Page 56 of Doctorshipped
“The red-tailed squirrel. She loves it too, but she usually drags the leaf off with her. She doesn’t like to sit and eat it in front of me like Chuck does.”
“I see.”
“Did you know woodchucks are called whistle pigs around here too?”
“Can’t say I did.” I blow out a breath.
“It’s because they make a high-pitched whistling sound when they are upset. I really, really want to hear that sound, but I don’t want to upset Chuck.”
“Obviously.”
“Daddy.”
“Sweetheart. Chuck, your friend, is a potential carrier for rabies. Not to mention he could unsettle the foundation of this house and surely dislodge the back shed, all while turning our yard into a putt-putt golf course. He’s not meant to be a pet. Not even an outdoor one.”
“But you were going to invite him inside,” she nearly whines.
“When I thought he was a friend from school.”
Fiona looks at me for a moment and then she starts laughing hard.
“You thought Chuck was a person?”
She laughs some more.
“I know. I’m ridiculous. Right?”
“So ridiculous. As if there’d be a boy in my class named Chuck!”
“Hello!” Jayme’s voice rings through from the front of the house.
“Back here!” I shout back. Then I turn to Fiona. “Jayme’s here for tutoring. You aren’t going to be able to feed Chuck after today. I’m going to have to look into what we need to do to help him choose another place to live.”
“Daddyyyyy?” she whisper-whines.
I cross my arms over my chest and hold my ground. My ground that is going to be full of holes if Chuck doesn’t move on.
“Okay. Okay,” she huffs out. “But, can I feed him this one last time?”
Fiona puts on her puppy dog eyes. And, while I definitely know how to hold the line and turn her down, one more snack of lettuce won’t make or break the situation, so I give in.
“Go ahead. Offer Chuck his last supper.”
I walk into the house.
Jayme’s talking to someone on her phone in the foyer. I hang back in the kitchen to give her a chance to finish the call. I can’t help but overhear her side of the conversation.
“I’m working on it. I got on the accounts and saw my numbers. I promise you I’m not avoiding this.”
She’s quiet. Probably listening to the other person say something, and then she says, “Yes. I will. I’ve got a blurb written up for the next series I’ll email you tonight. Tell them I’ve got at least three more vampire books in mind and then the next series I’d do with them would go into more of a werewolf-shifter trope.”
She pauses again.
“I’m working on the cyborg story now. I’ve got about sixteen thousand words. It’s a solid start. Don’t share that with Heracles, though. I’m planning to publish that story independently.”
Heracles? As in the Greek mythical hero also known as Hercules? This woman. Life never has a chance to become dull with her around.
Jayme ends the call and walks into the kitchen.
