Chapter 20
Magnolia
Lunch passed by with easy chitchat with all of us getting to know each other better. As it stood, my schedule would be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and if they ever needed any extra help or any after-hours help, they could always call. I enjoyed these people’s company so much that I found my anxiety over meeting Sloan tonight easing to the back of my mind until I completely forgot about it all together with how busy the afternoon was shaping up to be.
Dr. Lewis was currently nursing a nasty peck wound on his hand from Mr. Featherington, who, after he was able to get a good jab in, promptly started eating his food.
Ben and I were currently working on a laceration repair on an overweight corgi who got stuck underneath his owner’s fence chasing a rabbit when the phone rang, and Louise, who was cleaning up around us in the back, rushed to grab it quickly.
“She really does a lot around here,” I mused. “Receptionist and assistant, all in one. She probably needs a raise.”
“Not that I don’t agree, but we do have a veterinary technician on board. Her name is Remi. She works here and at a restaurant in town. Her little girl is sick today, so she was unable to make it in to meet you, but hopefully you’ll meet her tomorrow.” I had a feeling I had already met Remi on my date with Lance; hopefully we could bond over how absolutely yuck he was. Saving me from having to tell them that I might have already met her, Louise comes back with a serious look on her face.
“Hey Doc, that was the DNR.”
“Damnit, what happened?” Dr. Lewis rose from his chair and started pacing while waiting for word of what had happened. The entire mood of happy-go-lucky had changed to tense in the blink of an eye.
“They need someone to go down to the old milling station with those old barns were left to rot. It seems they found a few animals that appear to have been left there. Looks like a possible smuggling ring or fight ring, possibly both.”
“Why is the DNR calling us in on this and not the police?”
“Because that means there is wildlife on sight, and the police won’t be equipped to deal with it.”
My heart thundered in my chest. I knew that poaching was constantly battled out here—that, and illegal fishing. But I never put much thought into the smuggling of animals or any kind of fight ring. It made my stomach roll.
“I thought we had taken care of that nonsense last year.” Ben’s voice was eerily low.
“What nonsense?”
“There was this group of men that moved into the area and set up some nasty business—a lot dealing with importing illegal animals through the docks here. A few got loose and injured, and we were called in. The cops stepped in once we realized that those kinds of animals would have needed to be imported illegally. I believe around six or so guys were arrested, and we thought that was the end of it.”
“Apparently not,” Louise said.
“We’d better pack up the truck and head out together, Ben. Grab your shotgun and tranquilizer guns, but we should have the rest in the vet truck. Louise, as the appointments this afternoon are non-emergent, please call them to reschedule…”
“Uh, you aren’t going out to play cowboy with that hand and risk getting an infection, Doc. You’ll stay here while Ben and Magnolia deal with this.”
He floundered for only a second. “Absolutely not, we are not sending Magnolia out there to do this. Have you completely lost your mind? It’s her first day! And she’s…she’s…”
“You’d better not say it’s because I’m a girl, Dr. Lewis.”
He looked aghast. “What? No! I just meant that the last time we ended up having to euthanize an enraged animal on sight, it wasn’t easy. I wanted to spare you from that, that’s all.”
“While I appreciate the sentiment, I know this job isn’t always sunshine and roses, and that in life, usually the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. So, please do as Louise says; stay here, see these patients, and let me and Ben handle this. I can take care of myself.”
He sighed in defeat. “Fine, but I’m just stating for the record that I don’t like this.”
“Duly noted.”
The ride to our destination was quiet, as though Ben and I were both mentally preparing ourselves for the worst. I’ve come to find out that, in my profession, you ended up seeing the worst in humanity. We were greeted with one SUV that clearly belonged to the DNR and two squad cars with the lights going but thankfully, no sirens. I bristled at the idiocy; they needed to turn off those flashing lights.
We were met by the DNR officer and two police officers. “Hi there, I’m Mike, that’s Jon and Nancy.” the DNR officer said, pointing to the two next to him.
“I’m Ben and this is Magnolia. We are both veterinarians and we work for Dr. Lewis. What is it we are dealing with here?”
“Whoever was here was either spooked into leaving or something happened to em’, but they haven’t been back for at least a few days. Someone was hiking and they must have stumbled upon it, then called us immediately. Seems like they were running some kind of animal fight club: dogs vs. dogs, cats…whatever kind of animal they could find.”
I couldn’t help the overwhelming feeling of nausea that was creeping in. We had a few neglect cases at the clinic I worked at before, but nothing even remotely on this level. I had to do everything I could possibly do to ease anything’s suffering.
“There seems to be quite a few dogs here, a few goats, sheep, chickens… They are all in very bad shape with many wounds. Another reason we called you…there’s two bear cubs here, with significant lacerations, as though they’ve been whipped.”
I couldn’t help the tears that escaped. Ben looked at me and placed his hand on my shoulder and whispered, “You got this, they need us.”
“No sign of the mother, right?” Ben asked.
“I hate to tell you this,” the officer said, “but it would appear the remains of the mother is in a large dump pile in the back. It seems they skinned her for her coat.” His face paled as he delivered the news.
