Jaci Burton: Hope Flames

“All right. Thanks.”

“No, thank you . You saved me a trip farther north to the other clinic. Boomer was in pain, so I’m glad you’re open and running.”

“It was my pleasure.” She went to the desk and pulled one of her cards. “If you have any problems, or Boomer doesn’t seem to be getting better, give me a call, or bring him back in.”

“Will do. Thanks again, Emma.”

She blinked, looked at him as if there was something she wanted to say, then nodded. “You’re welcome . . . Luke.”

EMMA BALANCED THE dog carrier in one hand while nudging away Daisy’s excited attempts to push through the door leading into the house from the garage.

“Daisy. I know. I’m hungry, too. Just give me a second to turn the knob, and it’ll be dinner time.”

Her purse drooped off her shoulder, the carrier tilted sideways, and Daisy barked. The pup whimpered.

“Hang on, guys.” She turned the knob and Daisy bolted inside, her toenails tapping on the wood floor as she disappeared into the darkness of the house.

She hit the switch and the hallway was bathed in light. She laid the carrier on the dryer long enough to punch the button, dropping the garage door closed. Daisy came bounding back to lick her hand and give her a hopeful stare, and the puppy cried again.

“I know, kids. I feel exactly the same way. I could use a bath and a glass of wine, but I’m sure that’s not first on your agendas, is it?”

Emma could have left the puppy at the clinic. She’d been cleaned up, inoculated, and fed, and she would have rested for the night. But she would’ve been the only guest at the clinic, and Emma couldn’t stand the thought of Annie—which is what Emma decided to call her because she was little and orphaned—being left at the clinic all alone.

Emma headed into the kitchen, placed the carrier on the counter, and grabbed some dinner for Daisy. Now that the dog was occupied chowing down, she turned to the puppy.

She set the carrier on the kitchen floor and opened it. Annie sniffed at the carrier opening for a few minutes, then not so gracefully tumbled out. Daisy, having already gobbled her bowl of food in about two bites, scrambled over to give Annie a sniff. She licked Annie’s face, which caused the pup to fall flat on her face.

“Daisy. Gentle,” Emma admonished. “She’s just a baby.”

Though she wouldn’t be for long. Emma scooped Annie up and gave her some love. She was trembling. “Poor little thing. Who would abandon you?”

Sometimes, people just sucked. Emma knew that from experience.

She fed Annie, brought her and Daisy outside. While the dogs were out doing their thing, Emma took a few minutes to admire the stars and take a few deep breaths to relax and roll her shoulders.

It had been a good day. She hoped they were all going to be like this.

The dogs came running back, so she let them in and locked the door. Emma put the pup back into her carrier. Annie curled up onto the blanket and went right to sleep. She was totally adorable. And Emma was not going to keep her, no matter how much the cute little thing pulled at Emma’s heartstrings. She hoped someone coming into the clinic would adopt her. She made a mental note to have Rachel post Annie’s picture and a notice on the bulletin board in the waiting room tomorrow.

In the meantime, Annie’s carrier could sit next to Emma’s bed tonight.

After heating up a rather unappetizing frozen dinner, washed down with a cheap glass of chardonnay, she grabbed the bottle and glass and headed into the bathroom, poured some great-smelling lavender gel into the tub and turned on the water.

Daisy came into the bathroom, sniffed at the steam rising up from the tub, looked up at Emma, and burped.

“Love you, too, punkin,” Emma said as she undressed and climbed into the tub. She grabbed her glass of wine and sank into the water up to her neck with an audible sigh.

Now this was the way to end the day. She took a few sips, and even though it wasn’t the finest vintage, it tasted good going down, relaxing her tired, stressed body. She set the glass on the edge of the tub and closed her eyes, replaying the events of the day.

She’d had a lot of clients—more than she thought she’d have. She’d been afraid they’d go elsewhere for veterinary care, but with only one other clinic in town, it was comfortable to stay with the familiar, even if there was a new doctor running it. Though she’d been gone a lot of years, she wasn’t a stranger—she had at least grown up in Hope. Her family was known. That helped.

And then there’d been Luke McCormack, the very attractive police officer.

No. She was naked in the bathtub and thinking about a hot man in uniform. What the hell was wrong with her? She did not want to go there.

She paused, about to shut down the thoughts, and sat up in the tub, reaching for her wine to take a long swallow.

How long had it been since she’d even thought about a man, let alone been out with one? How long had it been since one had even interested her?

She thought back to the practice she’d worked at in South Carolina. She hadn’t dated anyone there. No one had even remotely sparked her interest. Even further back, there’d been school. Who had time to date while in vet school? It was like living a nightmare. Nonstop classes and tests and clinicals and no sleep. There’d definitely been no men in her life then unless they’d been study partners, and they’d been as exhausted and stressed as she’d been.

The last time she’d had a man in her life had been . . .

Ugh. That was so long ago, and he’d been her nightmare. She refused to think about him ever again.

But today . . . now . . . she’d thought about a man. A very attractive, very sexy man. Was that such a bad thing?

She might not want to have a man in her life, and she might not have one in her master plan for right now, but that didn’t mean she shouldn’t allow herself to think about one. She was human, after all. And a woman.

She had the right to fantasize, dammit. A sexual reawakening was a good thing.

Her phone rang. She wrinkled her nose, pondered ignoring it, but knew better. It would just ring again. And again, until she picked up. She wiped her hand on the washcloth and grabbed the phone from the edge of the bathroom counter, already knowing who it was.

“Hi, Mom.”

“You knew it was me, didn’t you? How was your first day? I was going to drop in, but when I drove by, the parking lot was full so I didn’t want to bother you. I’m so excited for you, Emma. I knew you were going to be a huge success. Dad says hi, by the way.”

So much for relaxation. Her mother was a tornado of energy, both physically and verbally. “It went great.”

“We should have had balloons and a big grand opening.”

“It’s not a retail establishment, Mom. It’s a veterinary clinic. No balloons. When they pop, the animals will swallow them. Bad for the intestines.”

“Oh, that’s right. Still, I think you need a grand opening. It won’t hurt to draw in more customers. You need to advertise, Emma. I already told you we’ll help with that. You have to push, push, push to be successful.”

Push was her mother’s middle name.

“And I already told you that Dr. Weston had plenty of customers. Let me see who we get back first. Word of mouth is the best way to draw in clients.”

“Whatever you think is best. For now. We’ll talk more about that when you come over for dinner on Sunday. Tell me all about your day.”

Emma stared longingly at her empty wineglass while she filled her mother in on her first day. She loved her mother, but Georgia Burnett was a force to be reckoned with and rarely took no for an answer once she had an idea in her head. She was opinionated, stubborn, and one of the strongest women Emma had ever known. They’d butted heads from the time Emma was a child.