towel. At the scent of the food, two little black noses began to wriggle and both humans laughed quietly.
“The little stinkers are cute, aren’t they?”
Ethan looked up at her as he spoke and this time his smile reached those gorgeous, mahogany eyes. She felt his gaze all the way down into her middle, as warm and comforting as the towel he’d so recently wrapped around her shoulders.
“Very,” she replied, her voice little more than the squeaky sound the puppies made.
Dr. Singh helped her to guide the puppies over to the bowls, and they watched with bated breath, waiting to see if the little ones would eat. Finally, both pups sniffed at the bowl of food and buried their faces in the kibble, and the sound of Ethan’s and June’s sighs of relief were audible.
As the dogs worked on their dinner, Ethan disappeared into the supply closet and returned holding what looked like a baby gate and paper towels. He set to work in the corner of the room, spreading out what June now saw were puppy pads, which he surrounded with the gate, creating a little pen. “All right. We’ll settle them in here for a bit, give them a little time and see if they’ll do their business, then we can put them to bed.”
He looked up at June. “If I’m correct on their age, they should be able to go to the bathroom on their own.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, if they’re too young, they’ll need a little help to go, but I’m hoping they’re old enough.” He winked at her. “Time will tell.”
“Ah.” June had never been around such young animals before; once again, she was thankful to have an ally who knew far more than she about this unexpected development in her evening.
“In the meantime, is there anything I can get you?”
Her stomach grumbled, reminding her that she hadn’t yet eaten and it was almost nine o’clock, but she doubted there was much in the way of people food in a veterinary clinic. “I’d love something hot to drink. That is, if you have anything.”
“Come,” Dr. Singh said, holding out an arm. June walked through the door in front of him and he left it open, leading her to what had to be the staff break room, where he pulled a chair from a small, round table, motioning for her to sit.
She watched as he took a measuring cup from a cabinet and placed it on a hot plate before pulling milk from the fridge and what appeared to be a few spice bottles from a drawer.
“So tell me, Miss Leavy...”
“Please, call me June.”
He set to work, mixing ingredients in the glass cup as though he were a chef in an upscale kitchen, rather than a very patient veterinarian in a small-town clinic. “June, then. Have you ever had chai?”
It was only one of her favorite drinks. “Oh, I love chai tea.”
The doctor let out a chuckle as he stirred the mixture with a spoon.
“What’s so funny?”
“Just chai. When you say chai tea, what you’re really saying is tea tea. The word chai means tea in Hindi.”
“Oh, goodness,” she said, feeling like a doofus. “I’m sorry.”
“Not at all,” Ethan said, laughing.
June found she very much liked the deep, warm sound of it tickling her ears. He seemed much more relaxed now than he had when she’d first arrived, almost certainly ruining his night.
“Is your family from India?” she asked, surprising herself. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to find something to talk about to pass the time until the storm let up and she could go on home.
“My father was born in Delhi and came here as a child.”
“And your mother?”
“She’s American, from New York. They’ve lived in Texas for most of my life, since my father opened this clinic.”
It was quiet for a few moments as Ethan continued to stir the tea and June took a couple of deep breaths, allowing herself to calm down for the first time since she’d found the puppies over two hours ago. Her shoulders ached with tension and her tiredness reached all the way down to her bones; she longed for a hot shower and her bed. For once, she would be happy to go home to her lonely, closet-size apartment, where she hoped to get at least a couple hours of sleep before her alarm clock sent her back to work.
When she opened her eyes, Ethan set two steaming mugs on the table and June lifted hers to take a sip. The hot liquid soaked all the way down into her veins, warming her through and through, the sweet, yet spicy, flavors tingling her throat in an incredibly pleasant way. “Oh, my gosh,” she said, rolling her eyes toward the roof, “this is amazing.”
Ethan grinned, then took a sip from his own mug. “Better than Starbucks, huh?”
“Um, yeah. Way better. Apples and oranges better.”
“I’m glad you like it,” he said, taking a few more sips. He got up and went back to the counter, turning on a small television set to the same local weather she’d watched earlier with Margaret. She made a mental note to text her boss soon to make sure she’d made it home.
“We’d better see what’s going on out there,” he said, returning to the table. “It looked much worse than I thought it was when I opened the door and you brought an arctic blast in with you and those puppies.”
“It’s pretty bad. I’m hoping it will clear so I can get home soon.”
Ethan looked skeptical but didn’t say anything as they both turned to watch the screen. It only took a few minutes for them to learn that the weather had gotten worse as they’d been taking care of the dogs. According to the meteorologist, a mass of cold, dry Canadian air had moved south into their area to intersect with a warm, moist air mass moving north from the Gulf of Mexico. Evidently, the cold air had advanced and pushed away the warm air, orchestrating the crazy mess outside. Over a foot of snow had fallen on already-icy roads and the whole of Peach Leaf was now under a winter weather warning.
June put her elbows on the table and lowered her head into her arms. It would be hours before it would be safe to drive home...for a person who had a working ride.
“Well, June,” Ethan said, getting up to turn off the steady stream of impending doom on the television. “Looks like you’re stuck with me for a while.”
“I... I can’t stay here. I’ve got to get home.”
Ethan tilted his head. “Not going to happen, at least not tonight. It’s really nasty out there—not anywhere close to safe for driving.” He finished the last of his tea and picked up both of their cups, carrying them to the sink.
“My car’s broken down, anyway. Surely I can at least get a tow truck out here. Maybe they can take me home.”
Ethan came back and sat down across from her at the table. “It’s not likely we’d be able to get a tow truck out here in this weather. I would drive you if I felt it was safe, but I’ve spent some time in Alaska and I’ve seen firsthand what can happen
