The Falling Kind (3 page)
Authors: Randileigh Kennedy
The next morning my alarm chime at five a.m. did not thrill me. I sluggishly took a shower and tied my hair up in a loose wet bun. Fortunately my work attire options of lavender scrubs or teal scrubs made getting dressed an easy task. I always chose lavender when they were clean.
I ate some cereal and headed out around five forty-five. When I opened the front door, I smiled as I noticed a small stack of white hand towels sitting on top of my front steps with a small red bow. There was also a package of muffins propped up on top. I was amazed a raccoon hadn’t run off with the food, although maybe they hadn’t been sitting here long. Who knows what time he dropped them off. I bent down to pick them up, noticing a small piece of paper underneath the muffins.
I read the note.
If you ever find yourself thinking about
me
tacos, give me a call.
There was a phone number following. I snickered at his cross-out of the word ‘me’ – I definitely appreciated his sense of humor. There was more at the bottom of the note.
PS – Dexter probably isn’t very remorseful about ruining your muffins, but I figured I should also replace those. ~ C
I smiled at the entire gesture. It was rather sweet, especially from a guy like Cole. Not that I knew him at all, but he just didn’t look like a romantic guy. Granted, these were just towels and muffins, but still. It was relatively charming.
I began my short walk to the vet clinic. I wanted to stop thinking about Cole, I swear. I was serious about my lack of interest in dating. Even if I was to consider going out with someone, he didn’t fit my usual interests. He looked, I don’t know, too rugged for me. The motorcycle, the tattoos… The fact that he didn’t even hesitate to trust me to stitch him up – it all just seemed a little suspect to me. Even his massive size was a far cry from guys I had dated in the past. He was huge. It all felt a little intimidating to me. Besides, I doubted we even had much in common.
I reached the clinic and turned my key in the door. I couldn’t help but notice they grey motorcycle was gone from the lot. He must’ve had a long night.
“Tell me everything,” my best friend Sam said, pulling her red Honda into the lot and immediately jumping out. We’d met in the dorms our sophomore year and we instantly clicked when we found out we had the same vet science major. She was from Oregon and had a bright, bubbly personality. Her dark auburn hair framed her heart shaped face with a trendy bob.
“Tell you about what?” I asked curiously as she followed me into the clinic in her teal scrubs. Sam wanted to branch out more into emergency surgery. She was currently taking summer classes to get ahead before moving back to Oregon for her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. I had similar plans, but those all fell apart about a year ago. I hated thinking about it, both her moving and the fact that I wasn’t sure what direction I was now headed.
“Oh come on, you know exactly what I’m talking about,” she said with a smirk as we hung up our purses in the back room. “Didn’t you go home last night with a gorgeous stranger? How did Eva put it… Something about the face of a movie star and the body of a Greek God? Why is it that I’m hearing about your love life from Eva?” she said with an animated expression.
“First off, I have no love life,” I corrected her. “I’m keeping that at a level zero. Which point two, that’s why I didn’t even bother to call you last night. It was already late, and it’s a non-story.”
Sam pulled a small lunch bag out of her purse, setting it in our break room fridge. “Really Syd? You take a hot, muscular guy back to your condo and you have nothing for me? You’re hopeless. And a disappointment,” she snickered.
“It wasn’t what you’re imaging in your brain right now,” I explained. “The guy was stabbed out front of the clinic. I just cleaned up his arm, that was it.”
“So then he left, end of story? No phone number exchange? No making googly eyes at each other? No ‘maybe I’ll see you again the next time you get stabbed’ future plans?” Sam asked skeptically. “Come on, give me
something
,” she urged.
“It was too weird of a situation,” I admitted. “When you meet someone for the first time, it’s supposed to be some sweet ‘it was nice running into you’ kind of situation. Some mild flirting, discussing common interests, that kind of thing… This was not like that at all.”
“So he literally just left? That was it?” she continued to pry.
“Well, he did kind of kiss me,” I replied with a shrug. “Then I rambled on about baseball or something stupid, you know how I get when I’m nervous. He did try asking me to dinner, but I shut him down on that. I’m telling you, it just wasn’t a normal situation.”
“He kissed you? And that’s a non-story?” she squealed loudly. “I agree, it sounds like a random sequence of events, but I’m so proud of you! That’s pretty good progress, given you haven’t kissed a guy since Ian.”
“Please don’t bring that up,” I interjected, cutting her off. That wasn’t a subject I liked talking about – ever. Especially not on a work day when I needed to maintain my composure. “Look, it was just a weird, random night. Nothing will come of it. Unless he comes to the clinic for me to check his arm, I doubt I’ll even see him again. But it doesn’t matter, he’s not even my type at all.”
“Of course not, why would handsome and muscular be your type?” she teased.
“Good morning ladies,” Dr. Nikki said cheerfully, popping her head into the break room. “Sydney, you’re going to kill me, but the message service was quite busy last night. The Humane Society has six new ones to bring over today, and we only have room here for four. Any chance you can handle a rabbit at your place, and one tortoise? It would just be for a couple of nights. I may have a home for Dexter by Friday, but unfortunately they’re coming in faster than we have them going out.”
Sadly, this was eternally our problem. The clinic already got fined once for being over capacity, so I knew she couldn’t risk it again.
“Of course, I have an open spot for the rabbit for sure, I only have those two black spotted ones right now. As for the tortoise, that should be pretty low maintenance, right? I can probably keep him in the kitchen, high enough so Dexter can’t get to him?” I offered. Dr. Nikki was so compassionate about all of these animals that I couldn’t help but try and accommodate them for her. She kindly showed her appreciation by bringing me groceries when she dropped off food and toys for the animals, and occasionally my rent was even covered when I had a full house. She was so generous when I needed time off too, so I genuinely didn’t mind helping her out in any way I could. Plus, it gave me some company.
