Taking a deep breath, Gail grabbed some cereal and eggs and settled down to continue reading her book from the night before. She figured as long as she had the book while she ate, she wouldn't have to talk to anyone because she wasn't exactly feeling social at the moment. It would also help slow her down and make sure she wasn't annoying the vet by showing up too early.
~~
Her car clock said eight-forty when she parked in front of the vet clinic. Though there had been an old Lincoln town car parked out front, Gail couldn't bring herself to rap on the door this early. Waiting in the car lasted all of two minutes before she got out and began pacing, trying to be careful not to walk in front of the windows. She knew it was silly, but she wanted to get Murphy, make sure he was all right, and that she wasn't losing him too. Then head onto her sisters and try to pick up the pieces of her broken life. She'd been pacing when she heard a bell on the door and stopped to turn and see an older gentleman, probably in his early sixties, sticking his head and torso out the door and smiling at her.
"I'm guessing you’re Gail Evans and you're here about Murphy? Why don't you come on in?" He held the door out farther so she could enter.
She felt her cheeks flame again. He’d probably seen her pacing which was embarrassing enough, but it also made her look impatient and she never wanted to look rude to other people.
As she walked past him, she quietly muttered an apology, "I am so sorry. I'm so antsy; I didn't mean to interrupt what you are doing."
He closed the door behind him and Gail heard it relock. "Don't worry about it. I didn't see you until I was walking from my office to the bathroom and noticed you were out there. I remembered seeing a note that a young woman by the name of Gail Evans might be coming by this morning. I called my partner and he straightened things out for me. I want to break it to you right now: Murphy isn't here at the moment."
Dread and fear shuddered through Gail’s system before she felt her breath catch.
"We don't normally stay here overnight, so Dr. McAllister took Murphy home with him and the girls so he could observe him. We don't leave animals here alone, it doesn't make sense to keep them and then leave them cooped up somewhere."
Letting out the shuddering breath she had been holding, Gail had to close her eyes a second as she released all of the muscles in her body. She was sure the older doctor knew what she was doing but he didn't comment on it. Instead he waited, a few feet away next to the receptionist desk for her.
Once her eyes were open, he smiled at her and grabbed a folder from the other side of the desk.
"Robert tells me we need to discuss payment. I do have to add the fees; Robert tells me he would like to keep Murphy another twenty-four hours. He says Murphy isn’t making quite as much progress at moving the poison through his system as he'd like to see before releasing him. Considering Murphy's age, I can't say I'm entirely surprised."
"Another twenty-four hours?" She didn't know which part was worse. That they wanted to keep Murphy another twenty-four hours or the expenses that would mean she was incurring with no income.
The older man nodded slowly as he eyed her. Gail had never been good at hiding her thoughts from her face and she was sure her money concerns were blatant. He placed his hand on top of the reception desk then turned so he faced her dead on. "Miss Evans, what do you do for a living?"
There was the dreaded question. Now he'd find out she had no income and just a moderate savings.
"I was actually laid off last week. I was a program coordinator for Central Washington University. I did everything from organizing classes to ordering office supplies, sort of a catchall."
"Like an office manager?" he pressed. Gail grew wary of his inquisition.
"Not quite. My boss was the office manager. I assisted her because she was in charge of the offices for several people. I was basically her assistant."
"I see." His fingers tapping on Murphy’s folder made the only sound in the office for about a minute. "I have a proposition for you, Miss Evans."
Gail felt herself stiffen as wariness encompassed her like a cocoon. No bone in her body said the man before her was anyone worth worrying about, but she couldn't help but wonder what exactly was going to come next.
"The office manager for the clinic, Susan Trent had been here since before I was the junior partner of the practice. She retired a couple months ago with the birth of her first great-grandchild and moved to the western side of the state to be closer to her family. That means for the last two and a half months, my partner and I have had no one running the day-to-day operations. We try our best to get by, but with all of our patients and us not having the know-how on what we’re doing, things are a mess. Since you have some office experience, my proposition to you is that you stay for a week, or a week and a half, depending on how much longer we need to keep Murphy. And you organize our office and do the day-to-day operations for us while the clinic is open for business, in exchange for Murphy’s care. I will also include the price for the hotel stay. That means the only expenses you need to worry about are food and gas. How does that sound to you? You can pay the bill outright if you prefer but I know when you're looking for work sometimes saving as much money as possible is more important. Unless you have a job waiting for you wherever you're headed and want a payment plan, this might be the easiest and quickest option for you. Plus, we really need somebody to tidy up this office. I'm not sure where anything is. And I don't know when we'll be able to hire someone full-time because an interview process takes forever." His tone was relatively pleasant and there wasn't a lot of inflection in his words until the very end. She could tell he was less than thrilled about the prospect of having to hire someone for the position.
