That Perfect Place Page 6

  “It’s hard raising kids that aren’t your own,” she answered.

  “It’s hard raising kids, period,” he corrected her. “Especially when they never sleep.”

  When Ellen and her family left, Jake buttonholed his staff. “Couple of quick things. One, State is sending us a temp starting Tuesday. He’ll ride out with me, so Jill will hold the fort here. Second, I spoke to a Jim Cullen from Davenport. He’s agreed to interview with us tomorrow, and Jill, I’d like you there, if possible.”

  Saturday morning, Jill found Jake in the clinic stocking up for a few farm calls. Callie was off on a trip with her Sunday school teacher for the day, and Jake seemed to be in a good mood.

  “Sasha had three cubs last night and seems to be nursing them like she should. Oh, and the monkeys have stopped losing hair.”

  “That’s good.” Jill gave a short laugh. “I’m off Wednesday this week, right?”

  “Yeah, last week was a fluke. Wednesdays will be your regular day off. I can spell you any Saturday you need though, if you want to visit family or have someone come here.”

  “Thanks. My sister Tina wants to come and visit soon, but she sleeps so late she’ll probably just be finishing her coffee at noon.”

  “A sister, four brothers, just how many kids are in your family?”

  “Four boys and two girls, names all starting with J. Thankfully, us girls were only two years apart, so we’re really good friends.”

  “I thought you said her name was Tina?”

  “Justine actually, but everyone calls her Tina.”

  He nodded, and she could see his mind shift to other matters.

  “Look, Jake, I know you’re worn out, and I can work as much overtime as you need.”

  “I’m fine, and I won’t take advantage of you. You have a right to some leisure time. I understand you like golf?”

  “Love it. Do you?”

  “Never played. Not an Iowa farm kid thing I guess.”

  Jim Cullen came to interview at one o’clock. Jill liked him right away. Cullen was a congenial man and knowledgeable. His résumé was certainly extensive. The meeting went well, and Jake offered him a job on the spot. He agreed to start in three week’s time, which meant they would not need a temp for long.

  Monday Jake spent a good deal of his day at the Brandeis zoo and returned home late. Jill did routine vaccination and health-check calls to some horse owners and floated teeth on half a dozen of them before lunch. Stephanie went with her, and the two hit it off nicely. She had started working for Dr. Murdoch and Jake’s father when she was in high school, then took a two-year technician’s course.

  “Doc Murdoch taught me quite a bit, but Jake was the one who really got me up to speed. I had such a crush on him when he first came back, I couldn’t look at him without blushing. Please do not tell Troy I said that, he wouldn’t understand.”

  “I too have looked deep into those brooding eyes, so I know what you mean.” Both women laughed heartily.

  Jill spent the first half of the afternoon doing routine surgeries and the second half at the newly opened animal rescue, giving checkups and vaccines. She was just finishing up evening chores when Jake pulled in. The afternoon girls had finished cleaning and gone home.

  “How did your day go?” he asked her as he entered the lounge, dogs swarming all around him.

  “Busy, but with Steph’s help we knocked out quite a few of the equine vaccination calls. And the new animal rescue wants a contract with us.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “I said it had to go through you.”

  “What do you think?”

  “They seem like good people, and it would be good PR for the clinic. They made out a check on the spot when I finished. I called Jeanine, and we charged them for a farm call and took ten percent off the vaccines for paying right away. I hope that’s all right?”

  “Fine. We’ll shoot them a price list on spays and neuters. We’ll probably get more emergency work through them, but if most of the adopting owners stay with us our clinic work will pick up considerably, which would be good.” He fed the dogs as they talked.

  “I’ll do the routine surgeries at the new shelter to keep my hand in, and you can take over anything they bring in here once we get a steady third vet,” he continued.

  “I’ll be glad to let you do their spays and neuters if you show me some of the ortho procedures you do.”

  “No problem.”

  “Steph tells me you hate floating teeth. Do you use a power float?”

