“Do I have to leave him here?” The panic in his voice pierced her heart and his grip on the puppy increased, so that the little animal let out a squeaky yelp.
Haley barely noticed the man on the other side of the lobby turn to face them, because she was too intent on capturing the boy’s attention. “Eli, calm down, honey. I am going to do my best to get him well. I promise.”
He stared at the puppy, still whimpering. “Did I hurt him?”
“You just don’t need to squeeze him so much,” she said. “But I can tell that you aren’t trying to hurt him, and he knows that, too.”
“He does?” Eli looked imploringly to Haley. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Of course. Puppies can tell when someone cares about them, just like people can tell when someone cares about them.” She fought the impulse to glare at the man who had shifted his stance and was now undoubtedly watching their interaction.
“I want to keep him.” Eli took a small step away from Haley. “He doesn’t have anyone to love him, and he’s scared.”
A muffled clearing of a throat caused Haley to finally glance up at Mr. Gavin and, for a moment, her breath caught in her chest. Not what she’d expected. She’d anticipated an older, grumpy, stern-faced gentleman who wouldn’t show concern for the brokenhearted boy. But this man was young, around Haley’s age, she’d guess, with one of the most strikingly masculine faces she’d ever seen.
Haley swallowed, forcing herself to get a grip on the awareness flooding through her. She wouldn’t be swayed by his gorgeous good looks and rugged presence.
The bottom line was that he didn’t seem to care about this little boy’s pain.
And that was reason enough for Haley to dislike the man.
So when he glared at Haley, she glared right back.
* * *
Gavin Thomason had thought taking the seven-year-olds from his cabin for an adventure hike would be a great way to enjoy the crisp October afternoon.
The Claremont Community Church had bought the kids new coats, hats and gloves this afternoon for the upcoming winter months. Knowing the boys had been eager to try out their new things, he’d thought the hike had seemed like a great idea.
So, after assisting all of them with their homework, he’d given each boy a sheet with photos of leaves to find and told them they could don their new winter duds for the adventure, even though the temperature was in the midsixties. He’d planned to talk to them about the different trees God created, about the leaves changing color and about how God gave us seasonal weather to enjoy throughout the year. He’d anticipated this leading into the afternoon devotional, focusing on how, in God’s world, things change. And, more importantly, on how change didn’t always mean something bad.
Since all the kids at the children’s home had gone through tremendous life changes, he’d thought the devotional would be well received. That it would help them deal with their unique circumstances, whether they’d been orphaned, abandoned or neglected by their families.
But once Eli had heard that puppy’s cry, all Gavin’s plans for the afternoon had flown out the window.
Mark Laverty, one of Gavin’s fellow cabin counselors, had taken over today’s activity so Gavin could take Eli and what appeared to be a dying puppy to the vet. Gavin had prayed the whole way here because, of all the boys in his cabin, none had been through as much pain as Eli. And none had touched Gavin’s heart like he had, because he’d lost everything that had mattered in his world...
Just like Gavin.
“Do I have to leave him here?” Eli turned away from the vet to direct the question to his cabin counselor. “I don’t want to leave him, Mr. Gavin. He’s scared.”
The vet, whom Gavin had barely acknowledged until this point, glanced up from where she crouched next to the boy. Gavin focused on the woman who, at this moment, could hurt the child more than anyone else if she didn’t help this pitiful dog. And he wasn’t all that certain of her ability to do so. She certainly didn’t look like any vet he’d ever seen before. She was young, probably a little younger than Gavin’s thirty-one, with vivid green eyes amid a pixie face, pale pink gloss on heart-shaped lips and long blond hair that hung well past her shoulders.
How hadn’t he noticed her before now? And why had he picked today, of all days, to become even remotely aware of an attractive female?
Regardless, he wasn’t ready, or willing, to let his mind start noticing such things as green eyes, glossy lips or silky hair.
Not yet. Maybe not ever.
God, help me.
