2. Small-Town Grapevine
Chapter 2
Small-Town Grapevine
Mr. Whiskers blinked up at Neve with his one good eye as she cuddled him in her arms. “I’m afraid you’re going to have to stick around a little longer, buddy. You need more rest and recovery.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Deputy Shane O’Brien stood beside Neve in front of the cabinet that held the clinic’s medicines. Holding on to the brim of his hat with one hand, he reached out and scratched the cat’s head.
“What isn’t wrong with him?” Neve quipped. “Cade found him hiding under some construction debris and brought him in.”
“Cade, the kid who works for Charlie's restoration company?”
Charlie was the youngest of the three Hunnicutt brothers, whom Reece often referred to as his baby brother—a term Charlie hated and, at over six feet, didn’t fit.
“He’s the only Cade we’ve got.” The boy’s mother worked for Noah at the Miners Tavern, and after getting mixed up with the wrong people, the townies had silently taken to looking after him, starting with Charlie. Cade was the embodiment of the idiom “It takes a village to raise a child.”
Neve loved that about Fall River. It was security, safety that cocooned her like the heated blankets she used on her furry patients. Sometimes running through the web of connections in this small town tickled the word “incestuous” and teased an inner chuckle inside Neve.
She also hated that about her hometown. Being among people constantly up in her business was suffocating—the well-intentioned who wanted to know if she was dating anybody and if she wasn’t getting a little old to be single, and didn’t she want to have children someday? With the wedding of the year only two weeks away, these were the questions constantly buzzing around her these days.
Maybe she was exaggerating the reality a bit, but damn, it sure felt that way sometimes.
“Back to the meds that were allegedly taken,” the deputy continued. “Lauren doesn’t remember anything unusual?”
“Nope. You can ask her yourself when she’s back at work.”
“Is she out sick?”
Neve pursed her lips. “She came down with a stomach bug sometime last night.” Maybe that was why Lauren had left the tavern earlier than normal the night before.
Shane slid out a pocket-sized spiral notebook and jotted in it. “I’ll see what I can dig up. Meanwhile, keep that cabinet locked.” He jabbed a forefinger at said cabinet.
She held back an eye-roll. Shane meant well—that was his nature—but it was as if he were asking her to take her next breath.
“Oh, and have fun on your date tonight.” His mouth hitched up on one side in a lopsided grin.
“Excuse me? What date?”
He elbowed her playfully. “C’mon, Neve, why else would you be wearing makeup and nail polish unless you were trying to impress someone? ”
“Seriously?” she scoffed. “Just because I get my girlie on sometimes doesn’t mean I’m going out with anyone anytime soon.” Not for another eleven hours anyway.
He waggled his eyebrows, the jerk.
She rubbed Mr. Whiskers’s ear and thought she heard a muted purr, which gave her heart a hopeful lift. “Besides, how does a guy even notice stuff like that?”
Shane tapped his temple. “I’m trained to observe, remember? And don’t underestimate the power of the Fall River grapevine.” He cocked his head. “So you and the rich guy up on the mountain, huh?”
“Damn it, who blabbed?”
“So you are going out with Cantrell.” He plopped his cowboy hat back on his head and tipped it to her. “That confirms it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, but his smile only broadened. “Who told you, Shane?”
“A good lawman doesn’t divulge his sources.” He gave the cat more chin scratches.
Who had she brought into her confidence? Charlie’s girlfriend, Joy, when Neve had asked her where to get her nails done—a luxury Neve didn’t usually indulge in—and Luanne, the person who had actually done Neve’s nails. Luanne worked at the Miners Tavern as a waitress, and like many of the townsfolk, she had a side hustle going—namely, she gave manicures in her house.
It had to be Luanne. Joy was a high-flying mergers-and-acquisitions exec used to keeping secrets to herself, but Luanne? Being a gossip was probably in every manicurist’s job description.
“That’s the last time I tell her anything,” Neve muttered under her breath.
The front door flew open, and in walked Reece Hunnicutt. His eyes cut from Shane to her and back again. Pearl, who had been curled up in her usual spot, hopped to her feet and trotted over to greet him. He reached down and gave her head a rub. Reece didn’t have pets, and he wasn’t the type to just drop in, so what was he doing in her clinic? Not that she minded, really—except for the inconvenient way her heart took off at a sprint.
“Hey, partner. What’s up?” Shane drawled. “And when the hell are you coming back to search and rescue? Chelsea’s been asking, and man, we could really use you.” He parked a fist on his hip and scanned Reece from head to toe.
