by Linda Wisdom
“We’ll follow you over,” Ginna said.
“Eating at Stewie’s means he won’t be watching his cholesterol.” Cathy heaved a sigh. “I wouldn’t worry about Nick, Lucy. Logan Kincaid’s not the grump his father is. I’m sure you’ve met him at some of our parties.”
“Logan’s a sweetheart,” Ginna added. “He went to school with my brother Brian.”
“Logan Kincaid?” Lucy flashed back to the various Walker parties where she’d met the family veterinarian. He’d let it be known he was interested in her. In turn, she’d let him know she wasn’t interested in him. “He’s who Nick will be working for?” She closed her eyes. “I think I need more antacids.”
“IS THERE A REASON I have to get all of your hard cases?”
Judge Frank Kincaid calmly ignored his son’s outburst. He dipped a tortilla chip in the spicy salsa and brought it to his lips.
“The best reason there is. You need additional help at the shelter. I provided you with a living body. Now you don’t have to worry about finding someone.” He perused the menu. “My stomach won’t like anything I order, but I’m still ordering the shredded-beef enchiladas.” He looked up at the waitress, gave his order and waited as his son gave his.
Logan picked up his beer and sipped the cold brew.
“The last person I need caring for my animals is some juvenile delinquent you’ve foisted on me.”
“Chad Matthews worked out nicely.”
“No, Chad Matthews broke into my drug cabinet and relieved me of all my Ketamine.” The animal tranquilizer had apparently turned into a popular drug of choice. “Kristi and Jeremy worked out, but that’s because they both love animals.”
“There you have it!” Frank beamed. “I wouldn’t worry about Nick Donner. He appears to be a good kid. He just needs some direction. That’s the problem with single mothers of sons nowadays. They don’t give their boys the firm structure they need.”
“Donner?” Logan frowned in thought. “Is his mother named Lucy?”
Frank tipped his head back and momentarily closed his eyes in thought. “I believe that’s her name. Why, do you know her?”
“Not exactly.” He recalled sun-streaked light-brown hair and flashing green eyes along with a pair of kissable lips that had firmly told him she didn’t require, nor desire, his attention. He quickly masked his thoughts. His dad had been trying to get him married off since his divorce had been finalized five years ago. The older man didn’t seem to understand that while Logan didn’t mind having a woman in his life, he wasn’t looking for anything permanent. He preferred keeping the opposite sex tucked in a nice tidy compartment that wasn’t long-term.
“The boy isn’t your run-of-the-mill troublemaker,” Frank Kincaid explained. “Psychologists would say he’s one of those child geniuses who needs constant stimulus. I say forget the psychobabble. He just needs to put in some hard labor.”
“Aha!” Logan held up his glass. “If you had your way you’d have everyone doing hard labor.”
Frank recognized his son’s sarcasm and blithely ignored it. “It didn’t hurt you any.”
Logan didn’t bother saying any more. After all these years of verbal sparring with his father he knew he’d only lose. Instead, he settled on looking at the positive part of this deal. He’d have a chance of seeing Lucy Donner again.
“YOU KNOW, Mom, pretty soon you won’t have to worry about picking me up from school,” Nick said as he settled in the passenger seat of Lucy’s pewter-gray Murano. He looked out and waved at a classmate. “Pretty soon I’ll be able to apply for my learner’s permit.”
“Not in this lifetime, bud. Being grounded for the next forty years means no driving ever. I don’t care if I have to drive you to your college graduation.” She checked her side-view mirror and moved away from the curb. “There’s a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt in the back seat.” Her knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on the steering wheel. “I should have sold you to the gypsies when I had a chance.”
He grinned. “That threat hasn’t worked since I was five.”
“That’s no threat. You have to work at that shelter for six months,” Lucy muttered. “I guess it could be worse. Some hackers aren’t allowed to use a computer for years.”
His upbeat nature dimmed. “I can’t use the computer lab at school. I have to go to study hall instead.”
