by Fiona Grace
Funny, she’d thought that of all the rooms in her house, which happened to be one of the nicest in town—or at least, it would be, if she could get this show on the road— the troubles with this room were behind her. She’d added a new toilet, retiled, connected a new sink, repaired the crumbling hole in the foundation, and painted the walls a pretty burnt sienna. She’d thought she could mark a big check next to this room. Done.
Apparently not.
And she had about twelve other rooms to think about when this one was done, since this was one of the bigger homes in town, something she hadn’t known when she bought it sight unseen.
Not to mention, absolutely zero in her bank account to finance the rest of the renovations.
Sighing, she tried again, following the directions Mason had given her. She made a few more adjustments to the antique bronze controls of the faucet, not expecting much. But the next time she twisted the faucet, she got just the right amount of pressure. She grinned. “Ta-da!” she said, smiling at Nick, who’d peeked his little red head into the doorway, as she breathed on her fingernails and buffed them on her Boston College T-shirt. “I know, I’m pretty awesome.”
Nick seemed to nod adoringly. Sometimes animals were such better company than people.
She quickly turned the water off before her possessed shower could tell her otherwise.
Audrey grabbed her tools and went into the kitchen. The picture window let in the moonlight, slanting in between the tightly packed together rows of homes, but it also perfectly framed her neighbor Nessa, who was standing on the front stoop, directing a couple of beefy guys with a brand new white leather sofa. “Dai! Mi fa cagare! Dio! Stupido!”
Audrey had no idea what she was saying, but if it was like ninety-nine percent of what came out of Nessa’s mouth, it probably wasn’t anything nice. Audrey pitied anyone who had the misfortune of working for the woman, who was supposedly an internet celeb in the home improvement and interior design world and could afford to farm out most of her renovations to local contractors. Nessa’s renovations had been going swimmingly, only because of her army of behind-the-scenes workers. Every time Audrey poked her head outside, she found something new to admire about the home across the street.
Not that she was bitter or anything.
Okay, maybe a little bit.
But there was something to be said about doing it all—or most of it—on one’s own. Sinking blood and sweat and tears into a home would endear the place to her even more. Eventually, she’d be proud to invite guests here to stay, and all of them would admire her for the work she’d done. Maybe one day, even the shower would make peace with her.
Her phone started to ring. It was Brina, her big sister and best friend, back in Boston. She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hi!”
“Hey, so how was the clinic’s grand opening?”
Audrey winced, thinking of Mimi Catalano’s big spill. “Exhausting. Tomorrow’s our first official day.”
“You were supposed to call me to tell me how it went. I thought you died.”
“No. And I promise I’ll send you photos of the house the second I can. I’m slowly getting through things. Fixed the downstairs bathroom.”
Brina didn’t sound impressed. “I thought you already finished that.”
“Minor setback,” she muttered, twisting her T-shirt in front of her and wringing it out in the kitchen sink. “I fixed it again. Had to re-jigger it. It’s all good. One room down, twelve more to go. Slow and steady wins the race. Right now, I’m focused on my clinic.”
“If you’re not going to send me pics of the house, at least send me pics of that young Italian stud who can cook.”
She meant G. “I can’t do that.”
“Okay, then what about that egocentric American with abs you can bounce quarters off of?”
That was Mason. Yes, he had abs, and was so good-looking, it made her eyes hurt. He was one of those people who spoke constantly in double entendres, so she never could be sure if he was flirting with her. “Why do you care? You have Max. Your husband? Remember?”
“The bigger question is, why don’t you care?” Brina asked. “I mean, you’re single, eligible, middle-aged, and your biological clock is ticking away the seconds …”
Audrey moaned. Not this again. She’d had a semi-successful career in Boston as a veterinarian, but she’d also felt completely stifled. Like her life lacked all connection, all sense of adventure. This move out to Sicily had been her way of breaking free. But though her male prospects were slightly better on this side of the Atlantic, she’d actually been too busy trying to keep a non-leaking roof over her head to barely even think about romantic pursuits.
