Page 54 of Lee

“I don’t, but I’ll let you know if I hear of anyone.”

“What do we have on for this afternoon?” Lee asked as they left the staff room.

She gave him a rundown on the day so far, then headed off when Carl stepped out of one of the exam rooms.

“Walk with me,” he said with a tip of his head.

Though Lee had hoped to check on Rori, he trailed the man back into the staff room. Knowing the man would want to drink his coffee at the table, Lee sat down and took a sip from his travel mug.

Once Carl had settled himself in the chair opposite Lee, he asked for a report from the night before. Lee gave one, making sure to cover all the details that Carl would want. In turn, the man shared what had gone on that morning and updated him on a few other patients he’d attended to outside of the office.

“How was Rori at the delivery?” Carl asked.

“She was fine. I warned her it might make her a bit squeamish, but she did just fine. Didn’t get in the way, but paid attention.”

“That’s good. I’m glad that she’s interested in learning more about what we do here.”

Lee was too. Since his job was a large part of his life, it made him happy that she wanted to learn more about it.

“And even after being up half the night, she was here at opening,” Carl said with a smile tugging up one corner of his mouth. “Unlike someone else.”

Lee rolled his eyes with a laugh. “Yes, I know. Alys already lectured me.”

“Anyway, I appreciate the commitment of you both.”

They chatted a few more minutes before Alys came to let them know there was a patient there for one of them to see. Carl told Lee to take care of it as he was heading out to meet his wife for lunch, then he had a horse he wanted to follow up on at one of the nearby stables.

So, instead of being able to see Rori, Lee went to meet his first patient of the day.

“Don’t forget we have the Timmons family coming in at four,” Alys said.

Lee nodded, though he’d been trying not to dwell on the purpose of the appointment. Just like with Penelope’s birth, this was a part of the cycle of life. Unfortunately, that never made it any easier.

They tried to schedule those appointments near the end of the day, so it was quiet in the clinic. Of course, they worked with the pet owner’s schedule if they preferred something else.

Carl insisted—and Lee agreed—that they do whatever they could to make the process as comfortable as possible for the pet and the owner. Nothing really made it any easier, however, but for the next little while, he’d focus on the pets who weren’t at that point in their life yet.

Since he’d been late arriving at work, the lunch hour came after his second appointment. However, when Lee went into the staff room, Rori wasn’t there.

“Is Rori still at the front?” he asked when Alys joined him.

“No. She said she needed to run an errand,” Alys said as she got her lunch from the fridge. “She’ll be back before we open again.”

Lee was disappointed, but he didn’t voice it. Instead, he sat down at the table with his lunch. It was bigger than usual, since he hadn’t had breakfast.

“I asked Rori to bring her camera when she came back,” Alys said.

“Really? Why?”

“I thought maybe the family would like one last set of photos with their cat.”

It was a good idea, but Lee hated the idea of exposing Rori to the emotion that was sure to be present in the small room they’d set up for times like that.

Sometimes they’d go to a patient’s house, but there were some families who only wanted happy memories of their pet in their home. For them, the clinic had a small cozy room set up with comfortable furniture and things that would make it a less clinical experience for the pet and its owner.

“I hope she can handle the reason she’s taking the pictures.”

“She can,” Alys said confidently. “I think she’s stronger than she looks.”

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