Page 15 of Love Bank
My hands went tingly and I got a bit lightheaded. Maybe my salad had gone bad in the warm spring sun. My stomach gurgled, prompting me to scrape my chair back and jump up. The kitty jumped too, probably not appreciating my sudden movements. She came closer, then broke my gaze to rub on my legs once more.
And that was when it hit me.
I couldn’t just let the citizens of Auburn Hill fight for me. It was up to me, Lucille Eureka, to fight back against mankind—no, scratch that, just the warden of the prison—and demand he keep his inmates out of my business. And the only way to get the attention of a bullheaded man like that was to go in guns blazing.
I was going to blackmail the warden of the town prison.
The lightheadedness went away in an instant. In fact, I felt a bubble of excitement worm its way through my body, firing me right up. The clouds parted—metaphorically—and I knew this was the right path to take. I wasn’t going to take this lying down. And why should I? I had evidence Mr. Sutter had a reproductive problem. A man used to barking orders at inmates wasn’t going to want the whole town to know he couldn’t get it up. Well, to be truthful, I knew for a fact he could get it up just fine, thank you very much. But that was neither here nor there. If the town knew he was a patient at the clinic, they would make assumptions. He was either hard up—I loved using that pun—for money, or he was giving a sample to be tested for low sperm count. What other reason would there be for a single, unattached male to jack off in a specimen cup?
The wind in my sails deflated a gust or two when I realized going public with his little problem would break doctor-patient confidentiality. Then again, I could just let it slip he’d been at the clinic and let the Auburn Hill gossip grapevine work from there. Wasn’t my fault if the game of telephone exaggerated and twisted the details, right?
The cat meowed again, startling me from my thoughts. She looked right at me, but her eyes had changed. They were less judgey and more “attagirl.” Maybe I was imagining it, but she had that same expression the goat had last weekend.
Throwing caution to the wind, I leaned down, scooped her up, and walked over to the back door. Spinning quickly, I backtracked to the table to grab my Tupperware and fork.See, Mr. Seagull? I didn’t forget my food, so you can just fly far, far away.
I marched through the clinic, depositing my container back at my desk and then out into the lobby where Keva clacked away on her computer keyboard.
“I’m going to—ahhhh’ choo!—take this cat back to—” Another sneeze threatened, so I just pointed over in the general direction of the Cat Society. I needed to get this cat dropped off, take some allergy meds, and put my plan in action.
Keva winced when another huge sneeze racked my body. Then the cat batted me across the face with her paw, which I didn’t appreciate. Keva choked back a laugh even as I scowled at both her and the cat. Here I was, saving the damn cat, and she bitch-slapped me. Granted, she kept her claws in, but still. Have some respect.
I held her away from me, even as she hissed and writhed in my grip. I wasn’t taking any chances. I marched right over to the Cat Society, making it inside before the cat flailed out of my hands and landed on all fours. She gave me that eerie hate stare and walked off.
“Is that you, Lucille?”
Yedda made her way to the front of the shop, looking like a Big Foot. Cats hung from every body part, making her a patchwork of various cat fur colors. I could see the cat fur floating through the air and trying to coat every surface of me. I shivered.
When she got close, she took one glance at my grimace-smile and opened a can of something. The cats all jumped off her at once, like whatever was in that can was a cat magnet.
“Cat nip toy,” Yedda explained.
She came forward and pulled me into a hug. It was the kind grandmothers gave; all soft and warm and smelling like ointment cream and chocolate chip cookies. Maybe I should hook her up with my sister, Lavender, and see if Yedda wanted to become a Hug Therapist too in case the National Cat Protection Society didn’t work out.
“Thank you for bringing Poo back, dear.” She released me finally and I pulled back in time to let out another sneeze. “Oh, poor thing. Must be all the dust in the air with the new construction.”
I held my nose, nodding, even though I could see cat hair floating through the air and catching the light as the sun shined through the window. Yeah, sure, had to be the construction dust.
“My pleasure,” I answered, all nasally from holding my nose. I wanted to wipe my wet and itchy eyes too, but I knew from experience, that would just make it worse. “She helped me come up with a super idea, so thankyou.”
She smiled. “Animals are such amazing creatures. A little pat here, a little rub there and you’re left with magic.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s the same with my business.”
She frowned and tilted her head. I rushed on before she could figure it out.
“Okay, I have to go. Just be careful around here. An inmate decided to enter my shop yesterday, so keep an eye out for tweakers.”
“Even tweakers might like a lovely cat, Lucille.”
I shrugged. “Maybe so, but I’d prefer they skip our shops altogether just to be on the safe side.”
Yedda narrowed her eyes at me and I was afraid I’d really upset her.
“I have a nephew in Tennessee I think you’d really love. He’s coming out here next month for a visit.”
Adrenaline shot through my body before my brain even comprehended what she was gearing up for. Fight or flight was in full swing by the time she got to the point.
“Would you mind if I introduced you two?” She smiled at me so sweetly, I wanted to say yes for a fraction of a second.
