Heath Read online

  “Well, let’s hope he can help you,” Heath said quietly. “I get that we’re supposed to pay for services and for the treatments given, but sometimes it looks like the costs are incredibly overpriced.”

  “Like ten dollars for one aspirin. And there’s no justification for it,” she said. “You get this long list and this horrific dollar figure at the bottom of the page, and it just makes no sense at all.”

  “Well, if it’s good news, hopefully you’ll share it with me.”

  “I will,” she promised. “I just don’t know how long it’ll be until I get any good news.”

  He nodded. “I think I heard about a couple charities that helped people retire medical debt too.”

  “That would be an interesting option,” she said, looking at him in surprise. “It’s certainly something that, unless you’re caught up in this nightmare, you don’t understand the magnitude of these bills. And then, when it is something that happens to you, it just becomes crushing.”

  “And your husband?”

  She gave him a flat stare. “He skated. Then I was let go of my job. Lost my health benefits.”

  He nodded grimly. “You haven’t had an easy time of it, have you?”

  She nodded and said, “Nope, I haven’t. But, like you, I’m dealing.” She pushed her chair back. “And now I had to return to work.”

  “Just don’t forget to contact the lawyer,” he said. “One of these days, you’ve got to catch a break.”

  “One of these days I will,” she said. She gave him a small wave and headed off. But, in the back of her mind, it was hard to imagine any kind of break that would help her. With her luck, her “break” would more likely be a broken leg from falling down the stairs or something equally stupid. Although she worked and lived in a medical facility, she wasn’t so sure she’d get that kind of treatment here. And how sad that she now had full medical and dental at a point in time when she didn’t need it, not with her new salary. And yet, when she did need it, she’d lost it all. She shook her head, desperately trying to keep the depression from overwhelming her yet again.

  When she returned to her office, she sat down and brought up her email, then typed out a note to her lawyer, asking if there’d been any progress. She also asked as to whether anything could be done about the former employer and whether there were charities that helped to chip away medical debt that she could access. She put a note at the bottom, saying, I know I’m obviously way too hopeful, but, if anything else could take this monkey off my back or at least help me bear that cost to be paid, it would be helpful.

  She quickly sent it before she gave herself a chance to rethink it. And, with that done, she returned her attention to the day’s work.

  Heath watched her go, shifting in his chair to see her walk away. He’d wanted to ask her if she was the cleaning lady, but it had seemed so very wrong, and, after having heard her voice in person just now, he’d immediately begun doubting himself. And, even if she was the former cleaning lady, so what? Was he supposed to ask her to go back to mopping the damn floors at two in the morning? That obviously wasn’t an answer.

  Even if she did need a second job, she could do much better than a cleaning lady for wages. But then maybe he was wrong. Perhaps cleaning ladies made a lot more money than Heath thought. It was just all so damn sad. And the last thing he wanted was to lose their relationship. If he were honest, he’d been interested in seeing their relationship develop further. It was nice to have Hailee here as a connection, somebody he looked forward to seeing.

  When he shifted back around, Stan stood there, his hands on his hips, staring at him with a big grin on his face. Heath had finally met Stan a few weeks earlier but hadn’t had a whole lot to do with the vet, but he was looking forward to more time with the animals. “What’s that look for?” he asked with a half smile of his own.

  “Do you think you can make it downstairs?” Stan asked.

  Heath’s eyebrows shot up. “Well, I can, even without an elevator, but why?” he asked cautiously.

  “Because I have some unusual guests downstairs,” he said. “I’m bringing some of the guys down one or two at a time to come meet them.”

  “I’m game,” he said. “I was down there once, but it seemed like so much chaos that I didn’t want to add to it. I left.” He slowly straightened, using his crutches.

  Stan looked at Heath’s crutches, then looked at him, and said, “Let’s take the elevator.” And together, the two of them headed downstairs. Once inside Stan punched the button down to his place.

  “Why me?”

  “Why not you?” Stan asked. “I wanted to bring Hailee too. I saw the two of you talking, but she got up and left before I had a chance to invite her.”

  “I think she feels like she can’t come down because she’s working.”

  “Probably,” Stan said. “I’ll send her a message in a little bit.”

  “Okay,” he said, mystified and wondering how he’d been the one invited. He rested on his crutches until the door opened, and he slowly made his way out. The elevator hallway was off to the side. They had to go through big double doors to get into the vet clinic. Once in there, he was surprised to find it mostly empty. “Not very busy these days?”

  “Everybody is in the back,” he said, and he opened up another set of double doors and led Heath into what looked like a large treatment room. Dani stood in the middle, her arms full of something big and wholly furry and fuzzy.

  Heath stared at it and asked, “What is it?”

  Dani smiled, walked closer, and a huge paw came out and batted him in the face.

  “They’re bobcats,” Stan said. “This is Mama, and she has two kittens here too.”

  Dani added, “She has been at a local zoo. It’s more of a rescue, but the cats hadn’t been checked over, and her claws were causing some trouble. So all three have come in for Stan to take a look at them.” The bobcat in Dani’s arms wiggled, twisting almost like a smooth silken bundle and reaching for Heath.

