17. DEAN
Chapter seventeen
DEAN
INTRODUCING THE GOOD DOCTOR
I stomp down the hall, literally. Because this fucking boot won’t let me walk quietly if I goddamn wanted to. Cuddles is prancing behind me like he’s hopped up on happy pills, while these pills the doc gave me are hardly doing anything to ease the pain in my leg.
“Are you coming down for dinner?” Nial calls from the kitchen just as I reach the stairs.
“On my way, be down in a minute,” I call back, but really it will be more like five with how slow I have to take them. Cuddles is too scared to make his own way down, given he’s about the height of each step, I don’t blame him, and quickly scoop him into the sash I’ve come to wear to hold him and start on my way. The boot isn’t particularly heavy, just awkward, and while they offered me crutches, I opted for a cane instead. It’s only been a few days and I’m already starting to forget how easy everything used to be. Maybe that’s a good thing, seeing as I’ll be wearing this thing for six whole fucking weeks.
“Look at you up on your feet and taking on stairs already,” Preston says, smiling up at me from Nial’s seat while Nial is perched happily in Sally-May’s.
“I… umm, yeah, stairs,” I reply and pull out the chair and take a seat before I trip over and further embarrass myself. Fuck, why is it sometimes so easy to talk to Preston and other times I’m falling all over myself? Nial and Preston trade glances.
“You have bedrooms downstairs, don’t you?” Preston asks.
“Yeah, Gramps had a room down here, but he won’t take it,” Nial replies.
“I don’t need a room down here, the stairs are fine. I’m getting faster.”
“The dinner begs to differ,” Nial says, scooping a slice of the beef pie. “I’ll have to reheat this again now; can you reheat beef again if you just did?”
“You probably didn’t heat it up enough to begin with,” I say.
“You want to tell Sally-May her instructions were wrong?”
“Okay, so it takes me a while to get down the stairs. There’s no reason to take over Gramp’s room.”
“He’s never here, though.”
Preston clears his throat. “I was actually going to suggest you might want to keep cuddles down on the main floor, if he fell down those stairs at night, he could be pretty badly hurt,” he says, and I glance down into the sash where Cuddles is wriggling around to get comfortable against my chest.
“He has to sleep with me or he cries all night,” I sigh.
“So, if there is a bed down here you can crash in for a while, I mean, just until Cuddles gets a little bit bigger, maybe you could use it?”
“I guess, if it would be good for Cuddles, I could make it work.”
Nial smiles. “I’ll zap this for a few minutes longer. Be right back,” he says, grabbing the pie tray and heading into the kitchen with it.
“How much bigger can Cuddles get?” I ask, and Preston turns his attention to the green beans on the table, loading up his plate.
“Hard to tell, really,” he says, still not meeting my eye. “We should start tracking it, his weight, too, just to be sure he’s thriving.”
I have a feeling Cuddles isn’t going to be getting any bigger than he already is, and I just got played.
Perry comes through the door followed by Connor and Sky. They’re sweaty, faces clearly showing their exhaustion, and they’re all covered in red dirt.
Fuck. I forgot we were supposed to dig out the space for the new fire pit. It was my idea, too. There is a small clearing behind the pool that I thought would be perfect. We could set up stump stools around it, and it could be like the old bonfires we used to go to when we were kids, but in a more controlled setting. But that space hasn’t been farmed for fifty years or more, and while on top, the ground is mostly a yellowish-brown sandy loam, once you dig down to about forty inches, it shifts to a mottled red and brownish sandy clay loam. It’s not easy work even with a mini digger. I should have been out there helping.
“We’ll just wash up,” Perry says, and they walk into the small washroom off the kitchen. It’s two hours past normal finish time and I know it’s because of me and I hate it.
“So how are you going with everything on the ranch?” Preston asks, holding out the beans for me to take.
“I managed to get on Buckie today without having him kneel. It hurt, I’m not going to lie. But I thought maybe I would be able to do the fence check and get around the ranch a bit quicker that way.”
“That’s great.”
“Except, I had only been up on him for five minutes when the pain became too much, and I almost fell getting off him again.”
This fucking leg has slowed everything down. Nial and the guys are trying their best to pick up the slack, but they’re feeling my injury just as much as I am. Okay, probably not just as much but it sure as hell isn’t easy on them.
“You can’t get in extra help?” Preston asks as Nial reenters the room.
He plonks the pie down on the table with a clang, sending spurts of meat juice into the air a few inches.
“That’s what I’ve been saying since the drive into Doc Greens when you bloody broke it,” he says, re-scooping his slice out of the tray, and this time, gusts of steam roll like flames up from the steaming meat inside.
“I bet I’ll be alright in a few days,” I tell him.
“I call bullshit,” Connor says, walking in and sitting down next to Nial. “I love you, man, but you have to face facts. You can’t do what you used to, at least not for a while.”
“I have to agree,” Preston adds.
“I just hate being so fucking useless. What am I supposed to do all day while you’re out tending the ranch?”
“You could come help me?” Preston says and all eyes move to him. “I mean, if you wanted. I could use a hand at the clinic.”
“You have Poppy helping you, don’t you?”
