Page 115 of Hell Hath No Fury
He licked the side of my face.
"That's a good start," I huffed.
A few more struggling steps and in the distance I was pretty sure I saw a white building that had a black sign with red writing above that read Sugar Mountain Veterinary Clinic.
"Praise God. Hallelujah," I sang out. God, I hope it's not a mirage. Did people see those in the mountains like they did the desert?
The closer we got, the more I realized we were almost there. And I stupidly sped up to a light jog all while clutching Jax to my chest like Rose should have held on to Jack inTitanic. There had been enough room on the door, damn it.
But it was a mistake, the jogging. Because I stupidly fell over my own tired ass feet and down I went to my knees, the asphalt hard and hot against them even through my leggings but I never once let go of Jax, instead using my elbows to catch our bodies. Take note, Rose!
I rocked back on my butt, settling Jax into my lap and sobbed like a damn baby. I was exhausted. I felt like I was going to puke because I didn't think I'd ever had such a hard workout in my entire life. And now I was in pain. I didn't even want to look at my knees. I was pretty sure they were bloody. And my brother’s dog might be dying.
And it had all started with my mom’s shitty phone call. I blamed her.
I sat there for five minutes giving myself plenty of time to have a good cry while Jax licked the tears off my face but wouldn't walk an inch, like the sadist he was.
Finally, after feeling extremely sorry for myself and then realizing what a drama queen I was being over some skinned knees, I picked up my baby brother’s pup and finished the walk to the vet. Come hell or high water, I was getting him the help he needed. And I’d felt like I’d experienced both in the last mile and a half.
CHAPTER FOUR
The warmth of the vet’s office hit me like a wave and I hadn't realized until the moment how cold it had gotten outside on our hike down. I had no idea how I'd managed to sweat that much and my hands somehow still be ice cold.
I set Jaxon down on the floor next to the two chairs in the very small room. There was a desk sitting on one side with an ancient desktop computer and phone that looked like it was from the eighties sitting on top of it. No one was behind that desk, though. That explained the unanswered phone calls.
"Hello, anyone there?" I called out, walking around the small area. Jax just chilled on the floor like he owned the place.
"I'm comin'!” someone yelled from one of the only doorways beside the entrance off of the tiny space. And then all of a sudden a small woman with big, or what I would call Dolly Parton, brown hair came into the room wearing a set of blue scrubs.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted me. "Hi?" she questioned.
I was guessing by the look she was giving me, she was only used to seeing people she knew in this clinic. After all, this mountain probably only had about two hundred actual residents.
"Hi there," I started, but was quickly cut off by Jax practically running through my legs and almost knocking me over to get to the stranger in front of me.
"Hey there, Jax, baby," she puppy talked to him, lowering into an impressive squat for a lady that had to be almost into her sixties.
I bet she could have carried his big ass down the mountain, no problem.
I stood there, my mouth hanging open like a fish because the dang dog that had been limping back at the house and then refused to walk, was now jumping around this woman and running to her like nothing in the world was wrong.
But it was. I was exhausted. Freezing. Sweaty. My arms were killing me from carrying his big ass. My knees felt like they were on fire beneath my leggings. I wanted to scream.
The woman glanced back up at me with a smile on her face. "You must be Anna Bell," she said, a warm smile on her face as she stood up. "Jason told me you were watching Jax this week. I'm Daisy," she said, sticking out her hand for me to take.
Daisy. That seemed like the perfect name for her. I took her outstretched hand and shot Jax a look that could kill. "Nice to meet you, Daisy."
"What brings you in?" she asked, scrubbing the top of Jax's head. “I know this sweet boy isn’t giving you any trouble.”
"Well, I’m not sure now," I ground out. "He was limping back at the cabin and I tried to call and no one answered so then I tried to bring him down the mountain. I don't have a car and he wouldn't even attempt to walk so I carried him and then I fell. And it's just a mess and do y'all have some kind of secret car service on the mountain because I can't carry that do—"
She held up her hand, cutting me off and who could blame her? Clearly, today's traumatic events had given me diarrhea of the mouth.
With wide eyes, she asked, "You carried this dog down the mountain?"
I nodded, embarrassed, horrified, beyond tired.
"Well, then," she started with a huff. "You must be exhausted. Let me get you a bottle of water and tell Doctor Clark you are here. Did you hurt yourself when you fell?"
