Chapter 22
TWENTY-TWO
The only squat I’m doin’ is diddly.
—Holly’s secret thoughts
HOLLY
I was at work, doing what I do best.
Well, maybe second best.
The first thing I did best was Denver.
The second thing I did best was twiddle my thumbs.
I did not like being an idle person.
Maybe I had my own little bit of ADHD just like Denver. Whatever I had meant that sitting here, watching the proverbial paint dry, was not my idea of a good time.
But what I loved about having nothing to do meant that I could love on all the animals that were in the boarding facility or recovering from surgery.
Boone was at his other job as a park ranger.
Young, Charlene, Rhett, and Gena were all out at lunch with promises that they’d be bringing me food back.
And I had a baby raccoon named Tinkles clinging to my shirt.
The front door opened, and the bell over the door dinged, ringing loudly through the facility.
I gave Tinkles one last cuddle, then put her into her cage with her sister.
Their mama had been hit by a car this morning, and they were barely old enough to open their eyes.
The wildlife preserve that helped rehabilitate wild animals were set to come out sometime after lunch to collect them. But in the meantime, I got to get my cuddles in.
Once the cage was closed and everything was secure from my cuddle fest over the last thirty minutes, I headed to the main area where the front desk was.
A stunning woman with beautiful silver hair was waiting at the front desk, wearing a black long-sleeved shirt and jeans.
What was familiar about her, though, was the leather vest that covered her top half.
A Dixie Wardens MC property cut.
I’d seen several other “old ladies” of the club wearing them.
But this one was a little bit different.
Then I remembered Denver telling me his friend and his wife were coming in from out of town, and the man was the head honcho of every Dixie Wardens MC club member in the country.
Silas Mackenzie and his wife, Sawyer.
Her eyes were alight with mischief, and she smiled and waved the moment she saw me.
“Oh, my god. Your hair is divine.” She leaned forward.
“Denver showed me a photo of you so I’d know who to look for.
He said you might be eating. Or you might be at work.
He didn’t know. He gave me your number to call, but I’m not a ‘call them when I don’t know them’ kind of person.
So I thought I’d try here first. Anyway, he showed me a photo of you when you were on the porch swing at his place.
You had a cup of coffee in your hand, and you were looking out over the land while the sun set.
He said it’s his favorite picture because you’re barefoot in cutoff shorts with your hair literally everywhere.
I hate to say this, but I had to ask him if your hair was real.
People would kill to have this color. Do you know how much I have to pay to maintain this?
I love the silver look I have going on right now, but I still have some natural color coming in with the silver, and it’s not a pretty look. ”
When she finally slowed down so I could get a word in, I said, “You must be Sawyer.”
She slapped her hands over her face. “I should’ve led with that. I’m just so excited to meet you. Silas and Denver have been friends for a very long time. And Silas and I were really worried about Denver finding someone new.”
My heart softened. “He’s a great man.”
“I also met Denver’s brother, finally. Sawyer. Denver’s been teasing me for years about having a boy’s name like his brother. It was nice to put a name to the face.”
I didn’t think that women were this open and nice.
But the woman Sawyer was so friendly that I couldn’t help but fall into an instant friendship with her.
“Want to come around here and take a seat? Or we could go play with the new raccoons,” I offered.
Before Sawyer could answer, the phone rang, and I gestured to the chairs.
Sawyer took a seat, and I took the other, answering the phone. “Windsor Animal Hospital.”
“Hey, Holly. This is Constance from The rehab center. I wanted to let you know I’m still coming, but I’m running a little late.
I left to head that way, but found a bear cub sitting next to a dead mama bear.
Must’ve been hit by a car. Anyway, I’m coming.
But I’ll probably be there way later in the day since I had to turn around and deal with the cub. ”
“No worries.” I wrinkled my nose as a smell hit me. “We’ll be here.”
“Okay, great. See ya.” Constance hung up.
The smell got stronger, and I started to look around.
“Do you smell that?” I asked.
“Now that you mention it, yeah.”
I stood up and walked to the back where the smell was stronger.
When I got to the hallway that connected the front building to the back building where all the kennels were located, my heart sank.
Because the hallway was billowing with smoke and I could hear dogs barking and crying. Kittens meowing.
“Oh, my god!” I called out. “Call 9-1-1!”
I didn’t hesitate.
I only ran toward the smoke.
As I got closer, the smoke got thicker.
I didn’t see anything on fire, but something had to be.
I could feel the heat.
I ran for cages as I got into the smoke-filled room, opening every one of them so that animals that were mobile could get out.
Barks and meows filled the room and there were animals everywhere.
Then there was a woman inside the room with me, corralling them and guiding them out of the room.
As Sawyer worked next to me getting them all out, I had no idea where she was taking them, I got started on the animals that weren’t able to get out on their own.
Old Otis that had his back leg amputated that was still slightly sedated. Marigold, the kitten, that’d been brought in after being hit by a car.
I had six animals that were unable to move out of their kennels and laid them practically on top of each other on the table in the middle of the room.
Thank God there was a table in this room that moved. Because I wouldn’t be able to get them out except for one at a time.
And the smoke in the room was intense and getting thicker.
I pushed the table toward the middle section where we performed surgeries and exams, as well as housed the larger animals in the outside stables, and nearly ran over a cat.
I scooped that cat up and plopped her on top of the other animals and rushed out of the room.
I had them all but the baby raccoons.
When I met Sawyer in the hallway, I urged, “Take them back and close the doors! I don’t need any more smoke coming into that area!”
Sawyer did what I asked, and she was closing the doors behind her as I left back the way I came.
When I got to the room again, the smoke was too thick to see.
So I got onto my hands and knees and crawled to the wall of cages.
I found the one that I needed with only my hands and spatial awareness of the room.
I found the two raccoons huddled close and stuffed them into my shirt that was luckily still tucked in, coughing the entire time as the smoke ravaged my lungs.
Then I crawled toward the doors.
But in the haste of closing the doors, I forgot that they automatically locked as a safety measure.
I couldn’t see the keypad, either.
Couldn’t feel it. Too high.
I coughed.
I coughed so hard that I threw up on the ground next to my knees.
I crawled toward the new door in the room.
The one put there only a few days ago as a new entrance and exit to get to the other set of kennels in the new building that had a covered walkway now connecting the two.
I pushed the door open, and the smoke billowed out with me.
I couldn’t stand, so I continued to crawl through the construction mess until I reached the grass between the two buildings.
Thank God they were far enough away that the smoke and fire from the first building wouldn’t reach the second.
I continued to crawl until I got to the side of the building where the big bay windows were overlooking the parking area.
When I got there, I looked through the glass and found Sawyer staring at the doors in which she’d left me.
I knocked on the glass, and her head whipped around.
She visibly relaxed when she saw me.
Only when I was safely away from the smoke did I stop, fall to my side in the grass, and relax.
But then I heard his voice again, and I knew that I wasn’t out of danger yet.