Chapter Thirty-Two
brEANNA
LATER THAT afternoon, Leslie and I pull the blue latex gloves off our hands and toss them in the waste basket. The colt we just castrated is in recovery, and I pull my hat off that holds the crazy curls that refuse to be controlled off my face while I’m in surgery.
I’ve kind of been on cloud nine all day after my exchange with the kids this morning, and then with Mato. Leslie is giving me side-eye. “What’s up with you?”
Still bending over the sink, washing the smell of latex off my hands, I barely turn my head to look at her. “What do you mean?”
She cocks her hip against the stainless-steel countertop and pulls the clip out of the hair she’s wrapped around her ponytail to hold it back, letting it fall over her shoulder.
She smiles like the cat that got the cream.
“Don’t play coy with me, I know that look.
It’s the look a woman gets when she’s getting what she wants, how she wants it. ”
Damn. I guess I wasn’t hiding my thoughts very well. Averting my eyes to my hands as I rub the soap into white foam on my skin, pretending it’s the most interesting thing in the room, I think about what I want to tell her.
Her head jerks, and her back straightens. “Wait a minute, you haven’t smiled like that since you first started dating Clay. Are the two of you back together?”
The mention of his name startles me, and I jerk my head in her direction. “No! We’re definitely not back together.”
Her shoulders slump as she dips her chin to look at me through her eyelashes and bumps her shoulder against mine. “Did you meet someone new?”
Turning off the water, I grab several paper towels from the stack on the counter. Do I tell her about Mato? She could give me an unbiased opinion. But just how much do I want to tell?
Right on cue, Ricky walks backward through the swinging doors with a giant vase of fall flowers.
All my favorite fall colors are present, and in his other hand is a paper bag folded and taped at the top.
I recognize the colorful tape on the white bag from the candy store in downtown Claremore, the same place Mato and I used to stop to get chocolate-covered almonds. My favorite.
Leslie sucks in a breath and pushes off the counter to walk toward Ricky. I already know who they are from, and my chest expands while my heart does calisthenics as I try not to smile.
“Guuuurl! What haven’t you been telling me?
Oh my God, these are so pretty!” She grabs the little card from the plastic fork, pulls it out of the envelope, and starts reading it out loud.
“For no other reason than a beautiful woman deserves beautiful flowers.” Her wide eyes slide to me, and she juts out her bottom lip as if she’s going to cry.
“O.M.G! That’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard! ”
Ricky hands me the bag of chocolates, which I can smell through the paper, making my mouth water, and cocks his eyebrow with a shit-eating grin. “I thought you were awfully smiley this morning.”
“Spill. Who is he?” Leslie is still holding the card in her hand.
Ricky sets the vase on the countertop. “Wait, I remember a guy calling a couple of weeks ago about his dog being hit, and he yelled at me that he didn’t trust anyone but Breanna. Not Dr. Harlow - Breanna.”
Leslie sucks in a dramatic, animated breath again as she covers her lips with her fingers. Her eyebrows fly up her forehead as her eyes flick from Ricky to me. “The tall, gorgeous Native American guy with the puppies! I totally missed that!”
Now I’m just avoiding looking at both of them and unnecessarily rearranging things on the counter.
Leslie presses the back of her hand to her forehead and pretends to swoon. “He’s, like, twice your size. How does that even work?”
My face flushes crimson, and I turn to her with wide eyes to give her a stern look. “I’m still your boss.”
“Jokes on you, you’ve already shown your cards, you can’t live without me. So?” She holds her hand out and waves her fingers in a come-on gesture. “Fess up.”
Clearing my throat, I shake my head and wave my hand like it’s no big deal. “We were high school sweethearts. I went to college, and he enlisted. He’s back in town and testing the waters.”
She dramatically drops her arms to her sides and looks at me like I’m crazy.
“Please tell me you’re letting him test more than just the water.
Even if it’s just for a good time, if he makes you smile like that while he’s sniffing around, I can’t imagine how happy you’ll look after you get a little…
” She drops her chin again, “sausage.” She says it with a seductive French accent, and I can’t stop the laugh that breaks out of my chest or the way my cheeks burn like they’re on fire.
“Ugh, I have work to do. When did you get so dirty-minded?” I playfully look at her like I’m disappointed and turn away. The only way to stop the questions is to leave the room, so I go to my office.
For the rest of the afternoon, my heart beats double when I pass by the flowers and I’m forced to push all the questions my head and heart are having to the back of my mind so I can focus on work.
Not even the short thunderstorm that darkened the entire afternoon under heavy, gray clouds could stop the giddy feeling I’m trying to ignore.
A knock on my office door startles me out of the patient notes I’m typing for the day, and I look up at Leslie standing in the doorway. “We’re leaving, everything’s locked down for the night.”
Glancing at the clock on the wall, I’m surprised to see it’s after five; the storm from earlier has kept the windows dark all day. “I lost track of the time. You guys have a good night.”
“You have a good night, too. Maybe give that tall drink of water a little thank you for the flowers.” She bats her eyes at me.
Swiping a paper clip off my desk, I throw it at her with a laugh. “Leave.”
She laughs and ducks as she turns from the doorway. After I hear the front door close, I pack up my stuff and lock the lobby as I go to my truck. The air is chilly, and the smell of wet ground fills my nose.
Lights down the hill catch my eye, and I see a truck with its headlights on pointed at the work Connor and his men finished up this morning. The rain stopped their work, and he said it would be a couple of days before they could come back to complete it. He must have forgotten something.
Setting my stuff in the passenger seat of my truck, I send a quick text to Marley to let her know I see the contractor’s truck down the hill and to ask her to let the kids know I’ll be a little late, stuff my phone in my jacket pocket, and walk down the hill.