The Summer I Fell (The Six Series) Read online

  “How old is Sammy?” I asked him as I dried my hands and then crossed over to the box.

  “Not very old, I don’t think. I found her about a month ago. I sneak her scraps and stuff so she’s been kinda hangin’ around the house. My dad wasn’t happy about it, but since she stayed outside, he let it go. I found her like that when I went to give her some leftover meatloaf, and I snuck her into my room. When he heard her meow, he lost it, and I put her in that… I didn’t know what else to do. Can you help her? Please?”

  His hand reached out to pull the flaps apart, and I put my hand on his. It trembled as he looked up at me. “It’s gonna be okay, Seth. I think you’re gonna find she’s having kittens.”

  The flaps sprang free, and we peered inside. Sammy looked up at Seth briefly and went back to cleaning up the newly born kitten still covered in its sac.

  “Kittens?” He stepped back and ran his hand down his face.

  I reached in and ran my fingertips against Sammy’s head. She purred in response. “Hey there, Momma, you have a pretty little baby.”

  When her breathing picked up again, I motioned for Seth to step closer. He paled, but did as I asked, and we watched as a brand-new life was brought into the world.

  “Wow, that’s so awesome and so disgusting at the same time,” Seth said as he stared at Sammy without breaking his gaze as he spoke. “How many do you think she’ll have?”

  “It just depends. Sometimes, they have just a few and sometimes, they can have a lot.” I gave him a shrug. “We just have to wait it out.”

  He looked over my shoulder at the clock on the wall. “I have to be home soon. Can she stay here?”

  “Sure.” How could I tell him no? “She’ll have to stay with her kittens for at least six weeks. Then you’ll need to think about homes for them and getting her fixed.”

  His face fell, and he toed the ground. “Is it really expensive?”

  I thought about it for a second. He really loved his cat, but there was no way he’d be able to come up with the money on his own. “I’ll tell you what. How about if you help me out here for the next week or so, and when it’s time for her to wean her kittens, then we’ll work something out?”

  “I’ll talk to my mom and see if she’ll let me come over after my chores are done.” Seth leaned over the box and rubbed Sammy’s nose. She purred in response and licked him. His eyes darted to the clock again, and he frowned

  “Head on home. I’ll take good care of her, I promise.”

  He stuck his hand out, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from chuckling. He might be young, but he had such a grown-up way about him. I shook his hand and walked him to the door.

  “See ya tomorrow,” he said with a wave as he jogged away.

  I closed and locked the door behind me, heading back to check on my newest patient. By the time I made it back to the box, another baby was born with no signs of labor letting up. I crossed my fingers she’d only have one more and be done. I lifted the box off the table, carried her back to a cage, and slid the box inside. The last thing I wanted to happen was for her to decide to jump out and upend the box onto the floor.

  Once she was settled, I checked the other three patients left into my care. My first stop was at Shelby’s cage. The brown-and-white Cocker Spaniel lifted her head and wagged her tail as I spoke to her. Dr. Anderson had held her over for observation after removing a lump from her side. Nothing serious, just a fatty deposit that looked bad, but wasn’t. Her stitches looked good, but she’d have to wear the cone another day or so to keep her from licking at them. I checked her food and water and then moved on to the next cage, making a mental note to take her out before I left, so I wouldn’t have a mess to clean up in the morning.

  The next cage down was Rodney, the chocolate lab who’d gone through a round of heartworm treatment. His owner didn’t want to take him home right then. Rodney wasn’t his only dog. He had two more labs at home that would want to play when they saw him, and Rodney needed to take it easy with the high dosage of heartworm medication in his system.

  He stood up and pressed his nose against the door when he saw me. His tail wagged, smacking into the sides of the cage, eager to greet me. “Hey boy, you look good.” I reached my hand between the bars and gave him a scratch on the ear. He sat and lifted his paw up to the door. “You gotta go outside?” He yipped at me and shifted side to side in his cage. I grabbed the leash and opened his cage, keeping a firm grip on his collar. He pulled against the leash and practically dragged me to the back door. “Okay, okay, we’re going.”

