And Then There Was You Read online

  Not that it mattered. He parked and let himself in through the back entrance. The stacks of cages were empty, nobody in recovery from a spay or neuter, injury or illness, nobody needing surgery or a dental cleaning. He boarded a few medically needy cats for certain clients, too, while they were on vacation, but October wasn’t the month for that. After an extremely busy summer, autumn was turning out to be slow as molasses.

  Joleene Arbello was already there, putting up a few spooky decorations in the front of the clinic. The gray-haired woman had been the receptionist for the previous vet, and continued on when Theo took over the practice. “Halloween just sneaked up on me this year,” she said apologetically. “I should have put these up weeks ago.”

  “That’s all right. It sneaked up on me, too,” Theo said. His birthday was sneaking up as well; he hadn’t told her what it was in order to prevent a fuss. “How’s the schedule looking for today?”

  “Barring emergencies, quiet. Some well-dog and well-cat checks to start off the day, a couple of vaccinations, and Mr. Fogerty is bringing in his latest batch of kittens.”

  They gave one another a look, and let it pass unspoken.

  Hal Fogerty refused to spay a cat until she had a litter of kittens first, believing it was wrong to deny her the experience of motherhood. Only then did he have her fixed. But that left him with a litter of four to six kittens. He found them good homes, to his credit, yet inevitably fell in love with one or two and kept them, so the cycle continued. It wasn’t a money issue. He was fairly well-off and they had low-cost options for fixing pets. Doctor Gillett had tangled with him in the past; Theo tangled with him more recently, but nothing changed and it never would. At least Hal didn’t feel the same way about male kittens and fatherhood. He had the boys fixed right away.

  Joleene put a miniature pumpkin on the counter and sat down to pull up the schedule on her computer. “Oh, yes, I forgot. We have a new patient after lunch. Mr. Riley Carder found a stray dog yesterday and asked that you check him over. I swear I could smell the sugar through the phone.”

  Puzzled, Theo said, “Excuse me? Did you say sugar?”

  “He and his sister run the Mad Batter Bakery over on 7th and Collier. Remember those cookies I brought in at Easter?”

  “I remember the love handles I got from eating them.”

  “Those were from that bakery. Oh, Theo, you have to go there sometime!” She smiled in delight. “It’s such a cute place and everything they make is delicious. You’ll love it!”

  He nodded politely. He had moved to Weathership without knowing much about it, and he hadn’t done any exploring in his time here other than learning the route to the grocery store, post office, gas station, and basic essentials.

  Joleene pulled another decoration from her canvas bag and set it on the counter opposite from the pumpkin. It was a spooky bouquet of fake flowers covered in a cobweb lace. Roses. They were black and artistically withered, nestled among gray sprays of foliage.

  Of course they were roses. He really should have taken a personal day.

  “I’ll step in back and get through some paperwork,” he said awkwardly, needing to get away from the bouquet, and closed himself into the bathroom to steady his breathing.

  The sink was cold in his grip as he studied his reflection.

  He took after his father, the trademark black hair and wide set blue eyes of the Sullivan tribe. Girls had been nuts for Theo in high school, and he kept waiting to feel nuts over them in return. It never happened. He was always looking past them to the guys. His parents couldn’t stop pressing – So, any cute girls in your classes? In your church youth group? When are you going to bring someone home to meet the folks? Which girl are you asking out to the dance? – and he never knew what to say. He thought about lying, inventing a blonde, blue-eyed knock-out named Jasmine or Madison or Emily to put them off, but he suspected this would only make it worse. His hometown was on the small side. There were only so many girls even with the most common names and he knew Mom would wade into his fantastical love life with abandon to figure out which Emma or Sophia he was interested in.

  He avoided the questions. He was good at that, dodging and laying low until most people just looked through him. Not that those were things that a guy should be proud of as his personal talents. When Vaughn first asked him out on a date, Theo was so shocked to be seen that he burst into laughter. Then he felt like a dope, but he had gotten so used to being invisible that on some level he thought he was.