And… middle-aged? Ouch. She was thirty-two. Was that middle-aged?
She’d never heard herself referred to in those terms but she had to admit… Yes. Probably, it was. “Maybe you’ll just have to come here and visit me.”
Brina snorted. It wasn’t likely, considering she had three young kids. Though Brina made it look effortlessly glamorous, she was very much the doting mother. It wasn’t like she could drop everything and fly here on a moment’s notice.
“Fine. I’ll send you a picture of something. Soon. I promise.”
“Abs. Please?”
Audrey laughed. “Seriously?”
“Sure. And see if you can make it into one of those 3D shots. Max is getting a little mushy around the center. Maybe I can give him something to aspire to.”
“All right. You asked for it.”
“Good. I’ll be waiting.”
“I’ve got to go. Like I said, I have the clinic to worry about.”
And Mimi Catalano.
Inside, she felt her heart beating hard. She willed it to slow down. Mimi didn’t matter. Her new vet practice was a reality, and her first real day on the job would be better. She couldn’t wait to change some lives.
CHAPTER SEVEN
At nine on the dot, when she went outside to flip the CHIUSO sign back to APERTO, her first customer, a woman with a big, fluffy Bolognese named Fabio, was right on time for her check-up appointment.
Though he was a good boy, he shed clumps of fur all over the place as she gave him his examination and clean bill of health. She said goodbye to them, checked them out with little difficulty, helped them outside, and barely had time to sweep up before the next customer arrived, a quiet, goateed young man with a pet rabbit that wasn’t eating properly.
“One moment,” she said to him, holding up a finger as she grabbed the broom and the cleaning solution. “Please have a seat. Need to sanitize. I’ll be back in a second.”
I can do this, she said to herself as she scrubbed the exam room clean and swept up the rest of the hair. Sure it would be nice to have a vet tech to help, and a receptionist, but I got this. It’ll be fine.
When she returned to the waiting room to find a boy there with a gray kitten and a man in a suit, she started to wonder.
“Um… can I help you? Are you two together?” she asked, gesturing with her arms to indicate what she was saying. Please be together.
The man shook his head and motioned to the boy to go first. Great, so that meant there were two more problems to deal with. She felt a flush climbing up the back of her neck as the little freckle-faced kid, who couldn’t have been more than seven or eight, started to speak breathlessly in Italian. She couldn’t understand a word of it.
“Um …”
The man in the suit reluctantly filled in, looking rather annoyed to be kept waiting, since he kept checking the time on his cell phone. “The kitten’s a stray. The boy found it in his backyard, and his mother told him to turn it in to you because you would know what to do with it.”
“Um …” She stared at it, looking decidedly not like the expert who knew what to do with it. “Oh! Thanks. Nice to meet another American!”
He looked at her like, God forbid. “I’m Canadian.”
“Oh.” She turned to the little boy and took the tiny furball out of h
is hands. “I’ll take it from here. I’ll make sure he’s well taken care of. Thank you very much. Grazie.”
The boy pouted, clearly reluctant to surrender the animal, so Audrey added, “Keep working on your mom. Maybe she’ll let you come and adopt him once I’ve checked him out and neutered him.”
The boy just stared blankly at her, then shrugged and headed for the door. She really needed to get some Italian lessons.
At least the man in the suit would be able to understand her. “Yes?”
He let out a huff of air. “I need you to come to the abandoned factory across the street from my place.” He grabbed the pad off the reception desk as if he owned the place and scribbled something down, then tore off the sheet and thrust it toward her. “This is the address. There’s a colony of cats living in the place and they’re multiplying and it’s only getting worse. They poop all over my doorstep. I need them gone. And soon.”
A trickle of sweat broke out on her ribcage. “Oh. Okay. Well, after I get done with my appointments for the day, I’ll—”
“I don’t care. Just see that it happens soon.” He turned on his heel and strode outside, nose already buried in his phone.
