Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Jacob

I slide the stall door shut and step back, wiping sweat from my brow. It’s an unusually warm day in early May and I still have two more farms to stop by before I can swing by my parents for a family dinner. I’m already going to be late, and there’s a good chance I’ll show up smelling like the animals I’ve been treating today. There’s an even better chance that I’ll have to rush out, but I’m promising myself now it’ll only be for dire emergencies.

It’s a rare occurrence that all of my brothers and our sister are in Silver Ridge together. Mom will have my head if I skip out on a family dinner, and I miss my siblings, even if they do drive me crazy half of the time. And tonight isn’t just any old family reunion. We’re celebrating my older brother’s engagement.

“Do we have time for a coffee run?” Crystal, one of my vet techs, asks.

“As long as it’s iced, yes,” I reply, checking the time. We’re running late—as usual—and I’m going to need to ask Dr. Spencer to cover my next appointment at the clinic, which is just a routine wellness and vaccine checkup for Mrs. Mahoney’s dog, Axel.

Crystal and I pack up, leaving the sheep farm, and load up the truck. We have to pass by Silver Cafe on our way to Kim Walker’s place. I’d love to narrow down my focus to mostly horses and donkeys, but I don’t mind going to Kim’s and taking care of her vast array of different animals. She’s been a client for years and was with the practice before I bought it and made it my own.

“I put in for two iced lattes for us and two chocolate muffins because why not, right? Should I get something for Ms. Walker?” Crystal asks, looking up from her phone as she puts in our online order. “She just always seems so lonely, doesn’t she? I mean, she has all those horses but she’s all alone in that house.”

“I don’t know,” I reply honestly. “Some people are happier that way.”

I can feel Crystal’s eyes on me, and I don’t need the power to read minds to know she’s thinking like you, though it’s not true in my case. While I do prefer my solitude, I don’t want to be alone.

“And yeah, she’d like a latte. Though, she has told me before coffee is meant to be hot, not iced.”

Crystal laughs. “That sounds like something she’d say. I’ll order her one as well and then I’ll update the invoices and check in at the clinic. I’m going to be the one to tell Dr. Spencer she has to cover your next appointment, aren’t I?”

“You are, so good luck with that,” I say with a chuckle, thankful Crystal is as organized as she is. She’s my head tech and assists me on most of the farm calls, having the most experience with livestock. Our clinic has grown a lot over the years, and there’s been talk that Dr. Jerry, one of the few other vets in the area who treats large animals, is going to retire at the end of the year. I’d no doubt take on most of his clients, and the thought of doubling my workload makes my stomach churn.

Not because I don’t want the work—I do—but because I know I can’t respond to everyone at the same time, and more times than not, emergencies happen at the same time in different parts of town. I hate the idea of someone having to watch their horse colic and die because we couldn’t get there in time.

I need to hire another vet, and I’ve been struggling to find both someone I like enough to work with and who’s qualified enough to pass my high standards. That, and someone willing to take on a massive workload. It’s hard enough in this field as it is. Being stretched this thin only makes it that much harder.

Half an hour later, we arrive at Kim’s farm on the other side of Silver Ridge. The town isn’t actually that big, but with a large lake in the middle of it, driving from one end to the other can take a while since you have to go around the lake. Kim’s property butts up to the back of my own, and if I could drive straight through the woods I’d be here in only minutes.

Three dogs come running, barking and wagging their tails as the truck bumps along the gravel driveway. Kim is sitting on the porch swing out front, and waves to us.

“Oh my god.” Crystal’s hand goes to her mouth when she looks at the gray horse in the front dry lot. She’s skin and bones and you can tell from back here her hooves haven’t been done in months. “You weren’t kidding to say this was one of the worst cases you’ve seen.”

“Yeah. I’m honestly surprised the horse survived being trailered here.” I shake my head, trying to keep calm and not get pissed off again. People fucking suck, and having no legal repercussions makes it even worse. This horse was dumped off at an auction and would have been bought by a kill buyer and sent to slaughter if Kim hadn’t gone and bought what she could afford…which was more than she could afford.

