Carolyn McSparren - Tennessee Vet

An instant later, Barbara’s door flew open.

“Stephen, what on earth?” she said as he climbed out.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you. May I say good night to Orville?” And maybe garner an invitation to come in for a cup of coffee?

Unlikely.

“Fine. Now that he’s in a cage in the barn, you don’t have to go into the clinic to visit him. Thank you, Stephen, for following me home. If you don’t mind, I’m off to bed.”

And she was.

He found Orville, who waked instantly and made a sleepy attempt at a squeal before tucking his head under his sound wing and subsiding back into sleep.

“Good night, big guy. May you dream of field mice scampering around just waiting to be gobbled up. I, on the other hand, will dream about being invited to Barbara’s for coffee one day.”

CHAPTER SIX

IT WASN’T TOO late for Stephen to call Anne at home in Memphis. Although she would love to get an apartment, her horse was a drain on her income, and Stephen had never charged her any rent. She had a separate apartment on the third floor. He’d been grateful to have someone in the big old place with him, someone to have breakfast with once in a while. Between horses and her two jobs, she had very little free time.

He only saw Elaine on the occasional Sunday. Now that he could no longer play golf, his Sunday afternoons were free. But Elaine’s visits were pity calls—always short and usually boring. He and Elaine had never had anything in common. Nina swore that Elaine had been born judgmental, and he was most often in her crosshairs. He liked Roger, her husband, who was a lawyer for several large Memphis-based corporations, but again, they had very little in common. Roger tended to pontificate about ideas that Stephen considered to the right of Nero and spent as many hours of his weekend as Elaine allowed him playing golf.

His own two had taught him that most adults had no respect for children. They might love them but refused to admit that sometimes children had a right to be irate when parents did things like get divorces. He often did not agree with Anne and Elaine, but he had always respected their opinions, even when he thought they were boneheaded.

Sometimes, however, it was difficult to respect Elaine’s ideas. He had tried to teach both girls that they could set forth any opinion, but they must be willing to back it up. Anne could always give him a backup for her opinions, even if Stephen thought they were ludicrous. Elaine, on the other hand, was of the because-I-said-so school.

When Anne picked up her cell phone, he could hear the noise of the bar she tended in the background. “Are you too busy to talk?” he asked.

“Daddy? I have time. It’s quiet right now.”

“If what I am hearing is quiet, I dread to think what a crowd sounds like.”

“Give me a second to get back to the office.” A moment later the ambient crowd noise went away. “There, the door’s shut. Are you sick of the country and itching to come home yet? Or, considering the bugs, just itching?”

“I’m barely settled in. I thought you’d be enjoying having the house to yourself. You are alone, aren’t you?”

“You think I’m having wild parties?”

“I hope not. My homeowner’s insurance doesn’t cover raves.”

“Well, I am not having any raves...or any dates, more’s the pity. You need to return your calls to all your lady friends. They keep leaving messages inviting you to everything from dinner to the theater.”

“Please do not tell them where I am or give them my new cell-phone number.”

“I can’t believe you changed your number when you got your new phone. Who does that? Members of a drug cartel?”

“I intend to keep the number when I go back into the classroom. In the meantime, a new number cuts down on nuisance calls. It’s the number the department will give out to students who are about to miss deadlines to turn in their essays and beg for more time.”

“Which you won’t give them.”

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.