Page 57 of Sit, Stay, Love
The dog wagged her tail, then curled herself into a tight ball on the bed beside her mistress.
Sera’s phone vibrated, and she groaned, leaned over and looked at the screen, praying it wasn’t a cat up a tree or a stray dog.
Toby: I’m sorry about today. I don’t want us to fight. Whatever, or whoever makes you happy, I’ll be happy for you. I love you. H x
She pressed the phone to her breast and whispered, ‘Herriot.’ Then quickly answered him.
Sera: I’m sorry too. I don’t take you for granted. Ever. I love you too much. Me xx
Toby: Breakfast tomorrow?
Sera: There better be pancakes.
Toby: Sweet dreams, Ser.
Sera: Sweet dreams, Herriot.
Chapter Eleven
‘I’m sorry,’ Tia groaned in Sera’s ear. ‘I think it’s food poisoning. I know you had a date with Ethan today, but I just don’t think I’m up to cleaning the kennels. Not without a lot of puking.’
Sera pressed her phone to her ear as she tossed off her covers and swung her legs out of bed. ‘Tia, take a breath. Please don’t worry about it. I can put Ethan off. And it wasn’t a date, it was a training session.’
‘I’m really sorry.’ Tia sounded miserable. ‘Can you tell him I’m sorry?’
‘It’s absolutely fine.’ Sera said. ‘Just take care of yourself.’
She had a quick shower and pulled on her work pants and a Rose’s Rescue sweatshirt. Grabbing her phone, she headed to the reception area, turned on the coffee machine and began to reorganise her day.
Sera: Herriot. Tia’s sick, so I’ve got to hold down the fort. No pancakes for me I’ll call later x
Sera: Hi Ethan. Tia has called in sick. I need to take care of things here today. Can we reschedule? Sorry. Sera.
She chewed her thumbnail as she read her message to Ethan. Should she add a kiss? No. No kissing means no kissing, even in text messages.
Nodding to herself, she pressed send then slid her phone into her pocket, filled her travel mug with coffee, whistled for Buffy and headed out the door.
Her phone rang as she was rounding up the dogs to take them for their morning walk.
‘Ethan. Hi.’ Her heart fluttered.
‘How about instead of rescheduling, I come and give you a hand? I’ll be around dogs, so it’ll still be a session. Oh, and good morning.’
‘Good morning.’ She laughed. ‘I think we should move it to another day. I’ve got kennel- and barn-cleaning to do. You don’t need to be part of all my messy stuff.’
‘What if I want to be part of all your messy stuff?’ He was silent for a long beat, as if letting her absorb his words, then said, ‘How many dogs are we talking?’
She leaned against the wall with her eyes closed, glad he wasn’t there to see her composure puddle around her on the floor. ‘We have four, five if you count Buffy. But they won’t be around when the kennels are being cleaned, they’ll be in the exercise area.’
‘Five dogs. That equals one Kevin, right?’
‘Ethan—’
‘Sera. Like you said, we don’t have a lot of time, and maybe just being around the noise will help. Besides, I want to see you. Unless you don’t want to see me because…’ He trailed off.
She pushed off the wall and started organising the dogs. ‘Don’t be silly. We’d already planned to see each other today.’
‘Great. Then I’m coming. Cleaning up poop is part of dog ownership. You told me that. I want the whole package, not just the fun stuff.’
