“Only a dozen or so. We spent most of the time on Ben Lomond and Ben Nevis, working with dogs to track lost hikers.”
“That sounds exciting. Do you miss it?”
“Not the word I’d use. Gratifying. Sometimes tragic. Deceptively dangerous. But yes, I miss it. You know, I’m still doing some search-and-rescue training here. Someday I hope to open a full-scale canine training center.”
“So you weren’t there to trainwiththem…”
He nodded and finished chewing the last bit of his croissant. “I trained them to work with dogs I also trained. Their dogs.”
“Which were easier to train? The men or the dogs?”
He burst into laughter just as the receptionist, Rachel, leaned in the door.
“Sorry to interrupt, but you’re needed in Treatment Two.”
Caitlin dropped her unfinished croissant into the bakery bag and tucked it in her purse. “Thanks for taking a few minutes with me. I’d love to hear more, but I’ll get out of your way.”
“Stay here and finish yours.” He moved around the desk and paused by the door. “Thanks for the coffee and chocolate. I appreciated the break.”
She’d have to tell Alice he wasn’t unsocial at all, just busy, and he had some interesting stories to tell. Maybe Alice should waylay him the next time she saw him. Caitlin smiled at the thought of playing matchmaker for the two of them. Alice might be just the woman the never-married, chocolate-loving Doc needed.
She sipped her coffee and fished her croissant out of the bag, then took a bite while she looked around the office. As much as she liked Holt Ridley, as much as she wanted to end his family’s curse and see him happy, if she was going to make it home for Hogmanay, she was leaving here in another week. Not a lot of time to play Santa’s helper. Not and finish the job she’d been hired to do.
Rachel popped back into the office. “Want to see some new puppies?”
“Aye, of course.” Caitlin swallowed the last of her coffee.
“We’ve got five, and they’re beyond adorable. Come on.” With a wave, Rachel led her to the back where animals were boarded while their owners were away. Off in a quiet corner, a box guarded by the mother dog held squealing pups.
“She’s been out,” a vet tech told Rachel before he led another leashed dog out the back door.
Caitlin couldn’t resist the puppies. “Oh, how cute!” She bent down to pet the mother while telling her softly that she wouldn’t bother her babies, just look at them. She glanced around at her friend. “How do you not pick them all up and squeeze them?”
Rachel grinned. “I have to admit sometimes I do. When Mama, there, is outside taking a break. She’s just back from one, or she’d be in the box with them. Oh look! She’s going to feed them.” Sure enough, while Caitlin’s attention was on Rachel, the mother dog had hopped into the box and stretched out by her pups. One by one, squealing, noses twitching, they made their way to her and suckled.
Caitlin squatted and stared to her heart’s content at little pink noses, tips of tongues that peeked out, then disappeared, tightly closed eyes, and big round puppy bellies. “I could watch them for hours. I wish I could take them all back to Scotland with me, but they wouldn’t be old enough by the time I leave in a fortnight— and then there’s that pesky long quarantine.”
“A fortnight?”
“Ah, sorry. Two weeks, give or take.”
Rachel’s dismay was plain in her tone and furrowed brow. “So soon?”
She pushed to her feet. “I might have gone sooner, but Holt talked me into staying to see an American Christmas. But after that, I want to get home in time for Hogmanay— New Year’s to you.” And since she’d convinced Holt to fly the cabinet to her cousin Ian, she was eager to see it in its home. Not that there would be any way to tell if it lifted the curse. Only time would reveal that.
“Are you going to miss Christmas with your family?”
Caitlin pictured Ian’s new family and smiled. “They’ll manage quite well without me. Besides, Hogmanay is a bigger party in Scotland, and I’ll be home for that.”
“We’ll miss you, you know.”
“I’ll miss all of you, too. At least we can stay in touch online. You can send me pictures of these wee bairns.”
“I thought I heard voices back here,” Doc Coates said as he entered the room. “Ah, the puppies. Cute, aren’t they?” He leaned over the box, giving the mother a quick inspection, then each of the puppies.
“You know they are.”
The bell over the front door chimed, and Rachel left them to take care of their next customer.