  Today was going to be hard, but he would get through it. Making everyone reschedule their appointments at the very last minute wasn’t fair to them, and all for a personal problem that wouldn’t be resolved by Theo staring at the television at home.

  He forced himself out of the bathroom, and the day began. After muscling through the well-pet checks, he gave vaccinations to a succession of unenthusiastic dogs and cats. Mr. Fogerty arrived with five squirming kittens and their mama for Theo to check over. Everything was fine, and Theo was quietly relieved that the kitten Mr. Fogerty was falling in love with this time around was a gray male. They set up an appointment for the mother’s spaying.

  The senior bus unexpectedly dropped off Mrs. Delbert with her cat carrier just as the clinic was closing up for lunch. She was legally blind, and horrified that her cat Bubba was growing a tumor on his belly. Having run across it just this morning while petting him, she’d had her neighbor call the bus to bring her to the clinic at once.

  Theo couldn’t make a frail woman in her late eighties wait outside for an hour while he ate a sandwich and messed around on the Internet. Bringing her into the examination room, he took the ginger cat out of the carrier and investigated the protuberance. There it was, a pulpy, concerning mass beneath his fingers. It had grown very fast, whatever this was; he gave Bubba a dental cleaning at the end of August and there was no sign of it then. Bubba was an older cat, but in excellent health. Seated in the chair, wispy Mrs. Delbert was trying hard not to cry.

  With Joleene’s help, Theo turned over the growling feline. Then all three of them had a good laugh when the tumor turned out to be a half-melted gummy bear snarled into the cat’s long fur, no doubt compliments of Mrs. Delbert’s two-year-old great-grandson who visited with his parents the day before. Theo cut it out and packed the cat back into the carrier.

  “Now, you’ll have to bill me, and my daughter can mail you the check,” Mrs. Delbert said.

  “I don’t charge for gummy bears,” Theo said, grateful for the bit of levity. Joleene mouthed to him that she would drive Mrs. Delbert back home.

  He locked up at last and had his lunch in the back, reading the news on his cell phone and wondering if he should write back to Derrick. An ad for a cruise line caught his eye and distracted him, a pristine white ship cutting through sapphire blue water.

  Where would they have been for their first anniversary? On a beach in Hawaii? A wine tasting in Napa? The Eiffel Tower or a resort in Spain? Definitely not in Weathership. Vaughn was hands-off when it came to the wedding, but hands-on with vacations. Theo barely had to do a thing other than show up for it. He didn’t even have to pay, which was good, since vets weren’t exactly rolling in dough. Vaughn was one of the lucky few who graduated from law school and walked straight into a great job, compliments of a family full of lawyers, connections, and money.

  Maybe Theo shouldn’t have . . .

  No.

  He couldn’t walk down this path again. Thinking of the good parts while overlooking the bad parts. Right now, though, it was the good parts that came to mind. The ritzy vacations that he never could have afforded on his own, the gorgeous house and vacation home as well, the dinners at upscale restaurants. Vaughn had grown up very financially comfortable, came into a large trust fund at the age of twenty-five, and preferred to surround himself with the best. For Theo, who scrabbled for years between friends’ couches, crappy apartments, and homeless shelters, it was a relief to not have to worry about the bills.

  I
t was that relief that almost made him stay. He was ashamed of that now, but it was the truth. Yet it wasn’t just the money, not by far. Vaughn and his family members were Theo’s only family for a long time, and walking away from it was hell on earth.

  He touched his cheek. No, he wasn’t crying.

  A knock on the clinic’s front door scared him half out of his seat. Heart pounding wildly, he realized that lunch ended several minutes ago. Shoving the remainder of his meal into his cooler, he stowed it under the desk and went to open up.

  A handsome guy grinned on the other side of the glass as Theo stepped into the waiting area. He was tall, even taller than Theo at six-one, with thick brown hair that reminded Theo of Vaughn.

  God almighty! His brain was primed to see a connection anywhere today. This man looked nothing like Vaughn except for a tiny similarity in coloring. He was holding a short red leash, too short for the big chocolate dog at his side, and dressed in an old pair of jeans that Vaughn wouldn’t have been caught dead in.

