I prayed it would be enough.
“You found ’er in a cardboard box, you say?”
After Damien left my apartment to get to work on time, I got showered, dressed and phoned the closest veterinarian clinic to make an appointment for Barbara. Luckily, they had a cancelation for ten a.m., and I jumped on it. The clinic just happened to be a connection to the animal shelter where Alec worked.
As I was sitting in the waiting room to be called in by the vet, I heard two women gush about a tall, stunningly gorgeous American who was “so funny” and helped them get their dogs out of their cars as he was passing by on his way to work. I rolled my eyes playfully as the women conversed. I could envision Alec’s head growing five times the size with the news.
“Yeah,” I answered the vet. “She was inside the box with no blanket or anythin’.”
The vet shook her head as she examined Barbara from head to toe.
“Evil bastards.”
My lips twitched. “I agree wholeheartedly.”
“Well, I’m glad you took the little lady in,” the vet praised me. “Not many people would do that.”
“I couldn’t leave ’er to fend for ’erself,” I said. “I’d be sick with meself if I did that.”
“You’ve got a good heart.”
I felt my cheeks flare with heat. “Thanks.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
I raised a brow. “Sure.”
“Why did you name ’er Barbara?”
I laughed. “Barbra Streisand was on the telly, and I asked ’er if she liked the name Barbara, she meowed, so I took it as a yes. It’s also me ma’s middle name so I’m changin’ the spellin’ to how she spells it just to give ’er a laugh.”
The vet covered her mouth with her forearm as she laughed. For a moment, I wondered why she didn’t use her hand, but then I realised it was because she was touching Barbara and had been touching animals all morning. She wore gloves, but yeah, I didn’t blame her for not putting a hand to her mouth.
“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all week.”
“Glad I could amuse you.”
With a smile, the vet then said, “About ’er age … she’s not that young, me guess would be between nine and ten weeks.”
I blinked. “But she’s so small.”
“She’s malnourished,” the vet explained. “She was probably pushed aside by the mother, or simply removed from ’er care before you found ’er.”
My stomach tightened. “Will she be okay?”
“She will.” The vet nodded. “She’ll get ‘er first vaccination today, and if you want, I can give ‘er a vaccine for feline leukaemia. It’s not a hundred percent guarantee she won’t ever contract the disease, but it’ll give ’er a good chance of avoidin’ it.”
“Give ’er whatever she needs to keep ’er healthy, please.”
The next twenty minutes were filled with my signing Barbara up for pet insurance while she received two vaccinations, a worm dose, had a microchip implanted, a full body assessment, then had her first picture with her veterinarian. I had seen on the waiting room walls that the vet had pictures of hundreds of animals in all different shapes and sizes. Most of the pictures were when a pet was young, then another was years later when the animal was older. I loved that; it showed how trusted the vet was for people to continue to bring their animals to her over the course of their lives.
I looked up at the door when a veterinary nurse entered the room.
“Sorry for interruptin’,” she said to me, then to the vet, she said, “Cora is coverin’ for me; I’m goin’ to help Alec feed the dogs in the kennels.”
“Okay,” the vet said. “Don’t be long.”
The nurse left with a skip with her walk, and the vet chuckled to herself.
“That man has me entire female staff in ribbons.”
Alec Slater.
“You know Alec?”
“Everyone knows Alec.” The vet snickered. “He’s not the type of personality one forgets, and he’s easy on the eyes too.”
I grinned. “Don’t let ’im hear you say that; he’ll get a big head.”
The vet chuckled. “I’m assumin’ you’re acquainted with ’im.”
“Only a little,” I joked. “He’s engaged to one of me best friends.”
“Ah, Keela.” The vet nodded. “He talks about ’er a lot, and by a lot, I mean constantly.”
I grinned. “He’d be lost without ’er.”
“No need to tell me, I believe it,” the vet said. “He’s only been workin’ ’ere officially a little while; after seein’ how good he is with the animals, and how hard workin’ he is, I had to offer ’im a full-time job. The female staff loves ’im whether he is taken or not. He makes everyone laugh, so they all want to be around ’im.”
“That sounds like Alec.”
The appointment was wrapped up then. Barbara was cleared for another month until she came back in for her second and final set of vaccinations, then she would just need to come back every twelve months for her yearly booster. I said my goodbyes to the vet and left the clinic. As I was walking towards the car park, I heard a familiar voice and stopped.