“But what about my car?”
“I got a ride. I wanted to make sure you got home without worrying about a thing.”
Valeria leans in and kisses her again, the last of the tension draining from her body.
“Thank you,” she murmurs. It’s small things like this—Brooke’s thoughtfulness—that constantly remind her how deeply she’s loved, how carefully Brooke holds her heart.
“Are you ready to go?” Brooke asks.
Valeria nods, but before they can turn toward the door, it swings open hard enough to rattle the glass.
A dark-haired woman stumbles inside, rain streaming from her coat. Her hair clings to her face, her eyes wide and frantic.
“I need help,” she says breathlessly. “Someone dumped this cat on the side of the road, and I think it’s hurt.”
“I’m sorry,” Brenda, the front desk manager, says gently. “We don’t have any available vets right now.”
“Fuck,” the woman whispers.
A small black face peeks out from inside her jacket, and Valeria’s heart tightens painfully.
“I can take a look,” she blurts, the words escaping before she can stop them. She’s still here. It’ll probably be quick, and there’s no chance she’s letting this cat walk back out into the rain while it’s in pain.
The woman exhales, shaky and relieved. “Thank you,” she whispers.
“I’ll only be a few minutes, okay?” Valeria says to Brooke, brushing a quick kiss across her cheek. Brooke nods, though Valeria catches the faintest flash of annoyance.
Brookehates it when Valeria takes patients at the last minute. Valeria wishes she could say it’s a rare thing, but it isn’t. She can’t turn away from an animal in pain. If there’s any way she can help, she will. She’s learned to pick her battles with Brooke, and this is one she’ll choose every time, no matter how frustrated her girlfriend gets.
Before Brooke loses her composure in the middle of the reception area, Valeria gently steers the woman toward the empty exam room.
“Will you set her on the exam table?” Valeria asks once inside.
The woman tries, but the cat clings to her jacket, and she winces. “I can’t.”
Valeria nods. “Then you might need to hold on to her while I take a look. Is that okay?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
Valeria pulls out the stool by the computer and gestures for her to sit. When she does, Valeria crouches in front of her.
“Hey there, sweetheart,” she murmurs, offering her hand. “You’ve been through something, haven’t you?”
The cat lets out a soft meow, and Valeria smiles. Meowing is good.
She slides the stethoscope from around her neck and closes her eyes, listening carefully. “Her heart rate’s a little elevated, but nothing concerning. It’s probably stress,” she says, before moving her hand along the cat’s trembling side, feeling muscles twitch beneath the damp fur. When she reaches the left hind leg, the cat flinches and hisses.
There’s swelling around the lower femur, and the limb is angled in a way it should not be.
Valeria looks up at the woman, who’s nervously chewing her lip. “I wish I had better news, but it seems her leg may be broken. We’ll need an X-ray to be sure.”
The woman exhales sharply. “Fuck.”
“Hey,” Valeria says gently, meeting her gaze. “This is something we can fix. She’ll need rest, maybe a splint or surgery, depending on the fracture, but she’s in the right place now. You did a good thing bringing her in.”
The woman nods.
“I need to take her to the back to run the X-ray,” Valeria says. “Can you try to get her into my arms?”
