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She hadn’t really known anyone but adults before she’d met Lachlan. She’d known the people they’d done veterinary work for; she’d known the old men her dad had sat outside and smoked pipes with on summer evenings.
Lachlan had been her first friend.
He was her only friend. Still.
He’d taught her sarcasm. He’d introduced her to pop culture.
He’d once given her a sip of beer when she’d been eighteen.
He’d laughed at the face she’d made.
“I do not want that level of trouble. I also don’t wantyourlevel of trouble,” she said. “But here you are. Sit down and bite on something.”
“I don’t need to bite on anything to get a few stitches, Charity. Settle down. I know what I’m about.”
“You can’t flinch, Lachlan, and sometimes you’re a bad patient. So brace yourself.”
“You could numb me.”
“I could,” she said. “But I’m not just letting you use all my supplies. I’m stitching you for no cost.”
“Considering you normally stitch up horses, you should pay me to let you do this.”
“Please. Working on animals is more complicated than working on people. People all have the same set of organs right in the same places. Animals... It’s all arranged differently. I have to know way more to take care of animals.”
“Yes. I’ve heard the lecture before.”
“But you’ve never taken it on board.”
“All right,” he said, resting his hand on the coffee table in front of her and revealing the big gash in his forearm.
She winced.
“Hardass doctor, wincing at this old thing,” he said.
“It’s different when it’s on a person,” she said.
Except it really was different when it was on him. Because he was hers.
He was special.
Seeing him injured in any capacity made her heart feel raw, even if she’d seen it a hundred times.
“All right, Doc.”
“Okay,” she said.
She took her curved needle out of her kit, along with the thread, and she poked it right through his skin.
He growled.
“I told you,” she said.
She thought back to how they’d met. He’d been bruised and battered, and in bad need of medical attention.
His had been the first set of stitches she’d ever given.
She swallowed hard.