Interestingly, he was putting a lot of faith in her abilities. She was touched but then thought herself down. It probably had less to do with her abilities than his need for someone to clean up the shop. Slowly, she walked toward him until she could glance over the high side of the desk. There were papers scattered all over it and a couple of files she was fairly certain should've been in the filing cabinet. She took in the small area behind the desk, which also held a copy machine and various other office related items. She had no experience with billing, but she was a fast learner and a week doing something like veterinary billing would be good on her resume and make her look like more than just an administrative assistant. It would give her a set of skills that hopefully would translate into a better job than she would have if she hadn't stopped here. Ultimately, she didn't think she had much of a choice. She probably had enough in her savings to cover Murphy's fees, but if she took the deal Doctor Struthers was offering her, that money could be used to get her own apartment, as originally planned.
"You have a deal." She stuck out her hand.
The older man smiled broadly and shook her hand with a solid grip. "Excellent. I will let Dottie know about your extended-stay." He motioned around the desk for her to come on the opposite side of him and began walking her through all the day-to-day processes she would be expected to run.
Chapter 4
"Come on, Bobby, you know better than to cancel on Dottie. You can’t leave Max and me alone with her. She'll question us about our life choices and nobody wants that. If you, the responsible brother, is there it's like a buffer."
Robert cringed at his brother's words. Not only because his brother insisted on using the hated nickname, but whenever his brother pleaded, especially when it was for a family obligation, he used the same tone of voice he'd used when they were in high school; he sounded like a whiny surfer dude. Robert had a sneaking suspicion he only used it because he knew that Robert would get so annoyed that he would agree to whatever Kevin was trying to get him to do. Kevin worked for their mother at her wellness and group fitness studio. Kevin had introduced personal training in one of the small gym spaces and it was so successful their mother had put him in charge of the whole program. They were giving the nearest gym, which was in Bunny Ridge, a run for its money.
But both their aunt, and to a certain extent their father, didn't think it was the best use of his MBA. Kevin seemed perfectly happy in his job and in the knowledge that eventually when Mom retired, he would probably take the whole place over. As long as his brothers were happy that was all Robert needed.
"Look, Dottie is super excited to try out the new stuffing recipes for Christmas, even though stuffing is actually a Thanksgiving holiday thing. And I know that she, Mom, and Aunt Rachel have this weird competition when it comes to holiday dinners, which is why I feel weird agreeing to help one of them get a heads up. Especially considering the one we’re helping isn't Mom." It was half true. He knew their mom honestly wouldn't care. She would act like it mattered that he’d helped Dottie prep but honestly the food competition was more Aunt Rachel’s and Aunt Dottie's thing and their mom played along because she considered it a fun and harmless competition that bothered their aunts even though neither of them would ever admit to it out loud. The real reason was he didn't feel like being around people. His brothers could be exhausting and since he just got back from camping and being alone with his dogs for three days, he wasn't sure he wanted to ruin what small piece of mind he had left on time with his brothers.
"Come on, man, it's free food and Dottie is the best cook in the family. Don't tell Mom I said that." His words came fast and quiet at the end as if he was worried their mom was lurking around the corner. At this time of day, he was probably at work so their mom probably was lurking around the corner somewhere. She had a knack for being where you least expected her to be. It stopped them from getting away with much. Lucky for them their mother was much less strict with things than their father was.
He couldn't help but chuckle at his brother’s worry. "I'm taking care of a dog I watched overnight and being with a bunch of strangers on top of already being away from his owner could stress him out." Robert had to stop himself from holding his breath as he hoped that would be enough to push his brother off for the time being.
"Ugh, you are so lucky my eleven-thirty is here. I am going to think about this and come up with a better reason you need to come other than you already said you would and now you're breaking your word to your aunt. This is not over. I will make sure you're at dinner tonight at six." Without a goodbye, his brother hung up the phone.
Robert shook his head. He'd actually been most of the way into work when Kevin called so he simply sat in his SUV with Murphy on the middle bench seat and the girls in the far back. He was glad they had taken to having the other dog around well. The first year he’d had them they could be iffy when he had to bring animals home for overnight observation. Luckily now that they weren’t in the middle of puppy-hood things had gotten easier.
He was concerned about Murphy; the dog was still weak. It could be exhaustion from his body ridding itself of the poison, but he wanted to do more blood work to be safe.
Getting out of the car, he opened the back-passenger side door and watched as both of his girls sat excitedly waiting to get out. But he got Murphy out first, having seen firsthand how he could dash off with no regard for anything. He didn't want to chance the German shepherd running off in a strange place and never making his way back. He couldn't imagine explaining that to his pretty, if not a little scatterbrained, owner. He hooked the German shepherd with the leash she had left at the clinic, before lifting the seat forward so the girls could get out. He wasn't concerned about his dogs being on leash. He had made sure early on they were well-trained enough to walk to and from the house and the clinic once out of the car.
The three of them slowly made their way up the stairs to the clinic and he opened the door wide, trying to usher Murphy in before the girls. When he saw the reception desk, he almost dropped his hand and had the door hitting him in the face.
Terry Kravitz was leaning over the desk with his two pudgy basset hounds lying on the floor at his feet. That alone wasn’t a strange sight as one of Terry's basset hounds, Cupid, was diabetic and came in regularly for checkups and treatment.