“Buddy needs to stay here, if you want him to have the best chance...” Her voice drifted off, but Gavin knew where the statement had been headed.
...for survival.
Then his mind honed in on the fact that she’d called the dog by name.
“Buddy?” he asked. Was she familiar with the pup? Did she know the owner? Or whoever had abandoned him?
Eli sniffed. “That’s his name. That’s what you called him when we found him.”
Well, what do you know? Gavin had unintentionally named the pup. He’d merely told the little tuft of fur, whining in a pile of leaves and pine straw, We’ll take care of you, buddy.
And now, thanks to Gavin, they had a “Buddy,” and one that Eli didn’t want to leave behind.
He did his best not to notice that the vet was even lovelier when she looked at the puppy and boy with such compassion. Steeling his heart for her answer, he asked her directly, “Are you able to heal him?” He didn’t want to get Eli’s hopes up if she knew the tiny dog’s chances were slim to nil.
Her cheeks twitched slightly, eyes narrowing the slightest bit.
Gavin noticed.
But he didn’t care.
He wanted an honest answer about the dog’s chances, because he wouldn’t lie to Eli, not about this puppy or anything else. The little guy already had enough tough blows to last a lifetime, and Gavin wouldn’t allow this young doctor to cause him more unnecessary pain.
She looked away from Gavin, her features softening as she placed a hand beneath the puppy’s scruffy chin. “He’s severely malnourished, and it’ll take time to get him back to a healthy condition. He’s undoubtedly been on his own for a few days.” She looked like she wanted to explain further, but Eli emitted another sucking whimper that made her pause and drape an arm around him.
“But, yes, I do know what to do to try and make him better.” The last sentence was delivered to the little boy beside her rather than the man who had asked the question.
Gavin prayed that the woman who sounded so convincing...hadn’t just lied to the kid.
“But I have to leave him here?” Eli repeated, this time his lip quivering through the words.
“So I can take extra good care of him.” She tenderly brushed a tear from his cheek. “Is that okay, Eli?”
“But what if—what if he dies? What if he goes to Heaven, too?” He looked toward Gavin and then back at the doctor. “What if I was too late—again? Like I was too late when Mommy and Daddy died?”
Gavin felt punched in the gut. Last year, the kid, at only six years old, had tried earnestly to save his parents, even after all the adults around him had given up.
The vet bit down on her lower lip and Gavin could tell that she was trying to control the emotions pressing forward at the hint of Eli’s tragic past. And he recognized the same deep sorrow that he felt every time he thought of the way this little boy had been left, all alone, with no one to care for him.
Much like that little dog in the woods.
“I’m going to do my very best to make sure that doesn’t happen,” she promised.
“Can I come see him, though? Like, every day?” Eli shifted the quivering dog to one arm and wiped the opposite red mitten across his cheek to knock the tears away before returning it to cradle the pup. “Can I come afte
r school? He needs to know that I love him. It’s important. I’ll need to show him.”
She blinked twice, held on to that lower lip a long beat before finally speaking. “That would be very nice, and I know it would comfort him to know you care.”
Eli nuzzled the puppy, who had fallen asleep in his arms. “Can I, Mr. Gavin? Can I come see him every day until he’s better?”
“Yes,” he said gruffly, as if any other answer would escape his lips. “I’ll bring you after school, after you finish your homework. But you need to give the puppy—Buddy—to Dr....” He’d noticed her name embroidered on her white jacket, but from this angle, he couldn’t read the script.
“Calhoun,” she supplied, and then she softened that clear, lyrical voice, looked at Eli and said, “or you can call me Miss Haley.”
Haley Calhoun. The name sparked a hint of a memory, something he’d overheard recently, but he couldn’t recall what was said.
Gavin shook the scattered thought away and nodded to Eli. “Now give Buddy to Dr. Calhoun, so she can take care of him and help him get better.”
Eli eased the lifeless animal toward the doctor. “O-kay.”
