Broken Protocols (18 page)

Good, my ass. Fat ass, too. Damn her stupid self to hell for that second muffin this morning. She shouldn’t have eaten it the first day on her new job. Of course, a bad case of nerves was the reason she’d given in. And she’d had another bad night before that. With the rash of neighbourhood break-ins lately, it was hard to relax enough
to
sleep. She hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of being watched. Then again, any excuse for a banana-chocolate chip muffin worked for her.

“Hey, are you all right?”

Spinning around, Ninna smiled sheepishly at the tall redheaded male moving steadily toward her. He was dressed in black jeans and a gray knit shirt that fit his lean frame perfectly. She had trouble focusing on anything but him.

Why was it some men caused no reaction when they walked by, and then some other guys just made her eyes pop open and her mind turn to mush? Pulling herself together, she said, “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry. I didn’t mean to stand in the way.”

“No problem.” He gazed at her curiously. “You looked lost, that’s all.”

She was, but that wasn’t something to share with a stranger, regardless of his stunning green eyes and thick black lashes. Damn, he must be Irish. Stumbling over her words slightly, she explained, “I’m starting a new job here this morning, so I’m dragging my heels a little.”

The look in his eye sharpened, then warmed with male appreciation. “Ninna, right?”

She widened her gaze, barely holding back a flush at his blatant appraising look, “Uhm, yes. Do you work here, too?”

He grinned, his face lighting up and his eyes sparkling. “I’m Stuart Macintosh, the resident vet and animal health instructor for the Center. You’ll see me coming and going at all hours. Come on. I’ll show you around.”

“Oh, wow, thank you.” Somehow, without really understanding how, she found herself walking up the last couple of stairs to the Center’s front door. She shot a glance around her, but the vet opened the door and nudged her through. “There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?”

She blinked owlishly, and something in her expression made him laugh. “You’ll be fine. Everyone here is very nice.”

“Sure they are,” she muttered. They would be unless they found out about her
weirdness.
But that was all better now. At least she hoped so. She’d never have tried for this job otherwise. Still applying for a job was a whole different issue than actually starting a new job. How many other people had grown up without being around animals? Any animal. Ever. How would the animals react to her? Would they sense her inexperience?

“Come this way. Trina is here already, and Stacey, my sister, will most likely be in the back. She usually opens the Center and gets people organized. Even so, it’s chaos this morning isn’t it?”

Ninna barely heard what he said, overwhelmed by the confusion. “I can’t imagine that this many people own dogs. Bentley is a small town. Does everyone come here at the same time?”

The waiting area was full. And an ordinary day or not, it was standing room only for both dogs and handlers. This center served as vet clinic, shelter for the lost animals and as an obedience dog training facility. And those were just the services she knew about. The room they’d entered also looked like it was intended as a community center, with a coffee corner…tables and chairs for lounging. And was that a water fountain close to the floor?

Willing to follow his lead, but still a bit bewildered, she followed the vet forward until they’d reached a large group who were talking…or barking.

Good thing she liked animals…at least she hoped she’d like them – if she had a chance to get to know any.

–Damn good thing, actually.

“What?” she asked Stuart, placing a tentative hand on his arm to get his attention. “Sorry, I missed what you just said.”

“I didn’t say anything.” He motioned to the crowd. “It’s hard to hear anything right now. Let’s get up to the counter.”

“Oh, sorry.” Confused, Ninna looked around at the people beside her, to see if one of them had spoken to her. No one was even looking in her direction.

Following Stuart deeper into the crowd, she came out the other side at a large counter. It was tight, but she managed to squeeze up beside him. She could see female staff helping customers sign in for obedience classes. The other half of the crowd appeared to be here for the clinic side of the Center.

Stuart caught the first woman’s eye. “Hey, Trina, this is our newest employee. She’s a little lost.”

Dead silence.

Ninna gulped as dozens of faces turned toward her. Putting on a brave smile, she lifted her hand in a small finger wave. “Uhm, hi.”