  After he did his business, he wasn’t ready to go back inside, but I made him go anyway. His head hung when I closed him back inside the cage. “I know, buddy, I’m sorry. Soon you’ll be able to break outta here and run like you want to. You just have to get better first.” I scratched his head when he pressed it against the door and whimpered.

  I forced myself to walk away from him and check on the last patient. Inside the cage, curled up in the corner, was a baby raccoon. When he saw me, he hissed and pushed himself further back in the cage. Dr. Anderson had taken him in when he found him on the side of the road after being struck by a car. He was old enough to make it on his own as soon as his injuries had healed and he put on a little weight. I had a feeling that being stuck back with all the other animals stressed him out and kept him from packing on the pounds.

  I walked back over to Shelby’s cage, hooked her up to the leash, and took her outside before I went to check on Sammy and her babies. Being in the back seemed to stress her out. Her ears were pinned back, and her eyes darted everywhere. There was no way I could leave her at the office, so I flipped the lid to the box closed, carried her out to my truck, and took her home for the night.

  ONE DAY TURNED INTO ANOTHER and I fell into a routine as the days passed. Seth stopped by every day and helped me out with whatever I had going on. When he was done with whatever chore I gave him, he’d sit with Sammy and her six kittens for a little bit and then head home. I’d brought her back to the vet’s office, the day after the kittens were born, and fixed up one of the larger cages for them. The phone didn’t ring as much when word got around that Dr. Anderson had to leave town, but people still came in and called with non-emergency questions. Sometimes, they’d bring their animals in to see if they needed to go to Dr. Jenkins.

  I didn’t mind the slower pace.

  I hadn’t heard from my dad, which was weird since he usually tried to call me a day or so before he was headed home. I figured I’d wait one more day and if I didn’t hear from him, I’d call him.

  That night when I got home, my cell phone rang. Dad’s ears must’ve been burning.

  “Hey stranger,” I said when I answered.

  “How’s my girl?”

  “Good. Staying busy,” I said, explaining to him about helping Dr. Anderson out.

  “That’s good, but isn’t that gonna keep you from school?”

  I winced and curled my hand into a fist. I hated keeping things from Dad, but I didn’t want to explain it to him over the phone. I’d rather talk to him face to face, so I could gauge his reaction. My dad had an uncanny way of keeping his voice light and friendly, even when he was angry enough to spit nails. “Nah, you know me. I can do it all,” I said, tossing in a laugh to keep his suspicions down.

  He barked out a laugh that ended on a wheeze. “Hey, you okay, Dad?’

  “I’m fine. Just caught a little cold. Hey listen, I need to renew my CDL certs, and I put it off too long to make it back to my doctor in time. Can you do me a favor?”

  “Sure. What do you need?” I asked.

  “In my closet, there’s a lock box. The key for it is in my sock drawer. I forgot to grab my new medical card when I left, so I’ll need you to take a picture of it and text me.”

  “Text you?” Hell had just frozen over. Of that, I was sure, because my dad would never text. He despised the whole concept. “Dad, what are you not telling me?”

  “Riley, I’m
fine. I just don’t have my medical card on me, and I’ll need it to get the physical done. Besides, aren’t you the one always grumbling when I give you a hard time about texting?”

  He laughed, and it sent him into a round of deep coughing.

  “You sure you’re all right?” I couldn’t keep the concern out of my voice.

  “I’ll be fine. Just send that over as soon as you can, so I don’t get my license pulled. Okay?”

  “All right, I’m doing it right now. When will you be home?”

  “Probably not for a few more weeks. They asked me to do another long haul and then a back haul that’ll put me away for a while longer.”

  I sighed into the phone, not bothering to cover it up. “I miss you, Dad.”

  “I miss you too, kiddo. I’ll be seeing ya. Love you. Be good. Okay?”

  He never let himself sound so sad when we talked, but it was probably because he knew it would be a while before he was back home and he felt bad because of it. “Love you too, Dad. Have them check out that cough!”

