Chapter Nineteen
By five-thirty, Willow was certain she had worn more dog hair home than some of the dogs had left with.
She looked down at her light blue scrub top and picked at several black hairs clinging stubbornly near her stomach before giving up.
“At this rate, I don’t even need a pet. I’m carrying half the clinic home with me every night.”
Anna Grace laughed from the other side of the treatment room, where she was putting the last few supplies back into the cabinet.
“It’s an occupational hazard.”
“I don’t remember it being this bad before.”
“That’s because you always got the ones who didn’t shed,” Mia joked as she walked into the room carrying a stack of folders and set them on the counter.
It had been a long day, but a good one. Most of Willow’s days at the clinic were like that now.
She had been working with Mia for a few weeks, and every day she felt a little more like she belonged there. Some of the procedures she had learned before being taken had come back almost immediately, while others required more practice, but Willow didn’t mind starting over.
In her mind, she didn’t think of it as starting over. She was continuing, and there was a difference.
Starting over implied everything she had done before Chen had somehow been erased, and Willow refused to let him have that too.
She wiped down the stainless-steel exam table one last time before tossing the paper towels into the trash.
“I think this room is officially cleaner than my kitchen.”
Mia raised an eyebrow. “Does Jay Bird know you’re neglecting his house?”
“Excuse me. His house has never looked better.”
Mia laughed. “Ah, yes. The landscaping.”
Anna Grace laughed. “I heard about the garden-center incident.”
Willow turned toward Mia. “Does everyone know?”
Mia shrugged. “News travels. That’s our little family for ya.”
Willow shook her head, but she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. The word family didn’t feel strange anymore.
A month and a half ago, she would have laughed if anyone suggested she would ever feel comfortable surrounded by that many people. Yet somewhere along the way, Mia and Riley had pulled her back into their lives, and the teams had accepted that she and Lily belonged with them, and Jay Bird.
Her smile softened as she thought about Jay Bird. He had become something Willow still wasn’t sure she had the right word for, but home came close.
Mia leaned her hip against the counter. “Look at that face.”
Willow stared at her. “What face?”
“That one.”
“I don’t have a face.”
Anna Grace looked between them. “She definitely has a face.”
“Thank you,” Mia said.
Willow sighed dramatically. “You two are exhausting.”
Mia smiled. “You’re happy.”
The teasing tone disappeared just enough that Willow knew she wasn’t joking anymore.
Willow looked down at the rag in her hands. “I am happy,” she said, the answer coming easily.
Mia’s expression softened. “And I’m happy for you and Lily. Oh, and Jay Bird, too.”
Willow felt a warmth settle in her chest. “Things are good.”
“Just good?” Mia pressed.
Anna Grace suddenly became very interested in organizing a drawer that had already been organized.
“Okay. Really good,” Willow said, a smile spreading across her face.
Mia grinned, and Willow narrowed her eyes.
“Don’t.”
“I haven’t said anything.”
“You don’t have to. Your face is worse than mine.”
Anna Grace pointed at Mia. “Finally. Someone said it.”
Mia ignored her. “So...”
“There is no so.”
“Are you still sleeping in his room?”
Willow’s mouth fell open. “Mia!”
Anna Grace burst out laughing. “What? We’re friends.”
“We’re at work!”
“It’s after hours.”
“That doesn’t magically make this appropriate.”
Mia’s grin widened.
Willow felt her cheeks heating up. “For your information, yes.”
Mia’s eyebrows shot up.
“Just sleeping,” Willow clarified quickly.
“Again, I didn’t say anything.”
“No, but your eyebrows did.”
“My eyebrows are innocent.”
Anna Grace laughed hard enough that she had to grip the counter.
Willow shook her head. “We’re taking things slow.”
“That’s good,” Mia said, her teasing giving way to sincerity. “For both of you.”
Willow nodded. She knew enough about Jay Bird’s past now to understand that slow wasn't only for her benefit. He had spent twelve years refusing to let himself imagine another future with someone. Willow had spent three years learning that intimacy came with fear.
Neither of them needed to rush; they were happy taking things one day at a time and letting their relationship grow naturally.
A chorus of high-pitched yips suddenly echoed from somewhere farther down the hallway.
Anna Grace’s eyes lit up, and Willow immediately pointed at her. “No.”
“But they are so cute.”
A litter of six black Lab puppies had been brought into the rescue center several days earlier after their owner became too ill to care for them. They were only a month old, adorable, and destructive.
Lily had met them two days ago, and it had been a terrible mistake—an adorable one, but a mistake all the same.
One particular puppy had followed Lily everywhere, chewing on her shoelaces and falling over his own feet every time she moved.
Lily had fallen hopelessly in love.
“So,” Mia began.
“No.”
“You don’t even know what I was going to say.”
“You’re going to tell me that one of the puppies needs a home.”
Anna Grace smiled. “Technically, several need homes.”
“Absolutely not.”
Mia tilted her head. “But Lily loves the one with the purple collar.”
“Lily also loves pancakes, purple crayons, and licking icing directly off cupcakes. She’s not responsible for major household decisions.”
Anna Grace laughed. “You should let her ask Jay Bird.”
Willow stared at her, then glanced at Mia, only to find both women grinning at her.
“No.”
Mia laughed. “Why not?”
“Because I know exactly how that would go. All it will take is for Lily to say ‘Jay puppy.’ Then he would look at her with those big dark eyes of his and say, ‘You want the puppy, Peanut?’ and suddenly I would come home from work to six black Labs destroying the living room.”