  With his crutches, it was hard for him to hold the big cat. He immediately sat down, and Dani shifted the huge feline onto his lap. Instantly a massive engine kicked in, and she rubbed her head against his. But it was more of a head-butt than a rub.

  Dani quickly caught his crutches threatening to fall, which would cause chaos with the cats by the sudden noise. She put them to the side against the wall.

  Heath’s arms wrapped around the massive cat as its tongue came out and snaked once across his neck, like sandpaper swiping against his skin. He laughed and reached up to scratch the mama cat’s ears. “Wow,” he said. He turned to look at Dani, but she now had a much smaller version of his.

  She sat down beside him and said, “You don’t get to see these guys very often.”

  “You’re not kidding,” he said. He was amazed at the power and intelligence in its gaze. “She is beautiful.”

  Dani nodded. “These guys are fixed, and so is Mom. But like, wow. I love it when Stan gets to deal with animals other than the normal dogs and cats.”

  “Are you down here often?” Heath asked hesitantly.

  “Every chance I get,” Dani said. “It’s either here or out in the pastures with the horses.”

  Stan stood behind them, checking the paw of the other bobcat kitten, and, when he was satisfied, he handed off the kitten to another man standing here. He had one leg in an odd-looking prosthetic at the end. He immediately sat down to cuddle the kitten.

  “This is a huge advantage to being here,” Heath said. The big feline tried to settle into his lap and, using Heath’s chest and shoulders, hooked her claws in. Even as he gasped in pain, he smiled because the feline immediately draped across his arm. “What does she weigh? Thirty, forty, fifty pounds?” He gasped.

  “If she’s too much for you …” Dani said, immediately standing up.

  He shook his head. “No, not at all,” he said. “I was just amazed at the size of her.” Only then Stan came over and had some kind of a treat in his
hand. He held it out for the big cat in Heath’s arms, and she immediately snagged it up with one of her paws. She sniffed it carefully and then ate it with complete aplomb.

  “She’s so tame,” he said.

  “Yes, and no,” Stan said. “Tame in the sense that she’s well used to being handled, but that doesn’t mean, if a rabbit or something went across the front yard, she wouldn’t go after it in two seconds.”

  “Right,” he said. “That makes a whole lot of sense.” He stared at her, mesmerized. “She’s still beautiful.” He held her for another few minutes, until she got bored and started looking around for something else. She slid off his legs and stalked something that only she appeared to see as she headed toward the doorway.

  Stan called out, “Let’s make sure she doesn’t go out that door.”

  “I hear you,” Dani said. She turned to the man holding the kitten. “George, are you taking these guys back now?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, now that they’re all checked over. I’ll get them loaded back up again.”

  Heath realized that the big female had a harness on. He didn’t even notice that earlier. “Does she walk on a leash?”

  “No, not well,” George said with a half grin. “I have a cage for these two babies to move them, and I have converted the back of my truck into a complete cage. I’ll just move Mama up into that and take her back.”

  “She appears to like field trips just fine,” Heath said. He stood and watched while a leash was clipped onto the back of the big female’s chest harness. Then he smiled and asked, “Her name is?”

  “Rascal,” George said with a smile. “I thought she was male at first, and then, all of a sudden, we’ve got two kittens.”

  At that, Heath chuckled out loud. “Well, that’s a pretty rascally move on her part.”

  “It sure is,” he said. With the kittens moved into their big carrying crate, a typical crate that any dog or cat would have been put into, Stan picked up the container, and they moved all three of the animals outside. Heath sat back down again at a spot where he could watch them load up the family of bobcats into the truck.

  Dani stood at his shoulder.

  “That’s pretty special,” he admitted.

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  Just then another cat, a huge black cat—missing one ear and his tail looked to have been hacked off somewhere along the halfway mark—hopped up on its back legs, putting its front paws on Heath’s knees and just glared. Heath looked at him for a long moment and said, “Okay. So the look in this guy’s eyes is not terribly friendly.”

  Dani smiled, reached down, and scratched the battered cat between the eyes. “He’s amiable, but he’s probably pissed off at you because you gave the bobcats time and attention, but you have yet to greet him.”

  Hesitantly Heath reached out a hand and gently chucked the black cat under the chin.

  Almost immediately the cat’s eyes closed, and he leaned in. “So, does he always look like he’s ready to tear a strip off you?”

  “That’s about right. He’s a rescue, and, as you can see, he has suffered a little bit.”

  “I can see that,” he said. “Still, he’s beautiful too.” At that, the cat immediately took advantage and jumped into Heath’s lap, then settled in with his eyes closed. “Is he falling asleep now?”

  Stan walked over and took one look. “Well, at least he found you.”

  “What’s his name?”

  “Mystique,” he said.

  “I think Mystique and Rascal should have their names switched,” he said.

  “I do too,” Stan said. But he shrugged. “The thing is, this cat responds to the nickname Misty.” When he said his name sharply, the cat immediately spun his head back and around and looked at him.

  Heath just chuckled. “Is he a permanent resident too?”