I couldn’t help but empty the contents of my stomach onto the gravel around me. They all gave me a few minutes to collect my bearings before we made our way toward the barn.
The next few hours passed by in a blur of hard work and barely concealed tears, lots of coaxing and trying not to cry when the animals cried out in pain just at the mere thought of us touching them. We had the van secured for us once we got everything, and we could put them in cages to bring back to the clinic to treat the best we could tonight. Then, they would be transferred to larger, specialty clinics in the morning throughout the state. Ben had called Dr. Lewis and gave him the update as soon as we were driving back; however, with it being a small town, the news had already broken out around town.
A quick glance at the clock told me it was eight-fifteen, and I had officially stood up Sloan, but I honestly couldn’t find it in me to care. My entire focus and heart was riding with these poor animals and what they had to endure. I shot off a quick text to Lexie telling her I had no idea when I’d be home and not to wait up, then I slid my phone back into my pocket and stared out the window, wishing for a miracle.
It was another hour or so of somewhat organized chaos once we made it back to the clinic. We immediately began sedating and treating the most critical animals. While I was addressing one of the goat’s injuries and thinking how best to go about cleaning some of the burn wounds on him, a voice spooked me enough to cause me to jump.
“Hi.”
Shit!
“You scared me, Sloan!” My hand rested on my beating heart as I tried to catch my breath.
“Shit, Magnolia. I’m so sorry.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Word had spread about twenty minutes after our talk was supposed to take place. I knew there was no way you wouldn’t be out there helping, and since you’re a stubborn woman and didn’t give me your number, or even bother to ask for mine, there was no way for you to contact me and vice versa.”
“That still begs the question, what are you doing here?”
“I’m here to help.”
“What?”
“I brought food for everyone: burgers, salad, sandwiches, coffee, water, and tea. I would have been here sooner, but it took forever to cook it all. I’m also here to help you guys with whatever else you might need. Clean up, take out the trash…put me to work.”
“So, if I asked you to go clean up the poop from the dog kennels, you would?”
“Just point me to the bag, sweetheart.”
We spent the next few hours working and taking a few bites of food when we had a minute. Sloan was surprisingly helpful, cleaning everything around us and offering to grab anything we needed. He kept asking what I needed and how he could help me, and I hated to admit how nice it was. By two-thirty in the morning, we had treated what we could, and many were in stable condition. We lost a few—one of the goats was too badly burned, a few chickens, and a puppy. My heart was broken, but it was also extremely full with how many we were able to save. It was humbling and crushing at the same time. I wanted to go home and sleep for the next ten hours.
Louise was coordinating the pickup times and moving of the animals for tomorrow with the DNR so there wasn’t anything left to do but go home. Dr. Lewis was staying overnight to oversee the rest, and Ben had gone home a few hours ago since he had kids.
“I’m following you home tonight, Magnolia. If I thought you’d let me drive you home, I’d do it in a heartbeat. You’re exhausted, I can tell. I can’t let you drive home in that condition without at least following you. Please.”
I looked at him, he was serious. He kept looking at me and at my truck in concern, as if trying to figure out how to disable the battery, so I had no choice but to ride with him. He was right; I was exhausted, and I was too exhausted to argue with him.
“Fine, let’s go. I need to sleep.”
True to his word, he followed me the whole way back to my house and pulled up behind me, getting out of his truck before I even had the chance to turn mine off. He opened my door and held a hand for me to get out.
“Being a gentleman won’t make me forgive you.” I couldn’t help the yawn that escaped.
Despite the jab, he looked at me with soft eyes. “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s get you to bed.”
“Uh, no thanks. I don’t need your help.”
“I just meant, let’s get you inside and in bed. I’m not leaving until I see you’re safely behind that door.”
Before I could make my escape inside, he tugged on my hand and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. I couldn’t help the sigh that escaped. After this god-awful day, I just wanted to melt into his embrace. I wanted to cry while he held me and told me that everything would be okay. Before I did something stupid and invited him in, I pulled away and had my back to him, unlocking the front door.
While wrestling with getting the key into the lock with no porch light, I felt how close Sloan was behind me—his body heat giving way to his closeness, even though he wasn’t touching his body to mine.
“I still don’t forgive you, you know.”
“I know. I see it every time you look at me.”
I wanted to lean back into him and tell him that while I might not forgive him, but tonight helped.
“I still want that dinner, Magnolia.” Since we still weren’t facing each other, he couldn’t see the small smile that splayed over my lips.
“Give me your number.”
“No.”
“Fine, take mine.”
I heard what must have been him pulling out his wallet and fishing out a business card, which he slipped into my back pocket. His fingers seemed to pause a little over the curvature of my ass, and I was so glad I wasn’t facing him because his closeness was frying any brain cells I had left.
“Call me. Text me. Whatever. Just contact me,” he said as he backed away.
He waited until I was inside with the door closed and locked before he exited the porch and headed back to his car. His headlights shone in the darkness, and I knew he was pulling away. I felt like I could finally let out the breath that seemed stuck in my throat for the past ten minutes.
Try as I might, even after one of the hardest days of my career, I couldn’t help but fall asleep with a smile on my face.