She managed to inch back, the serious word so out of character with the flirty guy. “A…tumor?”
“I’m a veterinary oncologist.”
“No!” she said on a gasp. Instantly sensing the sound might send Nicole nearly flying over, she flicked her hand in that direction to stop her. “You’re a vet?”
“I studied at Auburn and just finished residency. I have a few certifications to pass, then I’ll be official. Hopefully”—he reached over the railing and patted Copper’s head with a sure, confident hand—“this fella will never need to see me.”
“Oncology?” For a moment, she forgot to be witty, taken by the information. “We don’t have that department yet.”
He cocked his head. “Well, this place is small and there’s only one horse.”
She laughed. “No, I meant at Great Basin Veterinary Institute. I’m starting my second year there.”
It was his turn to look shocked. “You’re in vet school?”
She nodded, unable to hide her pride. “The institute is outside of Salt Lake, in a town called Eagle Mountain.”
“It sounds as beautiful as everything else in this state.”
“It is,” she agreed.
“I’d love to see it,” he said, a slow smile pulling. “With the right tour guide, that is.”
She started to smile, but an age-old burn in her stomach came back to life. For a flash, she’d been normal. Now, the truth would have to come out.
Nicole came jogging over, probably freaking out that she’d left Elise alone on Copper for so long. Cameron would flip out, but Elise didn’t care.
“Everything good?” Nicole asked.
“Great,” Elise said, too quickly.
“Elise is going to show me around her vet institute,” Wade said with the confidence of a man who’d never gotten turned down by a woman in his life.
“You are?” Nicole’s face brightened. “How fun.”
Would it be fun? Or would it be miserable? Because watching his face fall when she rolled out of her ADA-approved campus apartment and revealed that she was Hale on Wheels was actually the stuff of misery.
“Well, I’m busy with the Live Nativity program?—”
“Nothing like a Christmas display that actually smells like the real thing,” he joked, making her laugh.
“Sounds like you’ve been to one.”
“It’s standard at every vet school,” he said.
“You’re a vet, too?” Nicole asked.
“Oncology,” he said, with a tone that told Elise it was truly his greatest accomplishment and she so understood and adored that.
Please, God, don’t make me like him any more than I already do.
“Well, I better not keep you from getting Copper warmed up for his sleigh ride,” he said, even giving her a reason to continue riding in the paddock.
She’d never have to come clean. She could ride away into the stable and leave this intriguing man thinking she was…normal.
Sadly, she wasn’t and never would be.
“I’ll get your number from Nicole and we’ll set up a visit,” he said, then must have seen the look on her face, because he lowered his chin, the picture of humility. “If you like, that is.”
