Chapter Four
Present in My Dreams
I moved around the room, putting away supplies and throwing out bits of trash.
Bryce studied my every step, his jaw working like he had multiple questions but couldn’t quite figure out how to ask them.
It was the same way my ex, Max, behaved when we first met at vet school.
It wasn’t so much fear as a sense of confusion, wonder and awe.
I walked to the closet and pulled out a bucket and some rags to clean up the vomit Indy left in the hall.
‘What are you doing?’ he said.
‘Can’t leave that mess out there. My staff would not be happy if they came in tomorrow and found it.’
Before I could object, he pulled the bucket and rags out of my hands. ‘He’s my dog. I’ll do it.’
When he returned a few minutes later, I showed him where to toss the garbage and wash his hands.
Once he was done, he slid down onto his belly and focused on measuring the rise and fall of Indy’s chest.
‘He really is going to be fine,’ I said.
‘I get it, but this reassures me.’
The room went silent again as I tidied up the floor and counters.
‘Nice diplomas,’ he said, tipping his chin to the black frames that hung on the wall. ‘Undergrad and vet school at Colorado State. Did you like it there?’
‘Fort Collins is a wonderful town. Lots of locally owned shops. Good food and people. I guess it reminded me of this place. Why it felt a little like home.’
He worked his teeth over his bottom lip. ‘Have anyone special there?’
His attempts to probe my relationship status were getting more pitiful by the second.
‘I was with someone for four years, but we wanted different things and broke up.’
He did a poor job of hiding the spark in his eyes. ‘Did you always know you’d come back to Harvest Moon?’
‘Yes. My sisters are here. My grandmother, who you just met, practically raised us. She’s getting older, and I wanted to be close.’
‘Was that one of your sisters at the house tonight?’
‘That’s Lia. She’s a firefighter/EMT and also volunteers with the county SAR team.’
‘SAR?’
‘It’s short for “search and rescue”. She’s been with the team for ten years.’
I never spoke about my personal life with owners, but I found myself at ease with Bryce in a way I hadn’t with any man in a while.
‘And does she… Well, Mo said she has gifts too.’ He shook his head like he couldn’t believe his own words.
His questions reminded me why I didn’t share personal information with owners. Lia was right. I did need to have another talk with Mo.
‘I don’t discuss my sisters with strangers.’
Hearing the sharpness in my voice, Bryce turned his attention back to his dog. ‘Thank you for helping Indy,’ he said softly. ‘He’s gotten me through a lot of difficult times lately.’
He went back to stroking his dog’s head.
‘It’s just my mom and me. She was close to her brother.
Spent a lot of time here after I went to college.
She was always encouraging me to visit. To spend more time with her and my uncle Rich.
I always had an excuse. A better opportunity.
’ Hard lines pinched around his mouth. ‘Sounds shitty, right? A mother who does everything for her only child, and a son who can’t spare a single minute for her, because he’s too caught up in his own life. ’
I wanted to say he was lucky to have a mother who was present. Who wanted to spend time with him, but I stayed quiet, not wanting to think about Belladonna and all the ways she’d failed me and my sisters. How I would have given anything for her to be the kind of mother who wanted to be around us.
An unsteady breath slid past his lips. ‘Sorry. Didn’t mean to unload on you. It’s only that for a moment tonight I thought I might lose Indy, and it scared the crap out of me.’
He gave his dog another loving look, and it made my heart tug.
Since I was a child, I’d been drawn to animals.
I’d had the incident with the goat, but long before that I’d felt a strange pull toward all kinds of creatures.
They were always present in my dreams. Hopping across my path on the trails.
Appearing like strange and gentle guardians when I walked by the lake.
When I was young, Grandpa Beau regularly took me to see the horses at George Spellner’s farm.
As soon as we arrived, the animals crowded against the walls of their corral like they wanted my attention.
For hours I was entranced by the way the horses pranced around the paddock.
Stayed still as statues as I offered them apples from the palm of my hand.
That love of animals is what also drew me to Max at vet school.
He was a tall, stocky guy who looked like he could lift an entire refrigerator, but when he worked with a bird, lizard or any kind of small animal that he could set in the center of his giant palm, his voice went gentle.
His eyes softened as he examined the creature.
He used to give me that same kind of serene gaze when we lay together in bed, until at some point he decided I wasn’t what he wanted anymore.
