Page 7 of Hazel and Elijah Find Out: First They F*cked Around

“Me, too.”

Chapter 3

Hazel

“Thevetclinicisfine financially, though?” Remi asked. His arms were crossed over his broad chest. The creases in his forehead set his usually friendly expression into something much more intimidating. He was still wearing his white lab coat from working his shift. I didn’t blame him for asking with the slightest tinge of resentment in his voice. Less than two years ago, I convinced him to leave his job in Arizona to treat animals here.

“Yes, the clinic is fine. It’s not thriving, and there are some repairs to the building that I need to figure out, but it’s going to be okay. I just can’t afford to make the yearly donation to the humane society.” I swallowed and lowered to lean against the front desk behind me. “And I know they rely on it.”

Brooks, our large animal veterinarian, ran a hand over his unruly beard, the tip of his tongue pressed on the inside of his cheek. He looked a bit out of place in his worn jeans and T-shirt. On the infrequent days he worked in the office, he usually chose to wear scrubs and a white coat as well, but he’d come in on his day off for this meeting. Without his usual uniform, he looked even more disheveled—like a small bear taught to play-act as a human. He’d probably be more comfortable in a bear’s natural habitat, anyway.

Nora, our business manager, met my eye. This problem wasn’t a surprise to her. She and I had been trying to find a solution for a week, and honestly, it was a nice distraction from the other issue we usually fought over. The one where she demanded a reason why I hadn’t texted Elijah, and I continued to not have a great answer.

She did not accept my insecurities—or anyone else’s—easily.

But I had grown up not catching the attention of people around me, and now that I was a business owner in this community, the attention was microscopic. People discussed and tore apart my choices, and it was messing with my confidence.

The first time that Elijah had actuallyseenme had felt surreal. He’d been sitting in the chair Nora was sitting in now. I’d been completely astounded when he’d started flirting and we nearly kissed. It was possibly even more shocking that I’d been able to set my nerves aside and flirt back. The whole affair felt more like a lust-infused fantasy than a night that actually happened in my life.

I had avoided telling her that he was in town. She would be intolerable if she knew.

“I don’t want to leave them in a lurch,” I said helplessly.

In the original negotiations for the transfer of the clinic from my former mentor—Doc March, who was Elijah’s dad—to me, this donation was factored into expenses. But the week of the sale that consideration was removed, and the sale price adjusted up.

I shook my head, remembering, not for the first time, that I owed Elijah a thank you. He’d shown me his dad’s true nature. The one where Doc gave the illusion of being kind and generous, but was, in fact, always looking for a way to manipulate the people around him. I’d seen it firsthand as Dr. March went back on the deal.

He insisted that in order for me to take over at the agreed upon price, he’d need to maintain significant control and receive a monthly paycheck—something we had never discussed. He did it with the most fatherly smile and promised to only use the privilege if I asked for help. But because Elijah lifted the veil from my eyes a month before, I saw the truth of the offer, and I said no.

The deal went poorly from there.

Dr. March even used public opinion to sway me. I endured many members of our community trying to persuade me to “look out for the ol’ boy.”

There was a drop in clients after that—a hurdle we were still jumping over.

The financial hit affected me, but the loss of my mentor when I needed him the most was harder. Part of the reason I’d become a vet was because of Doc’s encouragement. I’d started working at the clinic when I was fifteen, cleaning rooms. It was only a few hours a week, but I’d fallen in love with the idea of working with animals. I’d become very good at that part of the job, but actually running the business…

It was painful how much I didn’t know what I was doing.

Remi sighed, his large chest rising and falling. It looked dramatic on him, even though it was a completely normal action. He was the biggest man I’d ever seen in person—as if he was normal-sized but scaled up by fifty percent. “I can ask Owen what sort of fundraisers his work does, but it’ll take money to throw one.”

“That’s right, he works for that dog shelter, doesn’t he?” I mumbled against my knuckles.

Remi, Owen, and I had met in veterinarian school. He and Owen were friends, but Owen had been quiet and shy, so I’d never gotten to know him well.

At the opportunity to hire people to work for me, Remi was the first person I’d thought of. But then he’d actually moved across the country. There were people relying on me to make this business successful.

“Yeah, I’ll ask him.”

“Thank you.”

It was something, but we needed to draw in a lot of money.

The actual residents of the town were tight-knit enough that if I didn’t know someone directly, we were only one acquaintance away from knowing each other. The clinic only afforded three veterinarians because our livestock and horse population outweighed our human population. The entire community was struggling more than usual. Tourism was our strongest industry since we were surrounded by a couple of state and county parks, and only a few miles from Lake Michigan and its beaches. And as much as our town feuded with the more affluent, neighboring town of Darling, their cute boutiques and ski lodge also brought people to Grand Ridge.

It wasn’t uncommon for households to make the majority of their income between spring and fall, but making those funds stretch through winter was growing less feasible. My business’ cash flow reflected the strain, as folks were forced to make hard decisions about the care of their pets and livestock, or to buy groceries.

Yet another problem that I didn’t have a solution for. How could I better the state of the vet clinic, and ensure the animals around us were well taken care of?

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