“Just be grateful the school didn’t expel you.” She mentally calculated the easiest way to drop Nick off at the shelter and make a getaway without having to deal with Logan Kincaid. She knew a conscientious mother would go inside and insist on seeing just where her son would be working. And she was a conscientious mother. But she was also a woman who found Logan Kincaid a little too attractive for her peace of mind.
Instead of running from him, she should be making herself available. The man had asked her out on a date, after all, and she’d turned him down without a good reason. Unless you counted deciding she couldn’t handle anything resembling a love life right now. After what had happened with Nick, she knew she’d made the right decision. If she couldn’t control her son, what made her think she could control her own life?
Lucy looked at the ranch-style building bordered by grass and colorful flowers. Farther back she could see a small house with what looked like a waist-high wooden fence around it. Off to one side was a wire-fenced-in area. She would have thought this was a lovely residence if it weren’t for the sign out front declaring the premises to be the Valley Animal Clinic and Shelter—that and the cacophony of barking coming from the rear of the building.
“Maybe I should have taken you to the doctor first. For all we know you might require shots to work here,” she mused aloud. “Was there anything in the court order about shots?”
“It’s more like the animals need shots,” Nick pointed out, as he opened the door. He glanced over his shoulder. “Aren’t you coming in?”
For a second she saw the little boy she’d walked every day to the Sunny Day Preschool around the corner from their house.
“I guess I should.” She climbed out and walked around the front of the vehicle.
They stepped inside a waiting area that was divided down the middle of the large room by a waist-high wall. Lucy noticed one side appeared decorated for the feline patients while the other side was indicated for dogs. She almost yelped when she saw a teenage boy seated on a bench with a python wrapped around his shoulders. She hoped the expression on the snake’s face didn’t have anything to do with hunger.
“Can I help you?” asked a young woman behind the counter. Light-blue medical scrubs decorated with tiny kittens wearing wings and halos covered a large pregnant belly. She smiled at the two of them.
“I’m Nick Donner. I’m supposed to be working here.”
She nodded and pressed down on a button on the phone console. “Gwen, the kid is here.” She looked at him. “The vet tech will be out here in a second.”
“I’m Lucy, his mother,” Lucy said, keeping as much distance from the snake as she possibly could. She transferred her attention to a silvery gray dog that looked like a husky that sat near the woman. What appeared to be a cell phone was lodged firmly between his jaws. She hoped the dog had been fed lately because he looked awfully hungry. Between the python and the dog, she felt like an afternoon snack.
“Nick Donner?” A spritely blonde walked out from the rear. She greeted him with a broad smile. “Hi, I’m Gwen.” She introduced herself to Lucy and then explained, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Donner, he won’t be around anything dangerous. “He’ll be under the supervision of our shelter staff along with Dr. Kincaid and myself.”
Lucy was reassured by the young woman’s matter-of-fact manner. “I’ll be back at six, then. Nice meeting you.” As she made her way out, she determinedly kept her eyes down instead of looking around for Logan Kincaid. With Nick working here for the next six months, she knew she’d be dealing with the veterinarian sooner or later.
She was hoping for later
.
NICK FOLLOWED Gwen to the back. She walked swiftly while talking over her shoulder. “The shelter has two regular employees who work a rotating schedule. Kristi is working today. She’ll show you the ropes. I’m sure Logan will come back to see you when he finishes with his patient.”
“Okay.” Nick looked at the framed color sketches of dogs, cats and exotic animals that lined the hallway walls.
“You’re our youngest worker,” Gwen told him as she pushed open the rear door. Barking and feline yowls greeted them as they stepped into the large room. “Just don’t let Kristi scare you off.”
Nick gulped as he entered the shelter. For a brief moment, he wondered if he should have found another way to accomplish his goal. It had seemed so easy when he’d mapped it out to the judge.
“Kristi, this is Nick Donner. We’ve got him for the next six months,” Gwen announced.
