Page 69 of Sit, Stay, Love
Sera snorted. ‘I am so not double-dipping. And Ethan’s not my boyfriend.’
‘Listen, I need regular updates on this sexy triangle thing you’venotgot going on. I’m heading into a world of puke and swollen nipples. I need to live vicariously through you.’
The women laughed.
‘We should do this more often,’ Sera said. ‘I’ve missed you. I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch.’
Linda smirked. ‘It sounds like you’ve been way too busy juggling hot guys.’
‘Anything I need to know about?’ Sera asked Jackie as she sat on the shelter reception couch and pushed off her boots with her toes.
‘Yep. A lady surrendered a cat.’
Sera’s shoulders slumped. ‘Any reason?’
‘She said she was moving somewhere that didn’t allow pets, but it looks a bit sickly. Gunky eyes.’
Sera sighed. ‘Cat flu?’ She shuffled over to the computer in her socked feet.
‘I put her in the quarantine area just in case, until you can get her to see Dr McManus.’
When her heart skittered madly at the mere mention of his name, Sera’s stomach sank. ‘I’ll text him to let him know when I’m coming.’ She frowned and rubbed a hand over her tummy.
Sera lugged the cat crate from her van, pushed open Toby’s door with her foot and called out, ‘Hey, Herriot, I’m here.’ It was just before six. Surgery hours were over and Jess had left for the day.
She peeked into the consultation room. The lights were on, but it was empty, so she put the crate on the examination table and went through to the treatment area.
‘Herriot,’ she called again. ‘Where are—’ She froze mid-step, her jaw hanging so low she could have tripped over it.
Toby was leaning against the cat cages with one hand shoved casually into his pocket. There was a soft smile on his lips, and his eyes were hooded, almost seductively.
In front of him was a woman, older than Toby if Sera had to guess, with a messy blonde bun piled on top of her head. She was wearing a tiny white sundress that showed off her well-sculpted and perfectly tanned legs, and a smile that was definitely flirtatious.
Sera’s foot finally landed with a thud and she lost her balance, stumbling heavily into the door, which crashed against the wall with a clang that echoed around the surgery.
Toby and the mystery woman’s heads snapped towards her.
He straightened up. ‘Sera. What are you doing here? Oh. Right. The cat.’ He ran a hand through his hair. ‘I won’t be a sec.’
Sera blinked, then blinked again. And then one more time as she pointed her thumb back towards the consultation room, and asked, ‘Should I…?’
The woman waved a hand. ‘I was just going. I don’t want to hold you up any more than I already have, Dr McManus.’ She placed the waving hand on Toby’s forearm and squeezed.
A jolt of something hot and unpleasant gushed through Sera, something so bitter that it scalded her throat.
‘It’s fine.’ Toby lowered his voice. ‘You’re not holding me up, and…’ He smiled. ‘Call me Toby.’ Sera bit her lip and leaned forward to listen.
The woman smiled back, and Sera’s eyebrows bunched together.
‘Should I call you later?’ he asked the woman.
Sera’s eyes widened.
‘You definitely should call me later,Toby,’ the woman replied. Then she winked at him. A tiny wink. The kind of wink Ethan James would be proud of.
Sera swore Toby blushed, and her heartbeat whooshed in her ears.
‘Hi,’ the woman said to Sera with an extremely white smile as she sashayed past. Then she gave Toby a finger wave and disappeared out the door in a cloud of something that smelled expensive.
