Page 25 of Falling For Her Cowboy
“Now let me help you down so you don’t fall again.” He held his hand out to her, and this time when she moved to get out, his other hand came to her waist.
She hopped down from the truck.
“See, I can do it. I said something caught on my foot,” she muttered.
“Sure, but if it would have happened twice, then I would have known it was done on purpose and I can’t help but admit that I liked it.” He tossed her a wink. He stepped back from her and shut her door.
Aimee peeked from behind the curtain again. Melah held back a smile at the impatience the woman was exhibiting.
“Whatever.” Melah rolled her eyes. She moved her purse strap to her shoulder and motioned to the house. “I better go. Thanks again.”
“My pleasure. Have a good night.” He gave her a nod and folded his arms.
She waved and walked toward the front door. She didn’t need to turn around and see he was watching her. She could practically feel the caress of his gaze on her. A shiver rippled through her.
Melah put a little more sway into her hips as she walked. She arrived at the door and slid her key into it. She opened the door and stepped inside. She turned and found him standing by the driver’s door. He saluted and got inside the vehicle. She closed the door and breathed a sigh.
“Have fun?” Aimee came out of the sitting area where she must have been waiting for her. Therewas a curious look in her eyes, but she didn’t say anything else.
At the moment, Melah had to process everything that had happened.
“Yeah, I did.” Melah hid the smile that threatened to erupt on her lips. She kicked off her shoes and scooped them up. “I’m off to bed. Work will be here before I know it.”
Chapter Eight
“Hey, Doc, would you mind taking a peek at this X-ray?” Heath asked from Ridge’s office door. The experienced vet tech had been with Ridge for a few years now, and if he was asking for Ridge to look at something right away, that didn’t sound good.
Ridge had only just sat down after seeing countless patients in the office. He and Faith had been extremely busy with a flood of appointments. From dog attacks to an emergency C-section of a goat that had been brought in, to sick guinea pigs to a wellness check for a goose. It had been one hell of a day.
“Sure thing.” Ridge pushed up from his chair and followed Heath through the halls of the clinictoward the radiology area. He had just heated up his coffee for the third time, and it looked as if it was going to go cold again. Maybe it just wasn’t meant for him to drink his much-needed caffeine source. “What do we have?”
“A golden was brought in. The parents said he hadn’t been eating and they thought he was in pain. Dr. Giles was to see him, but she got pulled into an emergency surgery. I went ahead and did the X-ray, but I needed someone to look at it.” Heath gave a few more details of the case as they arrived at the reading room.
The film was already up for Ridge to review, and he immediately saw the issue.
“Hmm…” He folded his arms and took another second to make sure he wasn’t missing anything else, but he already knew the problem. “How old is the dog?”
“A little over a year,” Heath answered.
“Well, it would look like our patient has been a bad boy. He’s eaten something he shouldn’t have.” Ridge pointed to the foreign object that shouldn’t be inside the retriever. The dog’s stomach had tried to pass it along, but it was now stuck in the intestines, and that was why the animal wasn’t eating and theparents were correct. He was probably in a world of pain. Looked like Ridge was about to scrub in for surgery. “Where are they? I’ll go speak with them now.”
“Thanks. They are in room four. Want me to get the other OR suite ready?” Heath would be assisting on the case.
“Please.” Ridge slapped Heath on the shoulder and walked through the busy clinic. He arrived at the golden’s room and pushed open the door. “Hey there, family.”
He introduced himself and could see the worry on the couple’s face. The dog was lying on the floor, panting in obvious pain. He went over the X-ray with the parents.
“When can the surgery be done? Our kids will go insane if something happen to Jimbo.” The woman sniffed. She reached up and wiped a lone tear from her eye.
“I have time now. This would be considered an emergency. With the object being positioned in the bowel, Jimbo won’t be able to pass this. Not taking this out will lead to extreme pain, sepsis, and eventually death.” Ridge had to be careful when speaking with families about their beloved animals, but he was going to be honest. Animals were brought in all ofthe time having eaten something they shouldn’t. “This would be standard surgery, and with Jimbo being young, I don’t foresee any possible complications, but they can happen. Jimbo will be running around and eating again within a few days.”
“Okay, please. Do whatever you have to do to save our pup. He’s like our third child,” the man said.
“Doc, we trust you. Please take care of our baby.” The woman reached down and gave Jimbo a pat on his head.
Ridge offered a small smile at the dog’s tail waving slightly. That was a good sign.
“We certainly will. Just give us a few minutes, and Heath will be back here to get Jimbo.”