Just like that, the noise resumed, but at a lower level as people returned to their own conversations. A cheerful looking blonde, who Ninna thought was Trina, leaned forward and grinned. “Hey, welcome to the zoo!” Trina’s grin was wide and authentic, and Ninna couldn’t help but smile back.

“That’s definitely my first impression of the place.” She laughed. “Where do you want me?”

“I’d say back here, but there’s some paperwork for you to fill out and things are a bit nuts right now. Grab a coffee, find a chair and sit down, and let me work through this crowd. It will ease up in…” She glanced over at the clock. “In about ten minutes when class starts.”

With that, Trina turned to someone else and answered a question for him.

Dismissed, and with Stuart disappearing down a hallway, Ninna squeezed away from the crowd. She decided against the coffee and managed to find a comfortable chair by the fireplace. Summertime in the Pacific Northwest was either hot or wet, or hot and wet. Either way, she was glad the fireplace wasn’t on. Now in winter, that might be a nice touch. Settled and out of the way, she finally breathed easy.

–I wouldn’t get too comfortable if I were you.

Frowning, she looked around, sure someone had spoke to her. Only no one was close enough. And that was just wrong – not to mention scary. This certainly wasn’t the time for her old problem to reappear.

–You don’t listen very well, do you?

“I would if there was anyone to listen to,” she muttered. No one was speaking to her, at least no one within ten feet. That meant only one thing, and she was reluctant to admit that – she was hearing voices again. So not what she needed. Trying to keep her words at a whisper, she couldn’t resist snapping back at her disembodied speaker, “What is your problem? Go away.”

–Me? I don’t have a problem. You’re the one that’s too stuck up to talk to me.

The voice was clear and full of attitude. The person should be in her field of vision. Somewhere.

–I’m right here.

She shuddered. She couldn’t see anyone talking to her. She tugged the neck of her soft blue t-shirt away from her throat as panic settled in.

–Ease up, will you? You’ll figure it out – eventually.

A heavy
harrumph,
followed by a huge gusting sigh caught her attention, even as she listened to the voice in her head. She searched the large room. Her glance bounced off a nervous-looking dog then came back to another spot as a huge basset hound did a boneless slide down to the wood floor at the far side of the room. When his chest hit the floor, a heavy sigh gusted out of his mouth. From the sounds of it, the poor thing was exhausted.

–Yeah, you’re there.

Distracted by the voice, she looked around. “Shut up,” she hissed, hoping to see a person approaching her. No one was even close. Neither were any animals.

No, no.
This was not happening again. She had spent years in therapy because she thought people, and yes, the odd animal talked to her when they weren’t. Therapy had worked, finally – after three specialists…and more medications than a pharmacy had a right to offer. She couldn’t allow anything to screw up her mind now, or her new job.

–Well, that’s good. Because I’m definitely
not
nothing. I am something. Mosey’s the name, by the way.

Ninna closed her eyes and swallowed hard.
Please let there be a short person somewhere playing a joke on me. Please.

–Oh, quit your whining. You should be happy to talk to me. I’m happy to talk to you. You know there are not many people that can connect with dogs the way you do. What a great place for you to work.

“Oh. That’s not right. This is so not the place for me,” she whispered under her breath. But she had to make it work. She was desperate.

–Yeah, about that. A little too late to be making that discovery, isn’t it? Didn’t you just say something about being broke?

“No, I didn’t. I thought something about it.” This was the first time there was dialogue, not just hearing voices. And that made this scenario even more bizarre. Realizing her voice had risen, she glanced around nervously.

–Bizarre, smishare. You need to get over yourself. My food dish is empty. Isn’t filling it one of your new job’s duties?

“Oh, no,” she whispered under her breath, afraid of what was to come. “Please don’t.”

–Please don’t what?

“Please don’t tell me you’re a dog?”

A half snuffle sounded beside her. She stole a quick look. A big black Doberman sat staring at her, his pointed ears tilted in her direction.

