Page 24 of Hesi-Dating
Melted my heart to know he loved his dog so much. His dog sat and rested his head on my lap. I petted him and smiled. "You're a cutie. What's your name?"
"It's Henry."
I stopped petting him. He batted at me with his good paw.
"Don't want me to stop, huh?" I chuckled. "Are you good company for your dad?"
The door opened and a woman in scrubs walked in. She addressed Seth. “I’m Susan, Dr. Hardin's assistant. Let's get you checked in and then I'll go get Dr. Hardin." She waved at me. “Hey, Joley.”
Seth rattled off Henry's information. "We think he's only about four. My vet's closed on Wednesday afternoons. We just did his shots last month and got him heartworm prevention. I rescued him from an abandoned house two months ago. He was starved but I just got some weight back on him." He petted Henry. "Maybe overdid it a bit."
The tech nodded. "He just came up lame today?"
"We were walking in the canyon this afternoon. I thought a rattler got him or something, but I can't find a bite."
"Not enough swelling for that to be the problem." Susan smiled reassuringly. "Give me a sec to get Dr. Hardin." She disappeared.
Seth seemed so distraught that I wanted to distract him.
"Did you get settled into a new place?" I asked.
He glanced to me and then looked back to Henry. Then back to me. "I've been at my dad's old place for a while. It's got a bit of space so Henry can run and there are places for us to walk."
"You still living out of boxes?"
He nodded.
"That's the worst when you can't find anything because it's lost in some box. I'm glad you have Henry so you're not by yourself."
"Me too. He's been…" He roughly patted Henry's head. "He's been a real comfort to have around."
I struggled to find something to say that would distract him from his worry over Henry. "Did you decide to take Katie out?"
He chuckled. "No."
"Maybe apps aren't your thing. You want to do it old school? Maybe do a blind date set up by a friend?"
"You have a friend you want to set me up with?" His eyes danced with amusement. "Maybe you can come along? A double date?"
"Let me think if I have any friends I'd trust with you." I pretended to consider. Then shook my head. "Can't think of a single one. Pretty sure I'd not be friends with her by the end of the date if she was out with you."
"Listen, Joley, we should really stop dancing around this?—"
Amber entered dressed in green scrubs beneath a wrinkled white lab coat. "Hi, Mr. Briscoe—or should I say Sheriff Briscoe? I'm Dr. Hardin. Joley told me a bit about you."
Amber met my gaze. Her eyes widened a fraction in what was meant to be warning that I shouldn't be here. Also, it was a silent lecture about how I couldn't have all the feelings that I had running hot for this man. But maybe that last part was all my imagination.
"He's a friend," I felt compelled to say. "Do you want me to go now, Seth? I can step out or just leave."
"No. Stay," he said a little sterner than I think he intended. "Please."
Amber's eyebrows rose. "So, Mr. Briscoe, he came up lame while on a walk? Has it improved or gotten worse?"
"You can call me Seth. The lameness is the same. Not getting better. I've never seen him show pain for anything. This has to be bad." Seth soothed Henry as Amber approached, not that the dog seemed phased by anything. Seemed like the soothing was more for Seth than the dog.
Amber started her exam by looking at everything other than his painful leg. She ran her hand over the limb he held up and stopped at his paw. "What's this? Does he have a mass or…"
Amber turned over his paw and ruffled through the fur. "I'll be damned. This is a first. Hold on." She leaned out the door and called out to Susan. "She's going to hold him for me for a minute, if you don't mind."
