LITMIR.BIZ

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the last thing she needed was more time on her hands, Raine forced herself to climb out of bed. There was no point in wallowing in self-pity for the rest of the day.

      She needed to take action. To focus on the positive. She’d taken to volunteering at the animal shelter on her days off, as dealing with animals was somehow easier lately, than dealing with people.

      It was time to visit her furry friends who were always there when she needed them.

      

      Caleb pulled up in front of his father’s house and swallowed a deep sigh. His father had called to ask for help, after injuring his ankle after falling off a ladder. His father was currently living alone, as his most recent relationship had ended in an unsurprising break-up. Caleb was relieved that at least this time his father had been smart enough to avoid marrying the woman. With four divorces under his belt, you’d think his father would learn. But, no, he kept making the same mistakes over and over again.

      Leaving Caleb to pick up the pieces.

      He walked up to the house, frowning a bit when he saw the front door was open. He knocked on the screen door, before opening it. “Dad? Are you in there?”

      “Over here, Caleb,” his father called out. His father’s black Lab, Grizzly, let out a warning bark, but then came rushing over to greet him as he walked through the living room into the kitchen. He took a moment to pet the excited dog, and then crossed over to where his father was seated at the table, with his ankle propped on the chair beside him. “Thanks for coming.”

      “Sure.” He bent over his father’s ankle, assessing the swollen joint, tenderly palpating the bruised tissue around the bone. “Are you sure this isn’t broken?”

      “Told you I took X-rays at the shelter, didn’t I?” his father said in a cantankerous tone. “It’s not broken, it’s only sprained. Did you bring the crutches?”

      “Yes, they’re in the car.” But he purposely hadn’t brought them in. He’d asked his father to come into the ED while he was working, but did he listen? No. His father had taken his own X-rays on the machine he used for animals. Caleb would rather have looked at the films himself.

      “Why did ya leave them out there? Go get ‘em.”

      Caleb propped his hands on his hips and scowled at his father. “Dad, be reasonable. Take a couple of days off. Being on crutches around animals is just asking for trouble. Surely the shelter can do without you for a few days?”

      “I told you, there’s some sort of infection plaguing several of the new animals. I retired from my full-time veterinary practice last year, didn’t I? I only go to the shelter three days a week and every other Saturday. Surely that’s not too much for an old codger like me.” His dad yanked on the fabric of his pants leg to help lift his injured foot down on the floor. “If you won’t drive me, I’ll arrange for a cab.”

      Caleb closed his eyes and counted to ten, searching for patience. He didn’t remember ever calling his dad an old codger, but nevertheless a shaft of guilt stabbed deep. He’d promised to help out more, but hadn’t made the time to come over as often as he should have. “I said I’d take you and I will. But, Dad, you have to try taking it easy for a while. Every time I stop by I find you doing something new. Trying to clean out the gutters on that rickety old ladder was what caused your fall in the first place.”

      “Well, someone had to do it.”

      This time Caleb counted to twenty. “You never asked me to help you with the gutters,” he reminded his father, striving for a calm tone. “And if you’d have waited, I could have done the job when I came over to mow your lawn on the weekend.”

      His father ignored him, gingerly rising to his feet, leaning heavily on the back of the kitchen chair to keep the pressure off his sore ankle. Grizzly came over to stand beside him, as if he could somehow assist. “I’m going to need those crutches to get outside.”

      Arguing with his father was about as effective as herding cats. His father simply ignored the things he didn’t want to deal with. “Sit down. I’ll get them.” Caleb strode back through the house, muttering under his breath, “Stubborn man.”

      He grabbed the crutches out of the back of the car and slammed the door with more force than was necessary. He and his father had always been at odds and the passing of the years hadn’t changed their relationship much. Caleb’s mother had taken off, abandoning him at the tender age of five. One would think that fact alone would have brought him and his dad closer together. But his father hadn’t waited very long before bringing home future stepmothers in an attempt to replace his first wife. At first the relationships had been short-lived, but then he’d ended up marrying a few.

      None of them stayed very long, of course. They left, just like his mother, for a variety of reasons. Because they realized being a vet didn’t bring in a boat-load of money, especially when you were already paying alimony for a previous marriage. Or they found someone else. Or simply got bored with playing step-mom to someone else’s kid.

      Whatever the reason, the women his father picked didn’t stick around. Carmen was the one who’d stayed the longest, almost three years, but in the end she’d left, too.

      Yeah, his father could really pick them.

      “Here are the crutches,” he said as he entered the kitchen. “Now, be patient for a minute so I can measure them. They have to fit your frame.”

      For once his father listened. After he’d adjusted the crutches to his father’s height, the older man took them and leaned on them gratefully. “Thanks,” he said gruffly.

      “You’re welcome.” Caleb watched his father walk slowly across the room, making sure he could safely use them. Grizz got in the way once, but then quickly learned to avoid them. Crutches weren’t as easy to use as people thought, and Caleb worried about his father’s upper-arm strength. But his father was still in decent shape, and seemed to manage them well enough. Reluctantly satisfied, he followed his father outside, giving Grizz one last pat on the head.

      The shelter was only ten miles away. Neither one of them was inclined to break the silence as Caleb navigated the city streets.

      He pulled up in front of the building and shut the car. “I’ll come inside with you,” he offered.

      “Sure.” His father’s mood had brightened the closer they’d gotten to the shelter, and Caleb quickly figured out the elder man needed this volunteer work more than he’d realized.

      More guilt, he thought with a slight grimace. He held the front door of the building open, waiting for his father to cross the threshold on his crutches before following him in.

      “Dr. Frank! What happened?”

      Caleb froze when he saw Raine rushing toward his father. She didn’t seem to have noticed him as she placed an arm around his father’s thin shoulders.

      “Twisted my ankle, that’s all. Nothing serious.” His father patted her hand reassuringly. “Now, tell me, Raine, how’s Rusty doing today? Is he any better?”

      “He seems a little better, but really, Dr. Frank, should you be here? Maybe you should have stayed at home to rest.” Raine lifted her gaze and he knew she’d spotted him when she paled, her dark red hair a stark contrast to her alabaster skin. “Caleb. What are you doing here?”

      “Dropping off my father.” He couldn’t help the flash of resentment at how friendly his father and Raine seemed to be. She had never mentioned working at the animal shelter during those two months they’d dated. But here she was, standing with her arm protectively around his father, as if they were life-long buddies.

      A foreign emotion twisted in his gut. Jealousy. For a moment he didn’t want to acknowledge it. But as he absorbed the camaraderie between his father and Raine, he couldn’t deny the truth.

      His father had grown closer to Raine in the time since she’d pushed him away.

      

      Raine

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