Chapter Text
At 23 years old, Therese Belivet prided herself in being the manager of her local humane society. With a deep-rooted passion for animals, as well as the knowledge that comes from being around them all her life, she could think of no better fit for her in the working world. She had started at the shelter when she was still in high school, and even at 16 years old, the previous manager could tell that Therese was passionate about her work with the animals.
A typical day for Therese was waking up at 6, getting ready for the day, and heading to the shelter, where she would sometimes stay overnight if a new, frightened animal had been dropped off that day. Therese could always recognize the fear and anxiety in newcomers to the shelter, and made it a part of her job to stay overnight with the animal in her office to help them acclimate to their new surroundings. All of the employees at the shelter loved Therese and her sweet, yet firm, nature. Therese had learned early on in her career that to be an advocate for animals, she would have to be resolute where the well-being of her animals were concerned.
Though the shelter had more than enough volunteers, Therese made sure that only the ones who truly cared about the animals (not just those there to play with dogs to write it down on the ‘volunteer experience’ section of their college resumes) were the ones to provide the most care for them. Additionally, all employees would shadow her for a week so that she could ensure they were there for the right reasons and not just a paycheck. Some considered her ridiculous for how much she cared about her job, but in the shelter world, it was well-known that nobody could do it better than Therese Belivet.
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“Wow, you’re just amazing to be doing this kind of work. It really takes someone special to work with these poor animals.”
As Therese tried to wave away her annoyance and muster some kind of thanks, the woman in front of her kept droning on about how sad and abandoned the animals must feel. While Therese understood that the people who said these things (which she heard numerous times a day) meant well, it was always frustrating to her that these same people didn’t typically volunteer, donate supplies, or adopt animals. Additionally, it angered her that everyone felt that the animals in the shelter needed so much pity. The animals were surrounded by love from volunteers and staff at the shelter, and were well exercised and taken care of. Yes, Therese didn’t love to see them locked in kennels, but she also knew that feeling pity for them wasn’t going to change their situations in any way.
As Therese feigned interest as the woman continued to share all her thoughts and opinions on shelter animals, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Being prone to flinching, Therese quickly pulled away and turned her head to find who the hand came from.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you or interrupt, but I wanted to ask you about this cat over here. The white Himalayan one. Oliver, I think is his name.”
Therese was momentarily lost for words. The voice directed at her was smooth as silk, and the body that matched it was simply gorgeous, topped with golden blonde shoulder length hair. Not one to typically be so flustered by such a simple interaction, Therese quickly reigned herself in.
“If you’ll excuse me just a moment ma’am,” she said to the woman who had nearly talked her ear off, “I’ll get right back with you if you’ll give me just a second to assist-”
“Oh, you’re fine,” the woman interrupted. “Don’t mind me, I know you have work to do.”
Therese politely smiled as she thought to herself, yes, you definitely were concerned about all the work I had to do for the whole half hour that you were chatting me up about my poor, sad, lonely animals.
She turned to the beauty beside her and tried to play it cool. “So, you’re interested in Oliver, the white Himalayan?”
“No. Er, well, yes. But mostly, I wanted to relieve you of that woman who couldn’t seem to stop pestering you. I’m sure it gets old to you to hear that same ‘poor animals’ line over and over again.”
“Well,” Therese laughed lightly, her dimples showing, “Thank you for that. I’m not sure how much more of that I could’ve taken.” The blonde woman laughed, and her smile made Therese flush. Good God, what a perfect creature this woman was. She could feel herself staring, and made herself look away.
“So, about Oliver,” she tried to continue.
“Oh, yes,” the blonde cut her off “he’s beautiful, and such a friendly guy. My daughter and I just moved here a few weeks ago and I promised her we could get a cat once we got settled. I’ve got my eye on Mr. Oliver over there.”
“Well, he’s relatively new, he’s only been here for about a week and a half. But the Himalayan cats don’t tend to stay long, and we’ve had a lot of people express interest in him. You should probably fill out an application if you’re serious.”
“An application it is then,” chimed the gorgeous woman. “Rindy will be so excited about this.”
“I’m guessing Rindy is your daughter?” Therese said as she guided the woman to the front desk to fill out application papers.
“Yes, she just turned 6 and has been begging me for a cat since she turned 3, so this is a long time coming.”
“Ahhh, I see. Well she’s going to love Oliver, he’s a sweetheart”. Therese handed the woman the clipboard with the packet of papers. She watched her careful hand filling out the sheets in her flawless print with her shining red nail polish. It wasn’t often that Therese had naughty thoughts about a total stranger, but she let her mind wonder to how those beautiful hands would feel on her skin. As she felt a flush of heat rise up her face, she shifted her mind to other things to bring her hue back to normal.
As the woman handed her back the clipboard, she noticed her name: Carol Aird. Carol: Simple, graceful, and elegant, just like the woman standing before her. Therese recited the memorized line to Carol about how applications weren’t a guarantee for adoption and so forth, then asked if she had any questions.
“Yes, actually. I used to volunteer at an animal shelter before we moved, and I’ve been missing it. Do you allow volunteers at your shelter?” Therese couldn’t suppress her smile, she loved the way your shelter sounded coming from Carol’s voice.
“We do actually, there’s a book on the table by the door with time slots, you’re welcome to sign up if you’d like. It’d be great to have a volunteer that has previous experience. The only thing is that our volunteers have to be 16, so your daughter wouldn’t be able to volunteer with you, Mrs. Aird. But she could always hang around the front desk with one of our staff members, or hang out in the office with me if I’m not busy.”
“Oh please,” the blonde said, “Call me Carol. Anyhow, that’d be great. I’ll sign up on the way out.”
As Carol’s eyes traced Therese’s figure from head to toe and back up again, Therese could feel her cheeks growing hot and red.
“I’m so sorry I didn’t ask, but what’s your name? You may have mentioned it before, but I must have miss-”
“Therese”, she interrupted.
Carol smiled, which again, made Therese flush. “Therese,” she said with a sly smile, rolling the name off of her tongue beautifully. “Well, Therese,” she said drawing her name out, “I suppose I’ll see you around. I look forward to hearing back about Oliver,” Carol said as she approached the table that the volunteer book laid on.
Another staff member, Dannie, approached Therese. “Hey, T. I need you to check on Big John, he’s walking funny again”. As Therese was pulled away to her work, still in a daze, she managed to squeak out a simple, “Take care”.
Watching her carefully, Carol smiled back at her, and winked before she turned to the door.