Stray (5 page)

“No, really? Why? What’s so bad about it?”

“Well, to answer that question, I’ll have to give you a little town history. You got time?”

I looked at my watch and realized I had only half an hour before I was supposed to meet Jon at the clinic. By now, though, I was concerned that his BMW would draw attention and I’d be in some sort of vague trouble. “I’d better take time,” I answered. “I’ve got twenty minutes.”

“I’ll make it quick then. You know this was a mining town, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. From 1875 to around 1950 or so, the families that built this town made their living either pulling minerals out of the ground or supplying the needs of those that did. Mining tears up the land, you know, and this little canyon got to looking pretty ragged. Along about 1950, there wasn’t enough of anything left to make running a mine profitable, and one by one the mines shut down. The miners had to move on, because there wasn’t anything for them to do to make a living. We went from a town of about 5000 to just the families that owned the land and the mining claims, maybe 200 of us.”

“You were one of the owners?” I asked.

“Yes, my dad was, at first. He retired from trying to scratch a living out of his claims. My brother went on down to Boulder and opened an engineering firm with another man from here, and I went to medical school. But when I got my medical degree, I came back here, for reasons you’ll understand in a minute. Anyway, Sunshine was pretty near a ghost town by the early ‘60s, but some of the kids started coming back when the Age of Aquarius came in.”

“The Age…”

“Earth children, sis. We were tuning in, turning on and dropping out by the dozens”.

“You, too, Doc?” I asked.

“To some extent. I guess you could say I had my foot in both worlds, but that’s not an easy divide to straddle.”

“So, what happened? With the ski resort?”

“Well, it started with my brother and his partner becoming successful enough to do some development work. They knew about the town, of course, and started talking to folks about their mining claims and their land holdings. Next thing we knew, they held a meeting with all of the land owners. They proposed to build a ski resort here, clean up any remnants of the ugliness that the old mines had left on the mountain, and revive the town economy. You know, it’s not easy letting go of a dream of Utopia, but by then those who still lived here knew that they hadn’t put away enough for retirement. Those guys had a way of painting a rosy picture, and they were offering stock in the resort in return for the land. They promised to restore the forest, use the land responsibly, and limit construction to the ski lodge and one hotel that would have just one hundred rooms. It was supposed to have almost no ecological impact on the town, but the existing businesses would get a boost.”

“But, Doc, there are half a dozen high-rise hotels over there,” I protested.

“Yep,” he said, his mouth twisted with bitterness. “They lied, and they did it right under our noses. The contracts didn’t limit them in any way…we trusted them to keep their word. Now there’s hardly a strip of trees in between the ski runs, we get a thousand cars up here every day during ski season, and they use our water to make snow early so ski season is longer. Megan’s right…we hate ‘em.”

The implications about Doc’s relationship with his brother were tempting, but I didn’t have much time left. I’d have to explore that another time if I got the chance.

“Doc, what should I do about treating their pets? I hate to see an animal suffer just because its owner works for a big corporation that doesn’t keep its word. In fact, I’ve got one now, a stray dog that someone named Jon brought in after he hit it with his car.”

“Is that so? Well, I expect you’ll be all right. Just think twice about getting to friendly with any of ‘em, especially that one. Now, get out of here, sis, I’ve got to get home and put my feet up, and your twenty minutes is up and then some.”

With a gasp, I looked at my watch. Two minutes to get to the clinic. I ran.

~*~

When I reached the clinic, flying down the sidewalk as if pursued by wolves, I found Jon leaning against his BMW with his arms crossed over his chest. I slowed to a walk, but not before he spotted me. He was standing there with an amused look on his face as I approached, admiring his profile. Damn, why did he have to be a resort person? And why did he have to have a girlfriend? Oh, yeah, maybe because he was beyond gorgeous. My heart did a little flip when he smiled at me.

“You’re late,” he observed without heat.

“Sorry, lost track of time,” I said. “Let me just unlock the door and you can be on your way.”

“Oh, I want to make sure he’s settled,” he objected. “Go ahead and get the door, and I’ll get Max.

With no choice in the matter unless he let me crawl into his car to get the dog, I complied. I swung the door open and flipped on the lights as Jon came through the door, almost too broad in the shoulders with Max in his arms to walk straight through. He adjusted his angle and scooted in right shoulder first, allowing me to get a glimpse of Max for the first time since he’d left this afternoon.

You know how a dog looks like it’s smiling when it’s relaxed and happy, mouth hanging open and tongue out? Max had the biggest smile I’d ever seen, and he was a changed man, er, dog. His coat was shiny and I could see his true color for the first time, a deep golden that bordered on red. He had a jaunty red bow clipped to the bandage around his neck, evidently a substitute for the bandanna that the groomer would usually have used. His toenails were clipped and polished. He was beautiful!

“Oh, my, don’t you look handsome,” I said to Max.

“Why, thank you,” Jon answered.

“I didn’t mean you,” I started, then realized how rude that sounded. Oh, God, just kill me now. When would I stop being awkward around him? Probably never; I wouldn’t have to see him for much longer.

“I’m sorry, that was rude, but I was talking to the dog,” I said, making it that much worse.

“No problem, he’s been upstaging me all day.”

“Thanks for doing all this for him,” I said. “I have to admit you’re a good guy after all.” Oh, shit, I did it again. I risked a peek at Jon, who seemed to be having difficulty with his breathing. Or maybe he was laughing at me, which was a thousand times worse. He was! I blushed deeply, a curse of my fair skin, and he stopped trying to suppress it, a deep chuckle striking me right in the solar plexus.

