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Brandy sighed.If only it were that easy for the rest of us.
****
“Everything sounds great in there now.” Parker draped his stethoscope around his neck and felt around Midir’s abdomen. The brown female wolf had come to Silver Moon about three months ago with a punctured lung from an arrow that another veterinarian had tended to. The wound had appeared to heal nicely, but Midir had continued to wheeze and had very low energy. Parker soon figured out a piece of arrow was still in her lung. He’d performed surgery and Midir’s breathing had improved along with her liveliness. She’d even raced with Saita, the sanctuary’s fastest gray wolf.
“Your amazing veterinary skills continue to dazzle, Dr. Daniels.” Brandy applauded.
“Thank you, thank you.” Parker held up his hands, his gaze dropping humbly to his feet. “Please, if you’ll all form a line, I’ll be happy to autograph your breasts. Who has a Sharpie?”
Brandy shoved him. “Why is it that I continue to hang out with delusional people?”
“Because we’re fun.” He ran his hands over Midir and rubbed her until a low, purring noise rumbled in her throat. “Yes, you like that, don’t you, pretty girl? Yes, you do.”
Midir licked Parker’s fingers when he stopped, earning her a few more pats before he guided her off the exam table. He shed his gloves, washed his hands, and turned to Brandy, his mouth opened to say something, but his phone rang in his pocket. Holding up a finger, he dug around for the phone.
“It’s Chella.”
Of course it is.Brandy clenched her teeth then released her jaw, reminding herself that she didn’t care if Parker chose to date a self-absorbed, money-hungry fashionista who didn’t think saving wolves was important. Not her concern. Her buddy seemed truly happy and that was all that mattered. Still, she had to tell herself this often because it never stuck. What did he see in her?
“Hey, baby,” he said after tapping the screen.
Brandy wandered to the other end of the clinic to give him some privacy and spare herself from witnessing the inevitable mushiness. Parker was a hopeless romantic and had no shame when it came to professing his feelings. It could be adorable. It could also make Brandy dry heave.
She busied herself with inventorying supplies, but bits of conversation drifted her way.
No, I love you more.
Yes, I do.
What’s better than wonderful? Because you’re more than wonderful.
I can’t stop thinking about that thing you did last night.
Brandy started humming “The Star-Spangled Banner.” She didnotwant to overhear anything about what Parker and Chella did last night. Especially when all she’d done was bake a chocolate cake with Dylan and devour a good portion of it until Meredith had walked in the kitchen, gasped, and shook her head disapprovingly at the two of them. The cake had been great. Spending time joking around with Dylan had been awesome. Even trying to convince her mother to have some cake had been entertaining.
It was after the cake had been put away, the kitchen cleaned, and the son tucked in that her Friday night had taken a turn for the worse. At thirty-five years old, Brandy should not have been in her pajamas and neck deep in research by eight o’clock. Research on clinical lycanthropy no less. A completely absurd, barely medical condition in which a person believes himself or herself to be an animal. Brandy couldn’t help herself though. Something about the crazy topic fascinated her. She had inhaled every bit of information on clinical lycanthropy she could find over the years. All in secret of course. If Parker ever discovered this little obsession, he’d think she’d gone mad. She could probably kiss goodbye the association the sanctuary had with the university he taught at, too, if anyone there found out. She’d be better off admitting she bought supermarket tabloids and read them cover to cover.
No. Some things were meant to go to the grave with her. This was one of those things.
“Hey, B?” Parker’s voice stirred her out of reviewing her pathetic Friday night.
“Yeah?” She turned to face him.
He still had the phone to his ear. “Chella’s cousin, Marshall, just moved to Canville, and she thinks he might be a good match for you.”
Ugh.
“Oh, Park, I don’t—” She stopped when he held up his hand.
“C’mon. We’ll double. It won’t be awkward. I promise.”
“Liar.” And why did Chella want to set her up? The two of them weren’t exactly besties. What was wrong with this Marshall guy?
Parker laughed. “When have you known me to lie, B?”
Like never.Damn.
Meredith came into the clinic, and Brandy panicked. If her mother knew what was being proposed, she’d be all over it. She wanted Brandy to find a man more than Brandy did.
