by Jewel, Bella
“I don’t think that’s stupid at all. I get it.” Handing over the second to last puppy to Amanda, I added, “I’m still on the fence about having a baby. Partly because of what you just said but mostly because I think I’d drive myself nuts trying to protect it. I’d be that mum, you know? The one that doesn’t let her child walk to school even though they’re sixteen and threatening to run away from home if they don’t get some independence.”
Amanda quipped. “My mum was like that. Smothered us. So we did the opposite. I was doing pot with the badass drop outs from school at fourteen just because I wanted to prove I could be stupid and stay alive.”
“There, you see.” I pointed at Amanda while looking at Polly. “My point is made. I think I’ll stick to cats and dogs and a pig or two.”
“A pig?” Polly startled, passing the last puppy to Sophie. “What the hell do pigs have to do with it?”
I giggled. “Whoops, I forgot to tell you. Ryder has a pigmy pig called Hippo. She’s a darling wee thing.”
“By wee you mean a perfect pork chop?”
“Don’t be mean.” I glanced at Amanda. “Place the litter into the incubator and mix up the formula like I showed you. We’ll finish up here and put the mum into recovery.”
Amanda nodded. “Okay.” She and Sophie took the towel filled box with brand new squirmy life from the room. I didn’t entirely trust her but Polly and I would be busy for the next thirty minutes sewing up this brave little Peke-A-Tese.
As we got to work doing something we knew inside out, Polly said, “It’s getting serious with him, isn’t it?”
I shrugged, pulling a needle through the small incision we’d made.
“Don’t you shrug me, Vessie. I know you and I’ve never seen you this way. You seem older but younger. Wiser but sillier. You seem to have a relaxation and nervousness all at the same time.”
“Wow, I sound like a basket case.”
“I wasn’t going to put it in so many words, but yeah.” Polly laughed softly. “Kinda are.”
“So if you already know why I’m acting so strange, you tell me if it’s serious or not.”
Polly dropped her eyes, adding a few internal stitches from her end. “I think you’ll end up marrying him. And I’m so damn happy for you, Ves, but I’m freaking terrified at the same time.”
It wasn’t the word marriage that made me gasp but the fact my best friend was afraid.
The needle slipped from my hands. “What? Why?”
“I know I should be supportive and see the glass half full and gaining a brother-in-law from my sister from another mister, but I don’t. I feel a little lost because you’ve got a life outside of me and this practice now. And I knew it would happen eventually—I kinda hoped it would be me doing the nesting thing first, but whatever.” She laughed again, not quite pulling it off. Her gaze dropped to our patient and her steady hands. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say. I love you, that’s all. And I miss you. Even though you’re standing right there.”
It wasn’t protocol and I sure as well wouldn’t put up with it if it was anyone else but me and Polly, but I skirted around the operating table and hugged her. We stood there for a few seconds, leaning into each other before separating and returning to work.
No words were needed. And concentration on something bigger than ourselves kept our thoughts centred and calm.
Once we’d finished our task and sewed up the snow white Peke-A-Tese in companionable silence, we added gauze and placed a cone around the slowly rousing doggy’s head so she couldn’t get to the stitches.
I sighed, rolling my shoulders as we washed our instruments. “I love you, Pol. And there will always be a place for you in my life—whether I marry this one or another or end up a spinster with piglets. And I’m not seeing Ryder tonight. Come around. We’ll have a sleep over like old times. We’ll get drunk, watch movies, and be single together.”
Polly’s spine slouched in utter gratefulness. “You mean that? Truly?” It was her turn to drop her scalpel into disinfectant and squeeze me. “Thank you, Vessie. It’s been…well, I’ll tell you when we hang out tonight. But it’s been lonely without you.” Pecking my cheek, she helped me wheel our brand new puppy mummy into recovery.
* * *
That night, when the doorbell chimed, my heart leapt for an entirely different reason.
It wasn’t because of Ryder or anticipation of kinky sexy time.
