Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Ezra
I gave the younger guy with the undercut a big side eye at his “ get closer to nature” crap, even though he did look pretty miserable, red and sweaty and rocking from foot to foot. Usually I didn’t want to pamper adults who were being silly, but I could see he was really worried that he’d hurt an animal, not inconvenienced by having to deal with it.
So while I did my examination, I reassured him, “She’s alive… and a tortoise.”
“Thank God,” he exclaimed. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d killed an animal, turtle or tortoise or anything else, well, except a spider. It’s the first sign of a budding serial killer. I don’t want to accidentally turn into a serial killer. Not that an accidental murder makes me an accidental serial killer. Shit, I’m so freaked out.”
Wanting to laugh at how his train of thought jumped around, I bit back the reaction and finished my examination. Reaching for one of the RFID scanners to see if she was microchipped, I told him, “She’s freaked out too, but she’s not hurt, so I think you’re safe from becoming an accidental animal murderer and possible serial killer.”
He slumped against the wall and blew out a relieved breath.
“Um, thank you for not treating me like I’m an idiot,” he said. “I’m Skylar.”
“Ezra.”
He cut his eyes over to me like he was waiting for me to say something else.
It happened to me a lot, but I wasn’t great at casual conversation, unless I was joking around with my kids, or Xerox since he talked enough for two people.
I set aside the scanner which hadn’t found anything, snapped off the gloves and tossed them into the medical waste can, and mumbled, “It was nice of you to care. But you’re supposed to call animal control if you find an injured wild animal, not take it to a vet.”
“It didn’t even cross my mind,” he said, eyes flying open real wide. His eyes darted over the glossy prints of kids with their pets hanging on the walls. “I mean… it’s a tortoise, not a bear or something. It’s got to be an escaped or abandoned pet, right? Pets go to the vet.”
That made me laugh quietly and tuck my hands into my pockets. “Fair enough. Don’t worry about her, she’s not microchipped so we’ll help her find a new home.”
Skylar shot me a quick, bright grin. “What if I’d come in with a real wild animal?”
I carried the tortoise into the back half of the clinic, where we kept the animals while they were here. Skylar trailed after me, looking at everything and not seeming bothered by the smells while I got the tortoise sorted out.
“If you’d brought in a wild animal like a coyote, that would be a different situation.”
“Are there real wild animals here now? Like, here , here?” he squeaked.
“Yeah. Do you want to meet some of them?”
That had come out almost like a tease, because his eyes were so wide, like the animals were just waiting for a guy named Skylar to visit so they could sink their teeth into him.
But instead of saying no way, his eyes got even wider and lit up in excitement. “I’m fully aware that this isn’t cool, but do you have any babies I can meet?”
He clasped his hands under his chin and batted his eyelashes like a cartoon character.
Something weird moved around in my belly, like a caterpillar pressing against its chrysalis right before it burst out.
“We have babies,” I said gruffly. “Wildflower’s a small place, so I keep the domesticated animals here if the animal rescues don’t have the capacity. We’ll start with the bunnies.”
I brought him outside to the bunny hutches, which looked like child-sized log cabins with the bottoms wrapped in chicken wire. By sheer volume, we had more rabbits than any other animal, and they were one of the biggest hits with kids and visitors.
“Do you name them all?” he wanted to know, getting down on the ground next to one of the hutches, brushing his fingers over the chicken wire and letting the tips poke through.
“No way,” I laughed. “My kids used to when they were little, but there are too many.”
Something nudged the back of my knee, and I absently reached down to pet my dog.
“Aw, who’s this sweetie?” Skylar cooed, holding out his hand and laughing when Rocky licked it a bunch of times. He was too well trained to be overexcited, but he never turned down an upturned palm just waiting to get lightly slobbered on either. “Aren’t you so soft?”
“That’s my dog, Rocky.”
Snickering, he looked out the window at the Rocky Mountains, then up at me and raised his eyebrows. “I bet your kids named him too.”
“I named him,” I said defensively.
“Seriously?”
Without bothering to repeat myself, I reached over and unlatched the hutch, lifting out the nearest bunny, a six-month old black one with comically long ears that folded back almost to his fluffy tail. “Here, have a bunny to make fun of,” I muttered, holding him out.
Immediately he was distracted by the soft fur and how to keep hold of him.
“What if he escapes my evil clutches?” he asked, grunting when he kicked his leg.
“There’s a fence around this area.”
Rocky scooted around me to get closer to the bunny, snuffling his ass delicately.
“That’s how I greet new guys too,” Skylar said to Rocky, winking at the dog.
Shaking my head, I gave up and sat down next to them, figuring I didn’t have anything else that needed to be taken care of right now, and I had a suspicion Skylar was the type who would open up every hutch to pet every single rabbit if I were to leave him alone.
“So,” I said reluctantly, “why are you trying to get closer to nature?”
He put the bunny back, shutting the latch diligently, and answered while he rubbed Rocky’s belly, “I moved here really recently and won’t start grad school for another week, and I moved here with my boyfriend but that’s… done, so I don’t know anyone.” His voice dipped, but then he rallied. “And I want to enjoy all the stuff here we don’t have in Florida.”
I wasn’t sure how to answer, because there was a lot crammed in his answer.
“You should adopt a pet,” I blurted out instead.
Skylar chewed his lip, looking at Rocky. “I never had a pet,” he admitted. “It must sound crazy to you, since you must love animals more than anything else to do this work.”
“If you’re new around here and not settled in yet,” I said as diplomatically as I could, “a pet is always a good thing to have. A dog is probably the most helpful,” I had to add.
“Oh no, I’m not ready for a dog,” he answered quickly, waving his hands to ward off the idea, shooting me another smile. “Okay, I’ll think about it. I’ll give you my contact info.”
Then he ran a hand through his hair, sending the straight honey strands into disarray.
“In case you want to tell me how the tortoise is feeling later,” he tacked on awkwardly.
Raising my eyebrows because I had no idea why leaving me his number would make him awkward, I let him say goodbye to the tortoise and got his number.
“Okay, well,” he said, like he didn’t want to leave for some reason, “I should go.”
“Have a good night,” I answered.
“You too,” he said, offering me a quick smile before taking off.
“Well,” I said to Rocky, who wagged his tail and angled his nose towards the door as if to tell me that it was high time for us to get going too, “that was something new, wasn’t it?”
He gave a little whuff.