“The right knee’s still healing,” Reece clipped.
What?
“You’re hurt?” Neve blurted. She handed off Mr. Whiskers to a surprised Shane, dropped to her knees, and started rolling up Reece’s pant leg. All without a thought as to how the optics might appear to anyone walking in—or standing there holding on to a cat.
Shane cleared his throat. “Uh, Neve?”
Annoyed at the interruption, she looked up at the deputy. “What?”
His cheeks were bright pink as he jerked his head toward the man whose pant leg she’d managed to lift to the top of his khaki-colored wool sock. She shifted her gaze from Shane up to Reece. Only then did her position crystallize in her brain.
Whoops.
The object of her medical interest stared down at her with mild surprise—and something akin to amusement—dancing in his eyes. “Can I help you?”
Still on her knees, she crawled backward and climbed to her feet. “I, uh, was trying to help you .”
“Noted … and appreciated. I can always use that kind of help.” The hint of a smile twitched inside his beard.
Was he … Was that a double meaning he was playing with? No. Had to be her imagination. That would border on flirting, and if any characteristic defined Reece Hunnicutt, it was that he never flirted. She wasn’t sure the man even knew how.
Sexual undertones intended or not, his quip made her own face flush the same shade as Shane’s.
She dusted off her shaking hands—more to steady them than to clear them from nonexistent debris—and took Mr. Whiskers back from a relieved Shane. Looking Reece over, she didn’t detect a telltale sign that his knee bothered him, though it would explain why he was no longer on the search and rescue team. Except neither he nor anyone in town had mentioned an injury serious enough to ground him. And news like that would most definitely have made the rounds. This was Fall River, town of six hundred, and when he was working, Reece was the most valuable member of the squad in the entire county. Had been for years. His daring feats were practically the stuff of legend.
Realizing she was staring at him, she evoked a medical demeanor in place of her flustered one. “What happened to your knee?”
“Just getting over a sprain.” He slid his gaze to Shane. “It’s not a big deal, but I was told to stay off it a while longer so I don’t do more damage.”
Neve canted her head to one side. “Then why are you putting weight on it for hours on end behind the bar?” Pearl sat and chuffed, as if adding her own, “Yeah, how come?” Mr. Whiskers let out a reedy meow.
“Who’s this?” Ignoring Neve’s question, Reece stroked the cat’s head with one long, tapered finger that showcased a neatly squared-off nail. A familiar smell of snow and pines drifted off him, and she quietly pulled it in and let it fill her senses.
“For now, he’s Mr. Whiskers. I’m hoping someone will claim him soon, and when they do, I’ll know his real name.”
“And get reimbursed? Because if I know you, you’ve put in hours of your own time trying to save him, not to mention anesthesia and antibiotics and all that other stuff you’re paying for out of your own pocket.”
The observation took her aback, and her reaction must have shown all over her face because he quickly added, “You hear all kinds of scuttlebutt when you work behind a bar.”
She glanced up at him. “I guess we’re kind of alike that way, huh?”
He raised one dark eyebrow.
“Saving animals isn’t so different from saving people, and you do whatever is in your power to help them survive.” Something akin to surprise flitted through his eyes, but he quickly directed them back to the cat. “Getting repaid would be nice,” she murmured, “but it’s not the reason I do it.”
“I know. Hey, I meant to ask you last night. How’s your sister?”
“My sister?” Neve’s parents had died in a plane crash in Egypt when she’d been fifteen, leaving behind her older sister, Brigit, and herself.
The fact that Reece was asking about Brigit was … odd. As if he was trying to make small talk, which was even odder. “Why are you asking about Brigit?” And why now?
“I haven’t heard you mention her for a while. Is she still a head librarian in … Where did she end up? ”
Nine years older, Brigit had been determined to keep Neve out of foster care and had put her own life on hold to raise Neve. When Neve graduated high school and went on to college and vet school, they had drifted apart. Neve made a mental note to call her and catch up.
“South Dakota. She’s still there. We talk every month or so, and she’s doing fine.” Her sister was content, existing in a colorless background that Neve prayed wasn’t a preview of her own future.
Brigit claimed to be right where she wanted to be, but Neve often wondered if putting her first had crushed any dreams Brigit might have nursed before their lives had taken such a drastic turn. Though Brigit denied it, maybe she resented Neve for the sacrifices she had been forced to make. Neve hadn’t been a bad kid, but caring for her while pubescent hormones raged inside her teenage body couldn’t have been a cakewalk for a twenty-something.