“Well, I’m glad for that vote of confidence. I wasn’t aware of being a bad guy, but glad you changed your mind.” Great, he was mocking me. I should just shut up and not try to talk to him at all. I didn’t answer.

Jon shrugged his shoulders. “The therapist said to bring him back on Thursday, so is that okay?”

“You’re offering to take him back? Or telling me I should?” I asked, confused.

“Oh, no, I’ll take him. I’m just asking if it’s okay. I wouldn’t ask you to do that, you’d have to close the clinic. I know there’s no other vet.” His tone was a tiny bit plaintive, as if he were offended by my question.

“Yeah, uh, sure,” I said, now so thoroughly flustered that I just wished he’d leave so I could bang my head on my desk. “Thursday’s fine, I mean great. I’ll see you then.”

“Okay,” he said, hesitating now. “Hey, would you like to grab a bite to eat? Papa’s Eats has a great Colorado green chili burrito. Have you tried it yet?”

About a thousand thoughts flew through my head, starting with, ‘what would your girlfriend say?’ and running through ‘don’t get too friendly’ and ‘I thought Papa’s was only open for breakfast.’ What came out of my mouth was a strangled ‘erk’. Jon and Max both tilted their heads. It was so funny I let out a sharp bark of a laugh, causing Max to thump his tail on the floor and Jon to look more confused.

“I, uh, no, sorry, I’ve got plans,” I said, trying desperately to come up with something sufficiently urgent in case Jon asked what plans. The only thing I could think of was I had to wash my hair. Lame, lame, lame. Fortunately, he didn’t ask.

“Another time, maybe,” he said, with an easy smile. Then he turned and left with a final pat to Max’s head. When I’d locked the front door behind him, I went back to Max.

“Well, that was awkward. Hey, dogs are supposed to be good judges of character. What do you think of the very yummy Jon Whatshisname? Do you think it’s suspicious that he’s never given me his last name? And now that I think of it, why did Doc seem to know exactly who I was talking about?”

Max gazed at me earnestly, but he didn’t have an answer. I had to assume that he thought Jon was okay, since he hadn’t bitten him.

“Do you need to go outside, buddy?” I asked. Max’s tail thumped wildly as he got to his feet, noticeably with less difficulty than before. “Hey, you’re doing great!” I enthused. When we came back in, I let him accompany me to the front desk, where I ran the day-end before putting him back in the kennel for the night. “Sorry, buddy. Wish I could take you home with me, but I can’t. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Max put his head on his front paws, his tail thumping once. I hated to leave him.

~*~

The day hadn
’t been physically strenuous, but I was bone-weary when I got home. Tonight would be a boxed mac’n’cheese night, though I hated the stuff with a passion. To make it nutritionally sound, I cut up a hot dog in it. I hated those, too. With a bowl of disgusting orange pasta and a glass of white wine for the fruits and veg portion, I flopped into my favorite chair in front of the TV and moped.

Had I made the worst mistake of my life in coming here? It seemed I’d jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire. Sure, I wanted to be hundreds of miles from any reminder of Greg and our four years together, but I’d never lived in a small town in my life. I was beginning to understand why my mom had tried to warn me. Who knew what repercussions the slightest wrong word or social misstep would bring? Now that I was aware of the tension between two of the factions in town, I was nervous that a wrong move was inevitable, especially if I couldn’t control myself around the resort people, like Jon.

On the other hand, there was no way I could just quit and go home. I’d used every penny of my savings to get here, and besides I was under contract for a year. Mulling it over, I realized that the way the contract was written, Dr. Simmons could fire me, but I couldn’t quit. Oh, joy. That meant I couldn’t even talk to him about his impossible daughter, because surely he’d take her side. I was royally fucked, and not in a good way.

Speaking of which,
that
hadn’t happened in a while, either. I didn’t think of myself as a sex maniac, but I did have a healthy respect for an orgasm, which was the one reason I’d stayed with Greg for so long in spite of his insufferable attitude. He was good for at least one whenever we had sex. Not an inspiring one, to be sure, but the physical release was welcome. Since I’d moved here, I hadn’t had a date, much less sex. In fact, I hadn’t met a single dateable guy since I got here, if you didn’t count Jon. I didn’t, because he had a girlfriend, and I don’t do that.

Something would have to be done, or I was going to end up sobbing all night. Thank God for satellite TV! What I was going to do was turn on a re-run of the Big Bang Theory and laugh myself silly. Then I was going to deliberately and without shame get in the shower and get myself off. Maybe after that, I’d dig out Bob, my battery-operated boyfriend, and do it again. That ought to make me feel better. Or miserable, one or the other. Maybe another glass of wine was in order.

Two episodes of BBT and a second glass of wine later, I was in a much mellower mood. I decided to skip the shower until later and crawled into bed with my favorite toy, a hot pink dildo with a bulbous head and a butterfly thingy for my clit. Naked, I leisurely teased my nipples until they were throbbing and wishing for a wet mouth. The best I could do was some lube and a pair of cute little suction devices that I’d picked up in Denver. By now, I was wet where it counted, and I reached down to tease my clit and put my fingers as far as I could reach into my swollen channel. Not good enough, I couldn’t reach without an awkward twist to my torso. Time for Bob. I used my fingers to put a little lube on his head, and then turned on the vibration to the first, gentle setting. Needing a bit more  visual stimulation, I left him there, with just the head inserted, while I reached for the remote and found the Playboy channel. Okay, so sue me, I like to watch.