Page 2 of Meet Me in Aveline

I shrugged. “I can’t remember,” I lied before shuffling to change the subject. “You know, one time, I had to pull a garden gnome from a dog’s intestine. Well, it was an ornament for a tree, not like an actual gnome from a garden, but it was crazy nonetheless.” I took a bite of the bread.

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “Um. Okay. What is it you do for a living?”

I chomped and chomped on the bread, my jaw growing tired.

Goodness gracious this bread was chewy.

“I’m the veterinarian in my town,” I replied, my mouth still full. I was pretty sure I had already told Jake about my job, but he must have been paying as much attention to me as I was to him, so I repeated myself once again without a hint of annoyance in my voice.

My town, Aveline, was smaller than just a small town. Aveline was so quaint that it was impossible to walk outside without knowing every single person you passed on the street, and if you didn’t know them, you made a point to figure out everything about them in a matter of minutes. You couldn’t step into Aveline and go unnoticed, and anyone who wandered into our little town found that out quickly.

Just ask the man who had been lost and stepped into the market to ask for directions. We spent his first five minutes in the store interrogating him, and knew everything but his social security number when he walked out the door. We hadn’t been crazy enough to ask that, although there were some in the town who would have.

Or you could ask the young, lost girl who stumbled into Aveline looking for a place to belong, and just so happened to find it.

Jake nodded. “That’s right, that’s right. You said that.”

I thought I had.

Jake took a sip of his wine and wiped his mouth again. I wondered if it was an obsessive trait, him wiping his mouth like that. I noticed he had a tendency to do it every few minutes, even when he hadn’t eaten or drunk anything at all. Napkin up, wipe, napkin down. Napkin up, wipe, napkin down. Rinse and repeat.

“So you have your own practice then?”

I resumed picking at my salad, careful not to stab a tomato again. I was afraid if it popped him in the head again, he might actually cry.

“Yep,” I replied.

I didn’t give any more information, because, to be honest, Jake didn’t care… and I didn’t care to tell him.

I didn’t feel the need to tell him that I’d taken over The Aveline Pet Clinic five years prior when Dr. Burton had retired. Dr. Burton—Teddy—and his wife Lenora, had taken me under their wings when I’d left home and had nowhere to go.

Everything I knew, I’d learned from them.

“That’s cool,” Jake replied before he looked down at his phone, smiling and pecking at the screen, obviously more interested in talking to someone else. That was the last straw for me. I didn’t even care that we hadn’t gotten past the salad and crappy bread.

“Oh, dear. I’m so sorry, but I need to go,” I said calmly. “There’s been an emergency.”

He looked up and squinted his eyes. “What happened?” He searched the table, no doubt realizing I didn’t have my phone anywhere near me. “How do you know there’s been an emergency?”

I bit the inside of my cheek, trying to find a quick response to explain how I knew there was an emergency when I very evidently hadn’t spoken to anyone.

“Um, well, it’s my twin-tuition. I just know that there is something wrong.” I dug into my purse and pulled out my phone, gasping slightly, flashing it to him quickly, and then clicking it black. “See? I knew it. It’s definitely an emergency. I should go.”

I stood up, placed my purse strap over my shoulder, and laid a ten on the table. I figured, since there was no way I was suffering through the rest of the date, I would at least pay for my meager salad.

Jake looked stunned, his mouth slightly open in disbelief. I wondered if anyone had ever bailed on a date with him before. I had to imagine they had with how incredibly dull he was.

“You’re a twin?” he asked.

I stepped away from the table, faced the door, and closed my eyes tightly. I looked over my shoulder one last time.

“No. No, I’m not.”

TWO

2017

LETTIE

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