I could tell he hated everything about this place, including me. What type of self-righteous asshole got off coming into a diner and being so damn hateful he couldn’t even enjoy Sam’s pancakes, which were the best this side of the Mason-Dixon Line? This asshole. To top it off, he kept leaving twenties as some sort of sick joke after stiffing me on a tip the first day he dined.

I hated him.

* * *

The car door creaked as I closed it and walked into the humane society. A chime rang out from above the door as I entered. Tipping my head upward, I looked for a bell, and a tiny white box off to the side of the door’s edge caught my eye.

“I don’t care. Dr. H will kill you if you call him,” Courtney said in a whispered tone, looking into the room behind her. “Just call Dr. Skeen. He’ll happily come to the office, see the patient, order a steroid, and then everything will be hunky-dory,” she said over her shoulder to someone in what I assumed was the kennel area, due to the few cages I saw through the open doorway.

Who said “hunky-dory” anymore? Courtney, that was who. The only things I’d learned in the two times I’d visited here were Courtney was very strange indeed and she probably used made-up words instead of cussing. The first was obvious, but I almost liked her. Almost. There was something about her Southern charm; it reminded me of home, of innocence. It was so rare in today’s age, or at least it was uncommon in my life, I hardly recognized the generosity of a stranger anymore. More often than not, people today never did anything without expecting something in return. This was a vastly different world than the one Mom raised Jaxson and me in. When I was younger, I innocently didn’t consider thirty-one years long enough to make something unrecognizable, but it was. Over time, I grew to learn that even the brightest of days could be strangled to darkness by a couple of dark rain clouds. It only took one drop of sin to spoil anyone’s good virtue.

The second thing I learned by coming here was I never cared to meet this Dr. H. I wasn’t one to quickly pass judgment… Okay, I did, but despite being strange, Courtney seemed nice and was obviously afraid of Dr. H. It would take a certain type of asshole to be rude to her, and even I couldn’t muster the nerve to do that.

“Rough day?” I said as a reply to her unspoken frustration as she blew out an exaggerated puff of air from her lungs.

She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

“No one else understands what an emergency is around here,” she said a little too loud, blatantly anticipating whomever she was talking to a minute ago would hear her. From the loud response of crashing doors and clanking metal coming from the back, I think they got her message.

“That doctor sounds like he’s a dick,” I flatly said, scanning the room for The Wiz. I still hated cats, especially ones that peed on me, but after this week, I needed to relax. The perfect way to do that in my mind was petting him, but asking for a barrier to put on my lap first. I planned it out when I decided I was coming here. I was going to ask for one of those puppy-training pads in case The Wizard decided to perform his magic trick again.

Courtney’s big brown eyes widened and her finger quickly found her lips in an attempt to hush me.

“He really isn’t. He’s been through a lot and is an amazing doctor. He saved Veronica here for me.” She rolled away from the desk, revealing a tiny hairless dog with a Mohawk.

“Veronica?” I said, raising my eyebrows at the name choice.

“Wouldn’t Splinter, or I don’t know…Travis Barker be a better name?”

We both laughed at my unintentional dog joke.

“She’s a female,” Courtney said, drawing out each word. “And she’s a princess. Isn’t that right?” She tapped Veronica on the nose, waking her.

Veronica straightened her front legs and then her back, and then her tongue rolled as she yawned. She hopped down from Courtney’s lap, walking around the desk to me, her pink nails tapping against the linoleum floor’s surface.

“Hi, V Barker,” I said to her, lightly tapping her Mohawk, not sure if I should pet her or rub lotion on her skin. “I can’t call you Veronica. I’m sorry,” I apologized to her, knowing she didn’t care at all what name I called her by as long as it was in a sweet tone.

“I don’t know about you, Courtney, but out of all the princesses I’ve seen on cartoons, V here is the first to have a Mohawk.”

She laughed. “I know, but that’s Dr. H. I let him name her since he saved her life. He has a great sense of humor, if he lets you see that side of him, that is. Like you, most people,” she waved her hand in the air, standing up from her seat, “think he’s a dick,” she whispered the last word, shocking me that she actually cussed. “He isn’t. They just don’t know him. I look for him to come back full-time at some point once he heals.”

I bit my lip and nodded my head, not sure what I could add to the conversation. Although, I did want to ask what healing he needed, but didn’t feel like it was really my place.

“So, where’s The Wiz today?”

She quickly shook her head and pointed over her shoulder to the back. I had forgotten she brought him up to meet me, without anyone’s permission I was assuming.

Again, I nodded my head and then asked Courtney if I could take V for a walk, scooping her tiny hairless body into my arms.

“Of course! I’ll go get her leash,” she bubbled, running into the back and returning with a bright pink leash decorated with a string of rhinestones dangling off one of her French-tipped nails. Seeing her collar paired with Courtney’s nails didn’t shock me at all. They seemed to be a perfect fit for one another. Still, a few giggles escaped my lips as I took the leash and hooked it to her collar, leading her outside. Perhaps a walk could do us both some good.