Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Dude, this is fucking sick,” Johnny Russo, the owner of Charm City Ink, said. He ran a hand over the glossy surface of his new check-in desk. He had come all the way from Baltimore to pick it up.
“Is it what you imagined?”
“Better. How did you do it?” He leaned forward to inspect the burn patterns that spread like an estuary across the surface of the walnut.
Noah shrugged. “A little fractal burning and resin, a lot of sanding.”
“I’m going to be honest. I don’t think you charged enough.”
Noah shook his head and crossed his arms. “It was a fair price. You can help by telling your friends. But not too many. I’m busy enough as it is.”
Johnny bent down to inspect it again. “This is incredible.”
“Want help loading it up? I’ll show you how it comes apart in the middle. That way, you can fit it through doors.”
“That would be awesome. Let me go open the van.”
Johnny disappeared out the front door, and Noah’s phone buzzed in his pocket.
He pulled it out. Weird, an unknown number.
“Hello?”
“Hi. I’m calling to ask about the office space that’s for rent on Tidewater Drive?”
Hang on. That was the old vet’s office. And he knew that voice.
“Cassie?”
There was a hesitation on the line. “Yes?”
“It’s Noah.”
“Oh.” Her tone fell flat. “I didn’t realize you were the landlord.”
There was an awkward pause. They hadn’t run into each other since their blowout at the sanctuary.
As much as it pained him, maybe he should take the hostility down a notch. “Want to come take a look at it? I have time this afternoon.”
“That would be great. Thank you so much.”
“I’ll meet you in front of the building in twenty minutes.”
“Oh, I might need—”
“Twenty minutes,” he said, then hung up the phone.
Great. As if it wasn’t enough that she would be interfering with the big cats and living next door to him, now she was trying to rent office space from him.
Twenty minutes later, Johnny and his desk were headed back to the city and Noah was standing outside the old vet’s office, arms crossed over his chest.
She was late.
A minute later, Cassie came dashing around the corner. Her hair hung down her back, leaving wet spots on her San Diego Zoo T-shirt. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, and from the looks of it, didn’t have a bra on either.
He ordered his eyeballs to stay at face level. For a professional pain in the ass, she was a little bit beautiful. Big green eyes, rosy lips that hugged beautifully white teeth, and a tight little frame he could bounce a—wait, what? Shut up, brain.
This was strictly business.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she said, slightly out of breath. “And sorry if I stink—I think I forgot to put deodorant on.”
“I wondered what the smell was.”
Her smile slipped, and his heart dropped.
“I’m just kidding,” he added. “You smell fine.”
And she did. Like one of those vanilla candles from the mall.
“Great. So, this is it?” She turned her attention to the glass double doors in front of her.
“This is it.” He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the office.
The lights flickered on inside, and they entered.
“Hmm,” she said, turning in a circle. It was surprisingly hard to keep his eyes on the office and away from the tight white shorts she was wearing. It was really annoying.
“This is the reception area. Exam rooms are back here.” He indicated a hallway. “There’s three, I think. Break room, lab, pharmacy, OR.” He pointed them all out as they walked past.
Cassie ducked into one of the exam rooms and looked around, opening cabinets and peering at the scuffed flooring. Dr. Volchansky had donated his old equipment to the shelter when he retired, so there wasn’t much left.
They toured the rest of the rooms. Cassie quietly took in everything, but he could see the wheels turning.
“What do you think?” he asked.
They had circled back around to the reception area.
“Was the last doctor like, super old?” she asked.
Noah nodded. “He didn’t retire until he was eighty.”
“That explains it,” she muttered.
“Explains what?”
“Things are a bit…outdated.”
“Like what?”
“Pretty much everything.”
“Well, we can’t all be fancy California vets,” he said a little more sharply than he’d meant to.
She visibly shrank into herself. Shit. Why was his first instinct always to be an asshole?
“What do you need?” he tried again.
Her cheeks flushed. “I’m sure it’s—”
“Tell me what you need to make this space workable.” Why was it so hard for her to talk about it?
She took a deep breath and forced her crossed arms apart. A peculiar sense of protectiveness washed over him.