And he thinks Americans are bad. I thought Canadians were always happy and relaxed.
Audrey sighed. The slight man holding the rabbit in a carrier on his lap had been waiting patiently, and now he cleared his throat.
She went to welcome him inside but then remembered the kitten, who was now squirming in her hands and mewling softly. She held up a finger. “One sec. Let me just …”
She dashed into the back and set the kitten down in the kennel that she’d designated for the felines. She gave him a bowl of water and a few pats, a couple of little toys to keep him amused, then pulled out one of her intake forms. She stared at the space that said NAME. “Let’s see. I think I’ll call you Chai,” she said, scribbling the new name and date on the form.
She’d fill out the rest later.
Finally, she went out to the front again. She was about to call for the man with his rabbit when she noticed a small, nondescript cardboard box sitting in the reception area. At first, she thought the mailman had brought a package.
Then the box shook.
And shifted across the floor.
And yipped.
Oh no. She looked over at the rabbit man. “Did you see who …”
He scowled. She stopped. It really didn’t matter. What mattered right now was that there were a bunch of strays in her lobby that would likely run rampant if she didn’t get them into a kennel, and quick.
She pulled open the flaps to reveal a litter of six energetic, squirming mutts, likely crossed between a terrier and a pug, each one probably only a few weeks old.
Oh, cute! she thought, and then, right after: Oh, boy.
She dragged her hands down her face and smiled apologetically at her next customer, then lifted the box and scurried into the back again. This time, she let the pups go in the dog kennel together, and didn’t bother filling out an intake form. She’d do that later. But the little guys were too cute. She couldn’t help petting each one and thinking up names for them, as she usually did with strays. There was a chocolate one that looked like Biscotti, a white and brown one that looked like a Cannoli …
She kept thinking food names. Before she could wonder why, her stomach growled. No wonder. She hadn’t had anything to eat at all today.
The phone in the lobby began to ring. Just go to voicemail! she thought frantically, and then wondered if she even had voicemail. Heart beating steady in her chest, Audrey finally tore herself away, muttering under her breath that she’d name the others later.
She checked her phone as she came back, out of breath and flustered. Great. She was a half hour late for the rabbit’s appointment. G had really packed them into her schedule, giving her no breathing room at all. Not even a lunch. She’d probably collapse from hunger. Her fault, really, for not giving him better instructions. But if she was later and later with each appointment, she probably wouldn’t need Piazza Tre—she might as well stay in the clinic and work there twenty-four-seven.
Finally, she smiled at the man with the rabbit. “Scuzi,” she said, looking over the appointment book. “Rinaldo? I apologize for the wait. You’ve brought your rabbit, Carota, to be checked out? He’s having digestive issues?”
The man nodded in a way that made Audrey think he had no idea what she was saying. She motioned to the pet carrier and started to take it when the phone at the reception area began to ring.
She didn’t want to put the poor man off any longer, so she swept up the phone as she peered in the carrier, doing a preliminary inspection. “Dr. Audrey Smart,” she said, as the bunny stuck his little twitching nose through the bars to sniff her finger.
At once, someone began to speak Italian. “Whoa. Hold on,” she said, grabbing a pen. “I can’t understand. Can you speak slowly?”
The person kept on speaking, getting faster, louder, and more annoyed; at least, Audrey thought. She tried to get a word in, telling the person to calm down, but it didn’t work. Audrey had to pull the receiver away from her ear to avoid having it burst her eardrum.
When she could finally get a word in, she said, “I’m sorry. Do you need an appointment?”
She’d barely finished those words when a young, bearded man ran in, holding a bulldog in his arms. He was on the verge of tears as he shouted, “Aiuto! Aiuto!” And then he began to shout in incomprehensible Italian as well.
Wincing, she’d just begun to respond to the person on the phone when there was an audible click, and silence.
