AllFreeNovel
Share Us
My dear Precious, do not think for a second that this door mechanism can ever adore you with the same ardor as I. It doesn’t have a shrine where it worships you as a fertility goddess. It doesn’t starve for the mouthwatering flakes of dead skin that you free each time you exfoliate in the shower.
When my friends walk inside, they both whistle.
Yeah. At my son’s urging, Evan decided to embrace being a billionaire, so he hired a team of artists to make the lobby look like the inside of a wave—which I believe took enough crystal to run Swarovski for a year. Oh, and it doubles as a ballroom.
“Is this the whole town?” Dorothy asks in a loud whisper, eyeing the crowd camped out in said ballroom.
I grab a champagne flute from the nearest waiter. “It’s just the people we know.” We just happen to know this many. “The staff from the camp are here too, and so are the children.” I gesture at the louder section of the ballroom. “The only people we know that we didn’t invite are the annoying members of the HOA.” This snub was Evan’s idea of revenge because he thinks the nosy busybodies are dying to see the inside of this mansion—the biggest house in Palm Islet.
“Oh, my God.” Dorothy points at the guy who is usually Evan’s video-call drinking buddy but happens to be here in the flesh today.
Jolene fans herself. “The god being Thor, right? That’s who that dude reminds me of.”
“You don’t get it,” Dorothy says in wide-eyed wonder. “That’s Mason Tugev.”
I blink at her. “How do you know his name?”
“Doesn’t everyone?” Dorothy exclaims. “He’s a famous hockey player!”
Huh. Evan’s never mentioned that. I could see it, though. Mason is as big as a Newfoundland, but sinewy and muscular like a pit bull, with the cold eyes of a wolf.
“Now, be honest.” Jolene turns to Dorothy. “Do you really feel nothing when you look at a guy like that? No tingles whatsoever? I promise not to get jealous.”
Dorothy rolls her eyes. “Give up on that already.”
“Come,” I say, eager to nip this conversation in the bud, in case Mason has good hearing. “Let me introduce you to my boss.”
I lead them over to Calvin, explaining that as of my recent graduation, I’m officially the emergency vet at the local clinic on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
“Why just two days?” Dorothy asks.
I point back at the door. “Our farm animals need a vet on a regular basis, and I’m it.”
“Speaking of…” Calvin tugs nervously at his mustache. “Has Carrie been crying again?”
“No. The eyedrops helped.” Cows don’t cry to express sadness—at least as far as scientists think—but their eyes water when dry or infected, both problems solved by the drops.
“What about Charlotte?” Calvin asks. “Is her appetite better?”
“Much,” I say. “Both hers and Miranda’s.”
“What about Samantha?” he says. “Is she?—”
“Look, Calvin, all your girls are doing just fine.”
Noticing my friends looking at us askance, I explain, “Calvin’s pet cows now live here with us, on the farm.”
“But I visit them every chance I get,” Calvin says defensively.
It’s true. He might visit a little too much. He also takes them to walk on the nearby beach every chance he gets.
“And I had no other choice,” he continues. “The HOA gave me an ultimatum.”
I’m actually shocked he was able to live in a private community and keep cows as pets for as long as he did. Nor do I understand how he handled the logistics of the cows without a farm. Even with a farm, Harry has to herd the bovines away from mischief all the time.
“Our farm is a better home for them,” I tell Calvin reassuringly. “Where else can they play with a cat?”
Yep. It’s a thing. Sally likes cows, and the cows like her back despite the fact that she eats the beef version of Fancy Feast.