Kim has been a long-time client and one I enjoy working with. She’s respectful and always thanks us, and her heart is in the right place. I’ve been discounting her bills as much as I possibly can to help her out, taking a personal loss.

“That’s the better of the two,” I tell Crystal. “Be prepared to have to put the other horse down today.” I park the truck and mentally prepare myself as well. I was here just last night administering IV fluids and medicine and would have liked to take the gelding back to the clinic with me, but he was too weak for another trailer ride along bumpy roads. I left hoping for a miracle and that one night of rest and good hay would be enough to keep him on his feet so he could come with me today.

His evaluation in just a few minutes will let me know which way to call it. If he found some strength, he’ll come with me. If not…the kindest thing to do will be to let him go peacefully.

“I hate people,” Crystal mumbles as we get out of the truck not waiting for me to respond. She knows I am silently agreeing. It’s true what they say: the more people I meet, the more I love animals. I’ve been let down by people enough in the past to keep myself guarded. It’s the ones you care about the most who can cut you the deepest.

Which is why I prefer to be around animals instead of people now; though, to be fair, I always knew there was something special about them.

The way they don’t judge.

Their eagerness to forgive.

Their ability to heal…not just themselves but our souls.

All of my siblings like to heckle me about how I surround myself with pets, not people. But if they’d learn to just shut up and listen to what the animals were trying to tell us, they’d understand it too.

“Good afternoon, Dr. Harris,” Kim says with a wave, slowly getting off the porch swing. She’s moving slower than normal today, with dark bags under her eyes that seem to get worse every time I see her, making me wonder if she’s not in remission as she told me a few months ago. “Busy day?”

“Isn’t it always?” I reply and walk halfway up the sidewalk, waiting for Kim to join us so I can hand her the latte. “How’s he doing today?” I ask, knowing Kim knows exactly which horse I’m referring to.

Her gray eyes get misty and she slowly inhales. “Let’s go find out.”

*

“Finally,” Mason huffs dramatically when I step into the house. He’s sitting at the kitchen counter next to Sam and our brother-in-law, Dean.

“Hello to you too,” I retort dryly. Mason always gave our sister shit for being dramatic, but he’s the worst of us all.

“Mom wouldn’t let us eat until you got here.”

Eyeballing the bowl of chips and salsa on the counter, I feel little pity for my brothers. I kick off my shoes, leave them by the back door, and cross the room. I’m late, no surprise there, but I did make it home in time to change. Really, I had no choice since the last farm call resulted in both Crystal and I getting splattered with blood.

“Looks like you survived.” Going around the counter, I eye Sam and smile. “I can finally say congrats in person. And heckle you for taking fucking forever to propose.”

Sam chuckles and gets up, pulling me in for a one-armed hug. “Yeah. Only a few decades, right?”

“And in those decades, Rory has planned a dozen weddings for you,” Dean laughs. “She’s planning a Dungeons and Dragons themed one right now.”

“That sounds like something Chloe would like,” I say and pull out a barstool so I can join my brothers.

Sam looks out the window behind us, gazing at his fiancée with a smile on his face. Chloe is outside with our parents, chatting with Rory as Adam, Rory and Dean’s one-year-old son, plays in the yard.

“It does,” he says and flicks his eyes to Dean. “Brace yourself for her disappointment. We’re leaning toward something small without announcing the date to anyone but family.”

“Give Rory a fake date then,” Mason quips, sliding a beer over to me. “One months ahead of when you actually want to get married.”

Sam lets out a snort of laughter. “That’s not a bad idea. This whole being famous by association is fucking weird,” he admits. Chloe is a bestselling author with a very successful TV show based off of her series and has a huge fanbase. “Anyway, how’s work?”

“Busy as ever,” I reply and pop the top off my beer. Being one of the only vets in the area, I don’t drink often since I’m basically always on-call. “Horses are sensitive to the change in weather so I’ve been doing a lot of farm calls.”

