Page 58 of Vetted for Vengeance
See, I can think about staff welfare too!
Poppy's operation goes well, and Tree phones Gladys with an update hours earlier than if Rhys did his order.
The more I do this, the more I feel confident that I can do it.
Like running a puppy farm, but instead of doing everything myself, I just say the task out loud and consider it done.
Rather than staggering lunch breaks, I bring operations to a halt and send all but one nurse to eat together. It feels pretty good to dismiss all the vets to go eat at the same time. Oddly, they sit in their cars rather than the staffroom, where all the nurses are laughing and joking.
“Best morning ever,” Tammy grins.
I've never met her before, but she's on a late shift today, so I picked her to stop here and monitor recovering animals, giving her a later meal, closer to midway through her shift. It's nice experiencing the space so empty and calm.
“I was worried you'd hate me bossing you around,” I confess.
“No, it's great. You see stuff we don't, and we can fix it instantly rather than later and desperate but busy.”
This validation from a stranger who has only ever seen me in this role is huge. It almost makes me want to find where my silly vet is hiding so I can request another hug.
Instead, I lean against the prep room counter and look around the quiet practice.
The farm never looked like this. There was always something screaming for attention. A dog fighting, a puppy fading, a gate broken, a water bowl tipped over. If something stopped for a moment, it just meant something worse was about to happen.
Here, the calm actually means that the work is being done.
Animals are recovering. Nurses are eating lunch. The vets are hiding in their cars pretending they’re not avoiding the noise of the staff room.
And somehow the whole place is still running.
Because of me. Not because I did everything. Because I didn’t have to.
The thought makes my stomach twist with a strange mix of pride and disbelief.
Maybe Rhys was right. Maybe I don’t have to do everything myself. Maybe all I needed was enough people around me to carry the pieces.
Tammy checks one of the recovering dogs and scribbles something on the chart before glancing up at me.
“You’re good at this, you know.”
I open my mouth to argue automatically, but for once the words don’t come.
Instead, I just nod.
Chapter twenty-nine
Rhys
Eating lunch while sitting in the wild garden is lovely. Alone with a coffee and sandwich on my grandfather's bench, no sound except a bird twittering nearby.
Thirty minutes of bliss before I return for more surgery. I never realized I missed proper lunch breaks until my bossy little kennel hand got too big for his boots and banned a working lunch.
The same kennel hand is promoted to chief of everything. I don't resent him. I admire him.
I head back inside, check on Poppy's recovery from her lump removal, and then head to the office to check on…
Well, I'm not sure exactly, but I check every day.
“How's your day, Martha?” I greet, which is code for how is my practice doing.