  “We’re trying to adopt him out,” Stan said, picking up the great big black cat from Heath’s arms, while Stan urged them all back inside. Stan carried Misty to the counter, put him down, and gave him two treats. Mystique sprawled out flat to eat them. “But he was returned because he didn’t settle in well.”

  “Why not?” Heath asked, as he dropped into a waiting room chair, hanging onto his crutches.

  “Honestly I think he missed us,” Stan said. “He does get a fair bit of attention here.”

  “I’ve seen Helga, Chickie and a couple other animals, but I’ve never seen this guy.”

  “Well, now that you’ve met him,” Dani said, “he’ll find your room.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Oh, yeah, absolutely. It’s almost like, if you don’t make his acquaintance, he won’t make yours. But, once he knows you, he’ll be all over you.”

  “Well, he’s welcome in my room anytime,” Heath said. He grabbed the chair for support and slowly stood, then positioned his crutches under his armpits, smiled at the other two, and said, “Thank you. You don’t realize just how much you miss animals until you come down here and get a moment to be with them.”

  “You can come back anytime you want,” Stan said. “And, of course, we’ve always got the animals outside looking for some love too.”

  “Animals beyond the horses and the llama?”

  “And the dogs that wander around.”

  As soon as he made it to the elevator, Heath headed upstairs. Stan was supposed to contact Hailee about the bobcats, but they were gone already. Still, Heath wouldn’t let an opportunity like that pass by without talking to her. She was his go-to person, his go-to friend. She was quickly becoming something else in his mind. He just had to reconcile who he was now with who he’d been, and he knew that she had her own hurdles to relationships as well. In both cases, it was likely all about trust.

  He didn’t trust himself, and she didn’t trust anyone else.

  He shook his head and changed his mind from going to her office, choosing instead to head back to his own room. He didn’t want to think too much, but sometimes he just needed space and time alone. As he headed there, he met up with Shane.

  Shane looked at him for a long moment. “We didn’t have a workout today. Have you been in the pool?”

  “No,” he said a little belligerently. “All I really wanted was some time alone.”

  Shane nodded, as if picking up on his tone. “You can’t go more than two days without something. You understand that, right?”

  “We had PT yesterday,” he said in relief as he walked past. “I just needed some downtime today.”

  “So you just come up from being outside?”

  At that, he stopped and smiled at Shane. “Yes, and no, I was holding a bobcat in my arms. Stan had a female and two kittens in.”

  Shane’s face fell. “That’s not fair. I’d have been down there if I had known.”

  “Well, maybe I was just lucky today. I was sitting on the deck when Stan came up to tell me that I needed to come down and take a look at the animals he had.”

  “You’re lucky,” Shane said. “Stan is a special guy. He understands animals, and he says that he doesn’t understand humans, but I think he’s wrong. It seems like he understands people more than we expect. You know that you can go down there any time, right? And put your name on a list if they need help?”

  “I didn’t know,” Heath said. “Maybe I’ll do that. It was great to have some exposure to the animals.”

  “It looks like you brought a friend with you,” Shane said with a chuckle and pointed behind him.

  Awkwardly Heath turned, using the crutches to keep his balance, to see Mystique, the big black male, racing behind him. And, sure enough, he stopped right at Heath’s feet, then looked up at him, and meowed.

  “Wow,” Heath said as he struggled to bend down and give him a scratch. “Last I saw him, he was downstairs in the vet’s waiting room.”

  “He’s a bit of a survivor, this guy,” Shane said, as he too reached down and scratched Mystique. “Are you heading back to your place now?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “
I was just looking for some time-out.” He shrugged. “I know that seems odd, but I’m still adjusting to being with people all the time.”

  “It can take a bit to adjust.” Shane nodded. “But what you don’t want to do is step out so long and so hard because, by then, it’ll be challenging to get back into being with people.”

  “Sounds like my last year,” Heath admitted.

  “Well then, why don’t you join up with one of the guys playing pool or one of the board games going on? Dinner is not for another hour so.”

  “Maybe,” Heath said, but he hesitated.

  “Or go for that swim,” Shane said. “As soon as you start to slide deeper into that black hole, it’s important to remember that even a walk around will kick in some endorphins and make things not quite so bad.”

  “If I could get some sleep,” Heath said, “it wouldn’t be so bad at all.” And, with that, he headed back to his room, Mystique tagging along.

  Chapter 14

  A couple days later Hailee once again came across Heath. This time he had collapsed on one of the large couches in a common area, looking morose and upset. She stepped in front of him. “You look like you could use a friend,” she said quietly.

  He looked up at her. “I need sleep. I just can’t seem to sleep past two o’clock in the morning.”

  She frowned. She felt guilty that she had in effect abandoned him when she gave up her cleaning lady job to be Dani’s accountant. Obviously he needed her back as the cleaning lady again. “How about white noise, instrumental music, or meditation?”

  “It seems like I’ve tried it all,” he growled. He gave an irritated shrug and then struggled to his feet. “I’ve got to go to PT.” And crutched away from her.

  She stood in the middle of the room with a frown, watching him as he left.

  When he got to the where the room morphed into the hallway, he turned, looked back, sighed, and said, “I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

  Her eyes were gentle. “Of course not. I understand.”