Page 17 of Family Bonds: Carter & Avery

“The new vet arrived early. She showed up at the clinic to check it out and I felt horrible I had all the sinks ripped out. I know Dr. Mullins wouldn’t have cared as long as the one room he used was set, but I did them all. Dr. Keegan is going to be there today with her new employees and figuring things out.”

“Sounds like they are itching to get to work,” his mother said. “That makes me so happy.”

“You and your three cats,” he said.

His mother had always been a cat person. Not him. Ever.

He liked the big sloppy dog. The slow-moving kind.

They said dogs took after their masters and he wondered if that was the other way around. If someone had to pick a dog to compare to him he was pretty sure it’d be his St. Bernard.

Not the weight part or even the hairy part.

He wasn’t fat, but he was six foot and solid. He’d always been that way.

“Chester, Carl and Chuck happen to love it at our house, but they hate the ferry ride. So I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to not have to do that or wait months to get an appointment with Dr. Mullins. What’s Dr. Keegan like?”

“She’s young,” he said.

“It’s a woman?” his mother asked.

“Yes. She’s friends with Laine. That is how she found out about the job.”

“Laine Connors?” his mother asked. “That makes more sense how it happened as fast as it did. If they are friends, Laine is early thirties I believe. Even better. It’s someone that might be more up on the times.”

“Sure,” he said. “But it’s not like the equipment there is top notch. She has all that coming in too, she’d said.”

“You’ve got to start somewhere, Carter. You know that. Didn’t you add the body shop to the garage? Your father never wanted to touch that.”

His father had been busy fixing the cars on the island. Then the tow truck service he ended up adding on. Carter was the one that decided to buy rental cars too. Why not? People had insurance for it or were willing to pay for it while their cars were getting fixed.

Any way he could expand he did and now had three cars he rented out. He’d add on more at some point, but it had to be a good deal.

But the body shop, that was a hard one to get going.

He could do some small repairs but wasn’t trained to do a lot of the paint jobs. Plus special equipment was needed for it too.

It was worth the investment when he set it up five years ago in the old building next to the garage.

He wasn’t some dumb mechanic. He had a business mind too and was going to prove to everyone he had what it took.

“I was glad I was able to get someone here full time finally.”

It hadn’t been easy to lure anyone to the island with how hard it was to find housing and the costs. But the small apartment above the garage that he’d lived in for years, he’d decided to throw in as part of the salary of the body shop guy.

It was a win win for everyone. Though he could be collecting rent, not many might want to live above a garage.

Stew Middleton thought this was a dream job come true for him and his wife. Candy worked at the grocery store as the customer service manager and the two of them believed they were living an early retirement dream on an island in their forties.

He liked that they were simple in their lifestyle like him and the fifteen-hundred-square-foot two-bedroom apartment suited their needs.

“You lucked out with Stew and Candy and you know it,” his mother said.

“You like Candy,” he said. “Admit it.”

“I do,” his mother said. “She’s a sweet lady, but boy does she like to talk.”

He grunted. He knew that well.

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