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“Sure. Would you like me to order food for everyone?” She raises her eyebrow at me as if she’s waiting for me to say the right answer.
“Um…yes?”
With an approving nod, she responds, “I’ll get some sandwiches ordered from the café.”
“Great.” Glad to have passed the test, I head back to my office to work on some paperwork until the techs need me for a consult. When I first took over for Dad, I didn’t think I’d have the attention span to handle the amount of paperwork required to keep the company going. Turns out, I enjoy it. There’s a certain level of satisfaction in being in control of the clinic. Every decision I make will impact the well-being of the company, good or bad. It’s been an interesting conclusion.
When lunch comes around, I find Susan, Michelle, and Sara in the break room, dishing up their sandwiches. Sara hands me mine already plated, fighting a blush rising in her cheeks. I love how big of an effect I have on her. It gives my ego a solid boost, not that it needs it. She has the same effect on me, too, which makes keeping this secret difficult.
After everyone is settled at the table, I start telling them about my idea. “I wanted to talk with you guys about something for the clinic. After we did the emergency surgery for Archie, Dan confided in me that he was worried about paying for the surgery. It made me wonder how many other people are not getting their animals the best care because they also can’t afford the costs. So, I’d like to start a fund for those people.”
“How would it work?” Sara asks, excitement shining in her eyes. I knew out of everyone, she’d be the most interested in my plan.
“I was thinking it could cover the bigger expenses like surgery or vaccines, maybe even medications. We’ll need to come up with an application process. Most people in town won’t try to take advantage, but there will be a few, so we’ll want to do our due diligence. We’ll also need to host regular fundraisers to keep the funds coming in, so I’ll need some help to plan those.”
“I can help with the application process,” Susan offers. She’d be the perfect person to handle it.
“We could partner with the local shelter for a fundraiser,” Michelle suggests.
“Oh, that’s a great idea. We could do an adoption thing with them so they could get something from it, too.” Sara grins at Michelle. Suddenly, the two of them are going back and forth with ideas, and I can barely keep up with them.
“This is great. Would you two write down all those ideas? I missed a lot of what you said.” I laugh.
After a nod from Sara and Michelle, we finish our lunch, keeping up a decent amount of chatter as we eat. For the first time since I took over, it feels like they no longer see me as the asshole boss. There’s a tentative truce between us now, and I hope I don’t screw it up.
A little while later, Sara pops her head around the corner of my office. “Ready in exam room one.”
I follow her into the room for another wellness visit. A Great Dane is sitting on the floor next to his owner, peering at me as if he doesn’t quite trust me. I hold out a treat to the dog. “Hello, Duke. I see here you’re never too sure about being at the vet. I can understand. We tend to do some uncomfortable things. You think we could be friends?”
He continues to stare at me for a moment before coming over to take the treat I held. “That’s great, buddy.” I turn to Sara. “Everything ready?”
“Yep, on the counter.” She’s looking at me expectantly, as if I’m supposed to do something else, but I have no idea what that is, so I just nod at her and administer Duke’s vaccines. When everything is wrapped up, I say goodbye to Duke’s owner, then leave the room only to find Michelle wrangling a hissing cat in the back. I help her get the rather persnickety animal into one of our overnight kennels with minimal scratches between the two of us. Muffin is here to get spayed and is not happy about it in the slightest.
When Sara walks into the back, she whacks me on the arm. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“You were an asshole in that exam room.”
“I was not,” I scoff. “That Great Dane was putty in my hands.”
“I’m not talking about the dog. I’m talking about the human. You didn’t even say hello to them!”
“I did, too!” Although, now that I think about it, Sara might be right.
She raises one eyebrow at me, then looks at Michelle.
“You are pretty bad with the owners, boss man,” she adds.
I go over all of my interactions with animal owners since I started. They might have a point. “Well, what am I supposed to say to them? I’m there to take care of their pet, not them.”
“You could start with pleasantries. A‘Hey, how are you doing?’is a good place to start,” Sara says.
“I never really had to worry about that kind of stuff at the animal hospital. Our focus was the animal.”
“Welcome to small-town living.” Michelle snorts.
Sara laughs at her quip, but I just sigh.
