Page 31 of The Leaving Road

Shock crossed his face, but he quickly recovered. “Just say when. Can I get your number?”

“Uh, no. But we can meet at Montgomery’s tonight at seven.” His eyebrows raised at my refusal. “What? You thought I’d just hand over my number to you after all this time?” I raised my eyebrow at him.

“Dr. E…Magnolia, what on earth is the hold up? We have starving people back here.” Louise came through the doors looking a little peeved. “Oh, Sloan, it’s you.” She grabbed the bags from the desk and made her way to the back, looking at me with her eyebrow raised and a tilt of her head, letting me know it was time to wrap whatever this was up.

“I had heard you were a doctor. It looks good on you.”

“I know it does.” I turned to walk away and let him get on with his day.

“I’ll see you at seven sharp, Magnolia.”

The way his voice did something to me made me realize I might have just made a very grave miscalculation.

Chapter 20

Magnolia

Lunch passed by with easy chitchat with all of us getting to know each other better. As it stood, my schedule would be Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, and if they ever needed any extra help or any after-hours help, they could always call. I enjoyed these people’s company so much that I found my anxiety over meeting Sloan tonight easing to the back of my mind until I completely forgot about it all together with how busy the afternoon was shaping up to be.

Dr. Lewis was currently nursing a nasty peck wound on his hand from Mr. Featherington, who, after he was able to get a good jab in, promptly started eating his food.

Ben and I were currently working on a laceration repair on an overweight corgi who got stuck underneath his owner’s fence chasing a rabbit when the phone rang, and Louise, who was cleaning up around us in the back, rushed to grab it quickly.

“She really does a lot around here,” I mused. “Receptionist and assistant, all in one. She probably needs a raise.”

“Not that I don’t agree, but we do have a veterinary technician on board. Her name is Remi. She works here and at a restaurant in town. Her little girl is sick today, so she was unable to make it in to meet you, but hopefully you’ll meet her tomorrow.” I had a feeling I had already met Remi on my date with Lance; hopefully we could bond over how absolutelyyuckhe was. Saving me from having to tell them that I might have already met her, Louise comes back with a serious look on her face.

“Hey Doc, that was the DNR.”

“Damnit, what happened?” Dr. Lewis rose from his chair and started pacing while waiting for word of what had happened. The entire mood of happy-go-lucky had changed to tense in the blink of an eye.

“They need someone to go down to the old milling station with those old barns were left to rot. It seems they found a few animals that appear to have been left there. Looks like a possible smuggling ring or fight ring, possibly both.”

“Why is the DNR calling us in on this and not the police?”

“Because that means there is wildlife on sight, and the police won’t be equipped to deal with it.”

My heart thundered in my chest. I knew that poaching was constantly battled out here—that, and illegal fishing. But I never put much thought into the smuggling of animals or any kind of fight ring. It made my stomach roll.

“I thought we had taken care of that nonsense last year.” Ben’s voice was eerily low.

“What nonsense?”

“There was this group of men that moved into the area and set up some nasty business—a lot dealing with importing illegal animals through the docks here. A few got loose and injured, and we were called in. The cops stepped in once we realized that those kinds of animals would have needed to be imported illegally. I believe around six or so guys were arrested, and we thought that was the end of it.”

“Apparently not,” Louise said.

“We’d better pack up the truck and head out together, Ben. Grab your shotgun and tranquilizer guns, but we should have the rest in the vet truck. Louise, as the appointments this afternoon are non-emergent, please call them to reschedule…”

“Uh, you aren’t going out to play cowboy with that hand and risk getting an infection, Doc. You’ll stay here while Ben and Magnolia deal with this.”

He floundered for only a second. “Absolutely not, we are not sending Magnolia out there to do this. Have you completely lost your mind? It’s her first day! And she’s…she’s…”

“You’d better not say it’s because I’m a girl, Dr. Lewis.”

He looked aghast. “What? No! I just meant that the last time we ended up having to euthanize an enraged animal on sight, it wasn’teasy.I wanted to spare you from that, that’s all.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment, I know this job isn’t always sunshine and roses, and that in life, usually the hardest thing and the right thing are the same. So, please do as Louise says; stay here, see these patients, and let me and Ben handle this. I can take care of myself.”

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