“So you clean cages and walk dogs.”
“I’m a veterinary medicine student, and I do so much more than that, and one day it will be for more than just cats and dogs.”
Dr. Voss has been hanging back for the last two years, letting me do most of the challenging treatments and procedures. He still takes all the credit and the pay, of course, but I go with it. It’s good experience and will serve me well, be it in vet school or some other avenue.
“Well, let this be a lesson you learn along your journey.” He begins writing.
“Oh my god.” I shake my head in disbelief then smash my hands against my eyes, trying to gather what little scraps of patience and propriety I have left, hoping to make any feeble Hail Mary at turning this around. “Look, I’m…really not having a good day. I’m sorry for not staying up to date on the regulations. I swear I will from now on?—”
“Yes, you will.” His words fly from his mouth as briskly as he tears the ticket off the pad and hands it to me.
I snatch the ticket out of his hand. “Are you shitting me?”
“Not much of a shitter.” He quirks an eyebrow. “Have a nice day.”
“Oh, you’re a shitter.” I’m bitter and cynical. “In fact, you just shit on the already terrible day I told you I had. But you? Please go have the day you deserve!”
To that, the annoyingly attractive game warden offers a barely amused smirk. I whip away from him, grab my gear, and salute him with my middle finger over my shoulder as I walk away.
3
WOLF
“Well, the last rounds you had me do weren’t completely without incident,” I say to Forest as I pull out one of the dark cherry chairs from the table. I look toward the bar and tilt my chin up at Vanessa, a sign to bring me my usual IPA.
Forest pauses with his beer bottle halfway to his lips. “So that’s what took you so long? Well, I had to deal with the over-privileged, self-important fathers of all four of those little shits, so boo fucking hoo.” He finishes by taking a hearty pull.
I take a seat facing Forest and the flatscreen behind him. The Crushers are in the fourth inning. Having my back to the rest of the bar and my focus on the game helps me manage all the stimuli.
“What the hell happened, then?” he asks loud enough that Hawk and River both glance our way from the nearby pool table.
“Had to write a girl a couple fishing citations.” I shake my head and glance at the game—nothing new to see here—but allI’m really seeing is a petite brunette spitfire in a Crushers ball cap with a rush of golden-brown hair coming out the back.
That doesn’t fly with my nosey-ass brothers, though, as evidenced by the hard thud that resounds in the chair as River appears next to me.
“The fuck?” I lean back, regarding him.
“Did you saygirl?”
“What the hell is this—a middle school slumber party? Yes, girl or young woman, whatever you want to call her.” I shake my head again, irritated. And when the three dipshits exchange disbelieving looks, I’m forced to add, “Women break laws too.”
“Maybe, but they don’t usually get caught,” River points his pool cue towards me.
“Well, she did. Now resume playing with your balls in your pockets.” I jerk my head back at the pool table.
“Well, if I ever caught a woman breaking the law,” Hawk moseys to the table, letting the floor support the end of his pool stick, “I can’t say I’d write her a ticket.” He lowers his eyelids to half-mast and gives us a sly look, but it’s all bravado.
Vanessa sets my beer down in front of me. “What are you idiots blabbering about?” she asks as she straightens up and wipes the condensation onto her jeans.
“Ticket-happy Wolf over here,” Hawk supplies, lazily waving his hand at me. “I’m surprised he wasn’t the hall monitor back in school.”
“Or grow up to be an overzealous mall cop,” River adds as he shoots the cue ball to clack against the four, knocking it into a corner pocket.
“You guys need to lay off,” she informs them. “Once upon a time I was going to marry this guy.” She looks at me, her curly dark hair swinging as she gives me a sweet, half-lidded look. “Or did you all forget?”
The elevator in my chest drops downward at the weird memory that sums up my dating history.
“We didn’t, but I’m pretty surehedid.” River grins, sticking his tongue out between his teeth.