  “I don’t hate it, but the noise sets my teeth on edge. I use hand and power, depending on the condition of the teeth; I think some guys grind off too much tooth with the power float.”

  “Yeah, you have to be careful. I just wanted to say I don’t mind doing equine dental if you want me to.”

  “Sure, float away,” he said enthusiastically. “You have got to be one of the easiest people to work with I’ve ever met. Jillian, I am very glad you came to Iowa, and I sincerely hope you like it enough to stay.” To her surprise he bent down and gave her a peck on the cheek and walked away whistling.

  Her cheek tingled for several minutes after he left. Gratitude for being appreciated, I guess.

  The temp vet came the next day, and Jill quickly learned why Jake was reluctant to use temps. Dr. Mirza was not competent enough to do much more than cleaning up in the clinic. She hoped he was more help in the field. He was short and clean shaven with dark skin and hair. He had a very thick accent, making communication with him difficult. Jake seemed to have an easier time understanding him. They let him leave at lunchtime so he could arrange for to place to stay while he worked for them.

  “Are you going to be able to manage with him?” he asked her.

  “Gosh, I sure hope so,” she replied. “Why is it you seem to understand him pretty well?”

  “My whole time in the marine corps was geared toward working in that region. You get used to it. I think he gets deliberately hard to understand when he isn’t sure how to answer a question. That’s why I want to work with him some. I need to see what it’s safe to allow him to do—small animals isn’t exactly it. Not surprising though. In his country, pets are seldom of any consequence. I’ll take him out to do some cow work tomorrow and see if that’s better.”

  Jill was settling into the routine, and between them they had cleared up the backlog of fieldwork. He took her with him to follow up with the Belgian colt, and both were pleased to see him doing so well. They had been forced to operate to relieve the contracted tendon, and it seemed to be healing well with no infection. The mare was looking good too and might possibly be OK to rebreed in ensuing years.

  Early one morning, Jill overheard her boss chewing his son out about his grades. Jill winced. She had always gotten straight As, so her siblings knew Jake’s lecture by heart.

  Later, as she assisted Jake on a cruciate repair to a greyhound she broached the subject.

  “Brad looked pretty dejected when he left this morning.”

  “Yeah, his grades are slipping. I told him to do better or cut out after-school sports and video games.”

  “It’s none of my business, but I do have a large family and I’ve seen this before. My younger brothers swear I got As just to make their lives difficult. Punishment usually has an opposite effect.”

  “So what would you suggest?”

  “My mom got the brilliant idea to offer so much money toward a car for every A and a little less for Bs.”

  “You catch more flies with honey.” He glanced up from the dog’s stifle.

  “Something like that, yes.”

  “Open another suture pack for me, the three-O.” He concentrated on the task at hand for a few minutes. Finally he said, “Incentives are good. I just hope I have the money when the bill comes due. What’s an A going for these days anyway?”

  Jill laughed. “I have no idea.” She was surprised that Jake had taken her suggestion so easily. Most parents got testy if
you butted in, but she had braved it because Brad was such a nice kid and obviously idolized his dad.

  When the dog came walking in for a post-op check she had nothing but admiration for her boss’s skills. He was every bit as talented as the top surgeons she had watched at Ohio State. Ortho procedures were something she and Tom had never tackled.

  “Where did you pick up all these surgical techniques?”

  “I was friends with the head of orthopedics at Davis. He had a brother who was a marine corps captain. It got me some extra out-of-hours time with a top surgeon and a position on their staff while I was finishing my chiropractic degree the year before I returned to Iowa.”

  “Well it’s certainly giving the clinic a boost now since you are comfortable with procedures most vets send to the veterinary colleges. This is our second referral just since I started.”

  “I’m very glad that the years without sleep have paid off,” he joked.

  On her third Wednesday, Jill spent the morning playing golf at the country club. Her league met every Wednesday at nine and usually lunched together afterward. She liked several of the others immediately, and so far Bob had not asked for more than a golf game, to her relief. She was not ready to date yet.

