Page 93 of Hey, Daddy

He’d been a vet for a very long time.

Though he wasn’t a small animal veterinarian, he helped my mom out as much as he could when he had the time. Which, admittedly, wasn’t all that much.

Dad was a world-renowned horse vet that sometimes traveled around the country to follow his charges.

That was where he’d been for the last week.

He was checking over a horse that was said to possibly be the winner of this year’s Kentucky Derby.

“What happened with the horse?” I asked.

“Long fuckin’ story,” he grumbled. “One I’d rather not get into right now since I’m finally having a good day after the last couple really shitty ones. I’m sure you’ll see it in the news, anyway.”

I had a feeling I’d already seen his ‘bad day.’

I’d just been hoping that it wasn’t him that had been involved with it.

A horse had been administered the horse equivalent of speed and had died during a practice run.

It was awful, and I couldn’t believe that we lived in a world that was so shitty.

Animals were gifts, and people treated them with no respect.

I’d seen that time and time again over the years, following my parents around from an adoption event to a horse race.

“This one.” Nastya pointed at an orange kitten. “I think for sure this one.”

The little girl looked torn. “But that white one looks kind of pretty, too.”

The mother that was with the little girl snorted. “We’re not getting two, darling.”

“But Mom…”

“They actually say that you can’t have just one kitten. That they’ll be more sociable if you get two. But not from the same litter. Though I think that might’ve been dogs.” Nastya grinned sheepishly at the mother.

“Oh, a dog!” the little girl cried.

“I think I’d rather have two kittens,” the mother muttered.

“Perfect!” the little girl cried again. “We can get the orange one and the white one!”

Nastya flashed me a grin of triumph, and I winked at her.

The new front desk girl led the mom and the girl over to the desk where they filled out their paperwork, and Nastya came to me.

“Oh!” she cried. “You’re Haze’s dad.”

I winked. “How did you know?”

“Because he’s incredibly handsome, looks like he could be your brother, and man, you Hopkins men age well.” She looked back and forth from me to my dad.

“Let me tell you something,” Mom sighed. “It’s hard work trying to keep up with this one. He ages like fine wine, and I’m constantly having to put in so much work to keep myself looking good so no one comments on our disparities.”

I gagged. “Mother.”

“You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, Renee,” my dad shmoozed.

I pulled Nastya toward me and muttered, “Look what you did.”

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