Chapter 24
24
Cortney
The buzzer for the back door sounds just as I finish giving Mr. Fischer’s ornery barn cat her rabies vaccine. Despite living outdoors, she’s more tolerant than half the cats that come in here. She certainly takes no issue with me ushering her back into her carrier at the end of her exam.
“I wonder who that is.” I set the syringe aside.
“It might be the installation company here to change out the lights.”
“What lights?”
“Didn’t you order a replacement for the florescent lights?” Bridget speaks slowly as if trying to help me remember. “I received a call this morning that someone would be out here today or tomorrow.”
I blink to cover my surprise. I didn’t order new lights, but I think I know who did. “Thanks, Bridget. I’ll take care of it. Are you good to check him out up front?” I check my watch. I’m supposed to meet Spencer at Tony’s Auto Shop at four thirty for dinner.
Her suspicious gaze lingers a second too long. She picks up the carrier and hands Lucinda back to her owner. “Of course. I’ll take you up to my desk, Mr. Fischer.”
The kind elderly man tips his head in my direction. “Good to see you, Dr. Powell.”
“Always, Burt. Hopefully we won’t see you back here until next year.”
“That’s the plan.” He waves and follows Bridget out.
The buzzer sounds again just as I reach the door. I tug my ponytail tighter and push up the bar to open the latch.
“Hey, big brother.”
Lee sweeps me into a side-armed hug, holding a taut leash with the other. “Hey. Got a nervous one for you today.”
“Oh, let me see.” I crouch down low, facing away from the door. Slipping my hand into my pocket, I pull out a spare treat and extend it toward the tense golden retriever. She looks at me from the side, showing a large amount of the whites of her eyes.
Not even a minute later, a wet nose nudges my fingers. The pup moves in close enough to steal the treat, and Lee carefully closes the door. The latch catches with a soft click.
“She’s highly food motivated.” Lee drops another treat by her paws.
I slowly stand and wipe my hands on my scrub pants. “Where’d you find her?”
“A neighbor called her in over by Hastings Pond. Said she’s been out there the past three nights sleeping under a bush.”
“Poor thing. She doesn’t look very old. Maybe a year.”
“That was my thought as well.”
“Let’s go into exam two.”
Lee’s been here enough he could be a part-time assistant. I’m pretty sure he knows where to find most of my basic supplies. The only place he’d get lost is the surgical suite because I only allow my techs in there.
He guides the frightened golden into the clean room. Her nails click noisily across the tile floor. I note the need for a nail trim as I visually assess her for pain, weakness, or deformities.
“She’s walking well. Was she near the road?”
“Not when I got there. The neighbor didn’t see her there either.”
“I wonder if she was dumped.”
Lee scrubs his hand over his hair. “He says it’s the fourth dog he’s found at the pond this year.”
“That’s awful.” I frown at the terrified girl. Her fur is dirty and matted in places. She’s in rough shape for spending only three days outside.
“Yeah,” Lee says. He drops onto the floor and sits with his back against the wall. The dog curiously sniffs his outstretched leg before tucking herself against him.
“Seems you’ve made a new friend.” I grab a microchip scanner from the drawer and kneel beside them.
“I may have given her a few of my fries on the way over.”
As if proving her new BFF isn’t a liar, the dog leans over and licks Lee’s fingers.
I wave the scanner over her back. “I can see that.”
“Nothing?”
“No chip. No collar. What happened to you, sweet girl?” I toss her another treat and exchange the scanner for my stethoscope.
“She’ll be okay. We have room for her. The adoption event at the festival opened up a lot of space. Also, Jude hasn’t seen her yet.”
“Oh no.”
Our brother Jude lives on the Sanctuary property with a pack of dogs who aren’t good candidates for adoption. At last count, he had sixteen of them. He also has a soft spot for goldens.
“One of us should probably text Frankie and give her a heads-up.” Lee grins.
I lay the diaphragm against the side of her chest and listen to her heart. The rhythmic thump sounds healthy and clear.
“She’s gotten as bad as him. They’ll probably have a name picked out before you get there.”
“They enable each other. If they didn’t work so well as a team, I’d have concerns.”
I shoot him a look as I palpate her hips. “You aren’t much better.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Juniper loves me, but she also keeps me in line.”
“I seem to remember you gifting her an entire dog she didn’t ask for.”
His mouth falls open, and he laughs. “Hey, that dog was special to us both.”
“Mm-hmm.” I feed another small treat to the pup.
With practiced caution, I gently look in her ears. The ends are matted, and the inside is definitely inflamed. “Ear infection. Both sides,” I say more to myself than my brother.
“Pick up any strays yourself lately?”
The sound I make is a cross between a snort and a scoff. “Never knew you as someone to beat around a tough question.”
The cotton tee on his shoulder wrinkles as he shrugs. “Yeah, you’re right. You’ve had a tough year. With all this talk about Spencer being back in town, I can’t say I haven’t worried about you.”
My pulse picks up, and a buzzing starts in my ears. “Now why would you worry about a thing like that?”