  Undoing the lock, Theo opened the door. “I’m so sorry to leave you waiting out here.”

  “No problem,” the man said as the dog nosed his way in. “I don’t know if he’s never been to a vet before or if he has no fear of vets, but this is your next patient.”

  Joleene had told Theo this man’s name, the man from the bakery, but it was slipping his mind. Whoever he was, a sugary smell clung to him in a pleasing way. “I’m Theo Sullivan. The vet.”

  “Riley Carder.” Riley offered his hand and Theo shook it, startled by how warm it was. His gay meter wasn’t the best, but Riley pinged it strongly. “And this is Sherlock.”

  Theo crouched down to get a better look at Sherlock, who was neutered. He was very underweight, his ribs showing through his fur like struts on his sides. “Hello, Sherlock! How did you get that name?”

  “The kids,” Riley said. “The dog had a fine old time burying a bone in the backyard yesterday, digging it up and burying it again. Gigi said he was digging for clues and Jesse’s favorite cartoon is Boy Sherlock, so here we are.”

  Not gay. Well, it wasn’t the first time that Theo had been wrong about that. He checked over Sherlock there in the waiting room: two bright eyes without discharge, pink gums, a wet nose. And clearly he was in a very good mood, according to the happy lashing of the tail. Taking the leash, Theo walked Sherlock over to the scale to get a weight on him.

  “I don’t know what kind of breed he is,” Riley said.

  “He looks somewhat like a cross between a Labrador and a golden retriever to me, favoring his Lab side a little more,” Theo said.

  “What should he weigh?”

  “I’d expect a male dog like this to weigh about seventy to eighty pounds.” Theo glanced at the flashing number. Fifty-three. “So, my receptionist said you found him?”

  “Yeah, at the high school yesterday, pawing through the trash for food. It was sad to see. We borrowed the leash and got some dog food from our neighbors, and he chowed it down. He’s beautifully trained, sits and stays, a real good temperament. We gave him a bath and he didn’t fuss once. Can you tell how old he is?”

  “Between two to four is my best guess.” Theo got Sherlock off the scale and brought them into the examination room. “I’ll check for a microchip.”

  “Good. He’s somebody’s pet, this one.” Riley laughed. “I keep saying microchip like I know what that is, or where it would be in a dog’s body. My dog when I was a kid didn’t have one.”

  “A microchip is a passive radio emitter placed between the dog’s shoulder blades. About as big as a grain of rice, and the number on it is unique.” Theo felt along the loose skin of Sherlock’s neck. Sometimes the microchips migrated a little from where they were injected.

  “My nephew is hoping you don’t find anything,” Riley admitted.

  “Your nephew?”

  “Jesse.”

  “Oh, I thought you said your kids.” No, he had said the kids. Theo assumed from there.

  “They’re my sister’s kids, Jesse and Gigi,” Riley explained. “I’ve been helping to raise them since they were babies, and their dad passed away, so it probably sounds like they’re mine when I talk about them.”

  Theo’s deficient gay-meter was still pinging. Of course a gay man could have kids, and Theo should know that better than anyone as a gay man himself. His brain still shifted to the heteronormative until he hauled it back. Taking the scanner in hand, he ran it up and down between the dog’s head and neck, and then from shoulder to shoulder.

  A message popped up on the scanner’s display. “No chip found,” Theo said.

  Riley was startled. “That wasn’t the answer I was expecting.”

  Theo moved the scanner to the dog’s armpits and then ran it beneath his sternum. It was unusual for a microchip to migrate that far, and he wasn’t surprised to find nothing. Just to be thorough, he continued to search the dog’s body.

  “I went on the Weathership animal shelter’s website last night to look at the lost and found page,” Riley said as Theo worked. “There was only one dog this color reported as lost in the last twelve months, and that was a short little guy. Have you heard anything about a missing dog like this?”

  Theo shook his head. He volunteered a few hours a week at the shelter, and he made a habit of stopping at the lost-and-found board on his way in to memorize the faces on the new flyers. “No. Other than being skinny, what was his condition like when you picked him up?”