He runs his fingers through his chestnut hair and smiles that fucking irresistible grin that made all the girls, and a few of the boys like me, back in high school swoon.
“She’s there after school, but Dad had someone helping with the bookings and the grooming and helping hold the patients when doing checkups and stuff. Poppy can’t do any of that, and it would be good to have a hand.”
“You’re not just making up needing help?”
“No, seriously, just wait until you see the records. I pulled out the file for Mrs. Patmore’s Cavalier King Charles the other day and the ultrasound scans from Mr. Berret’s horse were inside.”
“I suppose I can help with that.”
“And we have the pig farm checkups on the books next week. Holding those piglets is a real challenge, let me tell ya. I’ll do the catching, of course.”
Skye eats quietly, smiling at his plate. They planned this. I bet they did. But I’ve agreed to it now and I’m nothing if not a man of my word.
“Okay, so who are we going to get to help out around here?” I ask.
Nial immediately pipes up. “The Royals eldest from next door,” he says between chews. “He came around the other day asking if we had any work. They’re still getting everything sorted on the property so his pa is sending the boys off to brush up on their skills.”
“I guess at least he won’t have any excuses for being late,” I say and grab my serving of pie before it’s picked up by one of the others looking for a second helping. “Alright Doc, what time do I start?”
***
I thought driving was going to be difficult, but turns out getting in the car is the hardest part. I end up climbing in the passenger side and sliding my ass along the seat until my left leg is down in the foot well, but my booted right leg is sitting resting up on the seat out at the side. Good thing I’m pretty flexible.
“Yo, Nial, close the door for me, will ya?” I call as he jogs past the truck on his way to start the milking.
“Have fuuuuuun,” he cheers, slamming the door on his way past with a thud.
“Okay, Cuddles, I hope you’re ready for a road trip,” I say, lifting off the sash he’s snuggled in and putting him between my leg and the seatback. He whines a little, then once the car starts, he settles again.
If I knew the roads of Bellerelle were so fucking bumpy, I probably wouldn’t have agreed to this. I’m swerving all over the place, trying to miss the bigger holes on my way toward town and relief washes over me when the dirt road becomes asphalt, and it’s smooth sailing the rest of the way to the clinic.
I pull around back and park beside the clinic van. Only trouble is now I have to figure out a way out of the truck. I get Cuddles all set back up around my neck, then reach for the cane and swing open the driver’s side door.
“Okay, we can do this,” I say, then lift my good leg out and scoot sideways until it’s planted on the ground. The cane is next, and steadying myself on them, I start to hop my way out of the car.
“Mother,” One hop. “Fucker,” Another hop. “Son of a,” Almost out. “Bitch,” I say loudest when my boot is free from the seat and drops onto the edge of the car.
“You okay out here?” Preston asks, and I give it one more hop out, paying attention this time to be sure the boot is kept hovering until I lower it slowly to the ground.
“Totally fine,” I lie, and he nods.
“Okay, well, we’ve got Pickles in for a wash if you think you’re up to it?”
“Pickles?”
“Mrs. Patmore’s Cavalier King Charles. He gets the works every two weeks.”
“And that is?”
“A shampoo, wash, blow dry, brush and nails trimmed.”
“Sounds good, lead the way,” I say and follow him through the back door of the clinic into the wash area. I’ve never been out the back of the clinic. I’ve only ever been to the reception area out front. There was never a need to be out here given all the animals on the ranch are checked on site.
“This place is bigger than it looks,” I say, and he chuckles ahead of me.
“Yep, it’s the Tardis of vet clinics.”
“The what now?”
He turns on his heel, mouth agape and one hand pressed against his chest like I’ve wounded him.
“Please tell me you know Dr Who?”
“I’ve known Doctor Green since I was a boy.”
He bursts out laughing. I rub the back of my neck as my cheeks grow flaming hot.
“I take it that’s not the doc you were meaning?”
“Oh man, you farm boys really don’t watch much television, do you?” he asks, wiping a tear from one eye.
“We watch a movie here and there. Connor’s started doing an outdoor theatre thing beside the cuddle cove, but I don’t know. I guess we are pretty tired after working all day. We crash pretty early.”
“I didn’t know you did that. How did I miss this? It sounds like a really clever idea. I can just imagine it, cuddling up against Miss Milky under the stars and watching some old classic movie like… I don’t know… The Ballad of Josie or something?”
“Doris Day, that one I know. I think they play more recent movies, but old ones would be good. I’ll suggest that to Connor. Might entice a few of the moms and dads out for it if it’s something they’ll like, too.”
“And in the meantime, I’m going to get you caught up on the good doctor.”
“Is it like a medical show, because I’ve never really been a fan of those?”
“No. It’s better. Way better. Trust me.”
“Alright, I trust you,” I say, and our eyes meet, and instead of turning away, he holds my gaze, that same irresistible grin on his lips. Cuddles shifts in the sash, and I move to grab him before he tumbles out, but I had to let go of the cane to do it, and without its support, I stumble. But then he’s there, holding me by the shoulders and smelling all kinds of deliciousness.
I know he said he just wants to be friends, and I said I was cool with that, but fuck, I wish he’d kiss me again.