“I plan to. I called the airline and canceled my ticket. I’d rather wait for my ankle to heal before flying home. It’ll cost me fifty dollars to reschedule, but it’s worth it to get to know your boyfriend better.”
“Dad! I’d love to see more of you, but you’ll be bored silly sitting around here alone. I do have to work. It’s my busy season.”
This was very bad news. How could she continue the fantasy about having a boyfriend until Dad’s ankle healed?
“You do whatever you need to. Don’t worry about me. I can entertain myself. You’ve got a computer and a TV I can use, and there must be a bookstore somewhere in the area. I’ll give you a list of books I’ve been wanting to read.”
She couldn’t say, Dad, go home, you make me crazy. She loved him, but she couldn’t continue seeing Eric. It wasn’t fair to him, and she was embarrassed enough already.
“You’ll miss your only grandson’s birthday Wednesday,” she reminded him.
“Sam will only be three. He won’t care when I present my stack of presents, and I’ll get out of going to the party Carly has planned at Bucko’s Pizza Palace. Have you ever been to one of their birthday orgies? Corny clowns, noisy game machines, kids screaming and running.” He shuddered. “I went to Kim’s fifth-birthday party there. A sledge hammer couldn’t give me a worse headache.”
“You love sharing your grandchildren’s big events,” she said. “Cake, candles, hugs and kisses for Grandpa.”
“The nice thing about retirement,” he said, speaking from his weeks of experience, “is I have plenty of time for the grandkids plus time to get to know my future son-in-law better.”
“Dad, we’re not that serious!”
“I know chemistry when I see it,” he said smugly. He started leafing through the TV listings, and she dejectedly began her day.
BY MIDMORNING Mindy was the one with a headache. She had to check with the woman who was catering the Robinson family Thanksgiving reunion, twenty-two people and counting, then run to the party store outlet for orange napkins and table decorations. After that, she had to meet a new client at two and make sure the carpenter had come back to finish the shelves in Mrs. Konkle’s home office. People paid her to worry, and she was good at it.
Unfortunately, with her dad dropping his bomb on her head, she couldn’t concentrate anymore. How could she work with her father in the house? Even before she left to run errands, he was busily using her computer to e-mail everyone he knew, however slightly. She could bump him, of course, but then what would he do all day? She remembered his book list and tried to figure out a time for a library trip. No point in buying thirteen books unless they weren’t available to borrow.
“I have to talk to Eric,” she said resolutely to herself.
The bogus romance had to end. Telling her father it was a hoax was no longer an option, not when he’d be there with her day and night expressing his disappointment with sad, mournful pronouncements. He took her single status as a personal affront because she rejected his opinion of it. He refused to believe she was happy the way she was and in no hurry to rush into a relationship just to satisfy him.
She dialed Eric’s office on her cell phone while she waited her turn to drive through a construction area. How she loathed those two-sided signs carried by the bored workers who reduced a four-lane road to one lane. There seemed to be a rule that the busiest lane had to wait the longest.
“Kincaid Veterinary Practice,” Della answered. “How may I help you?”
“Della, it’s Mindy Ryder. I desperately need to talk to the doctor.”
“Sorry, honey, he’s in the middle of a procedure. I can have him call you when office hours are over.”
“No, I need to talk to him now.”
“Has something happened to Peaches?” Della remembered pet names better than most people remembered people names.
“No, she’s fine. What about lunch? When does he take a lunch break?”
Traffic in Mindy’s lane started inching forward.
“I never know for sure. Sometimes he runs upstairs for a bite. Other days he’s so busy he just skips it.”
“Can you work me in anytime today?” She’d pay for an office visit if that was the only to talk to him.
“It must be really important.”
Della was curious. This was good. No doubt she remembered giving Eric the directions to her house.
“It is.”
“Tell you what, if you come over right now, I’ll squeeze you in as soon as humanly possible.”
“Thank you, Della, thank you, thank you, thank you.”
WHEN SHE GOT to Eric’s office, the prospects for seeing him very soon seemed grim. Half a dozen people were crowded into the area with a Noah’s ark of pets. The biggest gray cat she’d ever seen was perched on an elderly lady’s lap, glaring at a Saint Bernard waiting with stoic resignation. Mindy eyed a square red cardboard box barely large enough to hold a teapot. It had holes punched in the top. Did Eric treat snakes? She shuddered and hoped the hidden creature was something soft and furry like a gerbil.
“Mindy Ryder.” Della solemnly announced her name after only a couple minutes of waiting, giving her a nod.
She self-consciously walked to the door of the examining room, not at all comfortable about cutting to the front of the line.
“The procedure took longer than expected,” Della explained. “Please be as quick as you can. We’re really backed up today.”
“Thanks, Della. I appreciate this so much.”
She went through the swinging door to Eric’s examining room. It was empty, but only seconds later he came through another door that led to his hospital wing. He made eye contact for a second or two, and her heart thumped as enthusiastically as her dog’s tail usually did at the sight of the vet.
“Mindy, I didn’t expect to see you today. Where’s Peaches?” He went to the sink and started scrubbing his hands with pink liquid soap from a wall dispenser.
“I won’t take much of your time, but I had to see you. We really should’ve broken up yesterday.”
“You know, Mindy, I’m overbooked today.” He dried his hands on a paper towel. “Exactly why are you here?”
He sounded pleasant enough, but she hated the feeling that she was only a nuisance to a man who could turn her on with a smile.
“Dad’s decided to stay.”
“How long?”
“He didn’t say, but he canceled his flight home. He wants to get to know you better.” She paused. “Hey, is there a snake in your waiting room?”
“Doubt it, unless one slithered in by itself. About your