It was because I’d missed my best friend.
I’d been selfish for not giving her a second thought while I was in my love bubble with my sexy man.
I’m a bad friend.
But tonight, I would make up for it with sugar overload, awful viewing material, and juicy gossip. I would fully break the rules of secrecy about what Ryder and I had been up to in the bedroom if it made her feel better.
Opening the door, I squealed, letting my inner wild child come out. “Girl’s unite!”
“You’re such a dork.” Polly stood with her arms full of blankets, pillows, and junk food. “Get me inside before your neighbours think I’m moving in and increase your rent.”
Taking some of her hoard, I skipped into the lounge and threw the lot onto the couch. I’d already pushed aside the coffee table and rolled out a few yoga mats onto the carpet so we could lie down and Netflix for hours.
Last night, the thought of not spending the evening with Ryder had crushed me. Now, I was glad his brother was in town because it meant me and Polly had some quality time.
However, while I bounced like a loon and headed into the kitchen to grab the overly buttered popcorn, fizzy bubbly, and a mix bag of sweeties that I could afford from the discount aisle, Polly sat heavily on the couch and grabbed Visa in a bear hug.
Barb crawled over to her too, pampered and warm in her woolly jumper that I’d bought her when I was in the pet store with Ryder.
“Pol…what is it?”
Abandoning the snacks on the kitchen table, I dashed to her. Taking her hand, I pulled her into me while she buried her face into Visa’s marmalade scruff. Visa adored Polly. Sometimes more than I thought she loved me.
Perhaps, I should let her take her home.
She needed a pet. I kept telling her that but in all years together she’d not once got a little soul to cuddle. She said she would love that little animal too damn much and when the inevitable came to say goodbye, it would destroy her.
I got that—knowing we’d outlive a beloved pet was hard. But weren’t the happy memories worth it?
“Pol, talk to me. You’re scaring me.”
“Sorry, Vessie. I just…I’ve been bottling this up at work for so long that I just need to get it out.” She looked up, her lips pursed. I didn’t know if she was holding back laughter or tears. “Can I blurt it out so we can move on and have a good night and forget I ever said anything?” She rested her head on my shoulder. “Can you be my agony aunt, Ves?”
My mind ran wild.
What was it that she wanted to talk to me about? Had she had enough of working together? Did she want to trade me in for another bestie?
What?
“I’ll be whatever you want me to be.” My heart raced. “You’re scaring me, though. Are you okay?”
Thoughts of her being diagnosed with something, or hurt, or homeless, or all manner of things filled my head. Then the guilt squatted and took a dump right in my chest with pressure and remorse. I’d become so wrapped up in myself, I hadn’t even thought to ask how her life outside Tales of Tails was faring.
Twisting to face her, I kept hold of her hand while she hugged Visa. “You can tell me anything. And I’ll do everything I can to make it better.”
My phone decided to cock-a-doodle-doo at me, vibrating on the couch where I’d thrown it. I looked down, too disciplined with work and emergencies to ignore it. I was the vet on call tonight.
However, it wasn’t a call out. It was Ryder.
My heart flipped to answer it.
But common decency ma
de me put it on silent and ignore the call.
He would understand.
Polly was my first priority tonight.
She narrowed her eyes as if expecting me to pick up. When I didn’t, her face contorted with a torrent of confession. “When you slept with Ryder that first time, I knew something had changed. I saw how happy you were and I was ecstatic for you. You’ve been on your own for so long. Your parents are jerks and I always wanted you to be loved like I loved you. So I wanted to give you space. I wanted you to feel like you could move on with him without worrying about me.”
When she didn’t continue, I encouraged. “And you were the best in giving that support.”
She sucked in a deep breath. “I didn’t want you to feel pressured to split your time with me, so I decided to put myself out there.” She gulped. “I went back on that dating website. I made a new profile. I met someone. I wasn’t stupid, and we chatted a bit at first then I arranged a public date. Seeing as this is such a small town, I had to drive two hours to meet him as there was no one close by.”
