24. STERLING
My new assistant follows me everywhere but on four legs, not two. Buddy hates being left at home, so I’ve started bringing him to the clinic this past week. He loves people so much.
He’s so well behaved that I don’t even have to worry about him. It’s clearly just his nature because I haven’t done any training with him. He also loves every animal that comes in, and they love him too.
He’s started his own little routine the last few days. He goes to the waiting room with my assistant for every patient I’m going to see. When she calls the next name, he waits in the doorway to watch who stands up to head to the back.
Then he moves to greet them with a friendly butt sniff. Dogs, cats, parakeets, it doesn’t matter. Each one is getting Buddy’s hello sniff to the caboose.
Then he trots alongside the owner and the animal, following my assistant, leading them to their room. When he’s sure they’re comfortable, he finds me to let me know it’s time for the exam. It’s kind of awesome.
It reminds me of the time I was in Eureka Springs, Arkansas and went into this novelty store. There was a rabbit hanging out on the counter, a huge rabbit.
If you bought something with cash and you had change coming, the owner of the shop would put the bills in the rabbit’s mouth and then the rabbit would hand them to you. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
I bet Buddy’s capable of learning some skill like that too. He’s a super smart dog.
It’s lunch time and I’m sitting in the back room taking a break. I always feed Buddy first so I’m grabbing some kibble from the cupboard when Sarah, my vet tech comes in.
“Hey, Dr. Cole,” she calls in a sing-songy voice as she knocks gently on the open door.
“Hi, Sarah. Taking your break?”
She comes closer. She always comes closer. Like I’m hard of hearing or something. But I know that’s not actually why she does it. Darn it. I never had that talk with her.
“No, I’ve already eaten. I just wanted to let you know what the rest of the afternoon looks like.” She twirls a strand of hair, saying nothing else for a few seconds, just continuing to look at me.
“Ok, go ahead. I’m listening.”
“Right, the schedule. So, you have a one o’clock with Mrs. O’Neil’s cocker spaniel. Apparently, he ate a few pairs of socks and isn’t feeling well. He may need some X-rays. Then at one forty-five, you have a—”
But she never finishes. She spent so much time staring at me that she didn’t notice Buddy at my feet. When she moves even closer to show me her notes—which is unnecessary because I can see farther than six inches away—she trips over Buddy and falls directly into my chest.
I have no other choice but to grab her so she doesn’t smash into the counter. She plays it up as much as possible, flipping to her back and giving me eyes.
“Oh, Sterling.”
“That’s Dr. Cole to you.”
At that exact moment I hear another knock on the door and look in that direction, still holding Sarah in my arms. Emma peeks around the corner while saying, “Hey, Sterling, I got your favorite—”
But when she see Sarah in my arms, she drops her bag to the floor. Then turns and rushes back out of the room.
I pull Sarah up and release her from my grip. She giggles. “Well, that was awkward.”
There’s no time to deal with her now, but I will make time when I get back. First, I need to find Emma. She’s gone by the time I get to the lobby. My receptionist says she left in a hurry, without saying anything.
Of course she did.
I throw open the door and scan in all directions but she’s nowhere in sight. This is not going to help with her trust issues. I want so badly to cancel the rest of my afternoon and go after her, but that’s not an option.
I can’t call my patients and say, “Come back another day, I need to go on an Emma hunt.” But as soon as the clock hits five, that’s exactly what I’m going to do, and I won’t stop until I find her.
***
There are only a few people Emma could be with that I can think of, so I spend any breaks I have texting all of them, Peter, Linda, Mia, and Zoe. I fill them all in on what Emma thinks she saw and how she took off.
It doesn’t matter that we’re not officially more than friends. They all know Emma well enough to know she’d be upset by the circumstances. None of them have heard from her, though, so I’m starting to worry.
I know she could just be off by herself somewhere or back at the hotel, but that’s not like her. She normally looks for support when she’s upset.
