AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The words are barely contained in my head as I nod at Tara before stepping out of the room.
“Dr. Crawford, we’re ready for you in exam room one.”
Benjamin is standing next to our supply closet, a frown marring his handsome face. His unruly blond hair is sticking up on the ends as if he just ran his hands through it. God, I hate how handsome he is. His muscles are shown off by his tight button-down shirt stretching across his wide chest. I’m pretty sure those buttons are close to bursting. An image of me ripping it open pops unbidden into my head.
“Why is the closet organized like this?” Ben’s scowl deepens as he looks at me, his tone yanking me out of my daydream.
“Because we’ve never taken the time to change it.” In all actuality, reorganizing this closet would’ve made Dr. Charles incredibly confused. I’m pretty sure it’s been this way since he opened the clinic. Changing it now would have caused more problems than it solved.
He harrumphs, then shakes his head. I have no idea what that was about, probably him coming up with another reason to hate this place.
When he turns toward the exam room, I follow dutifully behind.
“Hello,” Ben says as he steps into the room. Without waiting for a response, he starts checking out Bowie. The vaccines are already prepped on the counter, allowing Ben to begin administering them.
After a long, awkward silence, Danny’s mom speaks. “Sara said you’re taking over for your father. That’s great. I’m sure he’s happy about that.”
“Yes, I believe he is,” Ben responds.
Tara looks at me, and I just shrug my shoulders. Ben’s tableside manner is pretty lacking. He’s been nicer to Tara than most of the other people today. He scowled at one owner when they asked about not giving their cat flea and tick medicine. Another owner, he stared at for a second, then walked out of the room without a single word.
To be fair, they asked about dinner treats right after Ben demanded they stop giving their dog extra food.
“I’m done. He should be good to go.” Ben walks out of the room, not bothering with a goodbye.
“Well, that was interesting,” Tara says, making me laugh.
“Yeah, he’s talented, though, so he’ll be great to have around in an emergency.” I feel the need to defend Ben in the hopes no one gets too pissed off and leaves. There aren’t any other animal clinics in town, but Westlake is not that far away.
“Can I pick up Bowie now?” Danny asks. He’s been waiting so patiently this whole time.
“Sure, I’ll even give you a treat for him.” I hand Danny another treat from my pocket, then help him get Bowie down from the counter.
I lead them all out of the exam room and back to the front lobby before saying goodbye. When I finish completing Bowie’s chart, I put it in the correct box for Susan, then take an enormous deep breath. Bowie was our last patient for the day. I’m grateful we’re done. I don’t think my shoulders could manage any more tension.
* * *
“Get out of here, asshole,”I growl, making my brother, Matthew, laugh. I sneak an elbow into his ribs, allowing me enough room to kick the soccer ball from his feet, taking off down the field.
“Cheater!” Matthew yells, racing after me.
I pass the ball to Carter before Matthew can catch up. Carter does some fancy footwork, tripping up Nolan, allowing him to score a goal.
“Yes!” I yell, running to Carter and jumping on him. He spins me around before placing me back on my feet.
The five of us have been playing soccer together since Adam decided he wanted to play at eight years old. Twenty-eight years later, he’s still leading the pack with Matthew right behind at thirty-four. Matthew also trails Adam in bossiness, much to my annoyance, but he makes up for it when he helps me train for the occasional triathlon.
Carter, who’s thirty, is a literal genius with computers and is the quietest of all of us. Nolan, the youngest at twenty-six, is our resident goofball. Half the stuff that comes out of his mouth will make your eyes roll, but the other half will have you rolling with laughter.
I sit right in the middle of all of them, a year younger than Matthew.
Being the middle child and only girl was interesting growing up. I always leaned towards being a tomboy because I didn’t have another option. If I wanted to play, I had to do whatever the boys were doing. I didn’t mind too much. It’s not like the things we did were boring, and I was able to play on all the same teams as my brothers for a long time, which made it fun. I do enjoy my independence now, though. Handling shit on my own is kind of my forte.
I was lucky enough to have my best friends to help balance out the testosterone I lived with back then. It gave me a pretty good idea of what having sisters is like. When Natalie’s dad passed away when we were twelve, she and her mom leaned into our family, and I gained the sister I always wanted. She spent every afternoon and weekend at my house since her mom worked a lot.
I loved every minute of it. Almost as much as I loved showing up my brothers on the soccer field.
“You’re such a little cheat,” Matthew says, grabbing me in a headlock. I spin my way out of it, punching him in the arm for good measure.