Nick stared at the young woman dressed in a midriff-baring black tank top and camouflage pants tucked into Doc Martens. Light danced off the tiny gold ring hooked to one nostril and another bisecting an eyebrow, while a red stone sparkled from her navel. A barbed-wire tattoo circled one slender upper arm. Her short spiky hair was as black as her top. Dark-brown eyes surveyed him with clinical interest.
“You don’t look like the typical juvie Judge Kincaid sends here,” she drawled. “What’d you do?”
“I hacked into my school’s computer system and gave them a whole new set of records.”
She looked impressed. She gestured for him to follow her to the back of the large building. “Cool. Okay, here’s how it goes. You do the dirty work. I supervise. Gwen or the doc handles any medications that need to be administered. Jeremy or I handle the records. That means you keep your paws out of the medication cabinet in case it’s unlocked, which is pretty much never. What you’ll be doing is hosing down and cleaning the kennels. You’ll also exercise the bigger dogs, which means you take them out to the fenced-in dog park the doc set up out back. They can run free out there, but you still have to stay in there with them. Most of them enjoy chasing a ball or chasing you. You have a dog, right?”
“No, we have a cat. Luther.” He eyed one rambunctious German shepherd with a trace of unease. “He’s real old and cranky.”
She shrugged. “You’re a kid. You can handle a dog.”
“Nick Donner?”
Nick turned around to see a tall man with dark blond hair coming toward him. Sunglasses hung from his T-shirt neckline.
“Logan Kincaid.” He held out his hand. “You’re Lou Walker’s grandson, right?”
“I guess you’d call me more a nephew or something by marriage. My uncle is married to Lou’s daughter,” Nick explained, taking his hand.
“And you reworked the school’s computer records which now has you slaving away here.” He shook his head. “You’re going to regret it real fast. Work around here is pretty dirty.”
“Don’t scare him off,” Kristi warned her boss.
“I don’t have to. That’s your job.” Logan looked her over. “New tattoo?”
She glanced down at her arm. “It was time. You can’t see my other one unless I’m wearing a bikini.” She turned to Nick. “Don’t even try to imagine where it is,” she warned him.
“I know it’s hard to believe, but Kristi’s bark is worse than her bite,” Logan told Nick.
“Yeah. Uh, yes, sir.”
“Just call me Logan. We’re pretty informal around here. Do you understand what we do here?”
“You’re a veterinary clinic. You treat sick dogs and cats.”
“That along with treating pretty much any other critter that shows up. We’re also an animal shelter. The county shelter is usually overloaded. This area was growing enough that we needed a more local place for dogs and cats dumped on the back roads or given up by owners. We have a successful adoption program.”
Nick must have looked uneasy, because the doctor gave him an assessing look and said, “Look, if you have a problem with this, I’ll talk to the judge about putting you somewhere else. Just because you’re ordered here doesn’t mean it’s written in stone, no matter what he says.”
“That’s not it. I’m not used to being around dogs except at the Walkers’s and Jasmine’s real low key.” He mentioned Cathy and Lou’s German shepherd. “We only have a cat.”
“Then I suggest you make friends with the dogs first. Don’t worry about them. They’re all friendly and love the attention. Just make sure to read the tag on each door and always greet them by name. Also, if the tag has a warning about biting, don’t do anything with them. Let Kristi or Jeremy handle those animals.”
“Uh, boss.” Kristi held up a broom. “The kid’s got work to do.”
Logan laughed. “Okay, he’s all yours, Kris.” He walked to the front of the clinic.
“Come on, it’s time to earn your keep.” Kristi chuckled. “So to speak.”
She showed Nick how to clean out the first dog run then handed the cleaning tools over to him.
In record time Nick was wielding the hose, a heavy bristled broom and a bucket.
Kristi stood back and observed him at work.
Nick figured he was doing all right since she hadn’t offered any criticism.
“Once the kennels are clean, take the dogs outside to the fenced area. They all play together pretty well, but we only take two or three out at a time. It’s easier to keep them under control that way. We try to give them at least a half hour out there. When they’re all exercised, clean up the area. Right now, we don’t have any puppies and only a few cats. The cats are in what we call the cat palace. You’ll find two litter boxes in there that have to be cleaned.”
