“Holy fuck!” Bells screams and jumps down to the ground.
“What the hell are you doing?” I put the bat down and turn off the alarm with the correct code.
“I’m sorry. I heard a weird noise and wanted to check it out.” She frowns, standing up and dusting the dirt off her pants.
“What noise?” I raise an eyebrow.
“It sounded like a raccoon, and I thought maybe it got stuck in here or something, so I thought I should check it out. I knocked on your door first, but you weren’t home.” She glances over my outfit, probably able to tell that I was on a date.
“Where was the noise coming from?”
“Toward the side.” She points, and I do hear a sound, but it doesn’t sound like a raccoon. They know the food isn’t in here—they usually raid the dumpster behind Lina’s bakery.
“It’s a chipmunk, and it looks like he’s got a hurt paw.” The chipmunk is lying on the floor in the corner, licking one of its legs and making a sound like whimpers. “Can you bring me that blanket?” I point to the small blanket in the front of the barn.
Bells brings it over, and I carefully walk toward the chipmunk. It looks terrified, but I scoop it into the blanket and hold it so it isn’t trapped. I don’t want it to feel like I’m attacking it.
“I’m going to bring you to someone who can help,” I tell the little thing.
“Hattie can fix chipmunks?” Bells looks on in confusion.
“She can help most animals. It’s not the first time we’ve come across hurt wildlife. We try to do what we can,” I explain.
“I see.” Bells follows me out of the barn, locking up behind me. We head toward Hattie’s house, and she knocks on the front door.
“Hey, we found this little one in the barn. Can you help?” I look up at Hattie, who waves us inside.
“Ollie! Go get my medical bag!” she calls out and leads us into her office.
One of the rooms in her house has been made into a makeshift office. Every once in a while, she gets someone local needing help with their pet, and we try whatever we can. So she has all these veterinarian supplies and furniture in her office. I place the blanket and chipmunk on the table and hold my hands cautiously nearby in case it tries to escape—not that I think that’s possible. Ollie runs in with her bag of supplies, and she takes out a bunch of different things.
“It’s possible there will be some blood—you might want to wait in the other room,” I say, turning toward Bells. I don’t want her becoming the next patient on the table.
She nods and smiles. “Thank you.”
“Ollie, can you go sit with her? I think she could use a friend,” I ask him. He smiles proudly, probably happy to have a grown-up job.
“Will he be okay?” I ask Hattie quietly.
“Yeah. It just looks like a bite from another animal that isn’t healing right. I’m going to clean it out and then wrap it. I’d like to keep him inside for about a week or so, but it’ll really depend on him,” she says, looking at the chipmunk.
“Bells is the one who found him. She set the alarm on the barn off looking for him,” I say.
“She didn’t strike me as an animal lover.” Hattie raises an eyebrow.
“She continues to surprise me.” I glance over to where she’s laughing with Ollie in the living room. He’s showing her one of his animal books, and she’s asking questions about whatever he’s saying.
“How’d your date tonight go?” Hattie asks, breaking my thoughts.
“Oh, not great.” I sigh.
“Care to elaborate?” She’s cleaning the chipmunk’s cut, and I’m making sure he doesn’t try to run away.
“She left early. For some reason she’s under the impression that I’m harboring feelings for Bells,” I say quietly.
“No way. Really?” Hattie’s voice is heavy with sarcasm.
“What is up with that? Why does everyone keep doing that to me?” I groan.
