Before We Kiss (Fool's Gold #14)(88)

Dellina blinked. “Okay, so this is big. Let me think. We can probably put, what, three carriers in each car. Maybe four. So we need about fifteen vehicles. Sixty carriers.” She was already making notes.

“Give me ten minutes and I’ll call you back.”

“Thanks.”

Dellina immediately called the local vet’s office. Two minutes later Cameron McKenzie was on the phone. She explained what was happening.

“Sixty cats?” he said, sounding surprised. “That’s a lot. I have a half dozen high school kids who get their volunteer credits working with the animals here. They can help with assessments and treatment. Hopefully not all the animals will be sick. I also know several families who will be willing to foster cats. You’ll need carriers. I have ten you can borrow. Check with Max out at K9Rx. Some of the therapy dogs are small. You can probably borrow those carriers. I don’t know where you’ll get the rest.”

“I’m calling the mayor’s new assistant,” Dellina told him. “And activating the phone tree. That will get us carriers and volunteers. I’ll keep in touch, Cameron, and let you know when we’re on our way back.”

Dellina’s next call was to Bailey, who took down the relevant information and promised to activate the phone tree. Dellina set up the rendezvous for two hours from now, in the convention center parking lot, then hung up and called Larissa back.

“Here’s where we are,” she said. “We’ll be ready to go by eleven.”

* * *

BY TEN-THIRTY, Dellina was forced to call in reinforcements. Not only were people bringing pet carriers, they were arriving with cat beds, food, toys and offers to foster. Larissa was collecting names and numbers of those willing to take in a cat or two until a permanent home could be found. Fayrene and Ryan arrived with his large truck. He loaded the food and other paraphernalia into the bed. Larissa said to take it all to Jack’s house. She would sort it there, later. Dellina briefly wondered how Jack felt about that sort of thing, but decided that wasn’t anything she could worry about now. Not when she had to distribute the growing number of carriers to the volunteers willing to go back and forth to Sacramento.

Taryn and Angel pulled up in his SUV. Taryn had exchanged her designer suit for designer jeans and a silk shirt. She walked over.

“Angel says we can take six crates by using the third-row seats,” she said. “Kenny’s coming, too. He drives a big Mercedes, so put him down for four. Larissa and Jack will take three, but she’s probably already told you that.”

“She has,” Dellina said, noting the information, then waiting breathlessly for a report on how Sam would be helping.

What Taryn said instead was, “We can’t believe how you’re all jumping in to help her with one of her crazy projects. We’re all used to it, but this is new for the town.”

Dellina drew her eyebrows together. “Why wouldn’t we help? We have pets in need. Of course we’ll be there.”

Taryn stunned her by pulling her into a hug. “I love this town so much,” she said as she hung on. “It’s magical.”

Dellina hugged her back. “We have our issues, but usually it’s not being afraid to do the right thing. And I wouldn’t get too excited about it. Once we rescue these sixty cats, we have to find homes for them.”

Taryn shuddered slightly. “You mean like take a cat? Don’t they shed?”

Angel came up and put his arm around her. “That’s my girl. Thinking with her closet.”

“I wear a lot of suede. Do you know what cat hair would do to that?”

Larissa came up and grinned. “There are hairless cats. Maybe we’ll find one of those.”

Taryn looked doubtful. “Maybe. If it was really hairless.”

Dellina left them discussing the issue. She checked in more volunteers, and took temporary possession of additional carriers. By eleven, they had everything they needed.

There were fifteen vehicles in the caravan. Larissa had printed instructions on where they were going, along with various phone numbers. Everyone agreed to stop for lunch on the outskirts of Sacramento so, once they got the cats, they could drive straight back. Several people agreed to meet them back at the convention center parking lot for feline assessments and distribution.

* * *

DRIVING FOR NEARLY two hours with four cats meowing was not the most restful experience, Dellina thought as she pulled back into the convention center parking lot. While she understood the cats were scared, couldn’t they express that a bit more quietly?

Larissa had phoned ahead to let people know they were on their way back. As Dellina parked, she saw several dozen people waiting to help with the cats, including Cameron and his nursing staff. She turned off the engine and unlocked her door, only to have it opened from the outside.

“You’re a hard lady to track down.”

Dellina stared up into Sam’s dark eyes and braced herself for the inevitable thumpty-thump of her heart. Sure enough, the organ sighed while the rest of her body went on sexy-man alert.

He held out his hand. She put hers in his and let him draw her out of the car.

“I was helping Larissa,” she told him. “With a cat rescue.”

“That’s Jack’s job.”

“This was bigger than Jack.” She motioned to the cars pulling in beside hers. “There were fifty-seven cats in total. Some of them are okay, but several are obviously sick and a few act like they’ve never seen a human before.”