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“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, Kai’s going to get it all straightened out.” And wasn’t that the weirdest thing in the world? I actually trusted him to do that. I wasn’t over here going all control freak, I was actually letting him take care of this thing.

Chaos had stopped eating and her eyes were closing.

“I think lunch time is over with,” I said as I eased the bowl away from Chaos’ face.

Kizzie nodded. She took the bowl away from me, then handed me a towel to wipe up Chaos’ muzzle.

“She’s going to be out for a while. All the medication I’m giving her is making her sleepy. That just helps to ensure she doesn’t move around all that much and gives her body time to recuperate.”

“Makes sense.”

“Do you want to come into my office?” Kizzie asked.

I looked down at my watch. I’d been at the animal hospital for three-and-a-half hours. “Let me text Kai and see what’s on his schedule.”

Kizzie nodded. “I’m going to clean up.” She held up the bowl. I nodded. “I’ll meet you in reception in a minute or two, and you can let me know your plans.”

“Will do,” I said.

I was smiling as I walked out to the front of the veterinary clinic. I loved that I was making more and more friends here in Jasper Creek. So far, I hadn’t found anyone disagreeable, except maybe that woman with the purple hair who pointed her finger at me. But even she was more funny than annoying.

Leaning against the wall, I looked down at my phone to see if I had missed any texts. I hadn’t. I texted Kai and said I was about ready to leave the vet’s, but I could also spend more time here if he had something going on. He immediately texted back and said he’d meet me there in a few. I gave him a thumbs up sign, and went to the young man behind the reception desk.

“Can you let me back in so I can talk to Kizzie?”

“Sure.”

He hit a buzzer and the door unlocked. I headed back to Kizzie’s office.

“No coffee, huh?”

I frowned. “How’d you know?”

“Honey, you have that, ‘I’m man crazy’ look on your face.”

“I do not.”

Kizzie laughed. “Okay, you don’t.”

“Damn. I do, don’t I?”

“Yep. So maybe we can meet up for drinks or a meal some other time? I can wrangle in some of the other ladies in town. Do you know Maddie Avery?”

I shook my head.

“She’s good people. There’s a couple of others in the crew. You’ll have fun.”

“I’d really like that, Kizzie.”

She reached for a card on her desk, then turned it over and wrote something on it and handed it to me. “This is my cell number. I already have yours. Let’s try for something next week. Does that work for you?”

“Definitely.”

I waved to her and left her office, then left the clinic. Kai’s truck wasn’t parked in the street, it was tucked near the back of the hardware parking lot. Hell, even here it was nice. They had trees planted, and somebody had planted flowers at the base. Careful not to step on the flowers, I leaned against the tree and looked down at my phone as I soaked in the sun. I needed my vitamin D since I wasn’t walking Chaos at least twice a day.

I grinned at the three text messages that had come in from Sue. She said she could only text, because her mouth was killing her. She also explained she was more than capable of listening. I texted back and said that this conversation was a group participation play, so we would have to wait until tomorrow.