Chapter 2
Chapter Two
Remi
“Hey, Peace and Love, you wanna do a lady a solid?” Nora’s question pulled me out of my wandering thoughts and back into the front office.
I’d already had the strangest morning, and it was still early.
First, I’d woken up late last night to my new neighbor arriving.
Then when she was outside with her dog, I’d caught a glimpse of the back of her head, and my blood ran cold.
For just a second, in the dim morning light, I would have sworn that she was my ex-wife.
But it was not the first time the sight of a stranger had stopped my heart, and the hairs on my arms stood on end.
I exhaled my flurry of emotions through pursed lips.
Even after years of therapy, I still saw Alicia everywhere.
It couldn’t be healthy. Not for my emotional or cardiovascular state. But there she was, right outside my front window. Except it wasn’t her.
It never was.
I didn’t stick around to identify what about the back of this woman’s head reminded me so much of Alicia.
This woman—my new neighbor—had . . . too much red in her hair? It didn’t matter. It wasn’t her. Last I’d heard, she’d moved to Chicago. Why would she be in Grand Ridge, Michigan?
Anyway, I was still reeling from that ghost-like encounter.
And then there was my work attire. Which was radioactive bright and could probably be seen from the moon.
But that was what I got for thinking I could beat Nora in a bet.
For my hubris, she got to pick my scrubs for a week.
Today, I was in ankle-to-neck orange, yellow, and pink swirl-patterned tie-dye.
I ignored Hazel, my boss, laughing at me and the dry comments from Brooks, our large animal vet.
Instead, I asked, “There’s a lady needing a solid?”
“Yeah, she thinks her dog is having an allergic reaction.”
Hazel sat up straighter, the smile slipped from her face. “Is it having a hard time breathing?”
“She didn’t say so, just a lot of itching,” Nora said.
I snatched my tablet off its charger and powered it up. “What do I have available?”
“Everyone is fully booked. But you’re scheduled early to leave, it’d have to be after your last appointment.”
“I can do that.”
“Make sure she knows to come in as soon as possible if the reaction becomes an emergency.”
Nora went back to her phone call.
Brooks tilted his head and narrowed his eyes at me.
“What?” I knew he was going to make some shitty comment about my scrubs. It’s not like I could forget what I was wearing with the colors reflecting on my tablet screen and making it hard to read.
“I just realized what you remind me of.”
Nora hung up the phone and typed in a quick, confident rhythm on her keyboard.
Knowing I was about to be roasted, I asked anyway, “What is that?”
“I had a poster like you on my wall in elementary school.”
“Oh shit, you did!” Nora’s fingers stopped their pounding and her eyes went wide. “If you looked at it just right, you could see a horse running on a beach.”
“Relaxing.” He jerked his chin up.
Hazel shook her head. “It’s just so much tie-dye.”
“Where’s the headband?” Nora swiveled her chair.
I shoved my hand in my pocket but didn’t pull out the fake leather strap right away. “Do I really have to wear it?”
“You made the bet.”
“It doesn’t look right with how short my hair is.”
“I think being concerned about your appearance at this point is a bit silly,” Hazel remarked.
Nora squinted. “Let me see it. I’ll decide.”
“And your hair isn’t that short,” Hazel continued. “It’s around your cheekbones.”
I shoved the stretchy, weirdly patterned headband over my hair and across my forehead.
For a moment, they only stared, before Brooks commented, “That is a look.”
“I don’t think your hair being short is the problem,” Nora deadpanned.
Pursing her lips, Hazel considered me. “I never realized how big your head is.”
“I’m a big guy.” It was an unnecessary thing to say. They could all see that for themselves.
“You can take the headband off,” Nora offered. “It’s stretched within an inch of its life, anyway.”
Brooks checked his watch. “Well, this was worth me being three minutes late to the Higgins farm. I gotta go.”
“I’m glad you could be here for this,” I said to my tablet screen.
“You’re gonna want to see tomorrow too. It’s my favorite,” Nora called to his retreating back, his boots squeaking on the tile floor.
A mixture of apprehension and curiosity made my palms sweat, as my mind’s eye conjured the image of the last paper bag sitting on my dresser.
I could have peeked but not knowing what flavor of outlandish scrubs waited for me each day had been kinda fun.
A little surprise. Even if I looked extra ridiculous today, at least it created a difference from day to day.
When I’d opened yesterday’s bag, I’d thought she’d misunderstood the assignment.
The sky-blue scrubs had seemed completely normal until I turned over the shirt and found “Swiftie” scrawled there.
Which would have been fine, but the lyrics, “I did something bad,” were written across my ass.
And that really distinguished the whole look.
I tried wearing a sweater tied around my waist but it inevitably fell off due to how much bending over veterinarian work calls for.
Knowing Nora, whatever was in the last bag would be worse even than today’s.
Unimaginable.
“Unlock the door, will you?” Hazel called.
Brooks threw a wave over his shoulder and pushed through the vestibule door.
Turning my focus to my tablet, I scrolled through my appointments.
“Shit,” I hissed reading the last name of the day.
“I know, it sucks.” Nora’s shoulders slumped.
A crease formed between Hazel’s eyebrows. “What’s wrong?”
“Lily Nelson is bringing Rocko in,” I explained.
“I thought you’d already fulfilled your auction commitment,” Hazel said.
“He did.” Nora spoke to her computer monitor without pausing in her work. “I clarified that she’d be paying for this one.”
Nora’s undertones of irritation were obvious in the appointment notes.
Owner stated a need for appointment due to obedience issues.
It was made clear to owner that we do not offer obedience training.
Owner remained insistent to keep appointment as scheduled.
Owner was re-emailed a list of American Kennel Club certified obedience trainers in the area.
In October, the clinic had thrown a bachelor auction to raise money for the local humane society.
Instead of selling dates, the men of the town sold our trades.
I had offered three free vet visits. As soon as betting began, Lily started bidding aggressively.
In the moment, I was having a good time, and I didn’t think anything of it.
Until, for weeks afterward, Lily and I were a source of gossip.
The folks of Grand Ridge loved to murmur about their neighbors.
I would think they were out of line if Lily had had a pet when she’d bought my vet package.
By the time of her first appointment, she’d adopted a year and a half old Mastiff-Lab mix with behavioral issues: Rocko.
Anytime I was near them, I wasn’t sure who I pitied more, her or Rocko.
He was hyper and gigantic. Poor Lily had been dragged through multiple snowbanks.
I felt bad for her, really. But her advances toward me were growing as aggressive as her auction bidding had been and turning her down was getting embarrassing.
Lily was great in a lot of ways. She had a good job.
She was beautiful—big gray eyes; full, pouty mouth; tall; curvy.
We were both single and similar ages. When I had first moved to Grand Ridge, I’d considered starting a casual friends-with-benefits thing with her.
But the town didn’t really do casual: a first date was a near-marriage proposal.
Since moving here, my dating life had gone pretty dry. A far cry from my time in Phoenix.
“We’re just going over obedience again?” I asked, not expecting anyone to have an answer.
Hazel sucked her lips between her teeth.
Glancing over her shoulder, Nora said, “You know, the scrubs might put an end to whatever it is she has planned.”
“You think so?” I grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it away from my body to get a better, and unnecessary, look. “They’re just scrubs.”
“If anything could, it’s them.”