Her eyebrows dropped, fingers probing gently as she took the puppy.
Trying to divert the boy’s attention from the doctor’s sudden look of concern, Gavin pointed to the schoolbag Eli had dropped near a chair by the door. “Eli, why don’t you grab your backpack and get ready to go? We’ll come see Buddy again tomorrow.”
Gavin’s phone rang and he saw that Savvy Evans, who ran the children’s home with her husband, Brodie, was on the other end. No doubt she wanted an update on the mistreated puppy. He answered, “Hey Savvy, we’re still at the vet.”
Eli halted his pace toward the backpack. “Can I tell Miss Savvy about Buddy?”
Gavin nodded. “Savvy, Eli wants to talk to you.” He gave him the phone and listened as the boy recited every detail, from holding the puppy on the way to the vet to everything Haley—Dr. Calhoun—had said since they’d arrived.
While Eli was occupied talking, Gavin took the opportunity to approach the doctor, now quietly instructing her assistant about Buddy’s initial course of treatment. The assistant left for a moment and then returned with a blue blanket in her arms.
“It’s warm?” Haley asked, and the other woman, who looked around twenty, nodded. Then the doctor tenderly transferred the pup, as though he were extremely fragile, to the blanket in the assistant’s arms.
“Hello, Mr. Thomason,” the younger blonde said.
Gavin was clueless and apparently showed it.
“Aaliyah Smith. I go to church with you,” she offered, “at Claremont Community Church.”
“Right.” He hated the fact that he was so often preoccupied with his own world that he rarely noticed others, even during religious services. Or maybe, he was so often preoccupied with his past that he rarely noticed the present.
But he noticed the children in his care, and most everyone else who was involved with helping the boys in his cabin.
Aaliyah gave him a soft smile, presumably not offended that he hadn’t recognized her, and then hurried to the back with the dog. Observing her haste, Gavin feared the worst. So while Eli continued telling Savvy about Buddy, he moved toward the doctor and touched her shoulder. “You can’t let that puppy die.”
Unfortunately his words came out brusquely, more like a command than a request.
The vet’s eyes widened, her mouth formed a small O and then she stole a glance at Eli, still talking, before lowering her voice to match his. “I can promise you I will do my best to bring him back to good health. That’s my job, and I take my job very seriously.”
Gavin wasn’t influenced by the fact that he’d irritated her. He needed answers, pure and simple.
“Okay, what does that involve? What’s wrong with the dog, and what are you planning to do?” He hated the accusatory tone, but he also couldn’t control it. Whether she liked it or not, she’d become a key factor in whether Eli lost something else he cared about, and Gavin wasn’t about to let that happen. Not on his watch.
She narrowed those green eyes again. He’d offended her. That hadn’t been his intention, but if it got him the information he needed, so be it.
“Buddy has been on his own for at least three or four days. He is dehydrated and needs to be treated for parasites.” Her voice had taken on a clinical tone that he knew all too well. It’d been the same one the doctor had used when Gavin received the news that his wife—the true love of his life—died giving birth to their son. And then, merely an hour later...that their baby boy had died, too.
Two years ago today.
Gritting his teeth to combat the pain of the past, he forced himself to listen while the doctor continued.
“We will start by putting him in a quiet, safe area away from other animals, lights and activity. We want to keep him as calm as possible. Aaliyah is taking his temperature now, but he felt cool, so we’ve wrapped him in a warm blanket and will regulate his temperature slowly. If this is done too quickly, it could harm his delicate nervous system.”
Gavin kept an eye on Eli while he took advantage of his preoccupation to learn more about what the doctor planned for Buddy’s treatment. “And then what?”
Still in that clinical tone he loathed, she explained in detail the steps planned to help the pup.
She paused when a white-haired woman carrying a pink floral bag walked toward the lobby from one of the exam rooms. The bag mewed continually as she crossed the floor. White fur and green eyes pushed against the mesh end.
