Risk Factors. Calisa Rhose

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ again.”

      “Bye, Doctor Dane. Thank you for helping Skittles. She said it really hurts.” Janna’s round brown eyes stared up at her.

      Viv envied the innocence there. But another pang teetered on the edge of her conscience. The almost deafening inner tick-tock, tick-tock distracted her momentarily. She shook her head and forced a smile. “She did, huh?”

      Janna nodded solemnly, and Viv wanted to hug the girl.

      “Did Skittles happen to tell you where the pain is?” Wishful thinking, but something she would determine once the child and her father were gone.

      “It’s her tummy.” Her little voice was matter-of-fact.

      “Well, I’ll check her out.” She raised her gaze to Connor to catch him studying her closely, suspicion apparent. Did he think she wouldn’t know how to treat a skunk? “If there’s anything, I’ll call you. I assume the phone number in the file is current?”

      “Yes. We’ll be out after two tomorrow afternoon.”

      “All right.”

      He led the child from her office without a backward look.

      Viv went to the window to watch man and child until they rounded her building to the side parking lot. She was a fool. A clumsy one. She tossed a daggered glance at her shoes and knelt. With quick fingers she tucked the errant lace into her shoe…just in case, and then paced to the back room. She had a patient.

      A skunk, but a patient, nonetheless.

      * * * *

      “I like her.”

      “Who, sweetheart?” Connor glanced in the rearview at Janna on the way to her grandparents’ before school the following morning.

      Her curls hung down, hiding her face. “Doctor Dane.”

      Connor turned back to the road, recalling the early morning phone call from the woman in question. She’d called before seven, rather than waiting until later in the day. It surprised him when she’d confessed to calling before office hours to keep his daughter from worrying about her pet all day in school. She wanted Janna to know an X-ray determined Skittles had eaten something disagreeable with her delicate system, but was eating normally again. Antacids supposedly “fixed her right up,” according to the doctor.

      Doctor Dane wanted to keep Skittles in observation the rest of the day to make sure there were no repercussions. Connor appreciated her gentle consideration for his daughter’s feelings, though surely, she was the same with all her patients, or their owners. In a small community folks talked to one another about things rather than the cool, impersonal interactions associated with the bigger towns and cities.

      “I told you she was in town.” Janna’s tired voice brought him back to the conversation. He wished again for a later shift for her sake. The sun remained lazy so early in the morning, hugging the horizon as if it was loathe to rise higher any sooner than necessary. “Yes, you did.” Not exactly–she had told him Dr. Dane was in town, not a female version. Several times since, he’d wondered about the mystery woman who volunteered at that accident. That she was the new vet he hadn’t expected. Did she remember him too?

      He parked in front of the garage and helped Janna out. She ran ahead to open the unlocked door, calling Heidi with her as she did. With his long shifts, he thought it safer for their dog to have someone with her constantly these days, though on days off they regularly took her home. The faithful Retriever was getting old. Time was coming when his daughter would have to experience the pain of loss. He’d been through his share in thirty years, enough to harden him against it. If that was possible.

      Had the pain been worse when his mother and her new man left him at home as a seven-year-old, never to return, or when Robin walked out? He’d thought she loved him but she’d left him, a scared new father, with a three-month-old infant. Definitely, both instances had scarred him deeply. Both made him steadfast and determined to be the best father for Janna. Strengthened his resolve not to ever allow her to feel alone or abandoned. And both gave him the conviction to avoid pain of that magnitude again.

      His job had taught Connor to build the shell around him against pain. How did a parent prepare a seven-year-old child to lose a best friend? Heidi had been a gift from his dad before he and Robin married, and naturally became a favorite for Janna as she grew. Now, at twelve, Heidi showed signs of aging. No longer spry, so slow to rise, her hearing was also practically gone and her eyesight had diminished drastically. Arthritis supplements helped her move about, but the sand in the hourglass emptied fast. Time traveled against the old gal.

      Maybe one of the dogs from Heidi’s bloodline would have puppies next year. It would be nice to get a puppy for Heidi to teach the ropes to before she crossed the rainbow bridge. It would also give Janna a buffer when the time came, something to hold to and represent Heidi.

      For now, Connor needed to get to work. He was leaving early today to get his annual physical, and he’d already asked his dad to pick up Skittles if he ran too late, though the thought of picking up his daughter’s skunk did give him a sense of misplaced anticipation. He refused to acknowledge it might be the idea of seeing Doctor Dane again that caused the sensation.

      * * * *

      “Good morning Skittles. How are you today?” Viv peeked into the kennel. “Well, you must be feeling better, by the looks of your empty dish.”

      Somber brown eyes viewed her with suspicion from the rear corner of the wire cage where Skittles huddled. She knew just how the skunk felt. She had no desire to become friends with the animal either. The poor thing hadn’t been thrilled with the X-ray process, but Viv was relieved it hadn’t been a serious illness. A small intestinal blockage proved to be nothing more than something Skittles couldn’t digest on her own. Enema–the miracle cure–and a couple of Tums, had made the critter feel normal again. Or Viv supposed she was back to her old self, for a skunk.

      After refilling the food dish and topping off the water bowl, she left the skunk to tend to business. Coffee.

      “Hel-lo-oo?”

      Must she always be doomed to be hiding in the bowels of her practice whenever a new customer rang the little bell on the front desk? A flip of the switch started coffee, then she hurried to the front office. A thin older woman she recognized from the post office stood at the counter frowning. Did all the people in this town frown when they took their pets to the vet?

      “Good morning. Can I help you?” Viv spotted a green pet taxi on the floor near the woman’s feet, a small nose poking at the wire door.

      “My Tabitha is pregnant and should’ve birthed last week. She started labor yesterday, but something’s wrong.”

      “Wrong, how?”

      “She pushes and nothing happens. I’d take her into Joplin, but she doesn’t like car rides much.” Meaning she’d rather go to another vet, but since Viv was the only one available for miles, she would do?

      She forced a smile in hopes of winning the woman over for both their sakes. “All right. Why don’t we take her to the exam room?” She led the woman to one of the two small sterile rooms and put latex gloves on while the woman retrieved her cat from the carrier. “I’m Vivian Dane.”

      “Elsbeth Crenshaw.”

      “It’s СКАЧАТЬ