Capture Her Heart

Chapter 9

Audrey groaned as her alarm blared by her ear. Reaching out she grabbed her phone and slid it to stop making the annoying notification to silence. Sighing she clutched the pillow to her face for a second before pushing herself into a sitting position. Yawning, she went through her morning routine and then headed down the stairs to the kitchen. Turning on the coffee machine she yawned again then jumped when there was a banging on her door.

"Doc Em! Doc Em!" she sighed in relief as she recognized the voice. She rushed to the door and flung it open. "Oh thank god, Doc you need to save her please!" a frantic woman sobbed as she held a limp dog in her arms.

"Bring her in and call Rebekah now," Audrey nodded, instantly waking up as she quickly pulled her hair up into a ponytail.

A couple of hours later there was yet another knock on her door. She forced herself not to roll her eyes as it seemed like today was going to be a day where she wasn't going to get a break until that evening and even that was pushing it. It seemed like as soon as she got a chance to breathe there was another emergency needing her.

"Rebekah, I'm going to get the door real quick. You good here?" Audrey asked as she ripped her gloves off and tossed them into the trash can. Luckily, they were able to save the heeler from eating mouse poison. Pumping a dog's stomach is a messy situation though and she had vomit on her clothes since she didn't have time to put a smack on.

"Go and eat breakfast while you're at it! I have things covered here!" Rebekah called out as Audrey was already down the hall.

Audrey didn't pay attention to her comment as she thought about what she would need for the animals she would be tending to at the homeless shelter. Finally reaching the door, she saw it was Bobby, Greg, and Joshua. "I thought you boys would be meetin' at the homeless shelter here in a couple hours?

"Oh well, you see," Greg said while stumbling over his words.

"What this ol' fool is trying to say is we wanted to see if you needed any help bringing equipment down or any extra supplies. We brought a horse-drawn carriage from Abraham. He said it was a good way to start getting the new horses used to pull carts along, and if there are animals that need more care we can load them up with their person," Joshua proudly proclaimed with his chest puffed up.

"Awww, well that is mighty sweet of you boys. You'll have to thank Abraham for me till I see him next time," Audrey replied with a wide smile on her face.

"Will do, Miss Em," they all said together before glaring at each other. Shaking her head, she held the door open for the boys to come in.

"Alright, well I have a few bags and boxes in the living room if you don't mind loading them up."

"You heard her, let's get to loading up so we can get to the shelter quicker. Bet there's going to be at least a hundred people this time!" Bobby bet to the others.

Just as she made a move to go check on Rebekah there was another knock on her door. "Well, now who could that be?" Turning back around she answered her door again after shooing off the boys to do the task she already set them on.

"Well, my house is just popping with visitors. I thought I'd see you folks down at the shelter. You didn't have to come all the way out here," Audrey smiled politely as she saw all 14 men outside her door.

"A few of us are going to stay behind to continue working on that roof while the others join in helping down at the homeless shelter. If that's okay with you," Axel offered as he fixed his shades on top of his head.

"No, that is fine by me. Come on in, I have only 1 coffee pot so we will have to go in rotation otherwise I have some OJ, Sweet Tea, Water, or Peach Tea to drink," Audrey said as she allowed the group to follow her inside, leading them to her living room and making her way back to the kitchen. She started pulling out 3 jugs out of her fridge and setting them on her kitchen island.

"We will help ourselves, thank you for your hospitality. Now is there anything we can do to help prepare for this adventure?" Marc asked as he started prepping drinks after receiving cups from her.

"Nah, the three boys have it covered and I am just going to catch a quick shower before we take off. Had to help a heeler get rid of the mouse poison she had ingested. Oh, and I will leave my place unlocked in case those who stay behind want something to eat, or drink or need to use the restroom. I had a small cabin that I'd keep stalked for any workers to use but a fire took it away 4 years ago. I haven't had the funds to have a new one built and honestly, I wouldn't have a clue on where to start. Plus I have a camera system set up to let me know if anyone ventured off where they shouldn't be," Audrey rambled as she made up a coffee for herself.

"Well, I promise that we will respect your privacy. Thank you for opening your home to us," Owen said as he adjusted his shirt cuffs. Today he was wearing dark grey slacks with a maroon button-up shirt. It was his way of dressing down from his usual 3 piece suit.

"Okay, well I should be ready in," looking at her wrist but noticing she hadn't even put on her watch yet today. "Heh, oops, well I'd say 45 minutes." Feeling embarrassed, she scratched her cheek before bolting out of the room.

"Haha, she's like a totally different person from yesterday. I wonder what got her to open up like she did?" Luke commented as he perched himself on the kitchen island while grabbing a glass of Peach Tea. "Awe man! This is refreshing, it isn't that premix crap from the store. I wonder if she made it herself or if those friends of hers possibly did?"

"You'll have to ask her when she comes back and maybe you can look into getting a jug for yourself," Kota commented as he looked at her bookshelf in the living room. He picked up a warn book that read, Poems of Edgar Allen Poe. "Well, she loves poetry."

"Hey Em! You cooking breakfast yet? I'm starved!" Rebekah hollered as she entered the room. She froze for a split second before stating, "You're not Em."