Chapter 25
Excitement bubbled just beneath Lila Mae’s vocal cords. She glanced over to Thad as he pointed across the dashboard of her SUV. “He’s going to meet us in the stables,” he said. “Make a left onto that dirt road. It goes right around the back of it.”
Lila Mae nodded, swallowed, and turned down the dirt road Thad had indicated, where she and her veterinarian were meeting with Smiles Glover. He and his brother, Rock, had agreed to take Lila Mae through their animal care operation and how they did things at Shiloh Ridge.
Though her cat sanctuary wasn’t the same thing as a full-blown cattle ranch, she thought she had plenty to learn from people who had been treating animals on their property for decades.
Hailey had set up another tour for her at Three Rivers Ranch next week, and Lila Mae was excited to meet the owner, Libby Jackson.
Another woman running a ranch—oh, the questions Lila Mae had for Libby.
Trap, Jason, and Sawyer continued to finish facilities around Feline Friends, and Lila Mae was almost ready to open her operation at full capacity.
She had twenty-one cats right now, and Trap had finished the community center while Jason had converted one of the buildings that had used to house pigs into Cat House One.
Lila Mae had moved all of her healthy cats into that area, and the nine of them lived happily there with an outdoor play yard, indoor facilities, air conditioning, and a staff of two that fed the cats, cleaned the house, and handled clients who came to inquire about adoptions.
The existing hen house had not been big enough to convert into a feline home, at least if Lila Mae wanted there to be more than three or four cats there.
Cat House One could hold eighteen comfortably, and Lila Mae had just given the go-ahead to Trap that morning to relocate the hen house to her personal property near the woods, and use the site to build from scratch a second cat enclosure.
He kept her up-to-date with everything happening at Feline Friends, of course, but she didn’t know his hour-by-hour schedule. He knew she’d be at Shiloh Ridge most of the day, and Lila Mae pulled up next to the biggest, baddest, blackest truck she’d ever laid eyes on.
It intimidated her, as did the whole of Shiloh Ridge, but she put the car in park and killed the engine before she looked over to Thad. “All right,” she said.
“Have you got your list of questions ready?” He grinned at her, clearly teasing.
Lila Mae flashed him a tight smile. “Yes,” she said. “Thanks for reminding me.” She made a big deal out of opening the console between them and pulling out her notebook. Thad shook his head, but he was also new at this and had agreed that going around to a few places wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Lila Mae wanted to tour one of the veterinarian offices in town, and she’d actually spoken to Elaine Walker about that, as Hailey had told her that she had contacts there.
But September and October were exceptionally busy in a ranching and farming community as everyone prepared for Market Day and the upcoming winter.
Not only did the local offices deal with personal pets, but they made ranch calls for those who didn’t have a full-time veterinarian like Shiloh Ridge.
Even Trap’s cousins’ huge operation at Seven Sons didn’t employ a full-time veterinarian and relied on the small-town offices and their doctors to come out and do cattle vaccinations, equine checks, and more.
“There he is,” Thad said, and he laughed before he even got out of the car.
Lila Mae watched as he jogged around the front of her SUV and grabbed onto a tall, dark-haired man with blazing blue eyes: Smiles Glover.
His brother stood barely a hair shorter than him, but he was made of midnight from head to toe, as the man even wore black jeans and a black-and-white plaid shirt with long sleeves, cuffed over his forearms. He wore a black cowboy hat in direct opposition to Smiles’s lighter brown one.
Though he smiled and shook Thad’s hand too, he definitely carried the more serious genes between the two of them.
“Rock,” Lila Mae whispered, finding it so apt that his name matched his demeanor and appearance while Smiles’s did exactly the same.
They both looked at her as Thad spun his attention over his shoulder, and Lila Mae jumped into action.
She got out of the car, quickly deposited her keys in her bag, and strode toward them.
“Thank you so much for meeting with me,” she said as she approached.
“Yeah, of course.” Smiles reached for her hand and shook it. “It’s our pleasure to have you here at Shiloh Ridge.” He glanced over to Rock, who didn’t seem to share his enthusiasm. “When you’ve heard great things about a person from two separate sources, you’ve got to pay attention.”
Lila Mae’s southern breeding kept her smile hitched in place. “Two sources?” She flicked a look over to Thad, who simply kept smiling like a five-year-old on Christmas morning who’d gotten every present he’d wished for.
“Yeah,” Smiles said. “Thad here has been talking you up, and Trap says you’re one of a kind.”
Lila Mae blinked because she had no idea what that meant. “Oh, well,” she laughed lightly, though she wanted to know when and how much Trap had been talking about her with his friends.
“I think they’re both pretty great too, and I think we’re probably all doing the best we can.” That life lesson had actually come from her father, as he’d been the one to tell Lila Mae to just do her best and let God work everything else out.
Momma said that too, but she didn’t actually believe it.
She’d counteracted Daddy’s advice and told Lila Mae over and over that sometimes even someone’s best wasn’t enough, and that Lila Mae would have to do hard things in her life.
She might have to fire people, or demand better from them, or cut ties with people who brought her down.
Lila Mae had had to do those things in the years she’d worked at Dixon’s Delights, but she’d never thought she’d have to cut ties with her own family…until she’d done it.
“Diplomatic,” Rock said, and he stepped forward and shook her hand too. “I’m Rock Glover. It is great to meet you.” He flashed her a smile that had surely broken many hearts, and Lila Mae’s memory fired at her.
