Читать книгу Belong To The Night - Cynthia Eden - Страница 13

“That didn’t go as well as I’d hoped,” Tully finally said to her after an hour of sitting in silence in the Colton City Veterinary Clinic waiting room, about forty-five minutes or so away from Smithville. He’d seemed surprised the bird had lasted the trip but Jamie wasn’t.

“I’m sorry about that,” she said.

“Sorry about what? Y’all didn’t do anything wrong. It was them.”

“It’s not like they knew or could even comprehend the relationship I have with Rico. You can’t really blame them. They thought they were just shootin’ a bird.”

“Exactly. That’s the problem. We have a cooperative relationship with birds. Mostly crows but they’re real loyal to their own. If we start shootin’ them out of the sky, they will turn on us in a heartbeat.”

“I didn’t realize.”

“Your bird shit on my head and lived to squawk about it. That wasn’t a clue?”

“Now see? I thought you let that go because you liked me so much.”

He leaned in until his shoulder pressed against hers. “She shit on my head.”

Laughing for the first time in a while, Jamie nodded. “I got it. I’m clear.”

“All right then.”

The vet walked out of the back, smiling at them. “Well, much to my surprise, it looks as if your bird is going to make it.”

Jamie widened her eyes and opened her mouth a little to give the impression this information really shocked her. “Are you sure?”

“I am!” the vet said. “Now, she is going to need a lot of care over the next few days.”

“Of course.”

“And I really should check, but do you have a falconers’ license?”

Jamie didn’t even know there was such a thing. “Well,” she decided to go with at least a partial truth, “she showed up one day and didn’t really leave. I didn’t know I needed a license.”

“Actually, one of you should have it. But I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. Just something to think about if you take her to another vet. They may ask a lot more questions.”

“No problem.”

“Okay.” The vet smiled. “We’ll have her ready for you in a bit and we’ll give you the medications you’ll need to care for her.”

“That’s great! Thank you!” Once the doctor walked out of the waiting room, Jamie let that painful fake smile drop. “I can’t believe I have to pay all that money for crap that bird doesn’t even need.”

“And why doesn’t she need it?”

“Seneca. She’s our resident healer. As soon as that arrow hit Rico, she unleashed a spell to heal her. Which also explains why she went off on…what’s his name?”

“Luther.”

“Yeah. Luther. There are side effects when you use all that magick, that fast, with no prep. For her it’s rage.” Jamie shook her head. “I need a falconer’s license. Are they kidding?”

Tully laughed but it died away as Jamie heard the tinkle sound of the bell at the front when the door opened and hit it. She looked up and watched the large, hulking man walk across the room toward them. He stopped in front of them and nodded at Tully before focusing on Jamie.

“Miss Jamie,” he said, holding his hand out. “The name’s Buck Smith, and I wanted to apologize about what happened earlier today.”

Tully didn’t know what his father was doing there but as he watched Jamie slip her hand into his grip, all he wanted to do was break the old wolf’s arm off at the shoulder.

“I’ll be dealing with my boys when I get back but I wanted you to know right up front that what happened wasn’t okay in my book.”

It wasn’t? Since when?

“I appreciate you coming here to tell me that yourself,” Jamie said. “It makes me feel a whole lot better about everything.”

She cannot be buying this.

“And I appreciate you giving me my say. I also expect you to add whatever you pay here to my bill.”

“That’s not necessary.”

“It is to me. You promise me that you’ll do that.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you.” He still held her hand, studying it before he released her, nodded at them both, and walked out.

Tully followed right behind him. As they neared the old coot’s truck, Tully asked, “What the hell are you up to, old man?”

Buck stopped and faced him. “I’m not up to anything. And watch how you talk to me, boy. I ain’t that feline you grew up with.”

And there he was. There was Buck Smith.

“You ain’t foolin’ me for a second.”

Buck smiled. “Don’t know what you mean…son.”

Tully growled while Buck walked around to the driver’s side of his pickup. He got inside and slammed the door shut, his arm resting on the frame of the open window. “You know, I’ve been thinkin’, maybe it’s time we put the past behind us.”

“Is that right?”

“It would make my Wanda real happy. She don’t like all this discord.”

“Can you even spell discord?”

“Funny. You were always real funny.” Buck started up his truck. “All I’m asking for is a chance. A chance to make it all right. You think on it.”

Tully stood in the parking lot for he didn’t know how long after his father had driven away. Other patients came in, the dogs snarling and snapping at him or cowering on their leashes, the cats hissing at him from their crates. A stallion horse, brought in for treatment in the back where they took the farm animals, busted out of his trailer before his owner could even get out of her truck and took off running down the street, half the vet staff running after him. And the whole time Tully didn’t move a muscle until Jamie came outside with a bandaged Rico in a makeshift crate and a bag of medicine hanging from her fist. She stopped beside him, studying him without saying a word.

“He says he wants to put the past behind us.”

Jamie shrugged. “Well—”

“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear, Jamie,” he cut in, desperate to hear truth. Absolute truth. “Tell me what you feel.”

“What I feel?” She let out a breath. “I feel like I want a chocolate shake from the McDonald’s down the street. I feel that Rico is going to really milk the sympathy as long as she can. And I feel if your father had half a chance, he’d cut your throat and leave you bleeding out by the lake I accidentally poisoned. But what’s in your favor is that he wants something. And he’s not going to make a move until he gets it. But if you push him out now, he’ll only be back later. Maybe at a real bad time. I’m a big fan of waiting to see what people will do rather than simply reacting. Just make sure you’re ready for him. Anyway…that’s my opinion.” She tugged on his T-shirt. “Come on. Let’s get that shake.” Then suddenly, she surprised him and, he was guessing, herself, by going on her toes and kissing his cheek. Her brown eyes blinked wide and then she tossed out, trying to sound casual, “That’s for coming with me today. And for last night.”

And for the first time since his father had driven off, Tully suddenly saw everything around him in crystal perfection. The blue sky above, the dusty dirt at his feet, the stallion charging back up the opposite side of the street, the vet techs and owner still trying to catch him, and the amazing ass hanging out from the back passenger side of the SUV as Jamie placed the crate with her bird inside the vehicle. After a few minutes of outright rude ogling by him, he heard Jamie let out an annoyed sigh and she turned to face him. “Mind giving me a hand, Tully?”

He refused to move because he didn’t know what she wanted a hand with.

“She won’t settle down back here. I think you may have to hold her.”

The bird. She’s talking about the bird. Which was a good thing, because if she was talking about something else, they wouldn’t be leaving this parking lot for hours and Colton City was a family-friendly town. In the end it wouldn’t be right. It would be fun…but not right.

At least not yet.