Page 22 of Heavy Petting

“Ah!” I clamped my hand over my mouth as a small scream escaped. Meanwhile, Esmerelda pranced around, vibrating with excitement.

“Sit,” I said firmly, pointing to a spot farther down the hall. She gave me a pouting look but complied, keeping her gaze firmly focused on Joshua.

He stepped up the stepstool, pressing on the board that made the ‘door’. It must have been on hinges because it angled open, revealing the inky blackness beyond. Joshua stepped up another step, his head and shoulders disappearing into the attic while I watched from down below, wringing my hands nervously. I picked up his baseball bat just in case he needed back-up.

I heard him swear, which was weird because Joshua never swore, and then he came out more quickly than he’d gone in, pulling the door closed behind him with a slam.

“What is it?” I asked. “You look freaked out.”

“It’s rats.”

“WHAT??!?!” I screeched so loud that Joshua flinched. “How the fuck did I get rats in my damned attic?”

I started pacing back and forth in agitation.

“Oh my God! They’re probably going to give me the plague. What if they hurt Esmerelda? Can dogs get the plague? What are they even doing here? I keep a clean house. I don’t leave out food. How could I possibly have rats? This is so gross. I’m never going to sleep again. I’m going to have to sell this house now, or maybe set it on fire. I like this place a lot, but I can’t live with rats, this isn’t freaking Ratatouille. I don’t even speak French!”

I may have wailed that last part.

Joshua removed his headlamp and mask, putting them back in the bag, then grabbed my shoulders, stopping my frantic pacing.

“They probably got in through the soffits or something. It happens. Looks like there are at least two, plus some babies. Mama Rat was probably looking for a good place to give birth and her friends joined her.”

“And she chose my attic?” I screeched, too freaked out to lower my voice or calm down. “Wasn’t there a nice hovel somewhere she could go?”

“It’s unlikely that they’ll get into the main part of the house tonight,” Joshua continued. “Unless there’s a hole somewhere they’ll have to chew through the drywall before they can get in.”

“OH MY GOD!”

Joshua’s hands tightened on my shoulders.

“Nothing bad is going to happen to you or Esmerelda,” he said calmly. “We’ll get an exterminator out here in the morning to check it out and figure out a plan. You can both stay at my house until this gets fixed. How about you pack a bag, and I’ll bring you home with me?”

I felt some of my panic recede.

“Can you come with me to pack? In case they eat through the ceiling and try to kill me before I leave?”

I wasn’t one who liked to appear vulnerable, but these were desperate times. One corner of his mouth quirked but he resisted smiling.

“Sure.”

We headed to my bedroom, and I started randomly throwing things into a large tote bag. Joshua sat on a chair in the corner, Esmerelda walking back and forth between us. The scratching sound came from overhead again and I screamed loud enough to wake the dead.

Esmerelda barked in response.

“It’s all going to be okay, Mabel, I promise. You and Esmerelda will be safe at my house, and you can stay for as long as it takes to fix this.”

For some reason I believed him when he said everything was going to be okay. Not because I was being melodramatic – believe me I was aware that I was, but I couldn’t help it. No, I believed him because he wasn’t telling me to calm down or to stop being ridiculous, which is exactly what my ex-husband would have been doing in this scenario. I believed Joshua because he came over here prepared to bludgeon things to death for me even though I was pretty sure that it was against his veterinarian oath. And I believed him because he was currently petting my dog, calming down Esmerelda the same way he was calming me.

“I’m ready. Let’s get out of here before we get killed.”

Joshua

It’s not often a guy gets a chance to be a hero, but when I went over to Mabel’s house ready to wage war on whatever was scratching around in her attic, it was clear I’d scored major points with her.

The poor thing was beside herself and while I tried to hide it, I wasn’t geeked when I stuck my head into the attic and a big old mama rat stared back at me. I might be a vet, but I’d never been a fan of rodents. To be honest they grossed me out. Whenever someone brought pet rats into the clinic I made one of the other vets take care of them.

We loaded Mabel’s bag and her dog into the back seat, then headed the short distance to my apartment. That was the nice thing about Starlight Bay, nothing was too far from anything else. I loved that it still felt like a small town, even when there were lots of tourists around.