Page 62 of Saving Veronica
“Mr. Larson, welcome. I see Major is our new patient, come on back.”
“Please, after all these years, don’t you think you should call me Eric?”
“How about Mr. Eric?” Ronnie grinned at him, as she escorted them back to an exam room. In the hall, they passed Tilly, one of the vet techs who told them there was a patient waiting for her. Ronnie made the decision for Tilly to take Major into the exam room to do his work-up, while she went to see the cat in the room Tilly had exited. Twenty minutes later, she walked in Major’s room and frowned.
“What’s going on?” As soon as she spoke, Major jumped to his feet and his whole body stared wagging again.
“So, there is some life in there. I’ll be damned.” Tilly laughed. She explained to Ronnie. “We walked in here, Major lay down and refused to move. I couldn’t get anything done to him. he wouldn’t let me. Look at him now.” She shook her head and together they were able to examine the dog. After Tilly left, Major did everything asked of him.
“Looks healthy, thank you for bringing us his records, I see that he was shot three different times?”
“I don’t know about that.” Eric frowned. “I know he was shot before he came to live with Finn, not sure about the other two times. Finn told me he was seven and he’d only known him for three years.”
“Ah, according to Major’s records, the other two times occurred before Finn went over to Afghanistan.”
“That would explain it.” Eric nodded.
Ronnie continued her job, and ten minutes later nodded. “Good to go. He’s up-to-date on his shots, won’t need them until next year.” Ronnie nodded and kissed Major on his forehead and laid her hand on his side. “You’re free to go. Stop out front and make an appointment for a year from now, or you can have the office send you a reminder in the mail.”
“I’ll do both,” Eric grinned. “Finn would have been here with the guy, but he had to go into work, and I volunteered to bring Major in.”
“Sounds good.” Ronnie nodded. She refused to be upset that Finn hadn’t brought Major in, not that she was disappointed by not seeing Finn, or anything. With a sigh, she opened the door and called Major to follow her. She laughed when he walked so close to her that she almost stumbled a few times. Both Eric and Ronnie were laughing when they came back out to reception. That was how Finn saw them.
Not caring about his suit, he dropped to his knees, held out his arms, and laughed when Major lunged for him. That was how Ronnie saw him as she rounded the desk, almost swallowing her tongue when she saw him dressed in his suit. For the life of her, he had her heart beating faster.
“He’s going to get dog hair all over you.” She frowned at him when he looked up and shrugged.
“Why have an animal if you’re worried about their hair?”
Ronnie’s heart melted at his comment, but as soon as he stood, she firmed it when she had a good look in his suit, beside that first time in the elevator all those weeks ago. Shaking her head, she stayed back as the Larsons made their next appointment. Ronnie grabbed the next file and started back, when Finn called her name. She turned and saw that he had followed her down the hall.
“What are you doing?”
“I wanted to touch base with you.”
“Why? I’m working.”
“I realize that, but you never answered any of my calls this week. We never set up a time for our date tonight.”
Ronnie sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I don’t know. I’m pretty busy.” She studied him, turning her head to the side. “What do you mean, you called me? I never got any messages.” She pulled her phone and accessed her call log and showed him that he never called except that one time.
“Okay, maybe I didn’t dial the whole number, but do you still want to go out tonight?”
Ronnie figured if she didn’t go out with him, he’d never stop bothering her. As much as she liked him, she didn’t think it would work between them.
“Fine, but know I’m not a fancy type of girl. What do I need to wear?”
“Clothes.” Finn smirked, then frowned at her expression. He held up his hands and sighed. “A nice dress or skirt. Nothing fancy, or even dress pants.”
“Fine, what time?”
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Okay, that should give me time to feed the horses, and shower. See you then.” She turned on her heel and walked away, leaving Finn wondering if it would be a good idea to go out or not. After the meeting he’d had this morning, he was walking on air. Now, he only had to talk to Grady, and together they would sit down and talk with Ronnie. Shaking his head, he walked back to the front of the office and out the door. He wasn’t surprised when he saw his grandfather waiting for him.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” he sighed, then studied his grandfather. “At the fundraiser, I asked Ronnie out on a date. I called her a few times this week, but she never picked up. It might be because I never left a message, but still she should have picked up.”