Her eyes glazed, taking a trip back to the past. “When I got there, he was sweet. We made small talk. We ordered. It was going okay. But then…something happened.”
My heart sprang out of my chest and scurried to hide because as a woman—as her best friend—I already knew where this was going.
“Oh no, Pol. No.” Tears pricked my eyes. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?” I clutched her hand. “Did he—did he rape you?”
Her lips thinned; her body shuddered.
Then she exploded with cackles. “I love you for leaping to the worst. You should see your face—you’re ready to murder someone.”
Temper raced through my blood. “Damn right, I’m ready to murder someone. If anyone touched you wrong. Bang, he’d be dead.” I mimicked firing a gun with my thumb and forefinger. “So, what happened? Why the hell are you laughing? Is this one of those things where you’ve repressed the bad and become hysterical?”
My mind tripped over itself, trying to remember what to do in cases such as these. We’d had rape rallies at university. What to do. What doctor to see. What police report to fill out. I’d hoped to God none of us needed to know such awful information.
However, Polly was scaring me.
What the hell happened?
She patted my hand that’d curled into a fist. “It was awful, Ves. Dating is the worst.”
“Wait…what?” My heart rate slowly stopped pretending it was a pile driver trying to pulverise my ribs and paused. “Spit it out. You’re annoying me.”
She laughed again. “You’re adorable.”
“You’re being a douche.”
“Okay, okay. I didn’t want to moan because you’ve found the most perfect male specimen in history. I didn’t want to share my disaster in case I sounded jealous.”
I relaxed a smidgen. “Go on.”
She sighed dramatically. “Oh, God, Ves. It was terrible. He was good looking enough, charming enough. We’d got along okay online. There were no glitter-cannons or party poppers when we met but I was happy to give him a chance, you know?”
“That’s what getting wet in the dating pool requires.”
“Exactly.” She nodded importantly. “So, I figured if Ves can overlook Ryder being a jerk and his bossy commands at the start, I can look past the occasional burp or finger clicking at the waitress.”
“He did that. Wow, that’s rude.”
She agreed, “I know, right. Very rude. Anywho, there we were—food ordered and waiting, trying to keep small talk going while our dinner arrived. When it did arrive, that’s when things got weird.”
I leaned forward, hooked on her story, desperate to know what happened. I still wasn’t convinced this didn’t have a bad ending but I was willing to let her lead me down the rabbit hole. “What? What got weird?”
She tickled Visa as the cat pawed her loose chestnut hair. “I had gnocchi and he had fettuccine. At first, he ate the garlic bread with his hands. Seems normal. How else do you eat bread? But then…” She gulped for dramatics. “Then he picked up his creamy, slurpy noodles with his fingers and proceeded to dangle them over his mouth in the middle of the restaurant.” Her eyes widened in horror. “The sauce, Ves. It ended up everywhere. His tongue was out trying to catch the end of the slippery sucker. His face was splashed with cream making him look like he’d jizzed all over himself.” She groaned. “I couldn’t eat. My appetite went poof and I wanted to vanish in mortification as he dropped some pasta onto the floor and picked up and—”
“No!” I gasped. “He didn’t.”
“He did! He picked it up and ate it. There was lint on it. Lint!”
We shuddered together.
I laughed at her expense but secretly was so glad Ryder had the upbringing of a sane person and not a runaway mental patient.
I’m so lucky I can take him in public.
“So…what did you do?” I held up my fingers, wiggling them for Barb to butt against for cuddles.
“Well, you know me; I’m too polite to say anything. So I sat there as he slurped up the entire bowl, wiped his mouth with his tie, and proceeded to ask to split the cheque but only had a ten dollar bill on him and no credit cards and made me pick up the rest.”
“Wow, what a disaster.”
“He tried to kiss me as he walked me back to my car. However, my politeness snapped and I hopped in, locked the door, and peeled outta there as if I was a rally driver in the Brisbane derby.”
