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“Just getting a watch fixed.” It was a blatant lie, but if she knew it, she didn’t let on.
We walked down to the little diner that sat at the end of the block and ordered some lunch, sipping on cold glasses of peach iced tea while we waited.
“So, how do you know Ben Tankersley’s dog?” I asked.
“Oh, I never got a chance to tell you. He came to the house for help. She broke her leg out in the fields. I got her patched up for him, but he took her in for a proper cast and X-rays.”
“When did this happen?”
“The morning after I came home and you were gone to meet your flooring guy.”
“Right. You mentioned it, but we, um, got involved in other things,” I said with a slow smile.
“We certainly did.” Her giggle lit up the room—and my imagination. But now was not the time or place. “So, yeah,” I went on. “Things like that are outside the vet’s reach because he’s gotten older and isn’t as spry as he used to be. He’d never make it out into a field of any sort, and he can’t handle the bigger animals. Still, he’s set in his ways, and I’m not surprised he doesn’t want anyone honing in on his practice.”
“What if I set up another practice?”
“You could, but people love him. I don’t think they’d take their pets to another vet.”
“What about the large animals? Who takes care of them?”
“A guy over in the next county. He comes out for routine visits during set days of the month and charges a premium for emergencies. It really sucks if you’ve got a sick horse that needs immediate attention and it takes over an hour for the vet to get to him, and then you have to pay extra on top of that. I know folks who’ve lost animals because they couldn’t get them attention quickly enough.”
“That’s sad,” she said, stabbing at the salad on her plate. I could see the wheels turning, but she said nothing for a moment.
“What are you thinking?”
“A mobile vet unit rather than a stand-alone office. What if I bought a used pup truck or something like that and treated large animals on site?”
“Would you be happy doing that?”
“Yeah. I mean, why not? I’d rather bring a breech calf into the world than spend another day draining anal glands.”
“I’m sorry. Draining what?”
She laughed and shook her head as if to say she wasn’t going to repeat it.
“Never mind. You don’t want to know, especially not while eating lunch. It doesn’t matter anyway. I don’t know if I have the money to buy what I need to get that rolling, no pun intended.”
“I could help you with that.”
“No. I won’t take your money.”
“Fine. Don’t take it. We can call it a loan if you want. You can pay me back when you get up and running.”
“You mean, if I get up and running. There is no guarantee it’ll take off.”
“The odds are pretty solid. We’ve got an old vet who won’t make house calls. We’ve got an out-of-county vet who takes too long and overcharges.”
“I’ll see what I can do, but on my own. I’m not a charity case yet. Let me cobble together a business plan, and I’ll go down to Becky’s bank to see if someone down there wants to float me a loan.”
“Are you sure? I am more than happy to help,” I offered again.
“No. I don’t want you sinking the money you have for your business into my pipe dreams.”
I realized that Rain had no idea how much money I had. I wondered if I should tell her, but I didn’t want her to think I was trying to force her into anything.
“I wouldn’t call it a pipe dream.”
“All the same, I’ll get what I need from the bank.”
I’d let her do it her way.
17
Rain
“I can appreciate what you’re trying to do here, Dr. Harper, but I can’t see how’d you qualify for a loan. Your business in Los Angeles is in the red, and you don’t have a job,” the loan officer was saying.
My heart sank. He wasn’t someone I knew and didn’t seem like the sort I could appeal to with charm. His name was Theron Perrimont, which sounded like someone who had come from money and wasn’t interested in taking chances on a hometown girl who wanted to drive around and give shots to calves or pull stobs out of horse hooves.
“Are you sure there’s nothing we can do? I have excellent credit. Plus, I’m about to own a large piece of property and a home.”
“Do you have any collateral? Something you can put up to secure the loan?”
“I will. As I was saying, I just inherited my grandmother’s property, but it’s not fully titled in my name yet. Beau Johnson is working on the paperwork to transfer the deed to me.”