What was behind the desk had thrown him for a loop. Murphy's owner, Gail stood there looking through paperwork and chatting with Terry. It was such a startling sight that Robert stood there a moment with the door wide open, unsure if he was processing all of what he saw properly.
"All right, Mr. Kravitz. It looks like there's an opening with Dr. Struthers for one p.m. two weeks from today. Does that fit in your schedule or would you like something early in the morning? There's a nine a.m. the following day. There's also a few evening ones with Dr. McAllister two weeks from today." Gail looked up and smiled, all of her attention for the forty-year-old man in front of her.
Terry leaned back, his shoulders relaxing a little bit as if he’d been concerned he might not be able to get an appointment at a time that would work for him. Terry owned the local grocery store, it'd been in his family for generations and he took his job seriously.
"Eleven is perfect. I can take an early lunch and let the missus know Cupid's coming with me."
Gail’s smile widened as she began writing them into the ancient schedule Robert knew was on the desk. "Fantastic, I'll put you in now and you're all set."
"Much appreciated, Ms. Evans. You have a fine afternoon." The older man bobbed his head once and stopped short when he realized Robert was still in the doorway blocking the way out.
Robert moved out of the way but continued to politely hold the door open.
"Have a good day, Mr. Kravitz." He forced a cheerful voice as he motioned for his dogs to move out of the way.
"You too, Doc," Terry responded as he headed out the door.
When Terry was safely outside, Robert shut the door and motioned to the back hallway.
"Girls, office." He snapped twice with his pointing hand and both boxers headed down the hallway. He knew if he followed them, he would see them circling their giant couch style bed in his office. Rather than follow them, he walked up to the front desk with Murphy.
He only got to about as far as where Terry had been standing, as Gail, upon seeing her dog had shot out around the desk and knelt down to stroke his face faster than Robert had expected.
"Oh, baby. How are you doing, sweetheart?" She looked him up and down even though both she and Robert knew there weren’t any physical signs of what was bothering his stomach.
Gathering his wits, Robert went into doctor-mode, "He's doing better this morning. I want to watch him another day because he's not as happy-go-lucky and active as I'd like him to be. I know firsthand from yesterday that he is an energetic dog, so I'd like him to be at least close to that before we discharge him."
When he mentioned he knew Murphy was high-strung, her eyes flashed with emotion he couldn’t decipher. He didn't know if she was frustrated that he brought up her dog’s lack of training or whether she didn't like him. Either way, he supposed it didn't matter because she was leaving town as soon as her dog was better and because her dog truly wasn't well-trained.
"I thought I heard the girls pattering down the hallway. Good morning, Robert," came Herb’s voice a split second before he turned the corner and stood at the side opening closest to the hallway of the receptionist desk. "I know you've met Ms. Evans. She and I came to an agreement for payment for Murphy's treatment. She's agreed to stay on for a week and tidy up our office situation in exchange for us treating her dog. That way there is at least some semblance of organization happening here. She's even talking about setting up an online calendar for our appointments instead of having to decipher all of our handwriting in the appointment book."
Robert refrained from making the comment that he had been saying they needed to do that for the last three years. He loved their old office manager, but she was set in her ways and wasn't about to change anything from the way it had been for the last fifty years. Looking at his partner, he saw that Herb probably had the same thought.
"Do you have any experience with this kind of thing?" Robert knew his voice held a little more skepticism than he meant it to.<
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He also knew it hadn't come across terribly well when Gail stiffened and stood. Her back ramrod straight, she stared daggers at him. "I assure you I do. The only aspect of this job I don't have experience in is the billing, but Dr. Struthers gave me a crash course in that this morning and I'm fairly certain I'll be able to take care of it.
"If it makes you feel any better, I can show you my resume as I did Dr. Struthers. All I have to do is pull it up on my laptop." Her voice dripped with disdain.
Since Robert knew when to stop pushing buttons, he shook his head. "Nope, if Herb’s seen it and he thinks it's fine, we’re all good. If you want, I can pull out one of the dog beds we have in the back and Murphy can sit behind the desk. It might help him to have you nearby versus sitting in Herb’s office."
She looked down at her dog and her expression softened; a small part of Robert wished she looked at him with a more pleasant expression. Then he kicked himself; that was a stupid thing to think. He had no reason to want the woman in front of him to look at him with a smile. Sure, she was beautiful. Her hazel eyes and light brown hair tied back in a braid that skimmed her shoulders had him itching to run his hands through it and see what it looked like down. Robert closed his eyes for a second. Yes, she was pretty but his whole line of thought was inappropriate. He needed to be professional; he only had to deal with her being here a week. He could get through a week. He could. Then everything would go back to normal.
"I would love that." Her voice was soft; it took Robert a second to realize what she was saying.
Once he did, he nodded and handed the leash to her, so she and Murphy could stay together while he got the bed.
As he turned past Herb, he felt the older man turn and follow him. Once they were both in the back room, Herb stood by the door, and one eyebrow lifted up as he looked at his younger partner with a smirk.
Lantern Lake Winter Collection: Books 1-3 Page 3
