Page 4 of Untamed

And, hot damn, when she turned that firecracker attitude onto me, I damn near fell to my knees. I’ll take all the anger she has if that’s what it costs to get her to talk to me again.

“River?”

I jolt out of my thoughts and suddenly remember where I am — cutting the incontinence tablets in half for poor Sadie. Her mom brought her in today wearing a diaper, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dog look more embarrassed.

“Sorry. Yeah?”

I look over my shoulder to find my coworker, Cheryl, raising an eyebrow at me and tapping her toe. She is the epitome of a grumpy front desk worker — a Karen, if you will.

“You going to be done with that anytime soon?” She nods to the pills on the counter. “They’ve been waiting forever.”

“They’ve been waiting for five minutes,” I mumble under my breath, turning back to the counter to make sure I’m giving them the right amount.

“What was that?”

“Nothing, Cheryl.” I sigh, push the pills into the plastic bottle, and hand it over to her. My shift is almost over, and I don’t have the energy to fight with her today. Especially not over how long it takes me to cut up some pills when all she does is paint her damn nails up there. I don’t even think she likes animals.

I check my watch, and seeing that I only have about five minutes left, I quickly clean up my mess and run through the checklist on the clipboard hanging from the wall.

“Hey! Sorry, I’m late! I know! I’m hurrying!” Evie dashes past me, running at lightning speed to get to the back room.

“You’re fine!” I call after her, laughing quietly when I hear her run into something. A loud crash and a lot of swear words later, she’s leaning against the doorframe, red-faced and breathing heavily. She looks like she’s been crying, and my amusement turns to worry.

“You alright?” I take a few steps toward her, laying my hand on her shoulder. She bites her lip and smiles, blinking hard.

“Yeah.” She sighs. “Just not a good start to the day.”

“You want me to stay for you? I really don’t have anything I can’t miss until the bar tonight.”

“Don’t be silly!” She waves me off, trying her hardest to smile, even though I can see it’s difficult. She’s hiding something, but we aren’t close enough for me to expect her to talk to me. Sure, we work together here and there, but if something is wrong, I wouldn’t expect to be the first person she ran to.

“The only way I will leave you when something is clearly wrong is if you promise me that you will call me if you feel like you can’t hang. Yeah?”

I make sure she’s looking at me when she agrees. She’s a pretty thing, all legs with long, blonde hair and green eyes. She nods and tries smiling again, so I change the subject as I start to clock out.

“Cheryl is on one today,” I tell her. “So tread lightly if you have to go up front.”

“When isn’t she?” She groans. “Who’s the doctor on staff today?”

“Martinez.”

“Thank god. Should be an easy day, then.” She checks her phone and then shoves it into her back pocket. “Where you off to now?”

“Well,” I tell her, smiling because I’m so freaking excited that I get to go see my girl. “I’m actually working on adopting a dog. But she needs some extra love, so I’ll be going out to spend time with her until she’s ready to come home with me.”

“Oh, that’s awesome!” Her smile is genuine now, and it makes her whole face light up. “Where you gettin’ her from?”

“Wells Black, from that rescue he and his brothers run out on the ranch.”

Her face drops all its color, and I’m about to make sure she isn’t going to faint when Cheryl storms into the back.

“I’ve been callin’ you about Teddy! He’s here for a damn nail trim!”

“Shit, sorry, Cheryl,” Evie says, running her hands over the front of her shirt. “I’m getting him now.”

“Hey, remember what I said.” I grab her arm before she makes it out front.

“I will. I promise.”

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