that.”
“You got yourself a good one.” I grinned back. Luna’s husband Mitch was a salt-of-the-earth guy. Mitch worked at the feed store and ran herd on their three kids. Like Luna, he’d become a decent friend over the years.
“You should think about finding?—”
“Go on now.” I cut her off by steering her toward the rear door of the practice. She was only too eager to play matchmaker for me, but she, of all people, should know how difficult it was to find someone willing to put up with a veterinarian’s hours. “You better get home before the steak is all gone.”
“I’m going.” She gave me a little wave on her way out the door.
I locked up behind her before settling in to do some charting of my own, return a few calls, and set my schedule for the next day. I also used the opportunity to go over our accounting books.
Luna was right that our margins were in better shape than they had been in years, due in no small part to her convincing me to finally raise fees. I liked to keep things as economical as I could for struggling farmers and townsfolk, but some of the big horse operations weren’t hurting for cash, so asking for more from the high-end cases made good business sense. Plus, the area was growing, and more activity in town meant more business for us. My dad would be pleased with the state of our cash reserves, but I could hear his gravelly voice warning me to be conservative with taking on new bills.We can make do.The man always had hated to spend.
My stomach growled, reminding me I should probably head on home. We had two dogs and a cat who needed to stay over at the clinic to heal from surgeries, so I made sure Luna had reviewed their treatment plans with the part-time tech who would check in on them overnight before I headed home.
I lived at my parents’ old place outside of town. Years ago, it had been part of my great-grandfather’s and grandfather’s farm,but time and bad luck had whittled it down to these few acres. I leased the hay fields to a neighboring farmer, leaving me the house, barn, and empty paddock. Not for the first time, I wished for a dog or horse to come home to, but my hours were crazy enough that it wouldn’t be fair to a pet. Gone were the days when a rural vet could have a dog ride along on calls. Most of my larger clients were too particular to allow that.
My stomach continued to rumble, but I ignored it in favor of heading around the back of the small house to my mother’s garden. Her pride and joy was carefully fenced in to keep critters out. I’d built the two large raised beds near the garden gate while home on leave because she’d become too weak to manage much kneeling. She’d insisted on leaving the other ground-level beds, however, so her beloved perennials didn’t have to get uprooted.
I’d helped install soaker hoses for easier watering years back, but the heat this time of year meant extra watering and extra vigilance. Her neat handwriting adorned little markers throughout the garden, helping me remember what was what. I gave a halfhearted stab at pulling the worst of the weeds before hunger won out. I headed inside for a low-sodium can of soup and a quick chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread. Easy.
As I ate, I glanced over at the bare wood floor near the fridge where the bowls for a parade of dogs had sat while my mom had been alive. My dad’s last cowboy hat perched on a nearby peg, boots neatly lined up beneath. As a kid, I’d been so oblivious to the ways Mom had made this house a home, but now I missed her something fierce. Missed them both. I wasn’t too proud to admit this life of mine was a little lonely, but I was used to it by now. If I were dwelling on it, though, that was as good a reason as any to try to make the next veterans’ meeting in Durango, regardless of whether Carson wanted to come along.
Chapter Three
Carson
“How’s work?”Colt asked as we all got settled in Maverick’s truck for the drive to my mom’s house in town.
I was sharing the backseat with Colt’s daughter Willow and Maverick’s niece Hannah, and I had never more acutely missed being able to drive. Both teen girls were playing around on their phones, which left Colt ample time to grill me while Maverick drove.
“Decent.” It had been a full week of work, and I couldn’t complain. Sure, shoveling horse shit was hard work, but exercising the horses and seeing to their needs was a welcome escape from all the folks trying to watch over me. Plus, as the week had dragged on, Grayson and Kat had backed off their hovering and given me more responsibility. Now, if only I could say the same for my family.
“Everyone treating you all right?” Colt prodded as we headed into Lovelorn.
“Yep.” Wasn’t even noon yet, and my head throbbed. It was going to be a long day. I wanted to save my conversational energy, but Colt made a frustrated noise.
“Look, I know you’d rather not go to this thing, but Mom wants all of us there. We won’t stay long.”
“I’m good.” I was going to hold Colt to that promise of an early exit though.
Kat had offered me the full day off, but I’d volunteered to do some chores before dinner. Checking feed and water sounded way better than a birthday party for our brother with all our relatives in attendance, many of whom hadn’t seen me since my injury.
“I had no clue what to get Kane for his birthday,” Maverick chimed in.
“Trouble,” I deadpanned, which earned a snort from Colt.
It was true though. Kane had a knack for finding trouble, and he’d had a wild reputation all through school. He’d continued to raise hell as an adult, but that didn’t stop our mom from wanting to throw him a birthday party.