‘It’s interesting how animals weave their way into our world. Give us comfort when we least expect it.’ I sat next to Flora on the floor. ‘Your fear is totally understandable.’
Bryce leaned back against the wall, and Indy had enough energy to inch forward on his paws and lay his head across his lap.
‘Indy. The name suits him,’ I said.
‘That wasn’t me. He was abandoned behind an American Legion Post in Pasadena. The veterans took him in. Fed him. Called him Independence. Indy for short. They were all too old to keep him, so they took him to a no-kill shelter. I found him there a few weeks later.’
I moved my hand down to Indy’s mouth to check his gums again, which were finally pinking up.
‘Flora?’ he said. ‘That’s an unusual name too.’
‘Flower names run in my family,’ was all I gave him.
‘Have you had her since she was a pup?’
‘No. I’d been in practice for about a year when we had a two-day white-out snowstorm that shut down the mountain passes.
I went outside after it was over to clear off the steps outside, and there she was asleep on the porch.
Poor thing was curled up like she was doing everything she could to stay warm.
She didn’t have any tags.’ I gave him that same stern look from the trail.
‘I called around town, but nobody knew where she belonged. My guess is someone wanted to get rid of her, saw a vet’s office, and decided it was as good a place as any to dump her. Bastards.’
I ran my hand over Flora’s head, and she let out a contented huff.
‘My plan was to find her a good home, but once I started clinic that day, the animals gravitated toward her. Dogs, no matter their size. Cats too. Even had a rabbit hop right up and nuzzle one of her giant paws. Flora stayed calm through it all. After that, I decided the clinic needed a mascot. She’s been by my side ever since. ’
‘And she helps you, too.’ His knowing look said we were back to the magic. ‘On the trail, why didn’t you tell me you were a vet?’ He paused like he was going to say more but then snapped his mouth shut.
‘I’m not in the habit of giving out personal information to strangers. And even if I’d told you, would you have listened?’
He glanced at the frames on the wall again. ‘I’d like to think I would have, but you didn’t give me a chance.’
There was that flash of familiarity again. Like I’d known him my entire life, and it was beginning to freak me out.
I jumped up and moved to the door. ‘Leave me your number. I’ll have my receptionist call you when Indy’s ready to go tomorrow morning.’
He stood, wincing as he straightened up. Those stupid boots.
‘Clean your blisters when you get home or they’ll get infected. Wash the skin with soap and water, then slather them in Vaseline. Use a few Band-Aids to cover them overnight.’
He scrubbed at his jaw again. ‘Band-Aids? Vaseline? Not sure my uncle Rich has that stuff at the cabin.’
I rolled my eyes and pointed to a plastic chair. We didn’t have human patients, but my vet tech, Bree, insisted we keep a small first aid kit in every room.
‘Sit and let me take a look.’
His wide, grateful smile sent that flutter through me again. Once he was in the chair, he tugged off his boots. He winced at the blood stains on the heels of his socks, gingerly peeling them off his feet.
‘Yep, you’re a mess.’
He let out a low chuckle like he knew I meant more than his feet.
I slid on some gloves and bent to check the damage. Quarter-sized blisters covered his skin. The affected areas around them were an angry shade of red.
A low hiss escaped Bryce’s mouth when I cleaned the wounds with soap and water.
‘First human patient?’ he joked.
‘No, a few years ago I was driving down from Fort Collins and came upon a car accident. A tourist hit a patch of black ice and spun out. Smashed his head pretty good on the windshield.’
He gave another wince.
‘I made sure the guy stayed stable. Applied pressure to the wound until the sheriff and ambulance arrived.’
‘I’ve watched you in action twice now, and all I can say is that the animals in this community are damn lucky. If I was staying, you’d definitely be Indy’s vet.’
That awestruck stare was back, and I found myself focusing on the dusty blue rings that surrounded his pupils.
He leaned in, his warm breath close. Too close. He reached out and tucked a loose hair behind my ear. His gaze searched mine, that narrowed, questioning look returning. This time it wasn’t about the rumors. It was about a raw need that wasn’t hard to miss. A need I shockingly felt too.
Indy made another small whine, and I was reminded that this guy was a stranger. A stranger I had zero intention of kissing.
‘You can put your boots back on.’ I pulled off my gloves and busied myself with putting a sample tube of Vaseline and a handful of Band-Aids into a plastic bag. ‘Here.’ I shoved them at his chest. ‘Use these for the next few days.’