“I have one problem with overnights, in addition to not being qualified to do the farm animals.”I rocked my head back and forth.“Two problems, actually.First, I don’t feel comfortable going alone to see emergencies at night.”
“Why?We always go out alone.”
I shifted in the chair and crossed my arms.“I’m a woman.I don’t feel safe alone with unknown people at night.What if someone wants our controlled drugs or decides they want to hurt or rape me?What if they get upset when I ask them to pay, and they pull a gun?”
“We’ve never had that happen in…” He stopped talking.His brows furrowed.“I never thought about it.I’ll see if we can have one of the techs on call with you.I’ll also get you a panic button to carry.”His expression darkened further.“We’ll get you registered for a concealed carry permit class.”
“Second, what happens with Vinny if I get called in to see a pet in the middle of the night?I don’t think it’s smart to wake him up to go with me.”
“You can call me.”
“For what?You’ll go see the patient?Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of rotating who’s on call?”
“If you get a call, I can go over to your place and sleep on the sofa while you’re out.I’ll be there for Vinny.”
Him sleeping on my sofa, then possibly staying for breakfast, or even giving Vinny a ride to school seemed too much of an intrusion into his life.“Milly will escalate me from an annoyance to scheming bitch.That doesn’t mean I’m authorizing you to have a sex-athon at my house with her or...”I didn’t finish my thought, which was the word“me.”
He chuckled and shook his head.“I won’t bring someone along while I babysit.”
“You better not.”
“Maybe if you get a call, you ask me about them, and we’ll just have you go out to the farms we know?Maybe we change our overnight to only be able to provide that service for regular patients.”
“Okay.Would be ideal if I wasn’t going alone but I understand for now.”What the hell was I saying?I wasn’tgood.I didn’t want to be on-call at all.I didn’t want to see a bloated cow or colicky horse in the middle of the night.
Knock.Knock.
Marty called out, “We’ve got an appointment coming in.”
ChapterTwenty-Two
JOSH
I followed Erika up front,curious if it was one of my clients or someone new.I also had to unglue my eyes from her scrubs outfit.The pants were the trendy type that tapered to a tight ankle fit and hugged her butt.I couldn’t be staring at her this way.She was mybusinesscolleague.Business partner.Colleague.Saying it over and over didn’t help.
I had to break up with Milly.I hated other people butting into my business and putting words in my mouth like she’d done this morning.I would never call Erika an “annoyance who was bad for business.”She might irritate me a lot, maybe exasperate me, but I wanted her here.
Maybe I wanted her here as more than just as a business partner.
Of course I did.Dante was right.He was always right when it came to relationships.He had a freakish talent for understanding people, like he’d been issued the instruction manual the rest of us never got.
Whatever was going on with Erika needed to stay professional.But I couldn’t focus on anything except the infuriating urge to both kiss her and argue with her at the same time.In the meantime, it wasn’t fair to pretend I had room for anyone else.I needed to be straight with Milly.Tonight.I’d do it tonight.
When I got up front Marty called out, “Dr.Hurst, don’t forget to stop by the Sawyer farm to check on that lame cow on your way down to the Harrington place.”She jingled her car keys.“I’m off to Raleigh.”
I threw her a thumbs-up sign.
Bunny Tadlock rushed into the lobby carrying the little shark, Lexi.I opened my mouth to welcome her, but Erika squealed.I took a step back.I don’t think I’d ever heard her make that noise.
She ran to Bunny.The two hugged.There was a rush of a lot of words.Her hand extended to pet Lexi.I opened my mouth to warn her the dog might bite, but…
The dog jumped out of her mom’s arms and into Erika’s.Damn if Erika wasn’t crooning over the little piranha.The dog wasn’t biting her.I was more than a tad jealous.
“She remembers me, Bunny,” Erika said with a smile.
“’Course she does, hon.You raised that little munchkin while I was out riding.”
“Is she sick?”She pulled the land shark into her chest without an ounce of fear.