“You are a lifesaver,” she replied sincerely as she left the room.
“See, if you lived in an apartment with pet restrictions like me, you could have a normal dating life without pigs and tortoises running around,” Sam teased. “Maybe that would help you find time for a guy.”
“Your place is a dive, that’s why you’re always hanging out at mine,” I joked back. “You
do
have pets already, they’re called mice.”
“Oh stop, it’s not that bad. Besides, mice are cute,” she happily shrugged. “Hey, are we still on for that concert tomorrow night?”
“Of course, looking forward to it. Beach today after work?” Many of our afternoons were spent the same way, lazily laying out in the summer sun, reading magazines and talking about life.
“Yep, I need to work on my tan before tomorrow night,” she agreed. “Come on, we have a spay to prep for. Let’s get to work.”
The workday passed by pretty routinely. No major catastrophes, which was always a relief in our line of work. We unexpectedly adopted out a few rabbits and two cats to someone who owned a small farm, which would free up the ones I had in my condo. That would leave me with Dexter and the unnamed tortoise for the time being, probably the least amount of pets I ever had at one time.
Since Sam and I had the early shift, we got off at three in the afternoon. We loved days like that because the clinic was only a five minute walk down to the beach. Lake Tahoe had so many wonderful beaches, both on the Nevada side where we were and on the California side about twenty minutes away. But Halo Beach, the one nearest to the clinic and my apartment, was by far my favorite. There were no good parking spots near it, so it was mostly only locals versus the crowds of tourists most of the other Tahoe beaches had.
Sam and I brought the tortoise back to my place, securing his tank on top of my kitchen table far away from Dexter’s curious snout. Sam made Dexter a giant salad for his late lunch and then we made our way down to the beach.
“We’ve gotta talk about this concert tomorrow night, what’s the deal with this band guy?” I asked as we neared the water’s edge. We laid out our towels and dropped our bags.
“Ah, Soul Punch,” Sam replied dreamily.
“That’s the band’s name? Soul Punch? Is that a horrible joke?” I said with a giggle.
“Yeah, so not a great name,” Sam agreed with a laugh. We laid down on our towels to take in the sunshine. “Honestly the band isn’t even that great. But their guitarist…” she gushed.
Last week Sam had a date with a guy she met at the library. He took her to some dive bar and although she wasn’t into the date, she left swooning over the guitar player. She never even got his name, but it was all she talked about over the last few days.
“So I’ve done a bit of internet stalking,” Sam continued, “and I’ve narrowed down his name. It’s either Tyler, Luke, Ethan, or Barry. Their crappy website didn’t have them labeled, it only listed their names,” she sighed.
“So where’s the bar, what’s the name again? Joe something?” I asked. I knew it wasn’t a place I’d ever been to before.
“Local Joe’s,” she stated. “You’re going to freak out when you see it, it’s a total dive. But it appears to be the only place they play. Here’s the bad part… It’s in the West Cove.”
“The snake pit?” I uttered. “We’re going to get mugged.”
“I know, not the best spot. But at least it’s on a Tuesday night. That has to be better than a weekend, right?” she speculated.
“I don’t know, the fact that this band can only book a weeknight in some crappy bar, that’s just bad all around. How terrible are these guys?”
“It’s bad,” she admitted. “But I’m telling you, when you see the guitarist, it will all make sense. It will be worth risking our lives for in some seedy dive bar.” She giggled.
There was an area nearby known as the West Cove. It was still on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe, but it was nestled into the trees right near the California line. Nothing good happened in West Cove, according to the nightly news anyway. It was riddled with dive bars, cheap motels, and run down trailers and cabins. It was such an odd little pocket of Mountain Ridge life. The rest of the lake towns were full of tourists or multi-million dollar homeowners who dwelled in huge five-story mansions on the lake. There was still a strong working middle class area across from the lakefront owners – people like me in modest condos or duplexes. But crime in general was really low in this beautiful town full of outdoor enthusiasts. West Cove was the black hole of the entire area.
“The bar itself isn’t as bad inside as it looks on the outside,” Sam commented, shrugging it off. “I wouldn’t exactly go there alone, but in reality it’s only a few miles from here. Maybe Brandt can come with us.”
“Yeah, because he looks tough and threatening,” I said sarcastically. Brandt was my ex’s best friend. Even though Ian was very much out of the picture, Brandt and I remained pretty close. Along with Sam, the three of us did a lot together.
“You’re right, we need a real bodyguard. Maybe the guy from the clinic?” Sam suggested. “Eva said he’s literally a giant mass of muscle. That would serve us well,” she said with a smile.
“His name is Cole, and I don’t think so,” I replied, shaking my head. “I’d rather take my chances.”
We flipped over onto our stomachs so we could get some sun on our backs. I tied my hair up into a knot on top of my head.
After a couple hours of sun, Sam and I packed up our stuff and headed into a small beachfront café for some sandwiches.
“Do you want to catch a movie tonight?” she asked as we finished up our dinner.
“Nah, I’m kind of tired. Last night I was up later than usual,” I replied honestly.
“Right, kissing strangers,” she brought up again. “Look, I totally get that you needed a break from everything after what had happened last summer. I get it. But I just don’t want to see you miss out on an opportunity. I’m not just talking about that Cole guy, I’m talking about
anyone
.”
“So you’re saying I should lust after one of the guys from Soul Punch tomorrow night?” I teased. I laughed. “I’m sorry, I just can’t take that stupid name seriously.”
“The other guys in the band are cute too, just you wait. Maybe one of them will get you back on the horse,” she countered. “Just promise me you’ll think about it. Promise me that if you
do
see a guy that you could be interested in, that you’ll at least give it a chance.”