Chapter 4 #2
After a moment, Toby looked up. It was the first time he’d looked at me with anything other than contempt. “Bring him back,” he said, gesturing with his head.
Relenting, I followed him into an exam room where he shut the door behind us.
“On the table, please,” he said, going to the sink to wash his hands.
I laid Marlowe on his side on the steel table that dominated the small space, and Toby turned back. After moving the stethoscope into his ears, he pressed the end to Marlowe’s chest and listened before moving it around and doing it again.
Once finished, he glanced up. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure. I was out tagging trees this morning, and he ran off.”
“Does he do that often?”
“What?” I asked.
“Run off.”
“He wasn’t running off,” I retorted. “Well, not like you mean.” The way you did. The thought was intrusive and completely unwelcome. “He’s a farm dog. He has the run of the place. He likes to chase the chickens.”
“Good boy,” Toby crooned, petting Marlowe and making his tail wag. “You gotta keep those little dinosaurs on their creepy toes.”
“Little dinosaurs?” I questioned.
He shrugged but didn’t look up, attention remaining on Marlowe. “Well, chickens evolved from theropods, which were meat-eating dinosaurs. So technically, they are.”
Marlowe gave a loud wail and bucked up, and I moved fast to keep him from falling. “What did you do to him?” I accused. “Stop spouting useless facts and pay attention!”
Toby paused for a moment, then drew back. “He has a wood splinter stuck in his paw,” he announced, voice void of emotion. “He probably tried to get it out but couldn’t because there’s also some sap caked with more debris.”
“What?” I leaned over my dog, instantly concerned. “How’d that happen, buddy?” I asked, looking at the paw and trying to see what Toby saw.
“I’ll clean the area and then numb it so I can pull the splinter out without causing additional pain. I don’t think it will need stitching. Maybe just some medical-grade liquid adhesive to keep it closed. But I’ll know more once it’s clean.”
“You can do that?”
His eyes touched mine, and it was like touching the hottest part of a flame. But then his attention turned back to the dog, and I was suddenly cold.
“If you would like me to,” he said.
“Please. I can’t stand seeing him in pain.”
Toby nodded once and moved around the table to pull the door open.
“Toby?” A voice that hadn’t been out there before floated into the room.
“Hey, Brett.” Toby greeted him. “Yeah, it’s me. I’m filling in for my dad for a few days.”
Brett Schroder? Since when does he work here?
“That’s awesome,” he said enthusiastically.
I inched around the table to peer out into the hallway where, yep, Brett Schroder, the mayor’s son, stood in a pair of green scrubs.
“Oh, hey, Archer,” he said, brow furrowing. “Is everything okay? Is Marlowe sick?”
“Since when do you work here?” I asked.
Between us, Toby made a choked sound. Glancing over his shoulder, he said, “Rude.”
“This is town business. Stay out of it,” I told him.
“Right. How I’ve missed everyone’s business being everyone’s,” he muttered.
Brett laughed. “Guess the rumors are true.”
“What rumors?” Toby and I asked at the same time.
Brett laughed again. “That you two are like oil and water.”
We hadn’t always been.
“Would you mind giving me a hand in here?” Toby asked, quickly rattling off a list of the supplies he needed.
“Anything for you, Doc,” Brett quipped before winking and going off to get the items.
When Toby turned back, his cheeks were pink, and my ears burned. I stared at him hard, but he avoided it to move back into the room and start opening and closing cabinets.
“Don’t you know where anything is?” I asked.
“It’s my first day.”
“No one seemed to be expecting you.” Especially me.
“It was a last-minute trip.”
For a moment, the bitterness between us was replaced with true concern. “Is your dad okay? Gail?” I asked of his mom.
“My parents are fine.” He assured me, looking up from the cabinet. “Mom just wanted Dad to have a break for the holiday, and she convinced me to come here to help with the clinic.”
“But you’re going back to Boston?”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be gone before you know it.”
I frowned, but Brett walked in with a rolling tray of supplies. One of them being a syringe.
“Is that for Marlowe?” I asked, swallowing thickly as I stared at the needle.
“This?” Toby asked, picking it up and pushing the bottom so a little liquid squirted out.
My stomach roiled. “Y-yes.”
“Oh, are you squeamish, Archer?” he asked, still holding it up like it was an artifact in some museum and not a torture device.
“Of course not,” I said, swallowing again.
Toby put down the needle, and I sucked in a breath before petting Marlowe while Brett was brought up to speed on what was going on.
“Would you like to wait outside?” Toby asked a moment later.
“Of course not,” I admonished. “Marlowe is my family. I’m not going to leave him in here alone while he’s hurt and scared. I don’t run away when things get hard.”
The tension in the room stretched until it practically vibrated the air, and the beat of silence that followed my harsh words seemed ear-piercingly loud.
A blanket of unresolved stuff settled heavily, nearly suffocating in its intensity.
It surprised me, honestly, that after nearly ten years, it was still like this between us.
I couldn’t wait for him to go back to Boston.
Toby turned to the tray. “Okay. Well, if you would like to move to Marlowe’s head, it would be comforting for him to hear your voice and see you as I work.”
I did as he asked and started scratching behind his soft ears. “After this, you’ll get any snack you want out of Ma in the kitchen.”
Toby scoffed. “He probably already does. Your mom always was softhearted.”
His words seemed to catch him as off guard as they did me, and for a moment, we just stared at each other, fondness winning out over hate for long seconds before Toby bent over Marlowe to speak soothingly.
