Chapter 27 #2
Alyssa knelt next to Nicole, instinctively rubbing the pig’s belly. It was balloon-shaped and must have been uncomfortable, housing a team of wriggling piglets. The pig made panty, snuffling noises and nuzzled her wet nose into the side of Alyssa’s leg. ‘You poor thing. We’ll be here for you.’
‘It’ll probably be the middle of the night, so you may not want to promise that,’ said Hedgehog.
She was standing in the doorway next to Devan, who still seemed a bit awkward about coming in, even though he’d presumably seen one more birth than Alyssa.
‘And sometimes there are complications. It can be stressful, and it’s not for everyone.
Hopefully a colleague or the vet will cover it. Or she’ll manage.’
Something inside Alyssa sank at the thought of leaving the creature to navigate birth and the start of motherhood alone. She looked up at Devan, who seemed to have similar thoughts etched across his forehead.
‘Animals know what to do,’ said Hedgehog, matter-of-factly.
Maybe it was wise to keep some level of distance with animals coming, going, and surely not always living.
‘I need to cover the desk. You two can come back later, after you’ve sorted the cats, dogs, rabbits and various goats.
Not to mention Terrance the turkey and that new family of chinchillas. ’
The morning whizzed by, with a montage of scenes that were worthy of Teijo’s camera, when he finally arrived. Everything from chasing an escaped, gobbling Terrance to mastering the goat poop scoop was certainly testing their teamwork skills.
And Alyssa being close to Devan while resisting her odd new impulse to touch him was a test for her too.
Her T-shirt must have been going to her head, because as she and Devan worked, they began batting around ideas for how they could bring more love to Hartglove through the animal rescue centre.
They came up with thoughts of open days, volunteering opportunities for young people, and even sponsoring animals.
Devan agreed to run the ideas past the centre’s manager, and to see what funding he could arrange.
It was becoming impossible not to really like him.
Not just because he cared about things, but also, they did make a great team.
‘If I had to choose anyone to mop up cat sick with on a Saturday morning, it would be you,’ Devan said with mock seriousness, taking Alyssa’s blue plastic-gloved hand in his and holding it to his chest.
A laugh burst out from her, and she tried to ignore the fizz of whatever it was as his warmth enveloped her fingers, her heart pulsing.
The more time she’d spent with him that morning, the more her desire to talk to him about what Sylvie had said was growing.
She wanted to hear the story from his point of view, to understand more about his decisions and how his life had panned out.
And perhaps to probe a little about how he felt about her, or was that too weird?
But if they cleared the air, what would be left to stop her heart from falling for his?
Falling, was a frightening, uncontrollable thing.
So it was just as well there hadn’t been a good time to start selfishly asking her questions, with all these schnoodles howling for their dog biscuits.
‘Nice shot,’ said Teijo, taking a snap of Alyssa gazing into Devan’s twilight blue eyes like she was a love-sick spaniel.
God, how long had she been doing that? At least he’d been gazing back at her, even if it was just for Teijo’s photo.
‘You’re so photogenic together today. Has something changed?’ Teijo asked, whizzing back through the images on his screen and smiling with an aww that’s so cute face.
Alyssa pulled away from Devan and straightened herself.
‘I’m covered in animal hair and puke, and I’m not sure if I’ll ever get whatever this is out from under my nails. But apart from that, it’s business as usual.’ She looked towards Devan, expecting him to say something similarly noncommittal.
He looked at her for a long moment, as though Teijo, a whole lot of yelping animals and various wafts of pet stink weren’t part of their current equation.
‘I think every task has changed me,’ Devan said finally, his voice almost uncertain.
‘I created the app, so I guess I thought I knew how this journey would go. But it’s been more challenging and rewarding than I’d given it credit for.
I’ve learned that we can’t control how things will be, because we make the path as we walk. ’
‘That’s sooooo good for online,’ said Teijo, grabbing his pencil and scribbling.
Devan shook his head, like it was the strangest thing he’d ever come out with. ‘It is, isn’t it?’ His eyes searched Alyssa’s. ‘Did you say something like that on social media once?’
Alyssa shrugged. ‘Probably.’ If she did, it was more thought-provoking coming from Devan – because it was genuine and not inspired by a quick search on Google.
Were the two of them beginning to make their own, new path as the tasks progressed? Was this app actually working at bringing them back together? Or did she need to stop thinking peculiar thoughts and get back to mopping up cat sick?