Mia laughed again. “That’s actually a valid concern.”
“Thank you.”
The puppies yipped again, and Willow glanced toward the hallway. They really were cute.
No. Absolutely not. She wasn’t even thinking about it.
Mia looked at the clock.
“We should get out of here before someone brings in another emergency thirty minutes after closing.”
“Don’t say that out loud,” Anna Grace warned.
“Why?”
“Because now you’ve cursed us.”
Willow laughed as she grabbed her purse and phone from the cabinet.
They finished their last few closing tasks, checked the doors to the rescue area, and made sure everything was secured for the evening crew before heading toward the front of the clinic.
Mia shut down the reception computer.
“You’re off tomorrow, right?”
“Yep.”
“Any big plans?”
“Nothing that I am aware of. Unless Jay Bird has something planned.”
The three women walked outside together.
Even though the sun was beginning to drop lower in the sky, the heat immediately wrapped around Willow when the door opened.
“God, it’s still hot,” Anna Grace complained.
Willow pulled the clinic door shut behind them while Mia checked the lock.
For a moment, Willow stood there listening to the women talk about their plans for the next day.
The word normal popped into her mind again.
Mia hugged her before heading toward her SUV.
“Tell Jay Bird I said hi.”
“I will.”
“And think about the puppy.”
Willow pointed at her. “No.”
Anna Grace laughed as she headed toward her own vehicle.
“Night, Willow.”
“Night.”
Willow walked toward her CR-V and unlocked it with the key fob, but before opening the door, she paused and glanced back at the clinic. The place meant more to her than she knew how to put into words.
It wasn’t just a job. It was proof that part of her old life still existed, and that she could take what remained and build something new from it.
Willow smiled, climbed into the driver’s seat, and started the engine.
Elias watched the woman across the street step out of the veterinary clinic, completely unaware that for the past three days, he had been tracking her every move.
He’d done jobs for Chen and his people for more than a decade, but this was the first one that had brought him to Virginia Beach.
So far, it had been boring as hell.
Mia Watson left her house every morning, drove to the veterinary clinic she owned, worked most of the day, occasionally left for lunch, then went home. Her husband had shown up once, although Liu had been very clear that Elias was to keep his distance from the man.
The guy was a Navy SEAL. Elias didn’t need Liu to explain why getting too close would be a bad idea.
Over the past three days, he had watched people come and go from the clinic, but none of them had meant anything to him.
Until today.
Elias reached for his binoculars as Mia crossed the parking lot with two other women.
He tracked them as they walked toward a row of vehicles. But his eyes were focused on one in particular.
She wore scrubs like the rest of the clinic staff, her hair pulled back, and she carried a bag over one shoulder as she walked toward a dark Honda SUV parked several spaces away from Mia’s vehicle.
Elias sat forward as he zoomed in on the woman.
“No fucking way,” he said out loud.
He reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed his phone. He pulled up the photo that Liu had sent him and enlarged it.
He then lifted the binoculars again and looked at the woman. Her hair was a little longer, and she looked like she had put on a little weight compared to the photo. But the face was unmistakable. That woman was Willow.
For three days, Elias had been watching the front entrance and the section of the lot where Mia normally parked. Today, Mia had parked on the opposite side of the building.
Which meant there was a damn good chance Willow had been walking in and out of this clinic the entire time, and he simply hadn’t had a reason to notice her until now.
He lifted his camera and snapped several pictures as Willow hugged the other women, then stopped beside the Honda.
Liu had sent him to Virginia Beach because Chen believed Willow might eventually contact Mia Watson or Riley. But no one had seriously expected her to walk straight out of Mia’s workplace.
Yet there she was.
He watched Willow get into the Honda and, a minute later, back out of the parking space.
Elias stayed where he was, waiting until she drove toward the exit before letting his gaze shift to Mia’s SUV.
Mia didn’t matter anymore. He had spent three days following her because she might lead him to Willow.
Now that she had, Elias had himself a new tail.
Elias waited until the Honda disappeared onto the road before starting his engine, then pulled out several cars behind her. Distance mattered, especially with military personnel potentially involved, and he had no interest in being noticed.
For the next several miles, he followed without getting close enough for the woman to remember his car. At one point, he let another vehicle move between them, catching sight of the Honda again at the next light. She drove normally, showing no obvious signs of countersurveillance.
When the vehicle eventually turned toward a gated residential community, Elias continued straight. He didn’t slow down or even glance toward the entrance. Only after driving several blocks did he pull into a convenience-store parking lot.
He grabbed his phone, opened the encrypted messaging app, and attached three photographs.
The first showed the woman standing beside Mia Watson, the second captured her face in profile, and the third showed the Honda she had driven away in.
He typed a message to Liu.
Elias: Got a match on your target. She works at the Watson’s veterinary clinic. She drove into a gated community on the north side of Virginia Beach. Need confirmation before further action.
He sent it, and the reply came in less than a minute.
Liu: Do not approach. Stay on her. Find out where she goes and who she’s with.
Elias stared at the message for a long moment before looking toward the road that led back to the gated community.
Whoever this woman was, she was important. In all the years Elias had taken jobs from Chen and his people, he had never seen them exercise this much patience over one person. Usually, Chen wanted problems handled quickly and quietly. But this woman?
Chen didn’t want her handled. He wanted her watched. And Elias had the distinct feeling that whatever Chen wanted with Willow, finding her was only the beginning.