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“She might be calling because of me,” he said. “I may have mentioned you and our date when I took Maggie home this morning.”
Date? Our date?I heard that correctly, right?
Feeling my cheeks flush with heat, I allowed myself to grin back at him. “Let’s see what she wants,” I said, then answered the phone.
Not more than a moment later, the look on my date’s face soured. The smooth skin on his forehead wrinkled and his dark brows knitted together. His jaw tightened. Lucas’ broad shoulders stiffened. He took a step forward.
He was reacting to my face. To the alarm and worry overtaking my features as Mrs. Valentine’s panic-stricken voice shrieked in my ear.
“Go straight to the clinic. We’ll be right there.” After I hung up the phone, I realized my error.We?I shook my head, setting aside the thought, and said, “I’m sorry, Lucas. Maggie’s condition is not good. I have to go. Would you mind having your driver take me to the clinic?”
“No,” he said. “I’ll drive us there.”
I didn’t argue with him. His concern only grew as he studied my face while I listened to his mother detailing Maggie’s condition. Of course he would want to come along.
Lucas sped down the newly paved driveway that cut through the woods surrounding his family home. He navigated the winding Covington Falls roads with the controlled aggression of someone familiar with its turns. All the while, he frowned and gripped the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were white.
Fiddling with my phone, I tried to concentrate on Maggie’s patient files. Struggling, I couldn’t recall the exact date earlier this year when she had a similar reaction. It was in the Spring. May. Perhaps early June.
At my last job, we stored all our patient files in the cloud. With a few keystrokes, I could access the files directly from my phone.
“Shoot,” I blurted out.
“What is it?” Lucas asked, glancing at me. His face was still tense.
“Nothing,” I told him. “It’s just that I can’t remember something I’d written in Maggie’s file. It might help me with my diagnosis while I’m just sitting here doing nothing.” My hand squeezed around the phone. “I wish the clinic had a system like the one we used back in L.A.”
“What’s that? What system?”
I shifted towards Lucas and said, “At my old clinic, everything was state-of-the-art. All the patient files were digitized and easily accessible from any device, anywhere.” Reciting portions of the sales pitch in a sing-song voice, I mimicked the salesperson who had convinced my former boss to purchase the expensive technology.
“Yeah,” Lucas remarked, his tone coming across as unimpressed. “It’s called software,” he added.
The condescension in his voice jolted me.
“This stupid town,” he continued with his eyes trained on the road. “Everyone here thinks it’s perfect exactly the way it was when Leo and I left. Stuck in the past. People here have no vision for the future. They’re too busy looking backwards.”
Recoiling from him, I scoffed. The nerve of this guy. I was not looking back. I had a clear vision for my clinic. Covington Falls was my future. And I do believe it’s perfect exactly the way it is.
“The whole reason I even bothered to expand here was because this place needed V-Sparks to drag it into modern times,” he complained as his pickup truck rumbled down Main Street.
We zipped by the diner, the town square where the preparations for his ceremony were nearing an end. We drove by the mayor’s office and dozens of shops beloved by the people Lucas seemed to despise so much.
Drag it into modern times.I shook my head.
This is why I left California. Covington Falls was not L.A. and it was no San Francisco either. But at least the people Lucas left behind weren’t as judgmental as he was.
I crossed my arms. As soon as I got to the clinic, I was going to let him have it. Unfortunately, since everyone knew the town’s only veterinary clinic would be closed until after the holidays, all the parking spots dedicated to my office were occupied.
“Great,” Lucas said, driving further down the street. “Oh, wait. Someone’s leaving.”
I’ll be glad when he leaves.
Lucas parked the truck. I hopped out right away. Hurrying towards the clinic, I saw Maggie with the distraught older couple waiting for me outside. Staring at the sick dog tucked inside Mr. Valentine’s arms, I felt my footsteps slow. Then I felt a large hand grasp me by my arm.
“Zoey, are you okay?” Lucas asked when our eyes connected. He reached out and cupped my cheek into his warm palm. “You’re trembling.”
“You have such a Messiah complex,” I shot back at him.
