Chapter 3
Chapter Three
B rielle tapped her foot against the linoleum floor, gaining Sparky’s attention. “Sorry, big guy,” she murmured, reaching down to scratch behind his ears. She grinned when he gave her a sloppy lick and shifted so she could hit just the right spot.
After a moment, her dog flopped to the floor, not the least bit concerned that he was at the doctor’s office. Unfortunately, Brielle couldn’t think about anything else. Not only was she worried about her companion, but she was praying like she’d never prayed before, that somehow she would manage to get out of here without seeing Doctor Thatcher.
Surely an assistant or vet tech would be enough? Right? There couldn’t really be anything wrong with Sparky. He was just…getting old. That happened. She didn’t want it to, but it did. The assistant would be enough. Brielle wouldn’t have to face the last man to break her heart and who had ruined her for all future relationships.
“Sparky?” a perky blonde asked as she stepped through the door at the back of the room.
Oh, thank heavens. Brielle smiled brightly. “This is him. ”
The young woman crouched down and rubbed Sparky’s head. “I hear you’re not feeling good, sweetheart. I’ll bet Doctor Thatcher will be able to fix you right up.”
The hope that had started to build in Brielle’s chest burst like a faulty balloon.
The woman stood up and studied the chart in her hands. “It says he’s fourteen?”
Brielle swallowed and nodded. “Yeah.”
“Wow. He’s done really well for his breed,” the woman said, her smile both sympathetic and kind.
The compassion made Brielle feel better, but also worse. It had taken the assistant all of two minutes to decide there would be little to do for a dog this age.
“I suppose he has,” Brielle said, her smile trembling as she rubbed her dog’s ear again.
“Well, let’s get his weight and temperature, and then Doctor Thatcher should be done with his other patient.”
Brielle helped where needed as they took care of Sparky and had just settled back in her chair when the door opened.
“Sparky!” a deep voice said, sending shivers up and down Brielle’s spine.
How? She wanted to groan. How did a man she hadn’t seen in years still have the ability to turn her insides to mush?
Ryan’s feet stuttered in the doorway. “Brielle?” he croaked. His hazel eyes were more green today as they widened and glanced down at the chart. “Brielle Underwood.” Ryan chuckled, a wide smile spreading across his face. He looked up and Brielle’s skin flushed down her cheeks and neck.
“I tend to look at the pet names and not the owner’s,” he admitted sheepishly. He glanced at the assistant, who was watching him a little too closely, then turned back to Brielle. “It’s good to see you again,” he said in a soft tone.
Brielle felt her insides flutter. She wanted to hate this guy. He’d taken her young heart and torn it to shreds in what seemed likely only yesterday. But he’d also take a girl who was awkward and brash and made her feel, if only for a moment, that she was worthwhile. That it didn’t matter if she wasn’t like her popular mother and sister. That not being society’s ideal definition of feminism was still attractive.
A picture of Ryan sitting next to Aurora and laughing at something she’d said flashed through Brielle’s mind, and it was enough to snap her out of her attraction-induced haze. She stiffened her spine and didn’t allow her mouth to answer his smile. Her voice, however, she didn’t really trust. Instead of speaking, she gave him a curt nod.
Something awfully similar to disappointment ran across his face before Ryan cleared his throat and looked at the chart again. “Okay, well…let’s see if we can help Old Man Sparky, huh?” His smile was much less inviting as he got to work.
Brielle kept her mouth shut, watching Ryan as he examined Sparky with a care that made her heart ache. She watched him handle the older dog with gentle hands and a soothing voice. A ridiculous longing for him to hold and speak sweetly to her rushed through her.
Get a grip, girl! He’s just like all the other guys. Cheerleaders over athletes. He made his choice.
This was proving harder than she imagined. She’d been prepared to be angry. To feel the sting of betrayal and remember how he’d built her up and broken her all within a twenty-four hour period.
What she wasn’t prepared for was how much she wished he still liked her.
The ache of loneliness that she had gotten used to was pulsing so hard in her chest right now that Brielle was afraid it showed all over her face. It very nearly consumed her, and her eyes pricked with tears.
Was it so bad to want someone to want her for her ?
Or were her mother and sister right? Brielle had spent years fighting their theology that she wasn’t skinny enough. Not elegant enough. Not feminine enough. Not beautiful and popular enough to catch a man’s eye .
No guy is interested in a woman who’s more muscled than he is, Aurora had said more times than Brielle could count. The phrase was always followed by a perfect swish of Aurora’s bleached hair and a small, innocent smile that Aurora had perfected in the mirror over the years.
That particular smile was now helping her climb through the pageant world and continued to tell Brielle that her tomboyish ways and not-slim-enough thighs would just never cut it.
“Bri?” Ryan asked, his eyes concerned. “Are you okay?”
