"Emma, Hi. Things are slow this morning. Who do you have there?"
He comes towards me and scratches Buddy on the head. Buddy seems wary of the attention paid to him, but eventually wags his tail slowly.
"This is Buddy. The police found him last night, tied outside a house, and he was badly matted and generally in a bad way. I checked him as best I could while working on him, but wanted you to give him a checkup to see if he needs any additional care."
"I can certainly do that. Bring him over here to the table."
Luke has this thing, where he talks to the patient as if they understand him. It's hilarious, but now that he's doing on a dog I'm invested in, I see why it works. He makes a connection with the animal while talking to it and I'm so glad he's working with us right now.
I wait patiently for Luke's verdict once he's done checking the puppy. From what he's been telling Buddy, everything seems in order.
"Okay, he's underweight and I'm going to give him something to deworm him. Are you going to take him to the shelter?"
"That's the plan, though the officer who brought him might want to foster."
"That's great. This little guy needs all the love someone can give him. Why exactly did you blush when talking about this officer?"
"Um, I didn't."
"You totally did. It's okay, you don't have to tell me. Your sisters will not let it go, however."
Yeah, I wasn't looking forward to facing my sisters. I took Buddy with me to the grooming area and placed him on a play area we have for when the dogs are ready and waiting for their parents. I have to feed him soon, but I need to get everything organized for the interns.
Except the interns have been busy at work and have everything set up for when they get new customers.
"Wow, guys. You've done a wonderful job setting up. Thanks."
"There was someone here looking for you earlier." Marilee says.
I can't help myself, so I blush again.
"Is that right? Did he leave a message?"
"We told him to leave his message at the front with Luna."
"Oh, crap."
Since there's nothing for me to do here right now, I go into my office to do some paperwork for the shop. I don't want to go out to where Luna might start digging for information on Tristan. I work in peace for a couple of hours when finally all three of my sisters come get me to have lunch.
We have a big cafeteria where we normally eat lunch. The girls seem eager to gossip. I stay quiet and pray that Luna doesn't say a thing. My hope is gone when I see her looking at me and smirking. Once a week Felicia makes food for us and serves it buffet style.
This week is lasagna soup with garlic bread and a side salad. We each take our plates and sit down at the big table.
"Is dad coming?" I ask.
"No, I went over there earlier and left them enough food for a couple of days." Felicia says.
I take a scoop of the soup and find it's absolutely delicious. Felicia should have totally become a chef somewhere, but she was always all in with our plan to do something animal-related. She's the best dog trainer I know and wouldn't recommend anyone else unless she was already busy.
"You're very quiet, Emma." Laura says.
"Emma's got a secret." Luna says in a singsong voice.
"You didn't read my message, did you, Luna?"
"He didn't fold it or tell me it was a secret."
"Who left you a message? Do you have a suitor, Emma?" Laura asks.
