Page 20 of Bailey

“You got it,” Trevor said.

He left the room again. Feeling wild and braver than he probably should, Reeves moved around the elevated table where his boxer lay and crowded into Bailey’s personal space. Shock coursed through her expression as he reached for her, but she put her arms around him, returning his embrace.

“Thank you,” he whispered. “For helping Sir and keeping him with you today.”

“Of course,” Bailey said.

Reeves stepped back, a vein of humiliation pulling through him, because how many clients hugged their veterinarian and thanked her for helping their animals?

Not many, he thought. And certainly no one after asking her on a date.

“Seven would be great,” he said.

She gave him a small smile and nodded. “If I need to wear anything particular, text me.”

Reeves nodded again and moved back to the other side of the table. “All right, buddy,” he said. “I’m gonna leave you here with Bailey, okay? And she’s gonna make sure you feel real good before you come home.”

Trevor opened the door again and pushed in a cart with a plush dog bed on it. He and Bailey lifted Sir onto it, and the cold compress slipped off of his dog’s head. Reeves bent down and looked right into his dog’s eyes.

“You’re a good boy,” he whispered. “You be good here.”

“Okay, we’ll have you go wait out front,” Trevor said.

“You can call and ask about him anytime,” Bailey said. “I’ll check his vitals every hour or two, but I don’t anticipate any problems.”

Reeves nodded and headed for the door that led into the public hallways, while Trevor wheeled Sir out the other door and Bailey followed them.

A sense of pure accomplishment filled him, because he’d just asked out the most beautiful woman in the world, and she’d said yes. The feeling didn’t last long, though, because now Reeves needed to find somewhere to take Bailey that would impress her and where he could maintain his low profile.

Unrest and frustration moved through him that he’d done something so stupid as to put himself out in public. As he waited for his name to be called so he could pay and check out, he told himself over and over, Bailey is worth it. You’ll find somewhere off the grid and perfect, and it’ll be fine. She’s worth it. She’s worth it. She’s worth it.

Seven o’clock came and went with Reeves in front of his computer. His video for Saturday had just finished rendering, and all he had to do now was upload it to his channel and schedule it. He should’ve been done with it hours ago, as he’d been on the computer since he’d gotten home with only Pansy, but he’d spent hours researching diners, restaurants, and good first date ideas in the Coral Canyon area.

He felt like he’d been on an emotional roller coaster all day—first with Sir’s yellow jacket incident, and then asking Bailey out, and then dealing with where to take her. Those were all highs, but with every high came a low, and he felt himself plummeting toward panic yet again as he made the final clicks to schedule the video.

She should be here any minute, and part of Reeves wanted to blurt out that he’d lost his mind and made a terrible mistake by asking her out. At the same time, he absolutely couldn’t do that. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, conjuring up the image of Bailey’s face when he’d suggested dinner. She’d seemed surprised, yes, but also hopeful and happy, and with that reminder, he knew he hadn’t been imagining the spark between them.

“You just need to tell her.” He opened his eyes and looked at the computer screens in front of him. All he’d have to do when she brought Sir home was march her into this office and show her the setup: the professional microphone, the three huge monitors, the YouTube channel.

His heartbeat cymballed through his whole chest, crashing and screaming and making his head hurt. He never used his last name in his videos, but that didn’t mean no one could find him. He’d had to register with his legal name for his channel to be monetized, and in fact, he had a whole company built around his outdoor survival videos and his persona as Teton Mountain Man, the outdoor enthusiast who ate steak off the tip of a knife.

His doorbell rang, and he jerked to attention, knowing exactly who it would be. Pansy got to her feet and trotted to the doorway of the office before looking over her shoulder.

“Yeah, let’s get the door,” he told her. He crossed the room and turned the corner, the heavy wood door coming into view only a few feet from him. He reached forward and opened it, expecting to find Sir on a leash at Bailey’s side. Instead, she cradled the boxer in her arms, and the canine looked over to Reeves lazily before flopping his head back against her shoulder like he didn’t have the energy to hold it up himself.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Reeves said. But hey, Sir’s face had de-puffed, and he looked normal again.

Bailey grinned at him, everything about her erasing Reeves’s thoughts of telling her about his outdoor survival channel or canceling their date. “You don’t have to carry him.” He stepped forward and started to take Sir from her. “Can he not walk?”

“He can; he just didn’t want to,” Bailey said.

Reeves rolled his eyes and bent to set the boxer on the floor. “You’ve got four legs, bud, you can use ‘em.”

Sir stumbled a little before he gained his legs, and then he simply trotted into the house as if nothing bad had happened that day. Reeves twisted and watched him go around the corner and into the kitchen.

“He’s probably hungry,” he said.

“We didn’t feed him,” Bailey said. “So I’m sure he is.”