“A lot of stuff will just be equipment that I need to buy and so on, but I did notice some things I would need your permission to alter. If I were to rent the space, I mean.”
“Okay.” He pulled out his phone and opened his notepad app. “Go ahead.”
“Honestly, I’m not even sure this place is up to code.
The exam rooms could use at least one more outlet apiece.
The prep area and OR need at least two more.
I don’t know how the last vet hooked up all his equipment in there.
Probably a crazy system of surge protectors and extension cords,” she muttered.
He frowned. As expected, Dr. Pain-in-the-Ass was shaping up to be a pain in the ass. He could do most of the work himself to keep costs down, but he should really get a certified electrician in to make sure everything was up to code, since this was a medical facility. That wouldn’t be cheap.
“What else?”
“I’d really like to paint one wall in each exam room with dry-erase paint. It’s really helpful for clinical decision-making and client communication…and gives kids something to do while their parents are trying to tend to the animals.”
He nodded. “Keep going. I’m sure there’s more,” he said with a cocked eyebrow.
At least she seemed to have relaxed a little. What had happened in her past that made her so uncomfortable with confrontation?
“Peepholes in the exam room doors.”
He shot her a questioning look.
“I’m not a voyeur. It’s so that we can look and make sure the client isn’t right behind the door, ready to escape. Do you know how many cats I’ve had to chase?”
He almost smiled.
She ran through another couple of requests—some type of hook for pet parents to secure leashes on at checkout, a change to the flooring in the exam rooms, a fresh coat of paint and some shelving for the reception area, security cameras.
“What do you need security cameras for?”
Aster Hollow was probably one of the safest towns in Maryland. They didn’t even have a dedicated police force.
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “The pharmacy full of controlled substances. I’ll buy them, I just might need help installing them.” She looked out the front windows, as if expecting to see someone threatening her.
Interesting.
“Fine,” he said. “So you want the space?”
She nodded.
“All right.” He locked his phone screen and slid it into his pocket.
“I’ll run some numbers, let you know what the rent would be. One-year term, first and last month’s rent. Security deposit. Pretty standard.”
“Okay. Let me know.” She turned to walk away. “Thanks for showing me the building.”
“It’s my job,” he said.
She gave him a tight smile and turned around again.
“So why are you opening a small animal clinic if you usually work with tigers? Housecats have to be significantly different from Bengals.”
Cassie stopped. “Zoo medicine is ridiculously competitive and also surprisingly low-paying. Even when I did work for San Diego, I only had a part-time position because that was what was open. So I did a lot of moonlighting at an emergency clinic to keep up with my small animal skills and bring in some extra money. I believe in…keeping my options open, I guess.”
He nodded.
“Anyway, later, I moved to a mixed general practice and actually really enjoyed the challenge. I think a similar model would do well in a rural setting, especially where options for care are so limited.”
“You sound like you’re trying to convince yourself more than me.”
She frowned at him.
Something was still bothering him. “Why open up shop here when you could go anywhere?”
“Do you always ask your paying tenants this many questions?” she fired back at him.
She had a point.
“Fair enough. I guess I’ll see you around…neighbor.”
She stopped. “What?”
“You bought the house next to mine. Which I was also trying to buy.”
Her mouth froze in an O for a split second.
“Oh. I didn’t, uh, realize. I’m sorry. Tina didn’t mention it.”
He sighed and looked toward the town square. It was hot for early June. “It’s fine. My mom wouldn’t have gone for it anyway.”
“Ah. You were trying to get her to move. Because of the hip?”
He nodded.
“I’m sorry for ruining your plan,” she said softly. “She doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman to do what anyone wanted her to though.”
“You’ve got that right.”
“I see where you get it from. Well. I’ll see you when I see you.”
“Yeah. I’ll call you.”
She blinked, looking startled.
“About the rent. I’ll figure out the numbers tonight. Call me if you think of anything else that needs doing.”
“Thanks. See you later.”
She left with a smile, leaving the smell of vanilla behind like a ghost.
He may not have gotten the house he wanted, but at least Dr. Pain-in-the-Ass’s rent checks could go toward a stairlift for his mom. Now if he could just figure out how to get the sanctuary’s finances back on track, he might be able to catch a damn breath.