Nick nodded. “Okay. I’ll get it all done.”
Kristi studied him. “What are you? Thirteen, fourteen?”
“Thirteen and a half,” he replied. “Have you been working here long?”
“About three years. Old Judge Hard Ass gave me the choice of working here or going to a youth facility. Trust me, juvie would have been easier.” She started measuring dog kibble into metal bowls. “Logan worked my butt off.”
“So you’re under a court order, too?” Nick asked. He hated to think what she had done if she was still working here.
“Nah, I finished up a couple years ago. Logan gave me a real job here. It helps pay my college expenses.”
“Gwen said someone else works here, too,” Nick said.
“That’s Jeremy. We work a rotating schedule. You’ll meet him tomorrow.”
Nick stared warily at a black-and-tan rottweiler sitting docilely by the gate. “Is he friendly?”
“That’s Ginger and she’s a sweetheart, aren’t you, baby?” Kristi cooed to the dog as she opened the run. The dog stood up and greeted her with a slobbering kiss.
LOGAN REMAINED out of sight for a few minutes to see how the two got along. He’d had problems in the past when either Kristi didn’t like her new helper or the helper wasn’t too sure he or she could get along with a young woman who looked as if she just stepped out of a Goth club. Despite her tough exterior, Logan knew that Kristi had a true heart of gold.
He heard Nick speaking to the dogs in a low voice that didn’t show any of the trepidation he’d first shown. He gave the kid credit for not flinching at the prospect of dirty work. He knew Kristi would find a way to make the tasks dirtier than usual. She claimed they might as well find out right off the bat that it wasn’t easy. Seeing that the two were getting along fine, Logan went up front and stopped by the desk.
“Brenda, do me a favor. Would you let me know when Nick’s mother shows up?”
The receptionist nodded.
Logan might not feel he needed another helper, but he might as well take advantage of the situation to see Lucy again.
LUCY PULLED INTO the clinic parking lot promptly at six. She noted a large sage-green SUV parked along the side of the building with a small compact car and a motorcycle parked next to it. When she stepped inside the buil
ding, the receptionist was on the phone. She waved her in.
“Go on back,” she mouthed.
Lucy hesitated.
The receptionist covered the mouthpiece with her hand.
“It’s okay. Just go all the way down the hallway to the end door. That leads to the kennels.” She returned to her phone call.
Lucy kept an eye out for Logan as she made her way down the hallway to the rear door. The first thing she heard when she entered the shelter area was her son’s laughter accompanied by a low, rumbling male voice that sent a shiver along her spine. She remembered that voice only too well. The last time she’d heard it had been at a barbecue at the Walker house. Not that she had a problem with the voice. Low-pitched with a slight rumble to it, it was the kind of voice that seduced a woman into feeling safe and cared for, two things Lucy didn’t believe most men could accomplish. No, it wasn’t the voice she was worried about. It was the owner of the voice that prompted her to keep her guard up.
She started to back out through the door, but the two noticed her before she could make her escape.
“Hey, Mom!” Nick called out.
Lucy stared at the dirt-covered lump that had called her Mom. He looked as if he’d rolled in the dirt. She doubted she’d find one inch on him that wasn’t filthy.
“What on earth did you do?” She didn’t think there was enough soap in the world to get him clean again. “Or should I say how much earth did you get on you?”
“Hello, Lucy,” Logan said, looking cleaner than Nick but not by much.
She ignored the tingle starting in the pit of her stomach at the sight of his welcoming grin and brown eyes dusted with gold. “Hello, Logan. I hope Nick did an acceptable job today.”
He looked more amused than put off by her formal tone. “He did fine. For a kid not used to dogs, he handled the pack without any problems.”
“Pack?”
He gestured to the kennels. “I guess you could call these guys my pack.”
Just then a young woman came out back. She stuck out her hand and said, “The kid did great. Hi, I’m Kristi.”
