order to draw them well. So I was wondering if maybe I could go on a few farm calls with you. I’d stay out of your way, of course —”
Dr. Jack laughed — a deep, low chuckle. “I don’t know. A city girl has to get up pretty early in the mornin’ to go on a farm call.”
“I can handle that. I’m kind of a morning person anyway.” That last part was a big lie, but she didn’t want Dr. Jack to stereotype her as a night-owl urbanite.
“Well, you just keep your drawing things packed then, Mrs. McGilly, ’cause I’ll be calling you one mornin’ without any notice.”
Lily hung up the phone and realized that the conversation had made her so nervous that she had been spooning yogurt into Mimi’s mouth faster than she could eat it.
Dr. Jack hadn’t been kidding about the early part. On Saturday morning, when the clock read four seventeen, the phone rang. “Hello?” Lily croaked.
“Hey. I thought you said you were a mornin’ person,” Dr. Jack laughed. “Just got a call about a sow in trouble. You wanna come?”
“Sure, I guess so.”
“You live on that road out by the Free Will Baptist, don’tcha?”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’ll come by and get you then. I’m on my way.”
Lily threw on yesterday’s clothes and splashed some water on her face. She bumped into Ben on her way out of the bathroom.
“Was it that bull dyke veterinarian on the phone?” he asked, rubbing his heavy-lidded eyes.
“Now, now, dear, that’s not a very politically correct way to refer to her.”
“Nobody who calls at four o’clock on a Saturday morning gets the PC treatment,” Ben muttered.
“I shouldn’t be gone long,” Lily said. “I don’t think Mimi will wake up before I get back, but if she does, you can look after her, right?”
“Hey, what are self-proclaimed fathers for?”
Dr. Jack came to fetch Lily in a faded red Chevy pickup. It was impossible to imagine her driving anything else. “Hop on in, Mrs. McGilly,” she said, grinning. Dr. Jack, clearly a morning person, looked alert and cheerful despite the fact that it wasn’t even five a.m.
“Please call me Lily.” Pretty please, she thought. “Lily McGilly!” Dr. Jack laughed.
“Trust me. You’re not the first person to find my married name amusing.”
“I guess not. Well, some folks call me Jack, and some folks call me Doc. You take your pick — just as long as you don’t call me by my given name.”
