Chapter 12
TWELVE
I wish being a bitch paid the bills.
—Holly’s secret thoughts
HOLLY
It was hard to hold on to my anger toward a man who I could tell did everything he did for a good reason.
It was even harder to hold on to that anger when that same man that’d stolen so much from me gave me just as much back.
To say that my head was a confused mess would be an understatement.
It only kept getting more and more swirled up in confusion as I arrived at work and found out that I had a coffee there waiting for me, as well as a couple of Danishes from Reyelle’s.
“Thank you.” I smiled at Gena.
“Don’t thank me.” Gena grinned. “Boss man’s brother got it for you. He was here for all of point two five seconds before he was out the door again. He said ‘this is for Quad Shot’ and hightailed it out of here like he was late.”
My heart thawed just that much more toward Denver.
He’d had a meeting in town with the town council so he could fight with them on water rights as well as the plans to build a ski resort when there were already two resorts, two towns over.
He wanted to be able to water his cows—which was completely understandable. The town council wanted to divert the water to a tributary that would then run water through a new ski resort.
To say that Denver was pissed would be comical.
He was way more than pissed.
He was livid.
He’d left a note on my door this morning telling me about the town council meeting at Hopp’s, and that I needed to be there if I wanted to be a part of this new venture.
I had a feeling that he was fully capable of getting anyone, anywhere to back down and do his bidding.
More so, I figured if they didn’t back down, he’d play hockey with their eyeballs.
He was so tall and manly, and I couldn’t stop thinking about him in ways that I definitely shouldn’t be feeling about my landlord.
“Hey, you okay?”
I smiled at Gena. “Oh, yes. Sorry. I was thinking about something.”
Gena gave me a knowing look that clearly said she knew what—or who—I was thinking about.
Since I wasn’t ready to admit to myself that I might actually like Denver, I chose to ignore that and everything else and get started with my day.
I did that with my coffee in one hand—four shots of perfection—and a Danish in the other.
I found Boone staring at the board in front of him with a small frown on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I think we might need another vet here,” he grumbled. “This is getting to be even more work than we can do. And, just sayin’, but I’ll be having a baby soon. I’m taking time off. And I’m not letting you overwork yourself to cover me.”
I looked at him in surprise. “You won’t?”
“You think so little of me?” he asked, his eyes going to the drink in my hand. “Denver’s not a bad guy. Neither am I.” He leveled me with a look. “You know why he kicked you out of that house, Holly?”
I blinked. “What?”
“That house that you were living in with your dad,” he said. “You know why he really kicked you out?”
I was already shaking my head. “Because he wanted the land…”
“He didn’t want the land,” he countered.
“Would it have been nice for him to get it? Sure. He likes making sure his cows have enough water. But what he does not like is hurting women. Denver is the biggest supporter of women you’ll ever meet.
And he most certainly wouldn’t have hurt you if he could help it. ”
I swallowed. “What don’t I know?”
He looked away from me and studied the board again.
“Your dad owed years and years and years in back taxes. He had a shit ton of fines on top of those back taxes. But your daddy was able to work something out with the tax assessor. He was able to finagle a way for him to stay until he died. Then he made a deal with Denver. He gets the land. He pays the back taxes. And he makes sure that you don’t stay there and drown yourself in land that has done nothing but take from your family. ”
Stunned silence followed his announcement.
“How much were the back taxes?” I asked.
“More money than you and I make in three years,” he said. “Denver all but drowned his savings in the middle of a divorce to keep this property from going back. The last thing he wanted to do was kick you out. But that place wasn’t safe at all, and you know it.”
I looked down at my feet.
“And to answer your question,” he said after a while. “Yes, you mean something to me. I like you, Holly. So no, I do not want to see you drown in this place. I want you to get to live your life. I’m already interviewing vets as we speak.”
I blew out a breath. “I’m sorry.”
He flicked my cup. “Forgive him for making an impossible decision.”
With that, he walked out and left me staring at the board of appointments that were in store for us that day.
Or, more importantly, him.
I was set to make a few house calls.
A pregnant horse that needed scanned. A euthanasia for a family pet. And a dog that needed to be seen, but was too big to be brought in.
“What order should I take these?” I asked Boone when he came back.
“The dog that needs to be seen is a Wolfhound. Caller said that he was attacked by wolves and didn’t look too good,” Boone explained. “I’d probably take that one first.”
I groaned. “Maybe we should offer a mobile service while we’re at it. We go pick them up and take them back home. Mobile vaccinations in the vehicle, too.”
“Sure, when I hire the next doctor here, we can discuss that,” he replied. “The ultrasound can be done last. Euthanasia is standard. A poodle belonging to an elderly couple.”
“Okay,” I said. “Then I’ll head to the Wolfhound’s house first.”
“Be careful, Holly.” He sighed. “I can’t spare anyone to help you today.”
I patted him on the shoulder. “Just remember, your wife was the one to encourage this.”
He snorted. “I swear, she has the biggest bleeding heart.”
A couple of weeks ago, Nettie had put out an ad that encouraged pet owners to get their pets spayed and neutered, as well as microchipped. We’d had an influx of calls just for that in the last week, and almost nothing else.
It was killing us.
I’d performed more spay and neuters in the last week than I had in my entire career.
My head continued to stay a confused mess as I drove in the Windsor Animal Hospital company vehicle to the stop with the hurt Wolfhound.
As I got deeper and deeper into the mountains, I started to get worried.
My GPS got me in here, but I wasn’t sure that the signal would be good enough to get me out.
I checked my phone’s signal and groaned.
I’d already lost it all.
Sometimes, I considered getting a satellite phone that would work, but that cost money. And so far, I was saving money for other, more important things.
The final mile approached, and I felt an eerie slither of fear roll through me as I arrived at a gate that was standing wide open.
The property was fenced with ten-foot chain-link fences, and the gate looked like it could withstand a dinosaur attack at Jurassic Park.
Even the signs of “NO TRESPASSSING” and “VIOLATORS WILL BE SHOT” had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
There it was, all these signs not to go.
Yet, I pulled the damn truck in anyway.
Boone knew where I was.
They’d come looking for me if I was murdered out here.
Plus, I had a job to do.
Just because I was scared didn’t mean that I couldn’t get my job done. Boone had hired me for exactly this…
That eerie feeling softened slightly when I pulled up to the rather quaint little house in the middle of a small field at the base of the mountain.
A young woman stepped out of the house, jumped down the stairs and headed straight for me.
I got out, and I could almost convince myself that everything was going to be okay.
Almost.
“I’m so glad you’re here,” the young girl who looked to be all of eighteen cried.
“I came over here today and wanted to check on my grandpa. When I came around the back looking for him, I found poor Fox in this state. He was tied up in the back by a rope, and I don’t know if the wolves just attacked him while he was helpless and unable to flee or what. But we need you to check him over.”
I nodded, grabbing my bag and tossing it over my shoulder. “Where do you have him?”