Reece nodded in acknowledgment, and his focus strayed to the cat, who watched him warily with his one good eye. Meanwhile, Pearl, who had apparently lost interest in the discussion, tippy-tapped back to Neve’s office.
Reece dropped his voice to a low rumble. “He doesn’t look so hot. Is he going to make it?”
Unexpected tears welled, stinging the backs of Neve’s eyes. “I hope so.”
This career she’d chosen put her on a seesaw of emotions she sometimes struggled to contain. With one breath, it could swing from the low of heartbreak when she had to put an animal down to pure joy when she saved it.
In the background, Shane answered his phone, and she recovered herself enough to ask Reece, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but what do you need? I have to get moving.”
“Get moving for what?”
“She has a date,” Shane hissed from the other side of the reception area.
“With Leo Cantrell?” Reece’s tone coasted in its usual neutral gear.
Omigod, does everyone all over town know I’m going on a date tonight? Stupid question. Of course they did .
“Not that it’s any of your business, but yes, Leo Cantrell, and I have a lot to do in the meantime.” Hopefully, he would take the hint and leave. “Now why are you here again?”
He shot a look over his shoulder. “Uh, I saw Shane’s patrol car, and I needed to talk to him, so …”
Shane ended his call and covered the distance from the front door in three easy strides. “About what?”
“The hockey game in two weeks?”
Shane’s expression screwed up in puzzlement. “What about it?”
“We’re going to have to forfeit since we’ll all be at Noah and Hailey’s wedding.”
“Damn inconsiderate of them to hold a wedding during hockey season, if you ask me.”
“No one asked you. Besides, the timing makes perfect sense,” Reece argued. “The town’s dead, which means they can close the tavern and Hailey’s bookstore and carve out some time for themselves.”
Shane threw up both hands. “Easy, man. I was half joking.”
“It’s the half that’s not joking that pisses me off.”
“Whoa, who crapped in your Wheaties this morning, bro?”
Neve couldn’t have said it better herself. Reece wasn’t exactly a talkative guy, but he was usually easygoing and didn’t snap at people. She took a step toward the recovery room. “Boys, take it outside. You’re upsetting my patient, and he needs all the quiet he can get. Plus, I have a lot on my plate today.”
“Yeah, and she’s got a date tonight,” Shane joked as he grabbed Reece’s biceps and hauled him toward the entrance. “Let’s get out of her way so she has time to get pretty. Er, prettier.”
“Nice recovery, Romeo,” she called out to Shane as the pair shuffled out the front door.
“God, finally!” she huffed as she got Mr. Whiskers settled in his cage. “Rest up, little guy.”
Reviewing her list of to-dos, she whirled and smacked into a tall wall of muscle.
Strong hands steadied her. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to sneak up on you. You okay?”
She took a step back and nearly collided with the stacked cages. “Jesus Christ, Reece! You scared the pants off me! What are you doing? ”
Ouch. That was a little harsher than she’d intended, but his stoic, calm mask was firmly in place. “You need to be more vigilant about people wandering in here.”
“You mean like you just did?”
“Exactly. I could have been someone who was up to no good.”
“Hmph. You might be up to no good anyway.” He gave her his noncommittal Reece stare. “Normally, Lauren mans the front desk, but I’m on my own today, and I can’t exactly lock the door. I have patients.”
“Well, be careful.” Then he pointed at the cat’s cage. “Assuming he pulls through and no one comes to claim him, let me know.”
She perched her hands on her hips. “Why?”
He shrugged his big shoulders. “I might be able to foster him for a while.”
Neve dipped a skeptical eyebrow. “Where are you going to keep him? Ever since you sold your house, you’ve been bouncing around from one place to the next. You’re only in Noah’s old apartment for a few more weeks, right? Isn’t Charlie starting the remodel after Thanksgiving?”
Reece stroked his beard. “That’s the plan. Noah’s in an all-fired hurry to open his private dining room.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re planning to move in with Noah and Hailey. They barely have room for themselves, the dog, and Hailey’s books in their new place.”
“Of course not. Besides, I don’t think I could stand listening to … The walls are thin, and they’ll be newlyweds, if you get my drift.”
“I’m picking up what you’re putting down, pal.” On this subject, they were in perfect agreement.
A small smile curved his lips. “Glad I don’t have to spell it out. But I could keep the cat with me in the apartment for a little while.”
Neve crossed her arms. “So what happens after ‘a little while’ with you and your potential foster? Are you planning to buy another house?”
“Maybe bunk at the folks’ cabin.”
