"Do it for the kitties," Mitch told him.
Once Enrico agreed, Sammy was so happy to have him there with them, and Mitch again surprised himself by being happy about it too. At the same time, it seemed too much to eat every meal with the guy. Mitch never did that with anyone other than Sammy.
Since Mitch wasn't a great conversationalist, it was good Enrico was there to liven things up at the dinner table. Sammy had to update him about every single thing the kittens did, but when she heard they had to go to the vet, she got scared.
"No. No vet," she insisted.
Mitch noticed that she seemed really spooked. "Why are you afraid of the vet, Sammy?"
"Natalie and Veronica will go to sleep and never wake up. No vet," she insisted. "Mika's doggy went to the vet and never came back."
"The kittens will come back. They're just going for a checkup," Mitch told her, but she still looked scared and shook her head.
That's when Enrico chimed in. "Riley and DJ Hayes have two dogs. They take them to the same vet. They can tell you it's OK," he said.
"Their doggies are OK?" she asked.
"Sure they are. You can go see them," Enrico said and got out his phone. "I'll see if you can drop by and talk to them."
"What?" Mitch said, caught off guard while Enrico steamrolled ahead.
"Don't you want to meet their dogs?" Enrico asked, looking from Mitch to Sammy.
Sammy was nodding, and Mitch realized that it might be a good idea. She would be more willing to believe two kids instead of two adults when it came to this kind of thing. Plus she would get to see that the dogs were OK for herself.
"They're eating dinner too," Enrico said reading the text. "But Sam said to come over when we're done and bring the kittens."
Mitch couldn't believe they were taking the kittens too. This whole thing was so out of his hands, but it was probably for the best. If they were keeping the kittens, and it looked like they were, it wouldn't do for Sammy to be afraid of the vet.
With dinner and clean up done, they set out for the Hayes' place. Enrico gave directions while the kittens spread cat hair over every inch of the car.
They arrived in front of a ranch style house with a curving driveway and a vegetable garden. They went in to the sound of barking dogs while Mitch and Enrico held the kittens.
The Hayes' place was homey in and out, and Mitch felt a pang of envy. He wished he could give Sammy a home like this one. It made him realize how temporary every placed they lived in had been, including the house they were staying in now.
"You found kittens like we found Brownie," Riley said. It turned out that Brownie was the little brown dog.
"Uncle Wyatt found Barney too," DJ said. Barney was the little white dog, who had to sniff all their shoes then looked up like he expected he would get to sniff the kittens too.
"Kitties are better," Sammy insisted. She always got so competitive around the Hayes boys.
"Don't say that. You'll hurt Barney and Brownie's feelings," DJ told her and petted the dogs consolingly.
Sammy looked down at the dogs. "Sorry, Barney and Brownie. You're nice too."
"We came by so you can tell Sammy about the vet where you take the dogs," Enrico said.
"You want to walk and talk? We were going to take the dogs out," Wyatt said.
"I guess we can take the kittens for a walk too?" Enrico said and turned to Mitch like he was actually consulting him about something all of a sudden.
As they all went out again, the boys told Sammy that Dr. Burjeel was nice as was everyone else who worked there. Sammy was a lot less scared after hearing the boys chatter about the vet's and argue about who is more scared of shots. One thing Sammy was sure about, she wasn't scared. She was so fierce all of a sudden.
"Looks like the trip to the vet won't be too much of a problem," Wyatt said.
"She had to hear it from the mouths of babes," Enrico said then he looked over at Sam and sighed. "If you want to hold a kitten, why don't you just ask?"
"Maybe I could just pet her head," Sam said and gently stroked the kitten's head. "Which one is this? Natalie or Veronica?"
