“Thanks. Your toast is ready.”
While Alex scraped some jam onto his toast, I searched for a notepad in the “everything drawer.”
“I think I’ll have you start with the awning,” I explained, shoving things from side to side. “If only I could find that stupid pad of paper.”
“You mean the blue one already on the counter?”
I laughed when I saw it. “Oh, yeah, that one!”
Alex chuckled.
“Okay. Awning, gutters, windowpanes… oh! The bush on the side needs to be trimmed, or maybe pulled. I’m not sure.”
“I can get the flowerbeds cleaned up too,” Alex suggested. “They looked kinda dead from what I saw on the walk over.”
I laughed. “Yeah. I could blame my sister for those. She planted them about a month ago, even though I told her I wouldn’t have time to take care of them. But does she listen? No.”
Alex laughed. “I’ve heard sisters can be like that.”
“Yeah. You have any?”
“No. No siblings.”
“It’s just Brianna for me, but I swear, sometimes she makes it feel like I have two siblings.”
Alex laughed again, a deep, honest tone that lightened the mood of the whole room. “Don’t you have sprinklers?”
“No, not yet. Another thing on the ‘someday’ list. Okay, so what else. Oh! The fence needs to be fixed too.”
After I scrawled a half dozen more things, I flipped the pad over to write a few bonus projects on the back, just in case Alex got ahead of himself or wanted something else to do instead of just yardwork. I didn’t want to take advantage of him, but talking about all the things I wanted to do with the property had been a little exciting… and overwhelming. Whatever he didn’t get done, I could eventually hire someone else to finish in the spring.
Alex had leaned against the counter only a foot away from me to get a better look at the paper as I scribbled on, and I caught a faint whiff of dust and old attics. There was something else, though, something lingering underneath. A subtle and woodsy scent that went straight to my dick, but I couldn’t place exactly what it was.
“May I?” he asked, gesturing to the list when I was done.
I handed it to him and leaned back against the counter, munching on a banana while he read it over.
“This all sounds manageable. You said you have tools?”
“An entire shed of them. They were included in the auction when I bought the property. I honestly don’t think I’ve even seen half of what’s there.”
He nodded. “Okay. That’s good then. Why don’t you prioritize them for me to give me a better idea of what I should start with?”
“Great idea.”
After numbering them in order of importance, I attached it to the fridge with a magnet. As I turned around, I caught Alex staring at my ass. He quickly looked away but not before giving me a small smile. Warmth spread through me at that tiny show of appreciation, and all I could do was smile back.
Something told me, Roxy’s recovery was going to be the most memorable one of my patients yet.
5
The front door of the clinic opened just as I hung up the phone. My dear friend and full-time veterinarian technician, Melanie Hargrove, strolled back in the office with a hand on her protruding belly and leaned against the counter, sighing.
“Hey, Mel,” I said. “How’d the appointment go?”
“Good. Baby’s right on schedule.”
“That’s great,” I said, grinning. “No changes on your workload yet?”
