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But just thinking about having contact with him sends a little zip through me.
He’s the most exciting thing that’s happened to me in a long time.
Chapter 8
DREW
Rather than wrestle with Ensley’s email, I pay some invoices and place orders. Normally, my receptionist also serves as the overall office manager, but I haven’t had a solid one since Cathy retired six months ago.
First we got Dana, who Cathy trained, but she left for a different job after only four months.
Next came Brittany, who seemed promising, but then she quit over myhostile work environment.
And now Jenny. I have a bad feeling she’ll fly away the moment she finds something else. Her personality definitely isn’t a fit for mine. Maria should have seen that, but she wouldn’t let me interview anyone after I scared off half the candidates when we got Dana.
I exit the office to make my rounds. Everything has been closed up for the night. The lobby is dark. The exam rooms are cleaned and prepped. Maria is gone. We have no overnight boarders or fosters in the kennels.
It’s just me and Sasha.
I head to her cage. Maria has moved her to a new one now that she’s been treated for fleas. She sleeps in a white fluff ball, pushed up against a soft blanket.
I don’t want to wake her. She’s still in recovery from her ordeal. But as I step back, her white head pops up, and she peers at me, her blue eyes gray in the dark. She lets out a tiny hiss.
I open the latch. “Come here, you little hellcat.”
I don’t pick her up, but hold out my hand. She sniffs at it, then bats it with her paw.
Maria has left a bag of treats and a catnip banana on the shelf over the kennels. I extract a treat with one hand and feed it to Sasha. She quits attacking me to sniff it, then gobbles it down.
I don’t have any pets at home. My work hours are too long and there’s no one to comfort an animal left alone all day. Sasha sniffs the finger that held the treat, then bites it.
I laugh. “You’re a nippy one. You must not have been around your siblings long enough to learn how to play.” I pick her up. She curls around my hand like before, but this time, she doesn’t hiss. I bring her to my chest, and she climbs onto my shoulder, digging into the lab coat with her claws.
I pet her head as I check the other rooms, the pharmacy, the lab, and storage. Everything is as it should be. Maria has taken over many of the duties of manager. She’s quite possibly more important to this clinic than I am.
“Okay, Sasha, time for night night.” I try to pull the kitten off my shoulder, but she has dug in. “Come on.”
I finally take off the coat, setting it on the exam table so I can disentangle the kitten. She lets go and tries to crawl up my shirtsleeve.
“To your kennel, little one.” I pick her up, holding her outstretched so she can’t get stuck on my shirt.
But when I set her in the kennel and close the door, she climbs the metal bars, mewing pitifully.
I’ve been firm in my five years of veterinary work to avoid falling for homeless pets. My situation is not conducive to taking one in, and the vet techs sometimes adopt our lost creatures. For the rest, we have rescues and foster homes.
But something about Sasha has done me in. She’s been here only a few hours. She’s all alone. I didn’t plan for her, so Betty won’t come in for a night check.
I stick my finger through the bars, and she bites the tip. She shoves her paws through the bars and wraps them around my hand.
I can’t leave her.
“All right, you little snowball.” I open the kennel and hold her in my palm. “Come on.” I set her on my shoulder, and this time she digs into my shirt.
I pack a soft-sided kennel, a litter tray, and some food.
I guess I have a houseguest for the night.
This has got to be Ensley’s fault.
