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“There we go,” she said, once he found his feet. “There we go. Okay. Now I need to do an X-ray and I need to see if this is going to require surgery.”
She set to work, giving orders and working with efficiency. She was amazing. Absolutely incredible at what she did. Seeing Ed humbled by her efficiency and brilliance was deeply satisfying.
She determined the horse didn’t need surgery, just medication, and they were able to get him settled, comfortable and stable.
Lachlan had always admired Charity. Hell, he let the girl stitch him up, and he trusted her before he trusted any doctor, but really seeing her in action like this... It was amazing.
Charity went back to the truck to log everything into her system, and then Lachlan turned to Ed.
“I would suggest that next time you listen to the lady,” Lachlan said, looking at the older man with nothing but scorn in his eyes. He didn’t care if the guy saw it. Hedeservedto see it. He deserved to feel ashamed of what he’d done. Of the way that he’d treated her, and put his animal at risk because he hadn’t listened to her.
“It’s just... It’s not the way that I’m used to doing things,” he said.
“Listening to the experts? She’s the expert. That should be pretty clear.”
It made him angry that it probably took a lecture from Lachlan to even get Ed to fully understand what had just happened.
She was good at her job, and the fact that this man would refuse to see it, even now that she had saved his horse’s life, no thanks to his stubborn idiocy, made Lachlan want to tear the whole world down.
It was maddening that Charity needed to find the confidence to deal with people like this. Because it was maddening she had to deal with them at all.
He was snarling by the time they got back into the mobile vet unit. But Charity just laid her head back against the seat, looking exhausted.
“You okay?”
“I’m okay,” she said. “Let’s go back to your place. I’ll drop you off.”
Except... That wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted to do something for her. Wanted to take care of her. She didn’t have anyone left in her life to do that for her.
“I’ll tell you what. Let’s go back to your place. I’ll either walk home later or I can sleep on the couch.”
“Why?”
“Your dinner got interrupted at the bar, and you’re probably still hungry.”
“I don’t know if I’m still hungry,” she said. “You can’t go making declarations like that.”
“Well, if you are, I can get you something to eat.”
“Okay,” she said.
She didn’t put up a fight at all.
He smiled to himself.
They drove back to her place. They had forgotten to leave the porch light on. Her dad would have done that for her. Left that light on. Lachlan looked at her and wondered if she was feeling as cognizant of the loss right then as he was.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice scratchy.
“I’m sorry. It hasn’t been very long since he died. I know it’s hard.”
“I appreciate you doing this. Because you know...Hewould have. He would have made me tea and asked to tell him about what had happened. He would have...”
“He would’ve left the porch light on for you.”
“Yes. Exactly. I was thinking that when we pulled up.”
“Somehow, I thought you might be.”