Brielle blinked several times, coming out of her reverie. She sniffed, her nose running slightly from her emotions, and she shook her head. Seriously! Stop it! Her mother would never have been caught in a situation like this. “I’m fine,” Brielle said gruffly, clearing her throat. “Just worried about Sparky.”
Ryan nodded, his face sympathetic. “I get it. It’s so hard when they get older.” His smile widened, but looked forced. “But we’ll do the best we can for him. I know how much he means to you.”
Brielle relaxed slightly, grateful Ryan had bought her excuse.
“I think we should do some blood tests,” he said, bringing back the anxiety that Brielle had felt only a few seconds ago.
“Blood tests?” she asked hoarsely. Her worst fears were being realized. “You think he’s sick?”
Ryan’s shoulders drooped, and he didn’t answer Brielle right away. “Olivia, would you please go get some vials?”
“Don’t you want Levi to come do that?” Olivia asked, her hand on the knob.
Ryan shook his head. “I’m here. I’ll take care of it.”
Brielle barely caught the scowl on the woman’s face before she slipped out the door.
“Sorry,” Ryan huffed. “She’s a little, um, temperamental.” He smiled up at Brielle. “Like a certain redhead I used to know.”
Brielle’s scowl was probably similar to Olivia’s, but the reaction happened too fast for her to stop it.
Ryan laughed, the sound deep and rich and those dang tingles were back. “You were always so predictable,” he said, his laughter dying a little as his face went serious. “Most of the time, anyway.”
Brielle could tell there was a hidden meaning in his words. What he was asking, however, escaped her.
“Predictable is overrated,” she quipped, trying to diffuse the tension thickening in the room. This was so bad. It had been years, years! Why did she find herself wanting to lean across her sick dog and lock her lips with Doctor Ryan Thatcher? She should hate him! She should give him the cold shoulder! She should prove that she had lived a happy life without him! Honestly, he probably didn’t even remember their few stolen moments in the hallway that day after school.
It had been fleeting, and he’d moved on the next day. He’d proven her mother and sister right. He’d ended up being like all the other guys in high school, like all the other men Brielle had met over the years. And Aurora had made sure that Brielle knew it for the entire rest of the year.
There was no way that Ryan was thinking of anything except their rivalry on the cross-country track.
The door cracked open, and the tension bubble popped, shoving Brielle back as if she’d been physically slapped. Her chest heaved as if she’d been running several miles, and her skin flushed. She needed to get out of here, and she needed to get out now.
Her eyes fluttered down to her dog, and Brielle clenched her jaw. No. She could handle this for him. Sparky had been with her through thick and thin. She wouldn’t run like a scared little girl anymore. She’d already done that once in Ryan’s presence, and Brielle was older and wiser now.
She was strong. She had a good life, and she was going to be there for Sparky the same way he’d been for her. Her determination solidified in her gut, and she straightened, pasting a smile on her face as if nothing bothered her.
She still wasn’t prepared, however, to have the newcomer speak.
“Oh, hey, Brielle! How’s it going?”
Ryan watched a myriad of emotions flash across Brielle’s lovely face as Levi called out a hello as he walked in. “You two know each other?” Ryan asked. He had no idea how those two would have ever run into each other. As far as Ryan knew, Brielle still lived in Seagull Cove. Of course, it had been a long time since he’d seen her, so that could easily have changed.
Levi winked at Brielle, and Ryan found himself bristling at the camaraderie. “Of course. Who wouldn’t want to know someone as beautiful as Bri?”
Ryan’s teeth ground together until he saw Brielle roll her eyes. His young vet tech was a consummate flirt, and there was an immense amount of relief that Brielle seemed to know that. But why is there relief? He scoffed. It’s not like you’re dating her. This is the first time you’ve seen her in years.
That was a thought for later. Now, definitely wasn’t a good time to meditate on why his hormones seemed to have woken up like he was eighteen again. Brielle, if anything, had only grown more stunning since their graduation. It had been nearly a decade since he’d seen her, but there had been no mistaking that wild, red hair, those stunning blue eyes, and the strong but feminine curves that had him drooling when he was younger.
She was the perfect blend of athlete and woman, and he knew from personal experience that not only could she keep up on a run, but she could kiss like a siren.
“Doc? Hello?” Levi snapped his fingers in front of Ryan’s face. “You in there?”
Ryan made a face. “Knock it off,” he said curtly.
Levi grinned. “Daydreaming on the job, Doc? That’s unprofessional of you.” Levi turned and winked at Brielle again.
That stupid jealousy churned in Ryan’s gut, and it took more work than it should have to set it aside.
“So…” Brielle said, her voice heavy with teasing sarcasm. “You’re ju st as annoying at work as you are on the trail?”
Ryan frowned…what trail were they talking about?
Levi put his hands in the air. “Hey. I’m just here to do a job.”
“I thought I asked Olivia to bring me the vials,” Ryan grumbled. He held out his hand.
