“Pregnant!” I shouted at my computer. I never thought I’d be attempting to diagnose pet ailments via video chat but Mrs. Marsden was terrified of driving and rarely left the house. She’d also been lighting up my office line with messages since early this morning. “Dr. Morris said he could stop by later this afternoon to check on Fluffy and make sure momma and the babies are doing okay. How does that sound?”
“Well, that sounds wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Lett.” The woman didn’t disconnect the call at her end and I could hear her shouting to her daughter before I shut my laptop, “Hilary, I’m going to be a gram-paw; Fluffy is pregnant. We need to get her a bigger bed!”
“At least Fluffy and her kittens would be well taken care of, right, Izzy?” I said to my calico who was lounging on the back of the sofa by me.
I heard a car door slam and boots on my porch. “How are you feeling, lady?” Sofia called out as she walked through my back door. She stopped to pet Fay and Wellington who followed her inside. Reaching for the treat jar, she broke the dehydrated chicken I kept for all of them into smaller pieces, sharing it with between my dogs and cats before she finally looked to me to answer her.
“Pain is way down and, so long as I keep it elevated, the swelling is too,” I said as she reached for Pocket’s treats and held up both canisters. I pointed to the cricket ones. “Jake gave him a mealworm when he stopped by early this morning to feed the animals and let the horses out.”
“How’s it going with you two?” Sofia asked after she delivered Pocket his cricket. Didn’t matter that I told everyone that Pocket was nocturnal, they still wanted to leave him treats to find when he woke up.
“Not as awkward as I thought it would be. He’s been helpful around here.” I wasn’t sure if I was ready to say aloud that I actually looked forward to Jake coming by, but it was still true whether or not I admitted it aloud. Not only did it break up the tedium of the day, but I liked spending time with him even if it was only for a few minutes at a time. Plus, I got to see the caretaker side of him that doted on all the animals under his care.
There was something very sexy about a man petting a cat. And it didn’t hurt that he was wearing well-worn jeans that looked downright sinful on him and he had a smile to die for.
“You know, I’m happy to come by more often.” Sofia poured herself a cup of coffee from the dregs in my pot and added both cream and sugar before sitting down at the table across from me. Magellan hopped up into her lap and turned around in circles before settling down for pets.
“I know, but Jake offered.”More like insisted.“And he’s a lot closer than you are.” I shrugged. “It makes sense for him to do it.” Also true. I wasn’t up for talking about Jake, so I switched the subject. “How are you? I heard Donovan got a new tattoo.”
Sofia’s cheeks turned pink and she set her coffee cup down. “How did you hear about that?” Donovan was Sofia’s “benefits buddy” as she called him and word was that he’d gotten a tattoo that looked remarkably like her face. Apparently, it looked good, too.
I pointed to my laptop. “Lydia, over at the townhall. I did a video call with her to discuss her Pointer, Duchess. She heard about it from her mom.” Her mom, Lois, was the receptionist at the sheriff’s office.
Sofia was gnawing on her lower lip, and I reached out to squeeze her arm. “Hey, it’s not a big deal, right? The guy has a lot of tattoos. And who wouldn’t want your gorgeous face tattooed on their… uh… thigh?” I couldn’t stop the giggle, even when I clapped my hand over my mouth. Sofia snorted in response.
“I genuinely don’t know if I should be flattered or pissed about it.” She shifted and Magellan gave her an indignant scowl before hopping down to join Izzy on the sofa.
“Well, how does it look? I assume you’ve seen it.”
Sofia nodded. “Oh yeah, I’ve seen it. And it’s good. But why does it have to bemyface? I mean, what does that even mean?” I didn’t have an answer for her. Before I could say anything, she added, “Melody entered it in a ‘before and after competition’ since it’s a coverup.”
Melody was Caitlin’s business partner and fellow artist in their tattoo studio. “How’d it do?”
“The contest ends on Halloween. The top three winners get a spread inColorado Inked, which means my face on his thigh could be forever immortalized in print.” Sofia had the glimmer of a smile on her face and I realized this might just be a good thing.
“That’ll be good business for the tattoo studio and the town, right?” I said, already imagining more people coming to town for tattoos.
“Sure, until I pull someone over and they recognize me fromDonovan’s thigh! How am I supposed to be taken seriously at a traffic stop or worse?”
Ah. I could understand her concern but at the same time, my friend had a great sense of humor and I hoped she’d be able to approach those stops with the right amount of clapback.
“You could always change your hair—you’ve talked about cutting it.”
“Oh, my hair gets even curlier when I cut it shorter.”
I pointed to my head. “Same here, but you could add a relaxer to give you those beach waves no one living in a landlocked state ever gets naturally.”
“Hmm, I’ll think about that.” She tapped the table. “In the meantime, put me to work, bestie. What do you need?”
I pointed her to Pocket’s room where his enclosure needed cleaning. When that was done, she helped me change the sheets on my bed and get the dirty linens into the wash.
“What’s next? You have me for as long as you want today,” Sofia said. Before I could answer, a truck pulled up outside and we both looked out the kitchen window. “Jake’s here and he’s got Cal with him,” Sofia announced.
“Oh. I wasn’t expecting him until later.” I looked at my watch, surprised that it was already well past noon. “Scratch that, he’s right on time.”
“Hello!” Jake called out and we met them on the back porch. “Sofia, good to see you in person,” he said with a smirk and Sofia rolled her eyes at him.
“You know, Thorne, there’s already a precedent set for arresting your ass. Don’t make me do it too,” she threatened but there was zero heat behind her words and we all knew it. She turned to Cal. “Doyouhave anything to say?”
