“I realize I’m talking to Dr. Always Has a Plan Colin. I’d really rather be talking to my Boyfriend Colin.”
“Boyfriend Colin likes that title, but let’s put a pin in that and circle back later.”
“I’m done with later, and if I start overthinking this place like you would, then I’ll lose it.”
She saw the look on his face, knew she’d hurt him. She touched his arm. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“Then how did you mean it?”
“That maybe Harley isn’t so crazy. Maybe acting without thinking, following where my heart leads me and counting on instinct and emotions isn’t all wrong. I’m tired of watching the world pass me by. And following my heart can’t be so bad. It led me back to you.”
He looked at her for a long moment and said, “I get it.”
“Yeah?” she whispered.
“Yeah.”
She kissed him and went back to Jack. “I’ll take it.”
“I’m going to be honest,” Jack said. “Your credit score is lacking.” Great, Frank, the gift that keeps on giving. “I’d be more comfortable if you had a cosigner.”
“Would you be willing to accept six months’ rent up front?”
Colin whispered, “Where are you going to get that kind of money?”
“I can take an equity loan out on my house.”
“I don’t want you to risk your family’s future. Plus, the rates will be outrageous.”
Colin picked up the pen. “I’ll be your cosigner.”
She snatched the pen from his overly generous fingers before he could finish signing. “I can’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask.” He slowly slipped the pen out of her hand. “If you say you have this, then you have this. That’s part of becoming an ‘us.’ Trusting each other. I trust you, Bianchi.”
Jack grinned. “If Colin vouches for you, I’m good.”
Chapter 24
I hope you step on a Lego (nothing personal).
—Unknown
As Colin stood in the animal clinic’s reception area, getting angrier and angrier by the second, he knew there weren’t enough words in the dictionary to express how sorry he was.
Every good vet knew that clients took emotional cues from the practitioner to guide them through even the most devastating of situations, which was why Colin worked hard to keep his emotions in check. But this was no ordinary patient and no ordinary situation.
Oliver, a twelve-year-old boy with cerebral palsy, whose mobility and freedom lay in the paws of his service dog, had been delivered a devastating blow. A blow that could have been prevented had Colin been notified of the emergency sooner.
Harbor, a certified retrieval dog, acted as the boy’s hands and means of independence. He wasn’t just a four-legged companion; Harbor was the kid’s best friend. But because of the clinic’s new policy, an entire family was grieving. The dog had pushed Oliver out of the way of a car that ran a stop sign. Oliver made it out unscathed, but Harbor hadn’t. He’d been hit, then brought into the clinic in critical condition.
As a service dog, Harbor qualified for a reduced rate on visits, but Ronnie, fucking Ronnie, had put a new protocol in place, giving priority to full-price patients. Colin was the only qualified vet on duty to perform the surgery but because he was performing a procedure for a full-price patient, a procedure any first-year intern could have handled, he hadn’t had a clue as to what was happening at the front of the clinic. Sadly, Ronnie was too much of a tight-ass to notify the vet on call, so he’d turned the family away, rerouting them to an emergency animal hospital in Monterey.
The twenty-minute delay caused by an unnecessary drive cost Harbor his back leg, leaving him unable to perform his job. Once a service dog was unable to perform its duties, it loses its classification, and is often rehomed to a family looking for a well-trained pet. Oliver had been on the national service dog wait list for over three years before he received Harbor.
After consoling the understandably distraught family, Colin hunted down Ronnie. He went straight to Ronnie’s office, which was more of a man cave than a workspace, with a virtual golf simulator and foosball table. Colin stormed in without knocking, not surprised to find Ronnie, dressed in tasseled loafers, white dress shirt, and loosened tie, with a golf club in hand.
Without looking up, Ronnie held a single finger in the air, signaling Colin to give him a moment of silence so he could tee off.
