Page 168 of True Blue

Tonight, I was trying to sleep, exhausted from a long day of work, when I heard the scratching again. This time, I found the culprit.

“I am this close to calling animal control,” I hiss, holding my thumb and forefinger close together. “Not the catch-and-release guys either. I’ll make sure they bring the sick stuff to send your ass to raccoon heaven.”

The creature doesn’t look scared by my hissed words, and I sigh, pulling my phone out of my pajama pants. When I worked as an electrician, we usually just called an exterminator to handle this. But I don’t want them to come and kill it.

My body moves without my permission, or maybe my mind is controlling my body, because the next thing I know, Indie’s sleepy voice is in my ear.

“Teddy?”

I freeze, before coughing and clearing my throat, “Hey, Indie…”

“Hey,” Indie says, and I hear some rustling like she’s sitting up in bed. “Are you okay?”

Goosebumps break out across my body. I’m not completely sure if it’s from the huskiness of her voice or the temperature in this attic. It’s not that cold yet, not like how it is in November around this time.

I’ve been getting away with staying warm by the fireplace since the HVAC guys are coming later this week. I needed to get the electrical set up for central heating and air. Not that I’m short on money thanks to Nana, but I wasn’t going to hire an electrician because, despite not having a passion for it, I could do this in my sleep by now.

And it’s something to do for Indie, which makes it all worth it.

“Yeah, I’m just… hey, do you remember when you had that squirrel climb into your window? It chewed a hole in your wall while you were at work and got stuck.”

She snorts. “Oh, yeah. That was fun.”

I chuckle, remembering her calling me in the middle of the night, saying she thought someone was trying to break in. She kept hearing scratching noises from somewhere in the apartment.

I had stumbled out of bed, rushed to my truck, and showed up at her house in my boxers and T-shirt. I charged through the door, looking for an intruder, only to find the hole and the adorable culprit.

“Who did you call to get them to remove it?” I ask, before a fond smile stretches across my face, adoration hitting my chest. “Not the exterminator, I remember you cried when you talked to him, and he passionately described his barbaric techniques.”

“I was on my period,” she mutters, making me smile. “And I took a Hippocratic oath.”

“I think that only applies to humans,” I tease.

“Do no harm doesn’t discriminate.”

“Says the girl who loves steak.”

“I’m sorry, did you call for my help or not?” she growls, though she can’t smother her laughter. The sound of it is so damn soothing that I close my eyes and let it wash over me. “Teddy, you there?”

“Yes! Yeah, I’m here, uh, sorry. Who did you call for them to remove the adorable little guy?”

“It’s a wildlife control place. They’ll live-trap animals and bring them to a rehab to see if they can help.”

“You think they have one out here?”

“Why? Is there a squirrel stuck in this mysterious place you’ve been living in that you refuse to tell me?”

“Kinda,” I say, glaring at the raccoon, who seems to glare right back. “A little bigger.”

“Ah, an R.O.U.S,” she snickers, and I smile, my mind immediately going to a movie Indie showed me on one of our movie nights.

“I don’t think they exist,” I say, and with perfect timing, the raccoon makes a skittering sound that makes me jump. Little shit. “But very close.”

“Here, I’m sending you one I just found,” she says, and I feel the buzzing of an incoming text message. I smile as Indie accompanies it with a picture of an R.O.U.S., making me laugh. “I think they’re twenty-four-hour, so you could call them now.”

“Thank you, Indie.”

“You’re welcome. And Teddy?” she says, sounding amused now. “I know I am a beacon of knowledge, but there is this helpful tool called Google. You can look up local wildlife control.”