“Have you hired anyone new yet?” Dean asks.

“I have a few interviews next week. I’m hoping for someone halfway decent at this point to take over my small animal clients so I can focus on large animals.”

“We know how you like those large animals,” Mason mumbles and I just roll my eyes, being used to his lame beastiality jokes by now. Sam’s a doctor, Rory is a nurse, and I’m a vet, making Mason—an FBI agent—the only one out of the four of us who didn’t go into the medical field. Naturally, we give him hell for it.

Finally noticing that I’m here, Mom waves, and I go outside to say hi to them. Chloe and Rory are sitting in the grass, petting two barn cats that wandered up to the house in hopes of being fed scraps of food. I give my mom and sister hugs and then pick up my nephew, who’s been busy bringing my mom handfuls of grass.

“Hey, Jacob!” Chloe greets me cheerfully. “How’s the gelding? I’m almost scared to ask.”

“He’s the sickest horse I’ve treated yet, but he’s fighting,” I tell her, stopping at the edge of the patio. “Congrats on your engagement.”

“Thanks,” she says with a smile. “But he’s going to make it?”

Dad laughs at Chloe being more concerned with the horse than her upcoming wedding.

“Honestly, I can’t make that call yet. Being starved takes a toll on internal organs and he’s battling pneumonia. We have to take it one day at a time.” I let out a breath.

“Have you had any more luck getting the owner to apply to become a nonprofit organization? I had no idea anyone in Silver Ridge even rescued horses until you told me about those two neglected horses from the auction last night,” Chloe goes on. She’s been a horse lover her whole life and currently owns two horses that she and Sam keep at a barn in Chicago, where they live.

I shake my head. “No, no luck. And I don’t think she’s in the best health.” Crouching down, I set Adam back down and he wobbles his way to Rory, giving her the remaining blades of grass he has clutched in his little fist.

“Dinner should be just about ready,” Dad says, checking on the grill. “The baked potatoes are taking a bit longer than planned.”

I knew Mason was complaining for nothing. They weren’t waiting on me to eat but were waiting because dinner wasn’t ready yet. Only a few minutes later, I’m helping Dad bring plates of food in from the grill and we gather around the table. We all toast to Sam and Chloe, and the conversation shifts back to excited wedding planning.  It’s nice having a big family dinner like this. I’m the only one of my siblings who remained in Silver Ridge, so we don’t see each other at the same time very often.

Sam and Chloe are in Chicago, Rory and Dean are about an hour farther south than they are, residing in Eastwood, Indiana, and Mason travels all over as an FBI agent. He currently reports to the headquarters in Detroit and is in-between assignments right now, which is why he’s here. He can never tell us exactly what he does until it’s over for safety reasons.

“I have this friend,” Rory starts, overdoing how casual she’s trying to go about this.

“No,” Mason and I say at the same time.

“Not you.” Rory waves her hand at Mason. “You’re a lost cause.”

Mason tips his head. “I think that’s a compliment? I mean, assuming this is your typical lead in to trying to set us up.”

Rory makes the mistake of looking at Chloe—just for a second—and I know they’ve been scheming together. “I’m not. I was just going to mention this friend who volunteers at a local cat rescue and I think—”

“Diana?” Dean interrupts and the look on his face tells me everything Rory won’t. “She’s fifty-seven.”

Both Mason and Dad let out a snort of laughter.

“Is she? I wouldn’t have guessed.” Rory picks up her water and takes a drink, flicking her eyes to mine. “Anyway, she’s single and I think you’d get along.”

“Babe,” Dean says gently, looking at Rory. “Diana is the only person I’ve ever met who’s more of a crazy cat lady than my own sister.”

“All I’m saying is she likes animals and you like animals,” Rory goes on and I know Mason is dying to crack a joke. “It wouldn’t hurt to meet.”

“I suppose not,” I say carefully. “But I’m good.”

“Okay,” Rory replies, avoiding my eye. She doesn’t believe me.

And neither do I.