“DOCTOR, PLEASE DON’T keep anything from me. Will Gertrude live?”
Dr. Luke Dalton, D.V.M., smiled reassuringly at the little silver-haired lady bravely confronting him in the sparkling clean waiting room of the Shepherd’s Pass Animal Clinic and Hospital. The hand she laid on his arm trembled and he covered it with his own.
“Take it easy, Miss Pauline,” he said, gently leading her to a chair. “It’s just a simple ear infection. Gertrude will be fine.”
“What?” Miss Pauline looked indignant and not quite ready to give up her fears so quickly. “But she was yowling something awful and throwing herself around. When I picked her up she tried to bite me! She’s never done such a thing before.”
Luke knelt before her, still holding her cold hand. “Gertrude was in pain or she’d never have turned on you that way,” he assured her. “Believe me, it’s nothing life-threatening.” He added as an afterthought, “And Dr. Miller agrees.”
He knew that bit of news would reassure her. The elderly lady might give the thirty-ish Luke his proper title, but she obviously considered him a kid. And why shouldn’t she? She’d known him since he was a baby and his mother before him, had taught him in third grade, had watched him leave Colorado after college and go on to study veterinary medicine. She’d even attended the welcome-home party when he returned six months ago to join the practice of longtime Shepherd’s Pass veterinarian Dr. Gene Miller, more commonly called Doc.
She knew Luke was a real animal doctor, but this was her beloved cat. He didn’t blame her for not wanting to take chances. He understood that. He even respected it.
“May I see my Gertrude now?” She leaned forward with a pleading expression.
“Better than that.” He smiled. “You can take her home. You’ll have to put drops in her ears for a few days, but she won’t give you any trouble now that she’s not hurting.”
Relief and gratitude suffused her lined face. “Thank you, Doctor,” she said as formally as if she’d never kept him in at recess for launching spitballs. “You’ve been very kind. Please don’t feel obliged to wait with me. I know you’re busy, and—”
“Not at all.” He was, but she’d done so much for him in his misspent youth that he wanted to show her every consideration. He slid into the chair next to hers. “Cindy will bring Gertrude out just as soon as she fills the prescription. In the meantime, I’d enjoy keeping you company, if that’s okay with you.”
She looked pleased. “Quite okay,” she said. “So how have you been, Lucas?”
“Fine. And you? I haven’t seen much of you lately.”
“I’ve been quite busy, actually. I’m working part-time at Lorraine’s Pretty Posies. Did you know that?”
“I hadn’t heard.”
“Oh, yes. I answer the phone from time to time, and take orders when Lorraine gets really busy or the regular girls don’t come in.”
“That’s great,” he said, firmly believing that a busy mind was a healthy mind. “How is Lorraine? I haven’t seen her around lately.”
“Actually, she’s quite excited. Her daughter arrived yesterday for an extended vacation. You remember Thalia, no doubt?”
Thalia! The name galvanized Luke and he shot to his feet.
“My goodness.” Miss Pauline frowned. “I didn’t expect quite that reaction.”
He sat back down. “I just remembered something I have to do later,” he apologized lamely. “Of course, I remember Thalia. Is she still living in California?”
“Yes, indeed. Apparently she has some free time—something about her company merging with another company. I’m not real clear on the details, but she’ll be home for a month or so, I understand.” Her tone dropped lower. “Lorraine’s been quite concerned about her since the divorce.”
“Was it nasty?”
“Good heavens, no. Quite the opposite, apparently, but you know how mothers are. They worry when their children are far away and—” She let out a little gasp of pleasure and rose to her feet with surprising spryness. “Gertrude! You poor little thing, let me take you home and nurse you back to health.”
A smiling Cindy passed over the huge white cat. Gertrude purred loudly and pressed her head against Miss Pauline’s neck above the lacy collar of her navy-blue dress. The cat looked none the worse for her experience.
Cindy offered a small brown paper bag stapled closed, a white prescription label pasted on the outside. “Here’s her medicine, Miss Pauline. You put drops in her ear every—”
Satisfied that another crisis had been averted, Luke turned away with a farewell wave. Miss Pauline and Gertrude would be just fine.
So would he, especially now that he knew Thalia was back. Thalia, serious little Thalia, the girl who never left anything to chance. Just thinking about her made him smile.
He entered the gleaming examining room and paused, his thoughts tumbling. He hadn’t seen her in years. Would she be changed? Would she look different, act different…want different things?
He hoped not, he surely did, because once upon a time she’d wanted him.
“HEY, YOU, WAKE UP!”
Luke snapped upright over his desk and blinked. Turning in his chair, he gave his mentor a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Gene,” he said. “I was thinking.” He was supposed to be doing paperwork but was having trouble concentrating, with Thalia very much on his mind.
“Obviously.” Gene Miller pushed back the extra chair and sat. “If it wasn’t September, I’d think you had spring fever.”
“Yeah, well…” Luke couldn’t argue with that.
“Obviously I’m going to have to keep an eye on you.” Gene chuckled. “I wouldn’t be young again for all the tea in China—but I digress. I just wanted to let you know I’m leaving now. Doris is waiting for me to go to Denver with her to pick out the new carpeting.” He made a face. “Like I care what shade of blue it is, but you know women.”
“Not as well as I’d like to.” Suppressing a smile, Luke opened the top folder on the stack. “You go ahead and take off. I’ll hold the fort and see you in the morning.”
“Thanks, kid.” Gene rose. “I knew there was a reason I hustled you into coming back here to work with me after you got your license. What I don’t know is why you agreed—but I’m not asking!” He held up his hands, grinning and backing toward the door. He looked, as always, rumpled and friendly.
The door closed behind him. Luke looked back down at the files without enthusiasm. He hadn’t become an animal doctor to deal with paperwork. He’d done it because he liked animals, all animals, and truly believed that people who owned animals were superior to those who didn’t.
But lately he’d become increasingly aware of one tiny little hole in a life filled with professional satisfaction and hometown approval. That lack came under the heading of feminine