They’d hung up on her.
She placed the phone down on the cradle. “I’m sorry, sir. What is it?”
Through a series of hand gestures, she managed to find out that the dog had eaten something that he shouldn’t have, and that he’d been lethargic all morning. She raced him back to the surgery and laid him on the cot. The poor thing. He was definitely in trouble.
As she stared at him, trying to take his vitals, he opened his mouth and let out a belch. Then he started to yak. He convulsed violently.
And he threw up a red, golf-ball-sized thing. It looked—and smelled—like an entire onion.
Audrey winced in disgust, as the animal jumped up on the table and began wagging his tail excitedly, pronouncing himself cured.
Okay, so that was that.
She checked him out again and said to his owner, “He’s fine. He’ll stay overnight. We’ll keep him for observation,” she added, pointing to the ground and then miming sleep. “You’re lucky you brought him in when you did.”
He nodded, even though she got the feeling he didn’t understand that last part. “Ah! Grazie.”
She realized as she got to reception and he started to take out his Visa that she’d forgotten to give him the intake form. And she had absolutely no clue what to charge. This was something the administrative staff at Back Bay Animal Care took care of. She never had to touch the money at all. She handed him the form on a clipboard. “Uh, can you just fill this out? And I’ll bill you? Leave it here when you finish. Grazie. Thank you.”
He nodded and began to fill out the form. Pulse pounding, she spun around the room and saw it filling with people and their animals. She then saw the rabbit, still sitting in its carrier. Its owner was now tapping his foot impatiently, and with good reason.
A parakeet shrieked something in Italian, adding to the cacophony of animal noises. Audrey was used to that sound—in fact, it was usually music to her ears. But right now, she had a major headache. Sweat beaded on her brow.
“Okay. I’m sorry for the delay,” she said brightly. “First day. It’s a little crazy.”
“Hmm,” he responded, as if he didn’t care.
She grabbed the carrier and started to bring the bunny toward the exam room. “Let’s get this little guy weighed and see what’s going—” She stopped when she heard the front door creak open. “Oh, for heaven’s sake!”
She whirled to the front and the sweat on her brow turned to ice.
Mimi Catalano stood in the doorway, those critical eyes of hers doing laps around the place.
Things weren’t exactly in the condition she’d left them in when she’d done her inspection last night. Actually, far from it. There was still a pile of dog hair in the middle of the floor that she’d swept up, but hadn’t yet disposed of. The reception area was now packed with people and their animals. Some animal had peed, a bright yellow puddle of grossness, right in the middle of the floor. Mimi’s eyes landed on it, and her face puckered even more. She waved a hand in front of her face, because yes, the smell in the room was suffocating, and the place was too hot. The inspections were complete and Mason had said the HVAC was working, but apparently… not well enough.
Audrey took a deep breath. “Hello, Mrs. Catalano,” she called, as confidently as she could. “It’s a little busy here. First day. But if you’ll—”
“Dottore Smart.” She said it in a way that made Audrey freeze.
The woman skirted around the pee puddle as if it was hot lava. She was wearing a shiny red nylon tracksuit, oddly enough paired with matching red high heels and a lot of red, chunky costume jewelry. The woman didn’t exactly strike Audrey as the gym-going type, and the heels didn’t exactly convey comfort. Her makeup was thickly applied and a red hair clip was drowning amidst the pile of fried, permed hair atop her head.
No wonder Audrey hadn’t realized who it was the first time she met her. This was the woman who Mason said he didn’t discriminate against? She wasn’t attractive in any sense of the word. Oh, she was made-up to the nines, but even so? She was downright scary.
“Yes?” she spit out, her voice cracking.
Mimi crossed her arms over her substantial chest and thrust her pointed chin in the direction of the window. “You’re missing one of your permits.”
“Oh?” She scanned the window. “I thought I had the—”
“You need the permit from the local businessmen’s board. You only have the city and the federal papers.”
