Free Healing Hearts by Kim Watters Page A

needed his services. His increasing business attested to that.
    The tone Grant installed in the back signaled the arrival of another client. That had to be Joyce Thompson with Sebastian. Reviewing the chart from the previous vet, Grant pulled out the needed vaccinations as he heard his aunt and neighbor walk down the hall.
    “Hi, Grant.”
    “Hi, Joyce. Aunt Mary, I need you to find me that box of syringes we ordered.” He took the kennel from his aunt’s hand and lifted it onto the examining table. The Siamese mix didn’t look too happy, but then again, a visit to the vet could not be high on the list of priorities that included eating, sleeping, and chasing the neighborhood birds. “Come here, fella.” He opened the door and pulled Sebastian out.
    As the feline huddled on the table, he looked into his round blue eyes and noticed they were the same color as Sarah’s. Her image clouded his vision; he scent invaded his nostrils. A minute didn’t seem to pass that he didn’t think about his assistant.
    Shaking his head, he folded the cat’s ears back to check for mites, examined his teeth, and then felt his body from head to tail. He placed the stethoscope in his ears and listened to the cat’s heartbeat. Everything sounded normal.
    “Good boy.” He scratched the cat under the chin and listened to him purr. Would Sarah do that if he scratched her there? The idea amused him. One of these days he’d have to find out.
    “So what time does your new assistant come in, Grant? I’ve heard so much about her and wanted to meet her.”
    “Two-thirty.” Aunt Mary spoke for him, returning with the needles. The edge in her voice surprised him. What was bothering her? He thought his aunt had gotten over her wariness of Sarah, but her attitude challenged his thinking.
    Grant grabbed the syringes and placed them on the counter next to the vials.
    “Oh, dear. Needles. Where’s the bathroom?”
    Grant noticed the color had fled Joyce’s face. “Down the back hall to your right. We’ll be done in a few minutes.” He didn’t fill the first syringe with the feline leukemia vaccine until his neighbor was out of sight.
    “Why don’t you like Sarah?” He threw the empty vial away and administered the shot.
    “It’s not that I don’t like her,” his aunt started, “It’s—I don’t trust her, that’s all. I haven’t since the day she walked through the door. She’s so quiet—so secretive.” She handed him another vial. “Why, Mrs. Walker down at the pharmacy says—”
    “Mrs. Walker doesn’t have a nice word to say about anyone.” Grant extracted the second vaccine and injected the unhappy cat.
    “Well, it is true that Sarah just showed up in town one day, in a broken down car, that Mr. Halverson at the auto shop said can’t be fixed. Then she took a temporary job over at Greer’s Diner.”
    “If she’s here temporarily, how do you explain her attending cases at Denton Community College?”
    “I can’t, but I’ve seen her type before and I’m worried about you. I know you think you can help her—”
    Grant held up his hand to stop her, but she continued.
    “What do you know about her? She’s a drifter. Mark my words, she’ll be here one day and gone the next. I don’t want to see you hurt, that’s all.” With a shaking hand, his aunt settled her glasses on her nose before handing him the vial of rabies vaccination.
    He extracted the liquid into the syringe. That’s one thing Grant hated about living in a small community. Everyone knew everyone else’s business.
    As for Sarah, what did he really know about her? He knew she was orphaned at an early age and spent years in foster homes, but he wouldn’t enlighten his aunt, and give her more feed for the rumor mill. He knew Sarah had moved around a lot, but had given no specific reasons. On a whim, would she leave again, taking his heart with her?
    “I’m a grown boy, Aunt Mary, I can take care of myself.” Bunching the hairs at the base of