Keith (Hathaway House #11) - Dale Mayer Page 0,40
couple hours.”
“Ouch. Three gone at once sounds pretty rough.”
“We all have to pitch in and do the job,” she said. “It can just make for a really tough time of it when it goes on that long.”
“Yeah, I would think so,” he said. “Are they all back now?”
“Well, two are for sure,” she said, “and I’m hoping the third one will too, but I haven’t seen him yet, since he doesn’t normally show up for another hour.”
“Perfect,” he said. “Sit down and rest a bit.”
She smiled with a nod. “That’s why I brought two cups with me.”
He laughed. “Well, I wondered if you were making up for having missed out on a couple days.”
“Well, I was hoping you’d understand that, if I was here, I was here, and, if I wasn’t here, it’s because I couldn’t make it.”
“Exactly,” he said with a smile.
She studied his face. “You looked pretty well rested.”
“I did a bit too much, and we backed off some of the workouts, so, if I’m looking a bit rested, it’s because I’m not doing as much now because I overdid it earlier,” he confessed.
“Hey, there’s worse ways to do something wrong,” she said. “It seems like you’re quite a bit happier right now though.” As a matter of fact, he looked more settled, calmer, and the pain didn’t appear to be twisting his insides up the way it was before. He just looked more at peace with himself all the way around.
“I’m feeling better,” he said, “and seeing progress that I hadn’t really expected to see. I’m not completely out of the weird moodiness, but I am feeling better as I look forward.”
“Look forward to what?”
“To whatever comes after this,” he said. “For the longest time I could only see this. And now I realize there’s so much more.”
“There is, indeed,” she said, “and I’m glad that you can finally see something after that. What about your sister?”
“Well, I went down to the vet’s office,” he said with a bright smile. “They had dogs and cats and a huge macaw that was just gorgeous.” He smiled and shook his head. “I hadn’t realized how colorful my sister’s life was.”
“Isn’t it nice to see what she created for herself?” Ilse said.
“It is, indeed. I’ve never seen her work, and it’s not what I thought. You know? When you think vet tech, I figured, surgery, helping the vet, taking temperatures and changing dressings and such, and she does that too, but she also bathes the animals, cleans their cages. It’s not what I thought she would be doing, yet she loves every minute of it.”
“Well, I think it’s a very unusual place here,” she said, “not just for the men and women whom we have working there but also because of the vet clinic being here as part of Hathaway House.”
“Agreed. I met Racer, and a cat named Thomas,” he said with a big smile. “It was just nice to grab a cat and hold it.”
“A cat would let you do that?” She shook her head. “I’m more of a dog person but that rabbit? Man, if I had room for him, I’d take him home in a heartbeat.”
“He’s pretty darn big,” Keith said. “If you had a fence, you’d probably be fine. But, if you have a dog around, you’ve got to make sure it’s one that gets along with the rabbit because I’m not sure, if they went toe to toe, who would win the fight.”
She chuckled. “You’d always assume the dog would, but those rabbits have pretty vicious back legs.”
“This guy’s back legs are huge paddles,” he said, “so I don’t know who would win.”
“Exactly.” When her coffee was gone, she looked at it regretfully. “I should have brought a flask with me.”
“That just makes you sound like a coffee addict,” he teased.
“Well, I’m definitely addicted to something,” she said. “I just don’t know if it’s good or bad yet.”
And, on that note, she stood, gave him a small wave, a smile, and walked out.
What did she mean, she was addicted to something? Keith racked his brain, with the usual addictions coming to mind. He’d never seen her with an alcoholic drink, but then she was on the clock here. He didn’t get the sense that she smoked—even cigarettes—so he doubted she used recreational drugs. She was addicted to coffee, of course, but then so was he. More than that, he was addicted to her visits.
The last few days he’d felt bereft, wondering what was going on