“Just a pinch and some pressure. It will probably be uncomfortable, but then it will be numb and you’ll be on the way to chasing those chickens again. ”
I couldn’t help but notice the way Toby angled himself in front of the needle, effectively blocking it from view as he administered the shot. It was something he didn’t have to do and something that might have made his job a little more difficult, but he did it without a word.
I kept my eyes focused on Marlowe anyway, talking to him in low, soothing tones about what a good job he was doing.
Toby’s arm brushed against mine when he pulled back, a brief, barely-there touch that prickled my skin with awareness and made my stomach dip. I cleared my throat as if doing so would also clear out those sensations lingering inside me like ripples of unspent electricity.
Once Marlowe’s paw was numb, Toby’s and Brett’s heads bowed together as they worked.
“You’re really efficient,” Brett praised about halfway through.
“Well, in my clinic, you have to be quick because we see so many patients. Plus, not all pets are as patient as Marlowe.”
“Spoken like a man who’s been bitten one too many times,” Brett mused.
“I’ve had my share of teeth,” Toby joked, pulling back to smile at the tech.
“Seriously, how long have you worked here?” I wondered, cutting into their obvious flirting.
It was completely inappropriate for a place of business.
“Not too long. I’ve been going to school for vet med,” Brett said, including Toby in the conversation.
“It’s my last year, so it’s my clinical year.
Dr. Thomas said I could do my primary care rotation here.
Technically, that won’t start till January, but I’ve been coming in since I’ve been home just for the extra experience. ”
“Well, I’m glad to have the extra hands since Dad is off for the holiday,” Toby said. “Clinical year is really challenging. How’s it been so far for you?”
Guess I’d been staying closer to the farm than I realized because this was a little bit of town gossip I didn’t know. The mayor’s son, a veterinarian? It was news to me.
Of course, Mayor Schroder moved here from a neighboring town a few years back, so I didn’t grow up with Brett. Plus, he was a few years younger than me, and by the time they were here, I was busy running Hodge Farm.
Toby laughed at something Brett said, and I snapped out of my thoughts to stare at the two who seemed to get along just swimmingly.
“Do you two know each other?” I asked.
Toby glanced up. “What?”
“He moved here after you left, but you two are talking like you were in the Cub Scouts together.”
“That was us,” Toby said under his breath, but I was close enough to hear. “We’ve spoken on the phone.”
“And FaceTimed.” Brett put in.
“FaceTimed?” I questioned, something hot twisting in my stomach.
“Our dads put us in contact in case Brett had any questions about school since I’d gone through it,” Toby clarified.
“Toby was really helpful those first two years,” Brett told me, but his eyes never left Toby. The guy had a serious case of hero worship.
Marlowe made a sound and squirmed.
“Could you talk to him a little more?” Toby asked. “I’m almost done.”
I went back to soothing Marlowe while he worked.
“Did you know that koalas’ fingerprints are so similar to a human’s that they could potentially taint a crime scene?” Toby quizzed, his attention focused downward.
I made a sound, and Brett glanced at me. “He always cites useless facts as a way to help him focus.”
“It’s a grounding exercise,” Toby murmured. “It keeps those memory pathways awake.” His eyes flicked up to mine before falling back down. “It helps me pay attention.”
Suddenly, I felt about two inches tall. A complete ass for snapping at him earlier to pay attention when he was talking about dinosaurs. He was paying attention.
“And here it is,” Toby announced, drawing back to show a decent-sized wood splinter that was stained with red.
“That was in his paw?”
“Actually, it was embedded between the pads of his paw. I thought it was in the pad before, but after washing away all the mud and sap, I found it was a little deeper. Because of the position, I think it’s best to put a couple stitches in, which will hold better than adhesive.”
Toby gestured to Brett who started laying out supplies.
“I’m going to use a monofilament absorbable suture so it will dissolve with time and you won’t have to bring him back to have it removed.”
I bristled instantly. “If you’re doing that because you don’t want to see me again—”
Toby held up his hand. “I’m not. It’s so we don’t have to dig back into the sensitive spot between his paws to remove them. It’s easier on Marlowe, which is what we all want.”
I folded my lips in.
“And for the record, Mr. Hodge…” Toby went on. “I would never base my recommendation of care for an animal around any personal feelings I may or may not have for the owner. That is completely unprofessional and, quite frankly, malpractice.”
“Of course,” I murmured.
“I am also recommending a bootie to help keep the paw dry and protect the area from reinjury. I know he’s used to having the run of the farm, but you will need to try and keep him contained for at least two weeks.”
I nodded. “You hear that, Marlowe? Bed rest.”
Marlowe huffed.
“Maybe a few light leash walks after the first few days,” Toby amended.
After the stitches were in place and a small bootie was covering his paw, Toby said, “All right, I’ll leave it to Brett here to explain about monitoring and when to change the bootie. If you have any problems at all, feel free to call, and Brandy can get you in.”
Years ago, I would have had his number to text or call directly. “Thank you.”
“You did so good, Marlowe,” Toby said, giving the dog a big pat and a dog bone from the jar on the small counter. He crunched away happily, tail wagging like he hadn’t just put me through hell.
“When you’re done here, Brandy will get you all checked out,” he said, pulling open the door to leave.
That was it? That was all he had to say to me after ten years?
“Toby,” I called, and he stopped in the doorway.
I waited until he turned around to say, “Thank you for seeing him. And for doing such a good job patching him up. I appreciate it.”
Surprise sparked in his expression, and it made me feel like even more of an ass for the way I’d behaved. “You’re welcome. Marlowe is a cutie. Let us know if he needs anything else.”
But what about me?
I nodded. “I will.”
And then he was gone. I didn’t see him again before I took Marlowe home.