she’d simply stayed in his office and slept on the couch, he’d know she was all right. Ruth’s was a mile away and Katie was there alone.
“Look. Aquila’s just lying there.” Ruth interrupted his thoughts. She adjusted her glasses, the same light blue shade as the BAA shirt she wore, and squinted as if hoping the view would change. “I liked it better this morning when he was disgruntled, pacing back and forth.”
“I’ll take either way as long as we can get some weight on him.”
“What do we try next?” Ruth wasn’t one to give up, but the fact that she even asked the question told Luke that she was out of ideas.
“I’m working on it.”
“I believed Jasper,” Ruth muttered. “He said she was a natural with animals, even better than her father.”
High praise since Katie hadn’t yet been a teen the last time Jasper had worked with her.
Ruth’s radio sounded before Luke could respond. Meredith’s voice crackled over the line. “Ruth, you’ve got a group of Red Hat Ladies waiting for you at the store.”
“Ah, right on time. See you later.” Ruth loped off, ready to meet her friends and show them her babies, Terrance and the animal park.
Luke watched her head back toward the front, weaving between the afternoon visitors, stopping occasionally to answer a question or give a direction.
If she were forty years younger, she’d be the perfect woman for him.
The thought gave him pause—what woman would be perfect for him?
It certainly wasn’t Katie Vincent. He’d truly expected her to have a change of heart the minute she saw Aquila. He expected her to work miracles, the way Ruth did.
Deep down, he’d been hoping she’d be able to do more for them based on all Jasper had shared. Maybe he’d been hoping that Katie Vincent was someone like her dad, and would be able to miraculously solve all of Bridget’s problems.
He could use a miracle.
But he’d been wrong to even let his thoughts go in that direction. And, come to think of it, Jasper had been very careful about what he shared—and even more careful about what he hadn’t shared—when it came to Katie.
But, in his heart, Luke wanted this miracle, this woman. The one who felt such responsibility. The one who carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. The one who made him want to scoop her up and convince her all was well with the universe.
But with an animal dying and a park on the brink of disaster, she wasn’t the one he needed. He needed someone who loved and worked with animals, as he did.
Someone who understood about a labor of love.
He’d learned a long time ago, two years to be exact, that most women didn’t understand how much of himself he had to devote to Bridget’s. They wanted the “labor of love” to be them, not an animal park— Especially not an animal park that required a 24/7 work schedule.
He’d wanted a miracle for his sister Bridget but that hadn’t happened, either. He started to close his eyes when he heard—
“I’m back, and I’m not going to faint.”
Standing next to Aquila’s wall, she looked better than she had this morning. Not so pale. The jeans were still tight, and the green button-down shirt was even more wrinkled. But this time Katie Vincent had a determined fire in her eyes.
He reminded himself that he could not afford to be impressed with her looks, no matter how much he noticed them, and he was just as determined. “Prove it.”
He watched her take a deep breath before she turned to the enclosure and stepped closer.
To the common observer, Aquila, lying on a heated spot in the grass, would appear oblivious of his surroundings.
Luke knew better.
Just this morning, for the first time in a week, Aquila had been active. Even now, Aquila’s ears were up—not moving, but definitely at attention. His shoulder blades, too, were raised just a hair. His tail had the slightest twitch. Luke wondered if Katie noticed the tension. He couldn’t tell. When she finally did say something, it wasn’t what Luke expected.
“He looks lonely.”
“Panthers are solitary.”
“I know that, but Aquila always had my dad, me, Jasper, somebody stopping by to play with him.”
“I don’t think it’s been that way for quite a while,” Luke said. “When I purchased your father’s animals, Aquila was the only cat your father still had, and Jasper said none of the animals had been out on a shoot in over a year.”
“When I was twelve, my father had seven big cats.”
“At the end, he only kept the ones that were making money.”
She nodded. “I realized how few animals he had left when I read Jasper’s accounting after the will was read,” she said softly. “Of course, by the paperwork I couldn’t tell if he’d kept the performers or his favorites. But, then, the performers always were his favorites.”
“Did you know he was sick?”
“Aquila wasn’t sick when—”
“I mean your dad. Did you know he was sick?”
Determination gave way to wariness. “No, I didn’t.”
“Why did you—?”
“What should Aquila weigh now? About one fifty?”
Luke let her change the subject. “Near enough.”
He stayed on the bench and gave Katie time to just watch Aquila. She moved close to the cement wall, oblivious of the people around her and the sounds of an animal kingdom. Eventually she relaxed enough to rest her arms on the top which was just above her waist. On the other side of the wall was an empty moat wide enough to deter Aquila should he decide to jump. But if the animal-enclosure architect had done his job—and Luke had paid him a pretty penny, so he better have—then the wire that guarded the moat would keep Aquila from even thinking jumping was an option.
“He’s never had such a big place to roam,” Katie observed when the crowds had passed.
“I’m not much of a cage man.”
“My father liked them—they were easy and cost-effective.”
She didn’t sound as if she approved. Unfortunately she wasn’t looking at Aquila’s new digs as if they were much of an improvement.
The enclosure Aquila resided in now was meant to resemble nature as best it could. Aquila had grass, vegetation and scratching logs. He had a wooden structure with a roof that he could lie under if he wanted shade, or lie on top of if he wanted sun. Best of all, he had a pool.
Luke had a pool, too, or at least his