The “folks’ cabin” was a lavish hundred-acre spread outside of town, often left empty because the Hunnicutt parents were busy seeing the world, though they would return soon for their son’s wedding.
“The last time you and your parents were under the same roof, you couldn’t wait to get out. You really want to do that to them—and yourself—again? ”
“Damn, Doc, you ask a lot of questions.”
“I just want to be sure this is right for Mr. Whiskers. Not that we have to decide right now.”
“We could always decide with rock, paper, scissors.”
“Oh no, you don’t,” she scoffed. “That’s no way to decide something like this. Besides, you cheat.” They hadn’t played since high school, but she’d never been able to best him at the stupid game. Ergo, he cheated.
“I don’t cheat. How is that even possible?” His indignation was front and center.
“I don’t know, but a good cheater doesn’t reveal his methods, does he?” Her nose lifted an inch into defiant territory. “You always wait a split second before committing, and in that split second you see just enough to know what to counter it with. You are a cheat, Reece Hunnicutt.”
“Hell if I am! You’re imagining things.”
“Oh, really. Then how is it that you always beat me, then?”
He smirked. “Because I’m just better than you are, that’s how. Get over it already.” He shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. And stood there. “As for the cat, I get it. Your concern isn’t about me as much as it is about the cat,” he deadpanned.
“Um, you can go now.”
“Right. Your date .” He narrowed his mossy greens at her. If she looked closely, she’d see the irregular burst of gold on one side of an iris, along with scattered flecks of copper and ultramarine. She had never seen eyes the color of Reece’s. “You sure you should go out with this guy?”
She paused to pull herself from his eyes and process his question. “Yes, or I wouldn’t be going out with him. What’s it to you anyway?” God, he could be obtuse sometimes … and stubborn … and so effortlessly masculine he melted her knees.
“Nothing. It’s just that you’re like that kid sister I don’t have and would want to watch out for.”
And therein lay the reason a romantic gulf had always yawned between them. Reece thought of her not only as a sister, but a kid sister. “Gee, thanks. And I’m no kid. I’m two months older than you, remember?”
“As you’ve reminded me my entire life. Seriously, Neve, watch yourself with Cantrell. He’s a player.”
“Good. Maybe he’ll play me . ”
He straightened to his full height and squared his shoulders. “What does that mean?”
“You figure it out, genius—on your way out.” She wrapped her hands as far around his biceps as she could—her fingertips didn’t touch—and tried to budge him. He didn’t move. Giving up, she rubbed her forehead. “Look, I appreciate your brotherly concern, but it doesn’t change anything. I’m still going out with Leo tonight, and I need to get through a ton of work and leave enough time to freshen up beforehand. Got it? Now shoo.”
“You look fine.”
She ground her back molars. “Would you please just go? Aren’t you supposed to be doing something else right now?”
He gusted out a breath. “Yeah, I am, as a matter of fact.”
Something in his tone struck a note of alarm inside her. “Hey, is everything all right? You’ve been acting a little off ever since ...”
He let out a mirthless chuckle. “I’m fine, Doc .”
“I’m serious. You know if you need someone to talk to … about whatever blew up a few months ago …”
His eyes sharpened, along with his voice. “Nothing blew up. Everyone thinks something happened, and it didn’t. I’m just taking a break, okay?”
Whoa, defensive much?
His chest rose on another great breath. “After doing SAR for the past fifteen years, it was time.”
“Right. And then there’s your knee.” She wanted to help; she really did. Not only was it in her nature, but she cared about the big lug standing in front of her—banished romantic feelings aside—and didn’t want to see him hurting. But opening up was not his nature, and she was wasting her time. Besides, she had a date she’d been looking forward to ever since Leo’s call, and she needed to put bells on her fingers and rings on her toes.
His expression turned puzzled. “My knee?”
“The one that needs to heal?” The one I was trying to inspect that had me posing like I was about to lower your zipper and suck you off right then and there? She reddened with renewed mortification.
Realization seemed to dawn on his chiseled face. “Oh yeah. My knee.” Sliding his hand from his pocket, he reached down and rubbed it.
Yeah, she knew Reece had been fibbing. She could always tell—not that he lied much, but he had a telltale tic in his jaw that gave him away. It always had .
Neve’s embarrassment disappeared in the face of a smirk she couldn’t hold back. Though she couldn’t figure out why he was faking the injury, she decided to give him a pass so she could hurry him out the door.
“Go ice it. Go on, gimpy!”
Mercifully, he did.