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Chapter 7
Beth had only met Trudy Davis upon checking her in for her appointment, but now she held the woman’s shaking hand as they waited for Eli to return after he’d whisked the unconscious yet—thankfully—still breathing dog away.
“He has cancer, you know,” Trudy told her with a sniffle.
“Oh” was all Beth could think of to respond. She’d never lost anyone close to her and had never been the pet-loving type. Sure, she’d temporarily lost her career and had set aside a sizeable amount of time to wallow, but her injury was a setback, not something to grieve. Yet somehow a knot still formed in her throat, as if Trudy’s impending grief was contagious.
A lock of salt-and-pepper hair loosed itself from the other woman’s long braid, and Trudy reacted with a tearful laugh as she tucked it back in place.
“He always nips at my hair when this happens.” She looked at Beth with watery eyes. “Lost most of his teeth, though, so he never did much damage.”
Beth plucked a fresh tissue from the box resting on Trudy’s lap and handed it to her. “You really love that little fur ball, huh?” she asked.
Trudy took the tissue, added it to the wad of already used ones in her hand, blew her nose, and nodded. “Humans are great…most of the time. But there’s nothing like the connection you make with a pet.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Beth told her. She wasn’t yet ready to admit that she’d snuck out to the barn every night in the past week to visit Midnight. She’d left the stall door closed, of course, so she wouldn’t set off the alarm again. But she’d wait up until she saw the lights go out in Eli’s residence attached to the clinic, then wait until she was pretty sure that he had gone to sleep. And then she’d meet the mare, who’d reach her nose over the top of the gatelike door to nuzzle Beth’s chin. She couldn’t explain it, her draw to this creature, let alone her desire to ride it. All Beth knew was her loneliness felt a little less—well—lonely when she visited her new equine friend.
“You’ve never had a pet?” Trudy asked.
Beth shook her head. “Not any animal I’d consider my own. I don’t really connect with them. Delaney got that gene.” Midnight was some weird fluke. They were probably just two lonely beings latching on to one another. As soon as Beth got to know Meadow Valley a bit better, she’d probably forget all about the mare.
“It’s a wonderful thing to love an animal and have them love you back,” Trudy continued. “But you enter into the contract knowing that—barring any sort of unfortunate accident—you’ll likely outlive this creature that you’ve loved since the moment you met, and it will cause you immeasurable pain and heartbreak.” She sniffled and blew her nose again.
Beth shook her head, incredulous. “Then why even do it? Why set yourself up for failure?” It didn’t make sense. “If a relationship has an expiration date, what’s the point of entering into the ‘contract’?” She slipped her hand from Trudy’s so she could air quote the last word.
Trudy let out a tearful laugh. “Because if I gave up the possibility of pain, I’d also be giving up the possibility of joy. Years of it, which is what I’ve had with Frederick.”
The only thing that had ever brought Beth joy, true joy, was performing. No animal or person could make her feel what she felt when she was onstage. From the time she put on her first pair of tap shoes at four years old all the way through her Vegas debut and even to tearing her Achilles at what should have been her career-making audition…all of it was happiness like she never could have imagined.
Until it wasn’t. The past five weeks had been the unhappiest in Beth’s life, yet she couldn’t help but acknowledge how her evenings in the barn made the unhappy a little less un.
Beth narrowed her eyes, suddenly remembering something else Trudy mentioned.
“Did you really fall in love with Frederick the moment you saw him?”
Trudy raised her brows. “You don’t believe me? Maybe you and animals don’t connect, but has there never been anyone in your life you’ve simply looked at and thought, ‘If you’re as sweet as you are adorable, I’m going to fall in love with you before the night is through’?”
Beth laughed. She’d met plenty of men between her teens and now, and none of them had made her believe in love at first sight. Then again, relationships always came secondary to dancing, but still. If there was a man capable of sweeping her off her feet, wouldn’t that have shown through regardless of how focused she was on her career?
Her pulse suddenly raced as her body recalled the feeling of Eli scooping her into his arms as he somehow anticipated Midnight’s reaction before the mare even made a move. Even now, she could feel the place where the tips of his fingers met the bare skin where her shirt had ridden up.
You’re furious with him, she reminded herself. And she was. But it didn’t change the way her physiology responded to him then or to the memory of him now.
“No,” Beth finally croaked, realizing she hadn’t answered Trudy’s question. “Can’t say that I have.”
The other woman dabbed at the corners of her damp eyes with her tissue and smiled. “Very convincing, Ms. Spence. Very convincing indeed.”
Eli threw the door open before Beth could call the woman out on her unfounded teasing.
“He’s stable, Trudy.” He looked right past Beth. “I gave him some intravenous fluids and he let me do the ultrasound without a fuss. But the mass is obstructing the bowels, which explains the vomiting and dehydration. I think—I think you should let me operate.”
Beth had been so focused on Trudy while Eli and Frederick were gone. Calm, accepting Trudy. But in Eli’s blue eyes, she saw a storm brewing.
Trudy stood and strode the few steps to where Eli filled the space beneath the door’s frame.
That was the only way Beth could describe Eli’s entrance into the room. He filled the space. He took up presence. Hell, he was presence. And despite her anger, she couldn’t deny that when Dr. Eli Murphy entered a room, she felt him there.
Trudy raised a palm to Eli’s cheek and gave him a loving pat.