She slunk deeper into her chair, giving the dog a wary half smile. It was happening all over again. Damn, she needed to call her therapist.

“He’s something isn’t he?”

Startled, Ninna looked up to see the owner of the Doberman, or at least the leash holder, smiling down at her. Tall, slim and pink. Ninna winced. Surely there was a law against that much pink being hoarded in one spot. The middle-aged woman said, “He’s really gentle. He looks dangerous, but he’s a kind soul.”

Ninna relaxed slightly and laughed. “That’s great. I’d hate to meet him alone at night.”

“No worries. He sleeps on my double bed, complaining that my husband and I haven’t left him enough room.”

Wow.
That dog was so big she’d never have short-changed his space in the first place. Ninna would have given up her bed and moved to the spare room instead.

As the woman walked away, Ninna surveyed the other animals in the room. Wagging, wiggling, fur-covered canines swarmed the room. Ninna didn’t even want to think about trying to figure out
if
one of these dogs was the cause of her derailed imagination.

A small rat-like thing with huge hairy ears, barked at her several times. The sound sent razor blades scraping down her spine. She shuddered. A deep
woof
sounded from the far side of the room. She didn’t know the breed, but the furry thing in front of her looked like a teddy bear with a pink bow on its head. She really needed to brush up on her breeds.

Ninna continued to survey the mess of people and dogs until her gaze landed on a ray of sunshine beaming in through the large window and something with a whole lot of skin to fill out sitting beside it – the same huge basset hound she’d seen earlier.

No way.
She narrowed her eyes to study the overweight dog before shaking her head.
Nope, impossible.

–Hey, you found me. Maybe you’ll pick this up faster than I expected.

Several dogs walked between them, sniffing the air in her direction.

She studied the new dogs, searching for a sign to confirm which of them might have spoken. With so much confusion and noise, it appeared that no one else noticed anything unusual, so chances were good that the dog wasn’t speaking aloud.
Groan.
Of course it wasn’t. It couldn’t, for God’s sake. Animals didn’t talk.

She took several deep breaths and tried to relax. She’d heard voices like this before. She’d ignored them back then, and she could ignore this one now.

–Well, ya ain’t gonna ignore me. You know how long it’s been since I had someone to talk to?
The voice was heavily sarcastic and sounded puffy, as if the speaker were out of breath.

Her stomach knotted and Ninna gulped. Nope. Not happening. She could control this. It was her choice to let that voice in or not. She’d spent years figuring out how to block them out. She’d gotten so good at it, she’d become lax – time had eased the fear, so she’d actually forgotten about the problem, until now.

–Yeah, let me know how that works out for you. I’m so not going away.

Ninna frowned as something odd registered. This time, whoever was speaking had to be reading her mind, and that meant this had to be her imagination.

With that understanding, she broke out in a sunny smile.
Whew.
She could deal with
that
. She’d just make an appointment with her doctor and get her old prescription reactivated and filled. He might need her to see a therapist again, but even that was no trouble. Not considering the options.

–You could just acknowledge that you can talk to dogs. Surely, that would be easier. Stupid people. Always make things more complicated than they have to be.

Dogs? So, I am communicating with a dog?
Acknowledge such folly? Hell, no! And why a dog? If she did imagine a talking animal, why not a beautiful wolf, or at the very least, a majestic eagle?

–I’d rather be a bloody horse, but hey, I am what I am. I should have been a Newfoundland dog, but someone screwed up the original orders. So guess what? If I have to deal with it, then so do you.

Gripping the armchair tightly, Ninna opened her eyes and studied the dogs around her – from a little one in a woman’s arms to something that was huge and black and white. She thought it was a Great Dane. There was no sign of a Newfoundland dog…if they were the ones that resembled black bears.

–I said I should have been one of those. Geez, don’t you listen?

“I don’t have to listen to you.” Her answer just seemed to slip out on its own.

–Yeah, ya do, unless you’re going to drug yourself up or run away again.

Again?
How could he know about her history?