“Good for you. I hope you left a scathing one star review on his dating profile.”
“Wait, you can do that? You can review how a date went?”
I giggled. “No idea. I doubt it. Guess that would be the epitome of bullying. But wow, that sounds worse than the nightmare of being naked with no teeth.”
“Tell me about it.” She squeezed Visa until she meowed angrily. “I think I just have to concede that I might as well hang up a battered sign that says ‘haunted, keep out’ on my V-jay-jay and give up.”
“Aw, don’t be like that. Plenty more dogs in the park that know how to use utensils.”
“Yes, but how many mutts do I have to go through to find a pedigree?”
I nudged her. “Oh, good analogy.”
She grinned. “Thanks. I try.”
“You can’t let this stop you from trying. True love is worth it.”
She buried her face into Visa’s fur. “Ugh, I hate you all preachy. Stop being all loved up for a second and admit that you struck gold while I’m still panning for rocks.”
“Can’t. I’m too high on orgasms.”
She pinched me. “One of these days, I’m going to be just as smug as you and shove your nose in it.”
“There’s the spirit. Don’t give up.” I laughed. “Besides, I’ll never be jealous as I’m never letting Ryder stray from my honey trap so we’ll both be smug together.”
“Does he know he’s a prisoner for life?”
“He has an inkling.”
She sighed, letting Visa leap from her lap and draping her arms over the back of the couch. “Man, it feels good to tell you, though. I’ve been holding that in.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” I did my best to hide the hurt in my tone. “We tell each other everything. Crap, you should’ve texted me while on the date and sent a picture of the buffoon with pasta face.”
“That would’ve been rude.”
“True. And that would be bad because we are respectable, tolerant women who don’t judge.”
We burst into laughter.
Leaning over, I kissed her cheek. “Well, he doesn’t know what he missed out on. Lucky for me, you’re still all mine.”
Polly cracked a smile. “Is it wrong that while at dinner, I fantasised that he choked on his pasta and some sexy waiter came up, gave him the Heimlich, and then took one look at me and ordered me into the supply closet to make up for the gorilla I was on a date with?”
“Nope. It means you have a healthy lib
ido and one day soon, some guy is going to be very, very lucky.”
She hugged me. “I love you, Vessie. Somehow, you’ve already made me feel better. I know I’m in for a world of pain finding ‘the one’ but I’m glad I can share my disastrous attempts with you.”
“You’ll always have me.”
“Even when you’re preggers and shacked up?”
“I thought we agreed that multiplying with our own children wasn’t going to happen. Creatures that need adopting will be my babies of choice.”
“In that case, I’ll offer my services as animal nanny.”
I shook my head. “You’ll be too busy looking after your own brood and beyond-sexy-awesome husband.”
Polly sighed. “Finding a man I trust and could fall in love with seems less likely than me flying to Jupiter and finding a handsome alien to probe.”
I laughed. “I think you’ll find the alien’s do the probing, not the humans.”
She grinned coyly. “Not if he wants a go with me. I have a sudden fascination of sampling my dominatrix side.”
I couldn’t help it. I blurted in one running sentence, “I did that the other night while Ryder wore a dog collar and I ordered him around the bedroom and oh my God it was the hottest thing and wow I want to do it again.”
She froze. “I had no idea you were so kinky.”
“Neither did I. Until him.”
“Seems he’s made you open doors you’d kept locked, huh?”
I shrugged. “Seems that way.”
“And unlocked your heart.”
I turned into a gooey mess. “And definitely unlocked my heart.”
“Okay, I’ve had enough of this conversation.” Untangling herself and pushing away a demanding cat and dog, Polly said, “Time for vodka, bad food, and silly movies.”
“I’m down.”
Ten minutes later, we had our adult juices and hands full of popcorn. Settling on the floor, we draped our legs with the blanket Polly had brought and turned on a Disney cartoon courtesy of Netflix and vegged.
