Page 6 of Heavy Petting

“I’ll wait in the lobby,” I said, popping out of my chair, then grabbing the exam table for balance as I felt a wave of dizziness hit me.

“What is it? Are you okay?” he asked. “Are you feeling light-headed?”

I nodded. “Yeah I’m fine. I think my blood sugar is just low. I haven’t eaten anything today.”

He looked at the clock on the wall and his frown deepened. “It’s two o’clock.”

I didn’t like his judgmental tone. I’d spent ten years married to a man with a judgmental tone.

“Thanks, but I’ve been able to tell time ever since kindergarten,” I snapped. “I’m fine. I think I’m just going to pop up the street to the market and grab a snack real quick while you work on Esmerelda.”

“We probably have some cheese here somewhere,” he said. “Maybe some chicken. I know we have peanut butter.”

“Yeah, but you’ll make me sit on the ground and lick it out of a Kong, won’t you?” I joked.

He frowned, clearly not finding my joke about eating snacks out of dog toys amusing. Hot Vet clearly did not have a sense of humor. I sighed. It was such a shame.

“Don’t worry, I just need a Snickers and a can of Coke and I’ll be right as rain,” I said brightly.

His expression turned to one of horror. “Or you’ll go into a diabetic coma.”

I didn’t even try to hide the way I rolled my eyes.

“Either way, I’ll be back in a little bit. Take good care of my sweet baby.”

Joshua

Iwatched Mabel stomp away, my eyes drawn to her round backside before I caught myself and forced myself to turn away. I wasn’t sure what had just happened between us, but one thing was clear – Mabel was a stubborn woman. And kind of odd.

Also, I’d somehow insulted her.

She was dressed in a cute little dress that seemed kind of witchy – maybe because it was purple and covered with silver stars – and she’d paired it with navy blue Chucks. She wore dangly earrings with more stars, and an overabundance of rings. None, I couldn’t help but notice, appeared to be a wedding ring.

Everything about her was lush – that was the only word I could think of to describe her. I pegged her at being in her late thirties, maybe forty if the fine lines around her eyes were to be believed, so at least ten years younger than me.

She’s too young, I told myself. And a client. And also, she’s not your type.

Well, at least not the type I usually went for. Most of the women I’d dated were outdoorsy. Sporty. Super serious. Not a single one of them would wear a ring on every finger or put a princess dress on a dog.

And not a single one of them ever made me forget my words when I looked into their eyes. What was that about?

I headed back to one of the treatment bays where Erica was just finishing cleaning Esmerelda’s wounds. She’d hooked the dog up to an IV and must have already administered both the pain med and the anxiety med because Esmerelda looked high as a kite, her tongue lolling out of one side of her mouth, her eyes wide and spacy. I suppressed a smile.

“She’s a sweetie,” Erica told me, stroking the dog’s head. “Even if she looks like two dogs put together.”

After examining the wounds more carefully and confirming there was nothing too serious about the skin abrasions, I did a more thorough examination of the dog’s leg. When I was finished, we slid Esmerelda through the x-ray. I was pleased to see that the dog had not torn any ligaments, which meant her leg pain was likely just a bad sprain. That was much easier to manage.

Thirty minutes later I carried Esmerelda back into the treatment room where Mabel was waiting. Most people who were alone in the room played with their phones, but not Mabel. When I looked in the window she was sitting cross-legged on her chair, hands on her knees, staring straight ahead.

When I opened the door, she jumped.

“Sorry to startle you.”

“Oh that’s okay, I was just deep into a meditation.”

I was beginning to realize that Mabel was a bit woo-woo.

“Did you get your snack?” I asked.