  When I hung up the phone, I went in search of the key in his sock drawer, pulled the box from the closet, and opened it. The medical card he’d asked for was right on top of a thick stack of envelopes. I snapped a picture and sent it to him. His reply was almost instant.

  Love you, baby girl.

  I made my way to the kitchen, pulled the refrigerator door open, and grumbled. I hadn’t restocked on anything and a trip to the grocery store was needed. Grabbing my keys and my wallet, I slid on my flip-flops and stepped out of the house in time to see Paige pull up in my driveway.

  She got out of her car and waved. “I was just coming to get you for dinner.”

  I walked over to the passenger side and got in. The cool air blowing from the AC vent felt good against the muggy summer air. Paige’s door closed with a solid thunk, and we pulled out of the driveway. She did it so fast that I wondered if she thought I’d change my mind.

  “So you’ve been staying pretty busy, I hear.” She looked over at me and then back to the road.

  “Yeah, but not as busy as it is when Dr. Anderson’s there.”

  “When will he be back?”

  I grabbed the door handle when Paige shot around an S-curve in the road. “Not sure. He should have called me by now. I hope everything’s all right with his mom.”

  “I’m sure it’s fine, Riley. He’s probably just busy is all.”

  My hand went to my hip, and I groaned. “We have to go back to the house. I forgot his phone.”

  “How about we just go through a drive-thru, and we can take it back to your place?”

  “That works.” I could have kicked myself for not remembering to grab his phone before I left the house. What if he called to check on how I was doing? He’d think I was being irresponsible, and then he wouldn’t want to ask me to help him again. Working for him was all I had left until I decided what I would do with the rest of my life. And really, that had changed over the past few weeks. I didn’t want to start school only to leave when Ace was done with boot camp.

  Paige pulled her car into the drive-thru lane of the only burger joint in town. The smell of greasy burgers and fries filled the confines of the car on our ride home. As soon as Paige pulled in the driveway, I shot out of the car and ran into the house. Dr. Anderson’s phone was just where I’d left it on my bed. A sigh of relief washed through me. No missed calls.

  I jogged back down the stairs, as Paige pulled the burgers out of the bag. “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah. No missed calls, thankfully.”

  She unwrapped her burger and held it up to her mouth. “Good. Now sit down and eat before the food gets colder than it already is.”

  I picked up a fry and twirled it in the air before sticking it in my mouth. “So what’s been going on with you?”

  She dusted a layer of salt off her hands and held her finger up as she took a sip of her drink. “It’s been pretty busy.”

  “Have you heard from Mark?”

  She rolled her eyes and chuckled. “He texts me all the time.”

  “So he’s all settled in then?”

  “Yeah, he’s ready to start school. I think he’s a little homesick though.”

  “Homesick or Paige sick?”

  I couldn’t help the laugh that escaped when she threw a French fry at me.

  “It’s bad enough with him giving me a hard time, and you wanna start in, too? Geez.”

  “What’s he giving you a hard time about?”

  “Every day he asks me to come up there. Every. Single. Day.”

  “Paige, do you like him?”

  She scoffed at my question. “Of course I like him. He’s my friend, Riley.”

  I picked up my drink and held the straw between my teeth as I squinted at her. She had to know she wasn’t fooling anyone—least of all me. “When are you going to just admit that you want to be with him?”

  She pushed back from the table and crossed her arms. Her brow kicked up one side, disappearing under her hair. “You of all people should know that nothing is that easy. I have a job, Riley. I’m working towards a career, the same as everyone else. I didn’t ask him to stay here and give up his dream, so why should I be asked to do that?”

  I took a long sip from the straw and set the cup back down. My question had pissed her off when that wasn’t my intent at all. I had to smooth things over before she stormed out. “I didn’t mean it like that. I was just curious is all. I mean, I know how you both feel about each other.”

  She snorted. “You had no idea even when Mark demanded that I come out to the cabin.”