  “You mean his fur? He was a mess. Burrs and twigs all over, pebbles lodged in his feet and his nails were too long. The neighbor trimmed them for me and Gigi brushed him out after his bath. He looks a fine sight better than he did yesterday, I can tell you that much.”

  Theo set down the scanner and pulled at the dog’s left front leg. Sherlock raised it higher and looked at him expectantly.

  Chuckling, Theo said, “You want to shake?” He shook the paw being offered.

  Riley sat down in the chair and watched as Theo conducted the examination. Then Theo took a treat out of the jar on the counter and fed it to Sherlock. “Well, what are we going to do with you?” he asked the dog.

  “Can I ask you what his chances are of being adopted from the shelter?” Riley asked. “Just be honest.”

  “Not great. His color and his age will work against him.” People tended to want puppies. If they were interested in older dogs, they gravitated to the smaller breeds. Having such a good temperament would work in Sherlock’s favor, but still . . . the odds were against him.

  Riley took that in. “All right. I had to ask. My sister wanted to know.”

  Keeping his face neutral, Theo said, “Are you thinking of adopting him?”

  “The kids are all for it, and after getting to know him, so am I. Rivers is more cautious. We’re gone at the bakery a lot and he’s not a yard ornament. He’s a social guy with a lot of energy. She would hate for him to be bored all day long, waiting for us to get home.”

  “There are several dog daycares in town. Actually, I think there’s one over on 7th. Derry’s Dogs. Isn’t that where the bakery is?”

  Riley brightened. “I haven’t seen you in there!”

  “I don’t dare. My receptionist brought in your Easter cookies and I helped myself much too often,” Theo said. “If you keep him, Derry’s Dogs is a favorite among my clients at the clinic. The dogs get a lot of stimulation, the staff is great, and the price is very reasonable. The minimum is two days a week, but you can go up to five. Derry also has a long list of local dog-walkers if you don’t want the daycare.”

  Riley nodded.

  “Do you think you’ll keep him?”

  “Yeah. We’ll put up some lost posters, but if nobody calls, we’ll keep him.”

  He got major points in Theo’s book for that. “Then Sherlock is a lucky dog.”

  “Maybe we’re the lucky ones.” Riley patted the amiable canine. “Well, let’s talk about vaccinations, and I’ll need directions to a store where
I can get a collar and a tag for him.”

  By the time the appointment was done, Joleene was back at the clinic. She walked Riley through the features of the well-dog program. Listening from out of sight until they wrapped it up, Theo impulsively found a stack of papers to take to the front. He veered around the corner just as Riley stepped towards the door with the dog.

  Dropping the stack on the counter, Theo said, “It was good to meet you.”

  “Thank you for everything,” Riley said with a cute smile. “And I’ll see you at the bakery. I don’t frost all those cookies for my own entertainment, you know. Someone needs to eat them.”

  It felt like a little, light flirtation, unless Theo was reading in something that wasn’t there. “I guess if I jog to the bakery and back, what happens to fall into my mouth while I’m there doesn’t count.” He flushed. That was probably the lewdest thing he had ever said in his life, and it wasn’t even intentional!

  Riley’s eyes twinkled. “That’s the spirit. All right, Sherlock, time to go.”

  Theo watched them walk out the door and turn to the parking lot. If there was one good thing about today, it was that only then did he knock the stack of papers off the counter to scatter on the floor.

  Chapter Three

  Riley

  Riley stuck his head in the kitchen and hissed, “He ordered two pumpkin thumbprint cookies. The kids are dying out there.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake,” Rivers said in exasperation. Standing at the sink, she was drying her hands on a paper towel. “Do I need to come out there and talk to them?”

  “No. They’re keeping a lid on it for now.”

  It was early afternoon on Saturday. The breakfast rush had gone at a madcap pace; the lunch rush even faster. Finally, the chaos was flagging. Less than half of the inside tables were occupied now. The kids were seated by the cases where he could keep an eye on them, having had lunch and now coloring while they waited to be picked up for a play-date. Riley was taking care of the line and working the register as the servers trotted food and drinks out to the customers.