Proposals and Poison

Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Paper & Lace Heart Bunting for Guest Book Table

Cut out 15-20 hearts in varying sizes from papers matching your wedding décor. Glue or mod podge lace on every other heart. Hang the hearts from twine, ribbon, or cording. Attach to the guest book table. You could easily create the bunting with other shapes to highlight your wedding colors.

Courtesy of www.mashedpotatoesandcrafts.com

The veterinary clinic in Hailey smelled like dog food and antiseptic spray, but it couldn’t overpower the smile that kept coming back whenever I thought of a date with Luke. A rumbling purr and a nudge from Tux brought me back to the present. I was sitting in the vet office, holding my cat and dreaming about Luke, instead of working on the new weddings I had booked for the fall. Maybe I shouldn’t let myself get too excited. Luke’s capacity for a relationship was still questionable.

Tux meowed and stretched his little white paws forward, a contrast to the sleek black fur covering his entire body, except for the V-shaped patch of white on his chest that looked like a tuxedo cravat. He pushed his black head against my hand. Cats were simple and so easy to love. Maybe I should get Luke a cat—it’d be a good place to start for someone who made a living helping people tear apart their love stories.

The bell above the door jangled, and Tux hissed at the chocolate Labrador that had just entered. The dog’s tongue lolled to the side in the summer heat. He looked like he hadn’t even noticed my cat.

“Hush, Tux, or I’ll have to put you back in the carrier.” I held firmly to the scruff of Tux’s neck until he settled back onto my lap. The dog snuffled at the floor, straining against his leash.

The vet assistant swung a door open and checked her clipboard. “Tux?” she asked, looking toward me.

“That’s us.” I stood carefully, cradling Tux and keeping his face away from the dog.

“You’re late. Follow me,” she said in a curt tone.

I hurried after the short-haired blond assistant—her name tag said “Vickie”—into a small room scrubbed clean, with lingering scents of the various animals who filed through every day. “I’d recommend putting your cat in the carrier on your way out,” she said. “You were lucky he didn’t get mauled by that dog.”

“I’ll do that,” I responded. “I’m very sorry about being late.” I’d waited for about ten minutes despite being twenty minutes late, so I wasn’t sure why it bothered her.

Vickie seemed especially grumpy, so I pasted on a smile to combat her negative wavelengths. She didn’t smile as she entered in the information I’d given her on Tux. Looking her over, I noticed that her nails were neatly trimmed and painted bright purple.

“I like your nails.” Maybe a compliment would soften her. I really did like her nails, because purple was one of my favorite colors.

“Thanks.” She looked up and glanced at me, and then at my cat. “It makes me smile on those days when I don’t want to.” She finally smiled, but it looked kind of grim. I wondered how many animals she’d worked with today, and what she seemed to have against me or my cat.

I held Tux and spoke to him in soft tones while Vickie took his vitals. I think we both took a deep breath when she left the room.

“I wonder what was eating her,” I whispered to Tux. He didn’t have a chance to answer with his usual plaintive meow before the vet, Dr. Tim Esplin, entered the room. He was just barely taller than my own five feet ten inches, and he had a full head of wavy brown hair with neatly trimmed sideburns. Tim didn’t wear scrubs; instead, he wore a classic snap-closure cowboy shirt, Wranglers, and boots. He fit the part of a down-home country vet, and his upper-class fiancée, Lily, didn’t want him to change one bit.

“Good afternoon, Tux,” Tim said as he approached my cat. “Adri, it’s nice to see you. I wasn’t sure how much you got away from all those gowns and doilies.”

I laughed. “I manage to sneak away once in a while. Just running errands today.” I placed Tux on the table. “He sure has grown since I found him last year.”

Tim nodded. “You’ve done well with him. Most strays aren’t this lucky. I just had to put one down yesterday that someone brought in.”

I grimaced. “That’s true. I’m lucky to have Tux too,” I said. “We watch out for each other.”

“Pets are the best for that.” Tim examined Tux carefully, and my cat purred.

I thought of how he’d mentioned putting down a stray, and frowned. “Do you have to do many euthanizations?”

“Usually only a couple per month,” Tim replied. “It never gets easier.”

“Does it hurt the animal?”

“No. It’s just like a shot, and they go to sleep. We make them as comfortable as possible.” Tim carefully administered a shot to Tux, who mewed in protest but then quieted.

“That’s a hard decision to make.” I rubbed under Tux’s chin as he purred.

“We do all we can before we go to that point, but if we can’t find a home for them, we’re required to euthanize. In the case of a sick animal that’s suffering, it’s what we do to provide peace.”

“My uncle used to say that’d be the way to go,” I said.

Tim arched an eyebrow. “Unfortunately, some people agree with him, and it’s become a problem in recent years.”

He refocused on Tux, but I felt like I’d put my foot in my mouth somehow. So I decided to change the subject to something less grim. “I’m meeting with your sweetheart to talk shop and get some things on the calendar this week.”

Tim smiled, but something around his eyes hinted at an underlying concern.

“Is something wrong?” I asked.

Tim shook his head. “Not with us, but ... well, sort of. Lily is so upset about this whole divorce mess with Rose. Has she said anything to you?”

“No.”

“I don’t know what to do. She’s talking about postponing the wedding because she doesn’t want to get married on the heels of Rose’s divorce. I don’t want her to feel pressured, but I do love her.” Tim hesitated, and then let out a breath. “I want Lily to be my wife. I can’t lose her.” He handed Tux to me, and I moved my cat into his carrier and shut the door. “I’m heading out early today to spend some time with Lily to get her mind off Rose.”

“I didn’t realize she was that close to her sister.”

“Actually, she’s not.” He threw away some paper towels from the exam table and washed his hands. “Lily is the one who told me Rose was an unfit parent for Jasmine.”

“Oh?” I wasn’t sure how much I should pry, but since they were my clients I decided to venture. “How old is Jasmine?”

“She’s six, and Rose is a terrible mother. She has never put her daughter first in anything. That poor little girl has had to ride the parade of Rose’s boyfriends while she and Javier have been separated, and then Rose is busy slinging mud at him and turning Jasmine against her father.”

“Oh dear. I’m sorry. I can see why Lily is concerned. Divorces are always difficult.”

Tim put a hand on the back of his neck. “That Luke Stetson is a cutthroat attorney. Javier definitely picked a good one. He’s fighting for full custody of Jasmine, and he just might get it.”

I cringed, and then coughed to hide my surprise at hearing Luke’s name with the term cutthroat. He was good at his job, but I hadn’t heard him described that way before. “What makes you say that about Luke?”

“He works overtime to find the nitty-gritty details. Just yesterday, I heard—”

Vickie knocked on the door and opened it. “We have a dog that just came in—needs stitches, heavy bleeding.”

Tim straightened and headed after Vickie. “Sorry to run, Adri.”

“No problem. We’re done here anyway. Good luck.” But I wished we hadn’t been interrupted. I would have liked to know what he was about to say concerning Luke.