  Afterward, she took Ida and Callie with her to see Dave Murdoch. He and Callie colored a picture in her new coloring book while the grownups talked.

  “I wish I didn’t have to keep going to school so I could go to work with Jake,” Callie commented during a break in the conversation.

  “If you don’t go to school how will you learn to read stories to me?” Dave asked.

  She looked at him seriously. “I already read good, but someone else will do it when my real daddy comes to get me.”

  “Callie Kitten, are you sure you don’t want to stay with us?” Dave asked.

  Her little face turned red. “My daddy’s coming. I know he’s coming. He’s just lost, isn’t he?” Tears welled up in her eyes.

  Dave blanched. They had tried everything, including a PI, to find her family with zero results.

  “Of course he’ll come,” Ida spoke up. “Why don’t we go get some drinks? The dry air in here has me parched.”

  Dave wiped his eyes after they left.

  “Well, young lady,” he said to Jill, “I’m glad to meet you at last. I’m just sorry you had to walk in on all this drama. Callie’s mom sold her a bill of goods about a father we haven’t been able to locate. Claimed he was some kind of millionaire. Meanwhile, poor Jake is worn to a frazzle. That boy just never catches a break.” He grimaced and asked, “Did he give you the cabin?”

  “Yes, it’s a beautiful place.”

  “You know it was built from some blueprints Jake drew up in high school. His granddad built it when Jake was in the service and meant for him to have it if he settled here in Iowa. I don’t think he’s ever stayed there more than a few nights though. With his dad losing his marbles and then the thing with Callie, he needed to be in the house close to them. Ida was the one who insisted they keep her, but she isn’t the one who’s up tending to her when she has nightmares, and working twelve hour days besides.”

  “Did Jake tell you we had a cow man come to interview on Saturday?” Jill asked, trying to get on a better topic before Ida returned.

  “Well and good. I hope he works out, but I’m having surgery next week and expect to be back on the job before the end of summer.”

  As soon as Ida and Callie returned, they took their leave. Jill was mad at herself for feeling guilty about living in the cabin. If Jake had wanted to live there he wouldn’t have offered it to her. Stop being so sensitive about everything, she admonished herself.

  ake took Callie and Ida to Dubuque on the weekend for a riverboat ride and to see the otters at the aquarium. They got back fairly early because the little girl had started crying when a fire engine went by. Jake put on her favorite movie and wound up staying in her room until after ten. Even with her weekly visits to the psychologist she still had problems, especially sleep, and only Jake seemed to provide the comfort she needed.

  No sooner did he sneak out than a call came in. Several horses were showing signs of colic at a boarding stable. Both vets were out until the wee hours treating for intestinal spasms. One of the older horses had to be put down, and one was sent to the big horse clinic in Linn County as Gundersen’s was not set up for complicated large-animal surgery. They took samples from all over the farm to determine the cause of the problem. Twelve of the eighteen horses were affected. They checked feed and bedding as well as the water supply. The six unaffected horses were pastured on the opposite side of the farm and drank from a separate tank. The sick horses had all drunk from a communal tank that straddled their two fields.

  “I’m betting on some contamination in the water,” Jake said as they were putting away their equipment.

  “No bet there. It almost can’t be anything else,” Jill answered and yawned.

  They got home around five in the morning, and Jill noticed that her boss stretched out in the clinic bunkroom rather than returning to the house. She was betting he needed a break from the situation there. He had to be feeling pulled every direction. What with new vets working at his clinic, his old partner needing surgery, and Callie clinging to him so desperately, it was a miracle he could still function. He had been bringing Callie in after school with him frequently and Emma and Jeanine were trying to help, but Callie only wanted him and seemed distraught whenever he wasn’t around.

  Before turning in herself, she left a note in the kitchen of the big house letting Ida know that they had been out all night and that Jake had found a quiet corner to sleep for a few hours.