Levi shook his head. “Nah. You’ve got a sickie you need to handle in room three. I got this.”
Ryan frowned. “Sickie?”
Levi’s eyes darted to Brielle as if to remind Ryan that they couldn’t talk about other patients in front of her.
Ryan shook his head. “I’m going to handle this one.” He wasn’t quite sure why it mattered to him. Normally he’d let Levi do his thing and Ryan would move onto the next patient, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to walk away from Brielle yet. Her aging pet was only part of the reason, though Ryan didn’t want to examine those other feelings too closely…yet. He did have his dating-hiatus to think of, after all.
But seeing her again after all this time was amazing. She was still stunning and alluring and had quickly brought pieces of him back to life that he’d forgotten existed. He wasn’t sure what it was, but something about Brielle was just different than the other women, and he couldn’t help but be drawn in like a bee to honey. If fifteen minutes in her company was enough to stir him this way, he could only imagine what real quality time would do.
Levi’s eyebrows shot up. “Uh…okay…if you say so.” He handed the needle and vials to Ryan, then turned to grin at Brielle. “I guess redheads get the special treatment,” he teased.
Brielle shook her head and snorted, making Ryan smile. “We knew each other in high school,” she explained.
“Ooooh…” Levi left his mouth in an O shape and nodded slowly. “I see…”
“Levi,” Ryan ground out in warning.
Levi’s brown eyes were dancing as he backed toward the door. “This one’s all you, Doc. ”
Ryan rolled his eyes and came back to Brielle and Sparky. “Hey, Sparky,” he said in a soothing tone, running his hand down the dog’s side. It was clear from the white beard and mustache that the dog had been around a long time. Ryan knew Brielle had had a dog during high school. He’d heard her mention taking the dog for runs, but they’d never made it past one day in a relationship, so he’d never actually met the beloved pet.
And now you’re probably going to have to give her bad news about him.
The weight of being a vet was sometimes heavy. Most people viewed their pets as family and from the looks of it, Sparky was definitely family. The way Brielle’s hand was curled into his hair said it all. This dog meant a lot to her, and any bad news was going to be devastating.
Ryan had seen a lot of animals in his time, and he’d also felt tumors exactly like what he’d felt on Sparky’s hindquarters. But the blood tests would give him something more to go on, rather than hunches.
“This is going to pinch a little,” Ryan continued, explaining to the dog. He glanced up at Brielle’s worried eyes. “Do you mind holding him just a little, in case he gets upset?”
Brielle’s face was pale. She wasn’t stupid. She knew something was going on, and that he wasn’t telling her.
Careful to move as smoothly as possible, Ryan went through the short procedure, only causing a little whimper from the dog. “Good boy,” Ryan cooed, running a hand down the dog’s side. “Such a good boy.”
When all was said and done, Ryan capped the vials and set them aside. He grabbed his jar of treats. “I think such a good patient deserves something, don’t you?”
Brielle smiled, though it was shaky at the edges. “He’s always good.”
Ryan laughed. “I’ll bet he is. Who wouldn’t be with you as his mama?” He snapped his mouth shut. That compliment shouldn’t have come out of his mouth. He was sounding like Levi.
Brielle’s eyes widened, and she sputtered for a moment. “Yeah…well…it would seem that I’ve run him a little too hard over the years.” Her eyes grew glassy, and Ryan felt a sinking feeling in his gut. “He’s really sick, isn’t he?” she asked hoarsely.
Ryan pinched his lips together. “I don’t know.”
“But you think he is.”
Ryan shrugged and waved a hand toward the counter with the vials on it. “We’ll find out soon. He’s old, Brielle. Time takes a toll on all of us.”
Brielle swallowed audibly and eventually nodded.
He hated how somber the room was, but Ryan knew he couldn’t spend any more time in here. He had other patients waiting, and his heart was already trying to reach outside his chest again at simply the sight of Brielle.
His no-dating rule aside, Ryan wouldn’t mind trying to reconnect with her. But not now, not here. Not when she was worried about her dog.
Now that he knew she was still around, it wouldn’t be that hard to find her. He’d give her a day or two and then call her parents and get her phone number. Maybe she’d be open to grabbing lunch or something-
“Hey, Doc?” Levi poked his head in the door.
Ryan straightened and cleared his throat. “Yeah?”
“Did I tell you?” Levi’s grin was a little wild.
Ryan frowned and shot a confused look at Brielle before turning back to his tech. “Tell me what?”
Levi pointed at Brielle. “Bri’s on the team you’re joining. She’ll be at our training run come Saturday. Perfect, right?”
Hope blossomed in Ryan’s chest, and he turned to see Brielle looking slightly sick. “Uh…yeah…” Ryan faltered, unsure why she would be upset. Hadn’t she felt any of the pull between them only a few moments ago? “Perfect.”