“I really appreciate the time. I know your wife is due soon, isn’t she?” Lila Mae surveyed the three men. “I think Trap said her name was Clover. Is that right?”
“Yes,” Rock said, plenty of surprise in his voice. “She’s due in about five weeks.”
“Right,” Lila Mae said. “Still, it’s very close.”
“Don’t remind him.” Smiles laughed and clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Rock here is stoic on the outside, but he’s nervous as heck about becoming a dad.”
“Smiles,” Rock grumbled, a clear note of chastisement in his voice.
“It is scary,” Lila Mae said. “Though I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”
Rock nodded at her in acknowledgment. “My biggest worry is how far we are from the hospital. But I learned from Brandon and Lenore that you could call and get a little apartment just down the road from labor and delivery.”
She must have had a horribly blank look on her face, because Smiles added, “I’m sure Trap mentioned Brandon and Lenore. They have that homestead northeast of town?”
“Yes, yes,” Lila Mae said, the pieces falling into place. “Yes, of course, they just had a baby a few weeks ago.”
“Yeah, that’s them,” Rock said. “But I called and found out that I can get a place there if they’re not overrun with long-term patients. So we’ll stay in town for the last week before Clover’s due date.”
“Smart,” Lila Mae said, then she turned her attention to the sweeping view of Shiloh Ridge beyond the stable. “Although with a place as majestic as this, it’s got to be hard to leave.” The three men lined up beside her, and they all gazed out at the brilliant blue sky of that September morning.
“It is beautiful,” Rock murmured.
“No place like Shiloh Ridge,” Smiles said.
“Are you sure you don’t need a second vet?” Thad laughed, and that broke the moment.
Lila Mae looked over to him. “You can’t leave Feline Friends. I need you.” They hadn’t had major surgeries or any emergencies yet, but Thad had lovingly and carefully taken care of the cat rescues that had come in since he’d started at the sanctuary.
“I’m just teasing,” he said. “I don’t want to leave Feline Friends.”
“All right,” Rock said. “We can start in the stables, if you’d like.” He turned to go inside, and Lila Mae hurried to follow him, leaving the two vet-friends to follow behind her.
“Now, I’m not a vet,” Rock said. “But as I’m sure you know, a lot of medical issues can be prevented or kept from getting worse by keeping things clean.
” He started to detail how he cleaned the floors, the walls, the stalls, and then the animals themselves.
“That way, when Smiles comes in, he knows that the foot rot didn’t come from an uncleanliness issue, but something else, and it’s far easier to diagnose problems.” Lila Mae nodded, and she took pictures of the cleaners and supplies that Rock used in the stable.
She noted that while her feline hospital-slash-stable was probably one-fifth the size of this one, they were still laid out the same. “And this is heated and air-conditioned?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am,” Rock said. “Our horses are our lifeblood here at Shiloh Ridge. We don’t use machines; we use animal power, and that means we have to keep them in tip-top shape.” He ran his hand down the side of the neck of a black-and-white horse standing at the gate of his stall.
“Rock loves horses,” Smiles said.
Lila Mae had always been a little bit afraid of them, as they had such big heads and could spook so easily. But she moved a little bit closer and ran her hand up the bridge of the nose on the black and white beast in front of Rock.
He did gaze fondly at the horse, then smiled. “You’re being such a show-off today.” The horse huffed through its lips, which caused everyone to chuckle.
“We have a whole room of medical supplies here in the stables,” Smiles said.
He pulled open a set of double doors just behind the stall where they’d stopped.
“I’m pretty sure Thad said all of your stuff is contained in one building, but you might want to have a closet of medical supplies in each of your cat houses.
” Lila Mae peered at the boxes of antiseptic and gauze pads, gloves, and even medicines.
Three Rivers had a robust animal pharmacy, and she had Thad who could write a prescription for whatever she needed. “Wow,” she said, stepping closer and joining Smiles in front of the closet. “What kinds of things do you recommend keeping on hand?”
He started listing them and even pulling out the boxes, and Lila Mae quickly took notes and pictures.
“We could get that,” Thad said. “And since you have a vet tech assigned to each cat house, they would be able to give an emergency shot, if necessary.”
Lila Mae nodded, her mind buzzing with all kinds of possibilities.
Cat House One had a closet in it, as Lila Mae wanted them to be fully functional buildings, with restrooms for her staff, a lobby area for potential cat parents, and a place to keep toys, cat equipment, and secretarial items. Since she was operating on a much smaller scale, she felt certain she could clear a shelf for the emergency feline medical supplies both Smiles and Thad suggested.
“This is great,” she said. “Thank you for this idea, Smiles.” Smiles grinned at her and closed the closet doors. “Just wait till you see what I have in my office.” He laughed, but Lila Mae perked up like a small child who just heard the word candy.
Though it had taken longer than she’d wanted, she’d known these field trips and tours of other facilities in the area would help her understand better how to run Feline Friends.
After all, Lila Mae could admit her weaknesses and knew she had plenty to learn about opening and operating a cat sanctuary in a state where she’d only lived for a few months.
As she followed Smiles and Rock down the aisle and out a different set of doors that led directly into their second stable, Lila Mae knew God had provided these resources for her.
While her idea to come to an enormous cattle ranch and see how they ran things had felt silly, God had actually directed her here so she could learn what she needed to succeed at Feline Friends.
As she took more notes, she wrote out in the margin Talk to Trap about Cat House design, and circled it. Suddenly, she couldn’t wait to go to dinner with him tonight and tell him everything she’d learned from Smiles and Rock at Shiloh Ridge Ranch.