The moment I close the clinic for the night, I get in my car to start driving to any spot I can think of that she might be. I’ve been at it for hours with no luck and now it’s starting to get dark.
Finally, I get a call. “Hey, Sterling. It’s Mia.” She’s whispering. “Emma showed up here about twenty minutes ago. We’ve been talking with her about what happened... Or what she thinks happened. We’re out back at Zoe’s house. Why don’t you just stop by? I’ll make sure she doesn’t leave.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Mia. I really appreciate you letting me know. I was going crazy worrying about her.”
“Of course you were, you lov— You really care about her. We all know that,” she says.
I ignore her color commentary and let her know I’m on my way. But she’s not wrong. Although, I am certainly not going to tell Emma I love her right now, I do. I always have and that’s not going to change, ever.
It’s the quickest trip I’ve ever made across town to Zoe’s house. She lives in a cute little neighborhood where I know there are lots of kids running around, so I make sure to slow down once I enter it. But before that, I don’t think I hit my brakes once.
I pull slowly into the driveway, hoping Emma doesn’t hear my truck.
I decide that Buddy is my best bet to approach the situation, so I carry him around the side of the house. I peer over the fence and see all three girls huddled around a fire pit.
Gently, I opened the fence gate. Then I put Buddy down and watch him click clack his way over to join everyone. When he sees Emma, he stands on his hind legs so he can put his front paws on her lap.
“Awww,” all three of them say at the same time.
Emma lifts him up, “Hey there, where did you come from?”
She picks him up, then turns around. I give her a little wave and a smile. She doesn’t return the smile and turns back to the girls right away. They shrug innocently.
They both stand and I hear Zoe say, “Boy, I’m thirsty, you Mia?”
“Parched,” she answers and follows Zoe inside.
I make my way over to the chairs and motion to one. “May I?”
“Of course,” she says as she strokes Buddy’s fur. She continues to look down at him, not lifting her eyes to meet mine.
When I can no longer take the silence, I move my chair closer to hers.
“Emma, what you saw today was…”
“None of my business,” she answers before I get out the rest of my sentence.
“What you saw was nothing. It’s a misunderstanding. Her name is Sarah and she’s my vet tech.”
Emma sighs. “Yes, I remember seeing her the last time I was there.”
“Well, if you were around for any extended amount of time during the day, you would see that she has a habit of flirting, a very bad habit of flirting.”
Emma finally looks up at me with curious eyes.
“She’s only been working for me for a few months. I thought it was just a passing thing. That she would quickly see I’m not interested. But she won’t take the hint. I’ve been meaning to talk to her about it, remind her she needs to keep her behavior completely professional, like I do.”
I feel my lips form a smirk. “But I’ve been... distracted.” I reach up to trace the side of Emma”s cheek before realizing I’m overstepping. “Sorry.”
She blushes, “It’s okay.”
I lean back in my seat. “What you saw today was her tripping over Buddy. I couldn’t let her fall into the counter, so I grabbed her. But she used it as an opportunity to try to get my attention.”
Buddy looks up at me when he hears his name. I snap to call him over. He hops off Emma’s lap and leaps up onto mine. “Hey,” she protests, but she’s smiling.
“I’m sorry it looked the way it did to you.”
She leans over and snatches Buddy back. “We have joint custody, remember?”
I laugh.
“We’re just friends so what I saw shouldn’t affect me.” She pauses. “But it does. I know I said I’m not ready, but I still didn’t like seeing another woman in your arms.”
“There’s only one woman I actually want to hold in my arms. And I’m willing to wait for her, no matter how long it takes.”
Her cheeks flush in an instant.
“But,” I continue, “if in the meantime, you happen to trip, which you seem to have a tendency to do...” I give a little wink. “I will be ready to catch you.”
I lean down to scoop Buddy out of her arms and softly kiss her on the cheek. “Good night, Emma.”
“Good night, Sterling.”