Chapter 3
Every so often that day AJ found himself stopping in the middle of whatever he was doing to chuckle about what had happened that morning.
Meanwhile, across town, Tami was dealing with her third teenage crisis of the day as well as trying to deliver a litter of puppies from a first time mother. Her son grinned at her aggravation at Sheena and reminded her that she had wanted another child after him and it was too late to change her mind now that Sheena was sixteen. At twenty-one, Andrew was so like his father that at times it almost hurt to look at him. His looks and voice were so like Brad's had been when they were first married.
Brad had been just Andrew's age when he and Tami had become parents. They had been so young and so in love. Tami had wanted another child, a girl, to fill out their small family, but three miscarriages later they had about given up hope. Then she became pregnant with Sheena and their family was complete. Happiness reigned in their household until late one night, five years ago; Brad was coming home from a meeting and lost control of his car on the icy roads. He was killed when the car crashed into a tree.
So the family of three went on, Tami running the shelter and being a vet, Andrew in veterinary school, and young Sheena still in high school, dreaming of boys and playing baseball. She was living for the new season to start after the Christmas break, because she had heard such wonderful things about the new coach that had been hired.
As the days passed, AJ and Tami met a few times on the running trails and on those occasions they ran a while together before heading their separate ways. AJ found, to his surprise, that he was enjoying these chance encounters with Tami. The only person he had ever run with before was Sarah Mackenzie when they were training for the JAGathon race several years ago. And before that, it had been even more years in the past that he had run with Tom Boone.
AJ had always found running to be a solitary passion. But his encounters with Tami had been pleasant and he found himself taking note of the times she ran and changing his schedule to meet up with her more often. They talked briefly as they ran enjoying the companionship more than the chatter.
The Saturday before Christmas was particularly cold, so as they finished their warm down near AJ's house, he asked if Tami would like to come in for a cup of coffee. Both were mildly surprised when she agreed.
"I can't stay long though," Tami told him, "I have to open the shelter at noon."
"I will be sure to shoo you out of the house before then. I actually wanted to ask your advice on a pet for a five year old boy, and there is a one year old in the house as well."
"Well, you wouldn't want a puppy, because they have a tendency to bite and chew," she offered.
"It will also need to be low maintenance because the mother is expecting twins at the end of January."
"Well then I wouldn't advise a cat then either with infants in the house. What about a guinea pig or a rabbit?"
"I think the rabbit would be a great idea, do you have any at the shelter that I could adopt?"
"I have three at the moment that you could choose from, there is a white one a black one and a spotted one."
"Then I will come over some time this week and take a look, thank you, Tami," he said with a smile and poured her a second cup of coffee.
"You're more than welcome," she said sipping the coffee.
"Can you tell me yet if Dammit is going to be a mother?" he asked with a frown.
"Not yet, you should bring her by the shelter between Christmas and New Year, I'll be able to tell by then and will give her an exam to make sure everything is going well, if she is pregnant," Tami told him.
To be continued…