I move through my exam with steady hands. I refuse to let my brother read anything I don’t want him to see.
“You know why, Cortney.”
I let the silence linger as I palpate her abdomen. I pretend I didn’t hear him as I leave the room to prepare the vaccines.
Lee waits for me on his feet upon my return. With arms crossed over his broad chest, he leans his hip against the exam table.
“So?”
“So what?” I snap.
“Have you seen him?”
Closing my eyes, I inhale a steadying breath through my nose. “Who are we talking about again?”
“Spencer. Have you seen him?”
I lick my dry lips, stalling for time. “Does it matter if I see some guy I used to know strolling around town?”
“Some guy you used to know?” Lee’s voice takes on a deadly quality. “Have you forgotten what he did to you?”
“Of course I haven’t.” I set down the vaccines on the counter. There’s no way I can give them while he’s dragging me into this unwanted conversation.
“Then why aren’t you more pissed about this? I’m pissed just thinking about how he’s walking around this town when nobody’s taught him a lesson.”
“It was twenty years ago.”
“Do you think that fucking matters to me?”
“It should.”
Lee’s head moves back at my calm censure, nearly tapping the wall behind him. “You have seen him.”
I look down at my cuticles before crossing my arms over my chest. “Yeah, maybe I have.”
“You talk to him?”
When I lift my eyes to meet his assessing ones, I know I’m fucked.
“Dammit, Cort.”
“It’s none of your business.” I busy myself with rearranging some jars on the white counter.
“I’m your family. What you do is my business.”
“No, it’s not!” I hiss, throwing up my hands. I throw another treat to the girl to keep her busy. “You’re my oldest brother, and yeah, you’re pretty much my best friend, but you don’t get to dictate my relationships.”
“Your… relationships?” His head tilts in angry confusion. “Care to elaborate on what you mean by that?”
Ah, hell. My hands shake, and my heart pounds so hard it feels like it’s going to bust straight out of my chest. What choice do I have now that the words slipped out?
Spencer doesn’t deserve to be my dirty little secret. He sure as hell doesn’t deserve this shit Lee is heaping on him with a twenty-year-old rusty shovel.
Spencer has shown more than enough remorse for the mistake he made when we were kids.
I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin. “I’m dating him.”
“No. No, you’re not.” Lee shakes his head in obvious denial.
“Yes, I am.”
“This isn’t funny.” He wipes his palm across his mouth. “This isn’t fucking funny.”
I ball my hands into fists at my sides. “I’m not trying to be funny.”
“I’d rather you go back to Sebastian.”
The air leaves me as if I were punched. I suck in a startled breath. “You don’t have to be cruel.”
“I’m not being cruel. Cruel is convincing you to give yourself to him, and when you finally do, he leaves you the following morning without so much as a goodbye. Cruel is taking off without even telling his family he was going so that you all sat around for days worried sick and waiting for him to walk in the front door. Cruel is not even giving you a phone call so you could stop putting your life on hold when he knew he wasn’t coming back.”
“I know what he did, Lee, and he’s apologized,” I reply.
“Did his apology include a good reason for ditching you so that you had to call me to come and pick you up from the motel so Mom wouldn’t find out?”
“Yes! We were dumb kids.”
“Dumb kids is whipping shitties in an empty parking lot and smoking weed beneath the bleachers at a football game. The way he shattered you took calculated manipulation.”
“I’m fine.”
His voice is quieter now. “Because you have a family who loves you and helped hold the pieces together until you were strong enough to do it yourself. For god’s sake, Jack and Jude would take turns going to get your favorite foods because you stopped eating.”
“You’re exaggerating.” He isn’t. The weeks that followed Spencer’s disappearance weren’t pretty. This feels like a battle I’m destined to lose. “It was so long ago.”
“And what promises did he give you that he won’t do it again?”
Weariness floods my veins. The reasons for not telling my family are staring me right in the face. “He doesn’t have to promise anything.”
“You trust he’s going to just stick around? Leaving is in his blood. The guy’s practically a nomad.”
“He’s not his father. You can’t be a nomad when you’ve been in the same place for the past twenty years.” I swallow hard as Lee takes aim at my insecurities.
“You know that for certain?”
A steely confidence infuses my answer. “I do.”
Lee runs his teeth over his bottom lip. “I don’t trust him.”
“Thankfully, you’re not the one dating him.”
Feeling my heart rate slow, I pick up the vaccines. In quick succession, I get them into the patient dog.
“You’re done here. You can go.”
“Cortney—”
“No. I’m done with this conversation.” I wash my hands, giving myself a second to collect my thoughts. As I wipe them dry on a paper towel, I whirl back around. “I know you won’t believe this, but Spencer has regrets. Big ones. He’s been nothing but considerate and kind since he returned. Forgiving him was easy, and if I can do it, you should be able to.”
“I don’t know how you can ask me to do that.”
“That’s okay. Take all the time you need to figure it out because I’m done talking to you.” I shove the leash in his palm and open the exam room door, waiting with arms crossed for him to pass. “Goodbye.”