Page 18 of Love Out Loud

Chapter Eight

Fiona stared down at the chart and sighed with relief. Boris was one of her favorite patients. Not only because he was adorable, but because his owner wasn’t a talker, which was exactly what she needed right now. Her growing interest in Jacob had thrown her. At least Addison was here from the animal rescue farm today and was helping her out. Right now, she was putting Otto and Daisy into the daycare room.

With a practiced, fake smile, Fiona pushed the door open and greeted the middle-aged English bulldog. “Mr. Boris. How are you, sir?”

His owner, Mrs. Krenshaw, was sitting in a chair with Boris at her feet. Even though it was a sunny spring day, Boris sported one of his signature raincoats that Mrs. K made and sold on Etsy. This time, he was shrouded in cornea-obliterating, neon-pink floral.

“Looking smart there, big fella. Pink’s your color. How about we talk eye to eye?” She put on some exam gloves and hefted him up on the table with a grunt.

Mrs. K wrung her hands. “He’s been licking his paws and rubbing his face on my bath mat for a week. This morning, I noticed he had some redness above his nose.”

“Probably brought on by seasonal allergies,” Fiona said. Boris snorted, then made a rumbling grunt and stretched to lick Fiona’s cheek when she leaned closer to take off his raincoat. She grinned and rubbed his head, then checked out the wrinkles above his nose. “Yep. No wonder you’re rubbing your face, Boris. You’ve got a light case of skin fold pyoderma. No big deal.”

“I wash his face every day, just like you told me,” Mrs. K said.

“Sounds like you’re being well taken care of,” Fiona reassured the dog as she checked the rest of his body. “Be sure your mom dries your face really well after washing it, especially between your wrinkles. I’ll send some medicated wash and wipes home with you, along with written instructions.” She gave him a pat and then hefted him off the table. He immediately lumbered back over to Mrs. K.

“You know,” the woman said, taking the raincoat from Fiona, “one of these days, he’s going to answer you back.”

Eyes still on Boris, who was standing still as Mrs. K buttoned his raincoat, Fiona said, “He already does.”

Most animals spoke to her in one way or another. She found animal body language and needs much easier to read than that of humans, which was why she’d wanted to be a vet for as long as she could remember. She opened the file drawer and attached the skincare instructions to Boris’s chart with a paper clip, then moved to the supply cabinet above the small sink.

A sharp rap came on the door, and Addison stuck her head in. She was dressed in her usual boots, jeans, and plaid shirt with her long, auburn hair in a single braid. “Good morning. Need any help, Dr. Nichol?”

“No, thanks, Addison. We’re just wrapping it up here.” Fiona pulled out some medicated wash and face wipes from the cabinet.

Boris strained to get to the door and away from Mrs. K, who was trying to cram a hat on his head. He didn’t seem to like his hat as much as he did the jacket.

“Maybe you should go without the hat until your skin clears up, Boris,” Fiona said. She was relieved when Mrs. K surrendered and put it in her bag without any complaints. “So, Boris, I’ll see you in two weeks if it doesn’t heal up by then. If it’s gone, there’s no need to come back in. Just be sure Mom keeps the area clean and dry.” She handed Mrs. K the wipes, wash, and chart to take up front to check out, then said goodbye to Boris.

After closing the door, Addison sat on the round exam stool and spun a three-sixty, then another as her cowboy boots made a scraping sound over the vinyl tiles. “You do realize that you didn’t say a single word to the owner, right?”

Fiona busied herself with cleaning the table. “Yes, but by the time the exam was over, Mrs. K knew exactly what was wrong with Boris and how to treat it, so I communicated effectively, which is the objective.” She glanced at Addison, who was studying her with her head cocked and eyes narrowed. Fiona turned her attention to organizing the prep area. Addison was a fairly new friend. Considering Fiona didn’t make friends easily and could count them on one hand, the fact she thought of Addison as a friend was really something.

Addison pulled Sir Squash out of a bag slung over her shoulder and gave him a squeak. “Otto dropped this on his way in, evidently.” She held it up and laughed. “You know this looks exactly like a—”

“I’m totally aware.” Fiona held out a hand to shut her up. “It’s Otto’s favorite. He picked it out himself at the store as a little puppy and won’t play with anything else. We can’t apply our human conceptions into what a dog sees and likes.”

Addison snorted. “I can relate—to both the shape and singularity of this shape’s appeal.” She winked and gave it a succession of rapid, rhythmic squeaks.

Fiona groaned and rolled her eyes.

With a laugh, Addison pitched Sir Squash onto the exam table and opened the door. “I’m heading out now, but I’ll bring back your next patient. You might want to put that thing away before somebody gets the wrong idea.”

Too late. Sir Squash had already made his public debut in the revolving door of doom—the memory of which made her thoughts turn to Jacob and her infatuation with the freckle under his lip, which in turn made her insides revolve like that door.

Work. She’d focus on work until then, and once her appointments were over, she’d go home, have a bubble bath, curl up with Otto and Daisy, and read a good, sexy romance novel.

Hours later, Fiona sighed with relief as she snapped off her exam gloves and pitched them in the trash can. She’d had back-to-back appointments with no breaks, since she’d pushed them back for her visit to the dog event with Jacob this morning. In addition to the crammed schedule, two walk-ins arrived, and because they were established patients, she felt uncomfortable turning them away, especially since one of them was there with an abandoned puppy. Thank goodness her friend and co-owner, Caitlin, had stepped in to help her out after Addison left.

“You think that dehydrated pup’s gonna make it?” Caitlin asked, washing her hands.

“Yes.” Fiona had seen a lot worse. The puppy had been found not long after it had been dumped in the garbage can. Sometimes, people’s cruelty was more than she could stand. “I’ll take her home tonight. Addison will pick her up tomorrow and drop her off at the farm until she’s ready for adoption.”

Caitlin nodded and dried her hands, moving aside so that Fiona could wash up. “I’d take her myself, but we’re flying out to my in-laws as soon as Taylor gets home. We want to give them the good news in person.” She rubbed her still-flat belly and got that wistful, mushy mom-to-be look on her face. A look that was one step off of the blissful new wife look, and two steps away from the starry-eyed optimism of the newly engaged, which Fiona had put up with from both Caitlin and Jane. Neither outright said it, but she knew they hoped she would become a member of their happily-ever-after club ASAP.

No thank you. She was perfectly happy as she was without having to bend or change to meet someone else’s needs.

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