  She had me there. I’d been so wrapped up in daydreaming over Ace that I’d been in my own little bubble for a long time. “Okay, so if you aren’t going to New York then what’s Mark’s plan? Is he coming back here after school?”

  Her eyes flickered closed and when they opened, she looked down at the table. “I don’t know.”

  “Well, nothing has to be set in stone right now. He has a few years of school. You have a few years to get your degree.”

  She lifted her eyes to mine. “That’s what I keep telling him.”

  “You know as well as I do how stubborn they can all be.”

  She crumpled her cheeseburger wrapper up and dumped it into the garbage. “Have you heard from Jared yet?”

  “No, I was waiting for him to get in touch with me. I might try to get a hold of him tonight.”

  “What the hell are we gonna do with these boys? They don’t call, they don’t write. I say we bang their heads together the next time we see them,” Paige said as she stood up and pushed her chair in.

  “Leaving already?” I asked.

  “Yeah, gotta be back at the hospital pretty early, so I’m gonna head home and get some sleep. I’ve missed my bed.”

  “Thanks for dinner,” I said, walking with her to the door.

  “That wasn’t dinner. That was a heart attack in a bag. Let’s do it again. Next time, it’s your treat,” she said over her shoulder as she opened her car door.

  “Sounds good. See ya later.” I waved as she pulled out of the driveway.

  I LOCKED THE FRONT DOOR and forced myself up the stairs. When I got to my room, I flopped down on the bed, grabbed my cell phone, and sent out texts to Josh, Jared, Mark, and Eli. I wasn’t sure if I’d hear anything from Eli since I had no idea what time it was in Haiti. Josh answered me back first. We chatted for a few minutes, and he promised to call me soon. Mark replied and asked me if the burgers were any good. Clearly, he’d spoken to Paige at some point between the time she left and then. Mark seemed really excited about school, and he couldn’t say enough good things about New York. No wonder Paige felt so pressured. If he could, he would have pulled me through the phone just to take me sightseeing.

  I felt myself drifting off after Mark and I had wrapped up our twenty-minute text marathon. Turning over on my side, I was just about to set my phone on my nightstand when it rang. Jared’s name flashed across
the screen, and I answered.

  “Hey, Rock God. How the hell are you?”

  “Hey, Riles! Miss me already?”

  I pressed the phone against my ear. Turning the volume up as far as it would go, I still had a hard time hearing him.

  “Where are you? I can barely hear you.”

  “I’m gettin’ ready for a show. When I saw your text, I figured I’d call you real quick.”

  “You could have just sent me a text.”

  “Yeah, but then I wouldn’t have been able to hear your voice.”

  The phone cut in and out as the noise around him grew louder. “Jared?”

  “I’m about to go on stage. I’ll call you when the show is over. That okay?”

  I looked over at my alarm clock. It was still fairly early. “Sure, maybe I’ll be able to hear you then.”

  I heard him joking as he talked with everyone around him. “Sorry, Riley. It’s getting a little crazy. I’ll call you back in a little bit.”

  His voice all but shouted in my ear so that I could hear him over the background noise.

  “Okay, bye!” I yelled, wincing at the loudness of my own voice.

  The call ended. I pulled the phone away from my ear and rubbed at it furiously. I felt practically deaf in one ear after a phone call that lasted less than two minutes.

  I set my phone on the nightstand and curled up. I’d hear it if I fell asleep.

  I WOKE UP AROUND THREE in the morning and made my way to the bathroom. Jared hadn’t called back. More than likely, he’d been riding on the bliss of Rock God-ism. Rubbing my eyes, I yawned as I crawled back between the sheets and felt myself falling back asleep when my phone rang, jolting me from it.

  I rolled over, grabbed my phone, and answered with a thick, sleepy voice.

  “Hey Riles, sorry it’s so late.”

  He sounded drunk.

  “How was the concert?”

  Jared’s deep laugh rumbled through the phone. “Fuckin’ epic, Riles. Only thing missin’ was y’all.”

  “Let me know when you’re gonna do a concert close to here, and I’ll make Paige come with me.”