Page 39 of No Rings Attached
“Bad kitty,” I reprimanded Stormy, knowing it was futile. Although, I swear if a cat could roll her eyes, she just did. Then she went back to smacking Drew’s other hand with her paw, but without claws this time.
We stayed on the floor like that, for a while. Stormy had seemed to claim me. After a bit, I needed to get up so we could tour the rest of the facility. “Sorry sweetie, but we need to move on.” My new kitty friend gave a loud, irritatedmerpwhen I stood.
Theo, with another shake of his head, continued on with the tour. He showed us where the small animals were kept, the triage area, and then finally where the cats lived. Stormy followed at my feet the whole time.
We finished the tour with Theo pointing out the areas where they could use help and the long list of supplies they were in constant need of. Drew and I brainstormed how we could position our marketing team to include the shelter and get more money and items donated.
Now that it was time to go, Stormy let me have a quick snuggle before I put her in a cage. Her golden eyes followed me, clearly disappointed that she wasn’t going too.
“I’m sorry,” I crooned. My heart twinged at leaving her behind. “I don’t live here. I can’t take you with me.”
With one last look, she spun in a circle and laid down, her butt facing me.
I had to laugh.
“That was pretty extraordinary.” Theo still hadn’t gotten over Stormy’s unexpected attachment to me.
I tried to lighten the mood. “She probably realized I was a sucker and would keep petting her.” I didn’t want to admit that it was hard to walk away and not scoop her up and bring her home to the B&B.
As if it could sense I was happy, my phone rang. I checked the screen, and of course it was the last person I wanted to talk to.
My sister.
I let it go to voicemail. I didn’t want to admit to her that I hadn’t looked for a venue for her new country-fied wedding.
Part of me hoped by now she’d have changed her mind about coming to Ruby River.
My phone buzzed a minute later when she texted me. Then another text. And another. I needed to silence my phone because its continuous vibrations were starting to rival the vibrator I’d stuck in my luggage at the last minute.
My phone rang again, this time buzzing in my hand. And again I declined the call.
It rang again.Decline.
After the fourth time, I excused myself to answer. I couldn’t type anything with calls constantly coming in. My family was relentless.
“Please tell me this is an emergency,” I pleaded, instead of saying hi. I gave an apologetic smile to Theo and Drew and headed around the nearest corner for some privacy.
“Eleanor?” My mother had perfected the shocked/peeved sounding voice over the years. In one word, she made me feel like I was in the wrong for not answering in the way she expected.
“Yes, it’s me. I’m at work right now. Can’t we just talk later?” I realized my mistake as soon as the words were out of my mouth. I asked her if we could. Which gave her the permission to ignore my question. And that’s exactly what she did.
“Your sister and I will be arriving in Ruby River tomorrow afternoon.” My mother sniffed. “Since you haven’t gotten back to us about possible venues, your sister called around. We have an appointment with the only place that isn’t a total backwoods location. Apparently, The River House had a last-minute cancellation, and if all goes well, your sister’s wedding will be in two weeks. I need to call and reserve a room at a local hotel.” Now was not the time to tell her the only place to stay was the B&B.
“You’re kidding? How can she plan a wedding in two weeks? What happened to a few months?” My index finger and thumb dug into my forehead to soothe the low-grade headache my mother’s voice induced and threatened to brew into a full-blown migraine if I wasn’t careful.
“Her fans are demanding it all now. And you know Celia. She wants to give them what they’re asking for.”
Or, more likely, my social media darling sister wasn’t getting the views and likes she craved—or her sponsors were pushing back on her, but I held my tongue.
“And that’s why she has you, Eleanor. We’ll divide and conquer.”
I loved how my mother just assumed I would drop everything and help.
I wanted to throw my phone to the floor, stomp on it, and have a good old temper tantrum like I was two years old.Divide and conquertranslated to me doing most of the legwork. Celia would take videos and pictures of what she wanted to show her fans, then she’d take credit for the workIwas doing.
“Mother, I’m here to work. Not to plan Celia’s wedding. That’s impossible given the workload I’ve taken on during this trip and too much to ask of me.” I shouldn’t be surprised that they had no respect for my job.
My mother then launched the weapon that always worked to wipe me out and surrender. “Having her dream wedding is at the top of her must-do list. What if she was sick again and couldn’t experience it?”
