Page 13 of Wicked Healing

Chapter 4

Wicked was notwild about having people mess with his leg again, and he definitely didn’t like the thing mounted to his foot and Velcro-ed, but once he realized he could move around like he used to he forgot about it. Within two minutes he was walking like he’d always worn a prosthetic. Erin went up and down the hallway of the vet’s office, watching his mobility. One of the vet techs took a walking video and they looked at it on loop several times.

“I’m very happy with this,” Dr. Lang told her. “It’s a small prosthetic and I think he’ll be completely fine with it. If it was further up the hock the process would be a little more difficult, but I think he’s going to adapt like he should. You saw how easy it was to add the piece.”

Erin nodded. Literally it had taken two straps of Velcro and five seconds to put on. It was only two shaped bars of plastic, with a cushion pad on the bottom and a strip of rubber on the sole. If anything he might need heavier Velcro to attach to the leg if he was going to be doing a lot of jumping. But that was an issue for later down the road.

They walked out of the vet’s office side by side, and Wicked only had the most minor of bobbles. He jogged beside her as they went through the parking lot and even seemed excited to jump up into the back without using the old man ramp. Laughing, Erin drew her phone from her pocket and dialed Luca, then hit the FaceTime button. It rang and rang, and that was when she realized that maybe he didn’t want to see her, or for her to see him. She was just about to hang up when he answered.

Her first view of him was a shock. Damn. Luca Carmichael looked to be a handsome dark devil, with dark hair and eyes. His curly hair was a little mussed, like he’d been running his hands through it, but there was an alertness in his expression that so reminded her of Wicked. She grinned into the camera. “I thought you would like to see your dog in action.”

Turning the camera she scanned the view over his body and down to the prosthetic.

“Oh, Boss.”

Wicked jerked to alertness, focusing in on the phone, and she realized he hadn’t even heard his handler’s voice for weeks. “Luca,” she said, turning the phone back to herself, “I think he just recognized your voice.”

She turned the phone back to the dog. “Hey, Boss, look at you, buddy!” Luca called.

Wicked went nuts, whining and shoving his nose toward the phone, as if he was sniffing for Luca, and it actually brought tears to her eyes. It was obvious the dog recognized and missed his partner. He danced in the back of the car as Luca talked to him.

“Erin,” he said.

She turned the phone around, wiping her eyes. He seemed to be a little emotional too. “It seems like I’m always telling you thank you. He looks amazing.”

Wicked bumped her hand, as if telling her he wasn’t done. Turning, she sat on the back end of the SUV, with the dog directly behind her so that Luca could see them both. “It was too big of a deal not to celebrate. I’m sorry if I caught you at a bad time.”

Luca laughed, shaking his head. “Don’t worry about it. There is no bad time for you to call. It was so worth it.”

Erin related the conversation with the vet, along with her own observations. She wasn’t sure if Wicked could actually see Luca on the other end of the line, but he definitely recognized his voice. At one point the dog rested his head on her shoulder, as if in thanks for everything, and she teared up again. For a dog as reserved as Wicked, this was like a parade with confetti to Erin.

Eventually she moved to the driver’s seat, closing the door on the back. Feeling generous, she’d decided to let Wicked into the back seat to ride home. Now that he had another foot she didn’t worry about his balance as much. She connected his harness to the leash attachment in the back seat.

“I can let you go, if you need me to,” Luca told her, obviously seeing the process.

“We’re good. Just strapping him into the back seat so he doesn’t go flying through the windshield if I hit the brakes.”

That done she climbed into the front seat and put her phone on the windshield magnet, repositioning it so that Luca could see the dog. And they talked all the way home. They had a lot in common and it was easy to find things to talk about. Wicked leaned into the center, panting happily. Erin realized she was grinning as she looked at the dog, then to the man. They were both the happiest she’d seen them, and she knew that in person it would be even more special.

“Are your parents going to be there when I bring Wicked?”

Luca snorted. “God, I hope not. My mother would throw a fit and I don’t want to deal with it.”

Wow. He really didn’t have any support. Did he have people at the hospital that supported him? Yeah, there were nurses and stuff, but she wondered if he had a buddy or anything to help him out. Or a significant other. She hadn’t even thought to ask about that. “Do you not have a wife or anything?”

He barked out a laugh, again sounding incredibly bitter. “No, no wife or girlfriend. No children. For years it’s just been Boss and I. We are each other’s significant other.”

Erin could understand that. “Well, you’ll be reunited soon,” she promised.

“I can’t wait to see him in person,” Luca admitted. “It’s so fucking… sterile, here. I need some kind of connection to who I used to be.”

“Well, we’ll be leaving early Saturday. So we should be there after noon.”

He was silent for a long minute. “Thank you, Erin. I have a feeling I’ll be pacing out front waiting for him.”

After goodbyes she sat quietly in her seat, driving on autopilot. She missed his voice. Wicked whined and nosed her ear. “Don’t worry, buddy. We’ll see him soon.”

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