“Why, Mr. Thomason, what brings you here?” Mae Martin asked. Then she saw Eli, his back facing her as he talked on the phone on the other side of the lobby. “Oh, my, was that crying child I heard one of your darling boys?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Mae was a regular visitor to Willow’s Haven, one of the volunteers who read library books to the children. The readers had become a part of the kids’ world, so that, even though they didn’t have a real family, they still had a family of sorts through Willow’s Haven and the small Claremont community. Mae had been assigned to Gavin’s cabin, so she knew each child. Her eyes moved to Eli, who’d turned in her direction but was still too focused on his conversation to notice Mae.
She shook her head. “Bless his little heart. Those children have already been through so much. I could tell he was upset when I heard him crying, but I didn’t realize when I was in the back that it was Eli. Such a tenderhearted child. Is everything going to be okay?”
“It will be.” He looked pointedly to the doctor. “Right?”
“That’s. My. Goal,” she said, her words clipped.
“Well, you won’t find a better vet than our Haley, that’s for sure,” Mae said. “She and Doc Sheridan have been taking care of Snowflake for five years now.” She pointed a finger at the vet. “And, like I told you, don’t you worry about being on your own now that he’s retired. You’re going to do a great job here.” She smiled at Gavin. “Today’s her first day on her own, you know.”
Not what Gavin wanted to hear. His face must’ve shown it because those green eyes grew sharper, daring him to comment. He held his words.
“Thank you, Mrs. Martin,” Haley said as Aaliyah returned to the front counter.
Gavin knew better than to say anything else to the doctor about his fears, so he turned to Aaliyah. “The puppy—he’s doing okay?”
“He is,” she answered with a smile. “Temperature is coming up. I have him under the warmer while he’s waiting to be seen by Dr. Calhoun.”
“Great.” Gavin nodded once toward her then returned his focus to the veterinarian while Aaliyah spoke to Mrs. Martin. “How long do you expect the treatment to take?”
Again, looking incredulously at him but answering calmly, she explained, “There is no way to know, but
the minimum amount of time I’d anticipate to stabilize him is around seventy-two hours. That wouldn’t be when he’s ready to be released, but stable enough to begin eating and hydrating normally.” Glancing toward Eli, she added softly, “He could be here awhile.”
Gavin couldn’t control his frown. Eli wouldn’t be happy about that, but if it was necessary, then that’s what would have to happen. “As long as you keep him alive and get him better, that’s fine.”
One eyebrow lifted slightly. “I’m so glad that’s fine for you.”
Gavin hadn’t been much of a people person over the past couple of years. He had a big heart for children and had always interacted with them well, but the ability to communicate effectively with adults, particularly attractive females, no longer fell into his list of finer attributes. Clearly that was still the case with this vet.
Which was fine. He didn’t want anything beyond a surface acquaintance with any woman. “We’ll stop by tomorrow then, after school, so Eli can see for himself that Buddy is getting better.” Then, without giving her a chance to respond, he turned to the boy clicking the end button on the cell. “Come on, Eli. We’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Okay, Mr. Gavin,” he said, handing him the phone. Then he rushed into the arms of Haley Calhoun. “And please get him well for me, Miss Haley. Okay?”
Gavin waited for her to give the correct response.
“I will do my best.”
The little boy who held Gavin’s heart in his hands turned and gave him the first semblance of a smile since finding the puppy. He truly believed the vet could save Buddy.
Gavin forced a smile and prayed for God to heal the pup, because he didn’t want to be there if Eli’s heart was shattered again. He had a feeling it would take God’s intervention, too, for the animal to pull through.
Mae Martin turned from the counter toward Eli. “Why, Miss Haley will take the absolute best care of your little Buddy.”
The memory Gavin had sensed earlier clicked into place and he recalled exiting the cabin to find Mrs. Martin speaking to Savvy about her concern for a former church member. Haley Calhoun.
Her Alaskan Cowboy (Alaskan Grooms Book 7) Page 19