  Hunger woke her up around two. She made a sandwich and went out onto the back deck to eat. There was a grove of trees off the deck with patches of wildflowers just starting to bloom in the sunnier spots. She breathed in the clean air and let the peace of the scene fill her. After the tribulations of the past, this bucolic atmosphere was just what she needed. Jill grabbed her cell phone off the counter to call her sister and noticed that Jake had left a text at one o’clock with an update on their patients. Everyone at the farm was fine and the horse they’d sent for surgery was doing well so far. She wondered how much sleep he had gotten as she punched in her sister’s number.

  The next day, Jeanine popped her head into the surgery. “Report’s back, E. coli in the water source on your colics. Ten to one, the well is dug right next to some pigs.”

  “Call them, let them know. It’s probably their neighbor’s settling basin. It’s uphill from those pastures. There’s probably a leak somewhere.”

  Jeanine buttonholed Jill a little later. “Please tell me Jake was with you yesterday. He didn’t show for dinner and didn’t call. Ida had trouble with Callie all day.”

  “I didn’t see him after we returned here at five yesterday morning. Why would you think he was with me?”

  “You left a note at the house. Wishful thinking, I guess.”

  “Jeanine, I need to make it abundantly clear that I am not here to solve Jake’s problems. I’m just here to do a job.”

  “I didn’t mean to imply that. I’m just afraid of where else he might have been.”

  “He’s a big boy. I’m sure he can take care of himself.”

  “Sure, you’re right. I guess I just listen to Mom too often.”

  Jeanine hurried off and Jill wondered what all that had been about. She remembered the conversation she’d overheard between Jake and his brother about needing proof and not wanting Brad to go somewhere. Was there something going on here? She put it out of her mind and got back to work.

  That night Ida grilled Jake on his absence on Sunday, as she fixed him a meal.

  “You could have let us know where you were and when you would be back. With Callie, I have enough worries without wondering where you are.”

  “I have a son, in case you have forgotten. Brad takes precedence over anything else, and I had some things I needed to check
up on before he spent any more time with his mother and Donny.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means Donny is suddenly throwing money around, and I’m trying to find out where he got it because I don’t think whatever he is doing is legal.” He took his place at the table and grabbed a piece of bread.

  “Jakob, you must let the authorities handle this.” She brandished a spoon as she spoke.

  “Donny is the sheriff’s cousin. I have to have concrete proof before I can go to him.”

  “Do you have proof?”

  “Not yet.” He pulled the buttered bread into two pieces and shoved one into his mouth.

  Ida muttered in Swedish as she served him. “Trouble. There is always trouble with Jakob.”

  Jake ignored her and concentrated on his supper.

  A little later on he got a call from his ex. “One of Donny’s friends called and said you were snooping around his rig on Sunday. Is this true?”

  “I wouldn’t know Donny’s truck from anybody else’s. I did check out a stock truck parked in a lot in Oelwein on Sunday. The cattle were bawling, and I looked to see if they were in trouble. They didn’t seem injured, so I went on my way. End of story.”

  “It better be, Jakob. I don’t want you hounding him just because he’s had a little good luck lately.”

  “I’m glad he is having good luck, and I don’t have time to hound anybody. Just tell him if he’s hauling cattle it’s a fine if he doesn’t water them sufficiently.”

  “Donny knows his job.”

  “Good. Then it wasn’t his truck with the thirsty cattle milling around inside because if it was the Oelwein cops are going to cite him. They came over while I was there.” He didn’t tell her that the truck had been sitting there for more than twenty-four hours according to the patrolman he spoke to.

  “God, Jake. Why are you such a troublemaker? Leave us alone.”

  “You called me, Caroline.”

  He tried to hide his bad mood as he read Callie her bedtime story and listened to her prayers. He gave her something to help her sleep. They both needed more sleep than they were getting. Callie’s growth was stunted, and she was bipolar from her mother’s drug and alcohol use during pregnancy; being overtired exacerbated her problems. He tried to be understanding, but sometimes he was just plain tired. He hadn’t yet told her they couldn’t find her father and that no one was coming for her. She had enough troubles. Poor little mite.