Page 120 of Sit, Stay, Love
He peered at the image of half-eaten daffodil shoots strewn across the garden. ‘Okay. That’s good. Better than the bulbs.’
‘Dad must have planted them. I should have checked what he was planning and made sure it was dog friendly. Why would she eat them?’
‘Because she eats anything? It sounds as if she’s puked most of it out. I’ve got her on an IV. I’m going to sit with her for a while and keep an eye on her.’
‘Me too.’
‘You go lie down. I can’t worry about you both and right now, you look worse than Buffy.’
Her face collapsed, and then she was in his arms again.
‘Why were you up so late anyway? Were you with James?’
‘No,’ she said into his shirt. ‘He’s on the Gold Coast for a few days. Mum took me out to lunch and got me drunk, and I couldn’t sleep because the bed kept spinning.’
Toby laughed. ‘Good old Lydia.’
‘Don’t let her hear you calling her old or she’ll disown you. I think she plied me with alcohol so she could give me the third degree.’
He glanced down at her. ‘Oh yeah? About what?’
She frowned. ‘Oh. You know. LA. And stuff.’
‘And stuff?’
‘Yeah. Stuff.’
He turned his gaze back to Buffy. ‘Have you decided if you’re going yet?’
She ran her hand along her dog. ‘Right now, I can’t imagine going anywhere.’
Sera cracked her eyes open and squinted into the light. She had a blanket draped over her that she hadn’t put there, and a glass of water and a box of tissues on the table beside her that she hadn’t put there either. She pushed herself up with a groan.
Toby smiled at her from the small dining table across the room. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘How is she?’
‘She’s fine. Sleeping it off. Like you.’ He grinned. ‘I’m going to keep her in overnight, but the puking probably saved her.’
‘Can I stay here with her?’
‘You know you never have to ask.’
His warm brown eyes locked on her and the worries of the past few days simply melted into the cushions below.
Toby smiled, ambled across the room and pressed his lips to the top of her head. ‘I’m going to head over to the shelter and make sure everything’s okay,’ he said. ‘You can sit with Stink. I’ll bring us back some food.’
‘What if she needs you?’
‘Then I’m just ten minutes away.’
Sera sat on the floor in front of the treatment cage where Buffy slept. The dog had a drip in one front leg, and a shaved patch on the other where Toby had drawn some blood. Something about Toby calling Buffy by the nickname he’d given her made Sera feel better. He wouldn’t call her Stink if he was truly worried.
She gently stroked her dog.
Buffy’s eyes opened and she wagged her tail as she tried to get up.
‘Shh. Stop wiggling,’ Sera whispered, slowly running her hand along Buffy’s body to calm her.
