With his arms full of a wriggling pig, Griffin was unable to slide the door open, so Charlie set Sugar down and slipped in around him to shove the heavy wooden door to the side. She stumbled inside with Griffin right behind her.
She turned and, sure enough, found the goat and duck right behind them.
“Stan!” Griffin called. He added a whistle.
The goat across the road looked up, seemed to realize he was getting wet, and started ambling toward the barn.
It was a really good thing that the road wasn’t very busy this time of night.
As Stan strolled into the barn, Griffin slid the door shut behind him. The rest of the animals were already inside for the night. He turned and headed for the back of the barn. Sugar, of course, stayed right next to him, and the duck waddled along beside her. When he reached the final stall, he stepped inside with the pig. The next thing Charlie knew, he disappeared behind the wooden slats.
Unable to help herself, Charlie headed in that direction to see what he was doing.
She found him sitting on the floor with Hermione half on the hay beside him and half in his lap. He was gathering more hay around the animal into a little nest and talking to her soothingly.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. You’re fine. I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Heat bloomed in Charlie’s stomach. She wasn’t scared of storms, but she very much wanted to be held in Griffin Foster’s lap and told that everything was going to be okay. About anything. Or just held in his lap and petted the way he was stroking Hermione’s head and back.
Sugar knelt next to him on the side opposite Hermione, and the duck settled in next to her.
“You can come in too.”
Charlie looked at Griffin.
He was sitting on the floor of a barn stall with a pig in his lap. His hair was wet, his T-shirt was plastered to his body, and his skin was shiny with the rain. And he looked delicious, competent, calming, and yes, tempting.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “You think Sugar and Hermione will share?”
Griffin looked down at the pig, then the goat. “If you don’t want to be in my lap.”
“Oh, I very much want to be in your lap, Dr. Foster.”
Heat flared in his eyes. He shook his head and seemed to decide not to comment on that directly. “I can’t move Hermione until Sylvester gets here.”
Charlie thought she knew everyone who worked for Boys of the Bayou. “Sylvester?”
“Her cat.”
That was Griffin’s full answer. Charlie tipped her head. “What do you mean, her cat? The pig has a cat?”
“Well, I suppose Sylvester is maybe more of a friend than a pet. But he’s her comfort animal.”
Griffin chuckled at what had to be the you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look Charlie was giving him.
“Sylvester wandered into the barn one night as a kitten. The next morning we found him curled up next to Hermione. He was pretty sick, and we weren’t sure he was going to make it, but Hermione got very upset when we tried to take him out of her pen. So I did an exam and gave him some medicine and food and water right here in her stall. He bounced back and is perfectly healthy now, and they still are best friends. He sleeps in here with her every night, and we’ve noticed that when he is here with her on stormy nights, she’s much calmer than she was before.”
Charlie looked at the pig, who was being petted like a lapdog by the handsome vet. She was jealous of having that big hand running up and down the pig’s body. “Why is she scared of storms?”
“We’re not really sure why, but storms and particularly thunder make her anxious. Tori brought her here from Iowa. I guess she’s always been this way.”
Wow. Charlie shook her head. She was good at a lot of things. She knew a lot of things. There were very few situations that really threw her for a loop. But all of this animal stuff was definitely new territory.
She’d always considered herself an animal lover, but they hadn’t had pets growing up. She and her sisters had wanted a dog, but their parents had said it wouldn’t be fair to the animal since they were all so busy and gone a lot.
Her dose of dogs and cats had come—as had all really special things in her life—from her trips to the bayou. And now that animals, and definitely nothing as normal as cats and dogs, were part of her daily life here in Autre, she found herself fascinated.
The story about Hermione and Sylvester also reminded her of what Lisa had just told her and Paige about Morgan.
“Just now, a mom came over to tell Paige that being at otter yoga had helped her daughter open up for the first time since her grandfather died.”
Griffin simply nodded.
“I mean, of course, I know about comfort animals. I’ve heard stories about dogs that can tell when their owner is going to have a diabetic episode or seizure. I know there are cats in nursing homes that comfort patients as they pass away. But I’ve never really thought about it beyond, ‘wow, that’s really nice,’ But it’s a real thing, huh?”
“It’s definitely a real thing.” Griffin looked down at Hermione and patted her side. “Animals won’t judge you. Animals are loving, and loyal, and trusting. Even when the human they’re loving and trusting doesn’t deserve it. There’s nothing quite as humbling as having another living being depend on you and fully trust you to take care of them.” Griffin lifted his head to look at Charlie. “I find people who understand and love animals to be more understanding and loving of humans as well.”
That made sense, of course. Being able to be empathetic toward any other living thing could clearly extend to all living things.
“You seem much more loving toward animals than toward humans,” Charlie couldn’t help but point out.
“Animals deserve it more,” he said without hesitation. “They’re easier. They don’t have agendas, they’re not selfish, and they don’t say one thing and do another. Animals have simple needs that are easy to understand and meet.”
Charlie studied him. “You know, if you want me to quit talking about being attracted to you and putting it ‘out there,’ you need to stop being so attractive.”
He gave a soft chuckle, and Charlie felt her body warm. It wasn’t exactly desire. At least not in the sexual sense. But it was pleasure at having made him laugh and a desire to make it happen again.
“I’ve just been drenched by rain, and I’m sitting on the floor of a barn with a pig in my lap,” Griffin said. “How’s this attractive?”
“I don’t totally understand it either.”
11
That wasn’t true. Charlie completely understood what was attractive about Griffin Foster.
“Okay, I lied. It’s how upfront you are about how you feel about things. It’s how passionate and caring you are. And it’s how you know who you are and what you want.”
He didn’t answer for several seconds.
Charlie took the opportunity to join him in the stall. She really wanted to know more about this guy. This seemed like as good as a time as any to dig a little. He clearly wasn’t going anywhere for a while—at least until Sylvester showed up.
She pulled the door open to the stall and stepped inside. She looked around for a moment, wondering where she should actually sit. She chose a spot across from him so she could look at him.