“Can I pet Bella now?” Ash asked quietly, breaking into the whirl of her thoughts.
“Oh! Of course,” Chloe said quickly, coming back to herself with a rush. “Now that the ball is out, Bella is going to be absolutely fine.”
Ash positivelybeamedas he petted Bella, and Chloe realized that she hadn’t seen him smile up until now. The poor kid had obviously felt terrible about the situation, even though it hadn’t been his fault, and she was glad that he didn’t have to worry anymore.
“Thank you so much,” Ash’s mom said to her, as the two of them watched Bella giving Ash’s cheek a big, sloppy lick while Ethan loomed in the background, looking completely out of place in his still-immaculate suit. “I can’t tell you how grateful I am, especially since you hadn’t even started yet!”
“Please don’t worry about it,” Chloe said truthfully. “It was no problem in the end – I’m just glad you could get Bella here so quickly, before the ball could really block up her throat.”
“Still,” the woman said, “you really went above and beyond. Thank you.” She started digging through her purse. “How much do I owe you?”
“Owe me? Oh – please don’t worry about it,” Chloe stammered. She hadn’t even thought about charging for the procedure, given she hadn’t been on the clock – and in any case, she wasn’t even set up to handle payments at the moment.
“Since I haven’t officially opened yet, we can just say it was on the house. Please,” she said with a smile, as the woman started to protest. “It only took a moment, and look –” she gestured to where Ash was laughing wildly as Bella continued to plant big, sloppy kisses on his cheek, “– that’s pretty much all the payment I need!”
“Are you sure?” the woman said dubiously.
“Positive,” Chloe said, friendly but firm.
“Well, then,” she said, “can I at least leave an online review once you’ve opened up? It’s the absolute least I can do.”
Chloe nodded. “Yeah. Actually, thatwouldbe really helpful. I’m new in town, so I could use all the help I can get letting people know that Dr. Sugita might be gone, but they still have a vet they can rely on.”
Well, let’s hope they do, anyway,Chloe thought.
The woman nodded decisively. “I’ll do that.” She slapped her forehead suddenly. “After all that drama, I never introduced myself! I’m Diana.”
“Chloe,” Chloe said, before feeling sorely tempted to do a little facepalming of her own. “But you already knew that.”
“Nice to meet you, Chloe,” Diana said with a warm smile. “And welcome to the town. We’ll be sure to tell everyone that they should come here when they need a vet!”
“That’s lovely – thank you so much,” Chloe said, meaning it. She was glad to have made a potential friend already – as excited as she’d been to move to Girdwood Springs in order to followher dream, shehadbeen worried about having a bit of a culture shock once she settled in and everything started feeling real.
Quaint country towns always sounded so attractive, but she knew that they could also be a hive of gossip and getting up in other people’s business.
Maybe I’ll just have to hope everyone here is as nice as Diana… and Ethan.
“Well, I’ll let you get back to getting to know your new assistant,” Diana said, with a completely unexpected waggle of her eyebrows.
“My what?” Chloe said, before her mind caught up with what Diana was saying. Her face started to burn hot, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. Hewasher new assistant! Shedidneed to get to know him!
“Your new assistant,” Diana said with a smile that was a littletooinnocent. “Since you seem to have only just met him. You should, you know, show him the ropes. Get acquainted.”
Chloe was suddenlyextremelyaware of Ethan’s towering presence in the corner, completely motionless, as if he were carved out of marble like some sort of perfect Roman god. Surely he was hearing every single word of this horrible conversation.
I take it all back! Diana is no friend at all! She’s just here to torment me!
“Yes, I should show him around,” Chloe said stiffly. “Thank you for reminding me.”
Diana smiled at her as if slightly amused, but she didn’t seem to feel the need to comment on it again.
“Okay, Ash,” Diana called out. “Let’s get Bella home and let the nice vet clean up.” To Chloe, she said, “Thank you again – I’ll definitely be leaving a rave review. And Ash, you say thank you as well, please.”
Ash looked up from where he was hugging Bella’s midsection. “Thank you, Dr. Chloe.”
“You’re very welcome,” Chloe said, smiling.
He turned to Ethan. “Thank you, sir.”
