Then he was gone.
Lucky followed Janice out, his crooning voice full of soothing words for his charge.
I gathered up the bags and meds, following behind him like some idiot girlfriend. He moved like his nickname suggested. For once, I had to trot to catch up with them. I overheard Lucky asking if they did payment arrangements in a low tone.
My eyes burned again.
How many times had I needed to ask that same thing in my life? Living paycheck to paycheck was more commonplace than not. And as I’d recently paid an emergency fee myself, I knew it was going to be cringeworthy.
A chorus of barks and howling cat screeches met us as we came around the corner. An orange and black cat was zipping all around the waiting room, leaping from the table to the turtle enclosure, its back arched, teeth bared. A black puppy in the Labrador family was happily chasing the cat from surface to surface.
The turtle enclosure was a Plexiglass tank, but oversized puppy feet jumping up against it were no match for gravity. It slid off the large farmhouse end table and crashed to the floor.
Turtle dude went onto its back, flapping his feet wildly as the puppy changed from the cat chase to a whole new point of interest. The dog licked the turtle’s face exuberantly as its owner tried to drag him away.
The door to a cat carrier was wide open and the cat flew back inside. I was pretty sure that was the only time a cat had actually willingly gone into a carrier. The puppy gave a happy bark and tried to climb in with it.
Janice ran forward with Steve huffing out an exasperated sigh before slowly following. Another dog was curled up under the table on the other side of the room, its nose tucked under its body to make itself smaller.
“Turtle, come out from under there.”
Well, that was a fitting name.
A slashing paw must have finally made contact because the black puppy whined and backed out of the carrier batting at its nose. The dog’s owner was shrieking uselessly from the sidelines. A smear of blood streaked the floor before the puppy stumbled away from Janice and its owner. The puppy made a beeline for the front door.
Another pet owner was backing through the door, utterly oblivious to the chaos he was walking into.
“Oh, shit.” I dropped my bags and jacket, then sprinted toward the door and made a grab for Wiggles, the trouble maker. I managed to scoop him up around the middle since the devil must have slipped his collar. I landed on my butt wi
th a tongue bath across my face for my trouble.
The puppy knocked me onto my back, covering me in kisses and slobber from neck to hairline. “A little help here?”
Steve finally made it over to me and hooked a contraption around the dog’s neck. He hauled him off me. “Down, Toby.”
I craned my neck to narrow my eyes at Lucky. “Thanks for the help.”
Lucky shrugged and cuddled Butch closer. “I had faith in you, Ruby.”
I collapsed back on the floor. “I hate you.”
He moved closer and peered down at me. “Sure you want to lay on that floor?” He held his hand out and I slapped it away. He tried again as I struggled to my feet.
“I got it.”
“Of course you do.”
I picked up my things and tried not to think about what had been on the floor. Maybe I’d just burn these leathers, to be safe.
Janice and Steve had restored semi-order to the waiting area, but now everything was backed up time-wise.
I slapped my credit card down before Lucky could ask about payment plans.
“You’re not paying for my dog.” His voice was tight.
“I’ll just take it out of your fees for doing the remodel.”
He frowned. “No.”