Marooned in Manhattan by Sheila Agnew Page B

laughed so hard that I thought his wobbly looking front teeth were going to fall out. “No credit cards here, son, what have you got in cash?” So I emptied my pockets and I had seven dollars and twenty-three cents. “That will do,” he said and he put the money in his pocket and shuffled out of the room.’
    ‘That’s an incredible story,’ said Joanna. ‘So old Lucas cured Goldie and that inspired you to become a vet.’
    Scott shook his head.
    ‘No, Goldie died later that day, peacefully in my arms, and I buried her there in Montana. But I have never been able to forget the way Dr Lucas tried with what he had, which was little more than his own pair of hands. If it were not for him, I would probably have been a business major at college and right at this very moment I would be on a yacht, surrounded by a bevy of Victoria’s Secret models.’
    Joanna smiled and she put her hand on top of Scott’s and I put my hand on top of hers.
    ‘What have we got here,
The Three Musketeers
?’ asked Velda, with a sniff, tearing out the bill and dropping itdown on our table.
    ‘Absolutely,’ said Scott, winking at her, ‘do you want to be d’Artagnan?’
    ‘I’ve no time for your shenanigans, Dr Brooks, I have work to do,’ and she shuffled off, but not before giving him a second free refill of coffee.
    As we strolled back to the clinic, I asked Scott, ‘did you get a new dog when Goldie died?’
    ‘No’ he said, ‘I missed Goldie so much that I guess I was too much of a coward to get a new pet.’
    ‘Until you got brave enough to get Ben,’ I pointed out.
    ‘Not exactly,’ he said.
    ‘I got Ben in a poker game. Texas hold ’em.’
    ‘Oh my God. You won Ben in a card game. That is sooo cool,’ I said.
    ‘Who said anything about winning? The
loser
had to take Ben.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘Ben was the youngest puppy in a litter of nine born to Sidney’s sister’s English cocker spaniel. They found good homes for all the puppies. But Ben’s new owners brought him back, claiming he was untrainable. Now, who could think that?’
    Joanna started laughing and Scott did his pretending-to-be-offended face.
    ‘I still maintain that Sidney and her sister put something in my beers during that poker game,’ he moaned.
    It was a very interesting morning.

Chapter 17
    I called Kylie this morning to see if she wanted to come with me to my horse-riding lesson and meet Luna, the horse I always ride. My riding instructor assigned Luna to me because she is an Irish draught horse, which she thought would suit me. Kylie said she couldn’t make it.
    ‘Why not?’ I asked.
    ‘Because I have the adopted kids’ club today.’
    ‘Can orphans join as well?’ I asked.
    ‘No, I don’t think so. I think you have to be adopted.’
    That didn’t feel fair.
    ‘Maybe I will text Greg to see if he can go,’ I said, thinking out loud.
    ‘Duh, no he can’t,’ said Kylie. ‘He’ll be with me.’
    ‘But you just told me that only adopted kids can go,’ I said huffily, wondering if she had invited Greg but not me.
    ‘Greg
is
adopted. Didn’t you know that?’
    ‘What?’ I said. ‘But I’ve met his parents.’
    ‘You met his
adoptive
parents,’ said Kylie. ‘Finn and Greg are from Wisconsin. Their dad abandoned them when Greg was a toddler. I think their mom was into alcohol or drugs,or both, and she couldn’t cope, so she gave them up for adoption. They were in a few foster homes. Greg doesn’t remember much. He was only four and a half when the Winters adopted them.’
    I felt stunned.
    ‘They never said anything,’ I protested.
    ‘Do you go around announcing to people that you are an orphan?’ Kylie asked.
    ‘No, you know I don’t. Of course not.’
    ‘So adopted people don’t go around saying, “Hey, guess what? I’m adopted.”’
    ‘Okay, okay, I get it,’ I said. ‘Have fun today.’
    ‘You too. Enjoy the horseback riding and don’t fall off.’
    ‘I won’t,’ I promised, wondering why Americans