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I chuckled. “Why, Maddie Carbajal…listen to you swear!”
Shaking her head, she looked me right in the eye, and with as much determination as I’ve ever seen any one person have, she whispered to me, “Don’t give up.”
The rush of sadness I’d come to know like a best friend swept over me. With a single tear rolling down my cheek, I replied, “I think I’m too late.”
I stood staring at the cat before looking back at Corina.
“Corina, there’s nothing wrong with Milo. I promise you.”
She shook her head. “Are you sure? He was limping earlier.”
“Yeah, maybe you should check his temperature,” Paxton added with a concerned frown.
Smiling, I replied, “I did. It was normal, y’all.”
“Mmm…weird,” Corina said.
A knock on the door of the exam room drew my attention away from the two of them.
Poking her head in, Julie, my very sweet vet tech, said, “Um, Harley? The Parker sisters are here.”
I glanced back to Corina and Paxton before turning back to Julie. She was sharp as a whip when it came to the animals, but she seemed to be lacking common sense today considering two of the Parker sisters were already right here.
“I know, Julie. They’re standing in front of me.”
She shook her head. “No, the actual Parker sisters.”
“Oh.” The last time I had talked to Waylynn she made it clear I wasn’t welcome at their place. It had destroyed me. We were once the best of friends. Her, me, and Paxton. Three peas in a pod.
“Are they here with y’all?” I asked.
The look Corina and Paxton exchanged told me these ladies were up to something. It was time to see exactly what.
“Why don’t you have them come on back to this room,” I told Julie.
“Will do.”
Paxton and Corina avoided my stare.
“Thank God you were here today!” Waylynn busted out as she walked into the room and went straight to Milo who was still sitting on the exam table, taking everything in. The poor thing was just as confused as I was. Even he knew there was nothing wrong with him.
“Well, I did have the day off, but Corina called about an emergency with Milo,” I said. Waylynn and Corina exchanged smiles. “So, ladies, what brings you by?”
“Milo, of course! When Corina said she was bringing him in for an emergency, we knew we had to rush right over. Thank goodness Jonathon was home to watch Liberty.”
I stared at Waylynn. Had she lost her damn mind? My mother had told me about Waylynn’s accident last year. She’d swerved to miss a turtle and lost control of her car. My heart broke in two when I found out she wasn’t able to have kids…but now I was wondering if she might have hit her head also and was now having residual effects from that.
Clearing my throat, I looked up at the four of them. “From what I can tell, he’s perfectly fine.”
“Oh, good!” Waylynn exclaimed while clapping her hands. “I was so worried.”
I gave her a grin. “Is Milo like the Parker family pet?”
Waving her hands all over the place, she laughed. “Oh, hell no. That would be Patches. Chloe’s pet goat.”
“Yes, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Patches.”
I glanced at Julie, who wore a shit-eating grin on her face. Yeah, maybe she wasn’t lacking common sense today. More like she was in on this so-called emergency visit. I was going to have to have a long talk with her.
“Well, Julie here can take Milo and give him a little snack.”
“Oh, that would be just perfect and so sweet,” Corina said.
I nodded. “Julie, why don’t you take Milo and get him settled back into his crate.”
She scooped up Milo and grabbed his carrier. “Let’s go, Milo. I’ve got a tuna treat with your name on it.”
Spinning on my heels, I walked over to the sink and started washing my hands.
Paxton cleared her throat. “So, Harley, how do you like being back in Oak Springs?”
When I turned and faced the four of them, I couldn’t help but smile. They were all hanging on my next set of words.
“I’m beyond happy to be home. I’d have come home a lot sooner, but…” I left my sentence dangling in the air. They already knew the reason why I had waited so long.
“But what?” Waylynn asked. “What kept you away?”
I tilted my head and gave them a hard look. They wanted me to say the words that would rip that wound open even more, yet I knew there was some underlying motive for the four of them being here today. “Do you want the truth? Is that why you ladies are here?”
“Yes, always,” Amelia replied.
Expelling an obnoxiously loud sigh, I decided to throw caution to the wind and tell them what they wanted to hear—and what I sort of wanted them to know—with the hopes it would get back to Tripp. If there was one thing I knew about the Parker clan, they were tighter than the ticks I removed off of animals. Anything I said to these ladies would most definitely make its way back to him…
