Page 48 of The Leaving Road

The second I heard the worry in his voice, I was springing from my bed in a mad dash, pulling on my clothes as quickly as I could. “I’ll be right there.”

Since holding my phone was preventing me from getting ready as quickly as possible, I tossed it onto my bed and darted around my room. Once I was fully dressed, I weighed my options: wake up Lexie and tell her where I’d be, ornot.

Against my better judgment, I decided to let her sleep and deal with her wrath later. But also, that’s what cell phones are for, right? Before even leaving the house, I shot her a text message.

Me:Emergency at the clinic. Be home later.

I heard her phone down the hall ping with the sound of my text, and no sound of life from her at all, so I snuck out of the house like a teenager hoping their parents wouldn’t wake up.

Walking out of the house and into Maine’s chilly morning air, I stopped dead in my tracks by a familiar truck idling outside,again.

Sloan’s body slid out from the driver’s side door, and unwilling to close the distance between us, I called out to him, “I think we’ve now hit stalking territory, Sloan. It’s not even five in the morning.”

“I was prepared to wait all day. On the bright side, the coffee is warm.”

He held it out to me, and I saw the steam curl from the top of the lid. I groaned and walked toward him. “Bribery will get you nowhere, Montgomery.” I gave him my best peeved face, but in reality, my heart was doing its own circuit, knowing he was here,again.

“Full disclosure?”

“Please.” I took a sip of my coffee,mmm.I swear its warmth was slowly melting away the frostiness I still felt toward him.

“I got your number from Lexie, but I didn’t feel right using it, so…”

“So, you went for the stalking route instead?” I held the coffee cup to my lips to try to hide the small smile I couldn’t contain.On the other hand, I should have absolutely woken Lexie up this morning…

“So, I went the stalking route.”

“It’s barely five a.m..”

He cocked his head at me. “And yet, here you are.”

“Shit.” The reality of why I was awake and headed to my car slammed into me, and I knew I had to go. “I have to head to the clinic; this will have to wait until later.”

Sloan must have detected something in my voice because, foronce,he didn’t put up a fight about me leaving. Getting into my car and quickly reversing had me on my way to the clinic before the sun even thought about rising. The headlights in my rear-view mirror informed me that Sloan was following me.

Not having the time to stop and give him a piece of my mind, I continued to my destination, determined to make up the time I lost by being temporarily distracted by Sloan, even if it was just for a few moments.

Pulling into the clinic, it was hard to ignore that Sloan’s truck pulled up next to me. And even though he pulled in after me, he somehow was opening my door for me and offering his hand.

“A bit early for the clinic today.”

I did my best to suppress my eye roll, but failed, only to be crowded by Sloan’s body once again.

“I know you saidjust friends,Magnolia, but that’s going to be very hard for me. Why are you here so early?”

Trying to keep the drool firmly in my mouth, I swallowed. “Dr. Lewis called me this morning. It’s an emergency.”

He must have heard my urgency bleed through, so he uncaged me from his body and held out his hand again since I had yet to take it.

“Shall we?”

I bit my lower lip, which caused a groan to slip from Sloan’s mouth, and once again I found myself concealing my grin. I put my hand in his and all but ran to the front door with my keys in hand, not caring that Sloan was following me inside.

“Doc? Ben?” I called out.

“We’re back here,” Ben called from the back treatment area.

Walking into the back, a horrified gasp slipped from me as I took in the scene. While there weren’t nearly as many animals this time, the dogs were in suchpoorcondition. Tears pooled at my eyes as I counted the ribs I could clearly see from a nursing mom who was snapping at Ben, who was trying to get close to her and her puppies.

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