Amy Woods - Puppy Love For The Veterinarian

“Whoa, there. Hang on just a minute. Let’s start at the beginning. How does that sound?” He clasped his hands in front of his abdomen and gave her some space.

The woman stopped speaking and pulled up her hat, which had fallen down into her face, nearly covering what he now saw were large, green—a very lovely green, in fact—eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said, pushing out a puff of air. She reached out a gloved hand in Ethan’s direction and he took it, startled to discover how cold it was.

She must be absolutely frozen from head to toe. He’d checked the thermometer that afternoon and, even before the sun had gone down, the temperature was below freezing. If he hadn’t let her in, she might have been in real trouble. His semester in Alaska had taught him plenty about the dangers of extreme cold, and even though they were in Texas, which was generally mild, the hazards were the same if one wasn’t careful. It didn’t matter that the weather was out of the norm; it simply was, and therefore caution would need to be observed.

He hadn’t anticipated things getting so bad, and hadn’t much of a chance to pay attention to the forecast other than his brief check on the internet as he’d scarfed down a sandwich earlier, but now he could see plainly that the winter storm the meteorologists predicted had escalated quickly.

The woman pumped his hand up and down a few times before letting it go. “I’m June. June Leavy. I came by on the slim chance that Dr. Singh might still be here this late, and, well, I didn’t really know what else to do.”

“I’m Dr. Singh,” Ethan said, doing his best to offer a warm smile despite feeling anything but.

The woman—June—narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to study him, chuckling softly. “Wow, Dr. Singh, I have to say, you look like you’ve stumbled upon the elusive fountain of youth.”

Ethan had to laugh at that. Most folks, unless their pets were ill or aging, only came in for annual checkups and vaccinations. It made sense that the senior Dr. Singh would not have had a chance to inform all clients of his winter vacation plans.

“No, I mean, I am Dr. Singh, but perhaps not the one you’d hoped to find. I’m his son Ethan.”

June’s face visibly relaxed as realization hit and she nodded, then proceeded to remove her gloves and hat. As she grasped her lapels and moved to take off her coat, Ethan noticed the bit of roundness at her middle and the thought crossed his mind that she might be pregnant. “Here, let me help you with that,” he said, taking her coat.

He couldn’t help but catch the subtle, sweet scent of her hair as he pulled the red fabric from her shoulders. Like melon, he thought. Odd that he should even notice. Odder still he should notice that it tumbled down her shoulders in soft, auburn waves, framing a face, he could see after he’d turned back from hanging her coat on an iron rack near the door, that was rosy from the cold and, well, quite lovely.

June smiled, and it occurred to Ethan that she was aptly named. Her skin was as bright as sunshine and the curve of her wide mouth heated his insides, head to toe. Her eyes were lively and warm like summer, although…her smile didn’t quite reach them.

Not that he cared, though. Pure observation—like you’d get from any good scientist.

“Thank you,” she said. “Now, as I was saying, I drove here on my way home from work and my car broke down about, well, I don’t really know how far away, but it sure seemed like a long distance.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if willing calm. “Anyway, I’m here now and you’re here, thank goodness.”

Ethan must have looked confused, and that would make sense because he definitely was. He was glad to help if she was stranded. Perhaps he could call a tow truck for her and let her stay to wait out the storm, but other than that, he wasn’t at all sure why she’d been headed this way in the first place.

When she stopped speaking, he took the chance to ask, “Is there something I can do to help you, Miss Leavy?”

“Actually, yes, there is. At least, I hope so.”

His heart seemed to speed up as she bit her bottom lip and reached into the pocket of her sweatshirt with both hands. Not that he thought she would pull out a weapon, per se, but because he knew instinctively that nothing she might reveal would be easy to deal with. And what he wanted at that moment, and more than that, for his life in general right then, was just that—simplicity.

But that was simply not in the cards.

So when June Leavy pulled two shivering black-and-white puppies out of her pocket and held them out to show him why she’d driven to his office, walked an unknown distance in a freak snowstorm and nearly pounded down the door, all Ethan Singh could do was sigh.

As June stared at the junior Dr. Singh awaiting a response, the skin between his brows bunched into a frown over eyes that were cool and impassable, despite what she’d just revealed, making it impossible to determine what he thought of her unannounced arrival on his doorstep. Or rather, their arrival.

She knew it was late, that it would be an inconvenience to stop in without even a phone call when the veterinary office had closed over an hour before, but she didn’t know what else to do with the two little bundles. She didn’t know this man—Ethan, he’d said—but she knew his father, a kind, attentive doctor whose smiles could soothe even the saddest of children when their pets were sick, and for now, that was enough to give her hope that maybe that man’s son wouldn’t turn her, or her little charges, away on such an awful night.

June hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath until he reached out both hands to take the puppies from her. Letting the air slowly from her lungs, she watched as he tucked them under his arms the same way she had when she’d discovered them in the alley.

“We need to get them warmed up,” he said, getting right to business. Ethan turned from where they still stood near the door and lifted a shoulder to motion for her to follow as he headed toward the examination rooms.

June had been in this office many times when her beloved cat reached his twilight years. Being there again caused memories to resurface that she hadn’t prepared for when she’d made the impulsive decision to stop in, hoping someone would be there to save two little lives. Trailing behind the doctor, she focused instead on the waves of dark hair that just brushed the collar of his white coat and the broad span of his shoulders. Something about the look of him—the stormy but not unkind dark eyes, the beautiful shade of his skin, like black tea with a bit of milk stirred in, and his height, which had to be considerable to reach well over her own six feet—worked to unravel the tight ball that had formed in her belly.

Driving there in what now seemed to be a full-blast snowstorm was one of the scariest things June had ever done. It was lucky that she knew the roads as well as she did, having lived in Peach Leaf her whole life; otherwise, she wasn’t sure there would have been much of a chance of making it this far, not to mention the likelihood that she and the puppies would not have survived if they’d stayed in the car. And until the extreme weather passed, it was impossible to tell what had caused her old lemon to die. Terror had struck when the engine coughed and gave up, the snow coming down so hard as the wind blew fiercely that she could barely see a foot in front of her. She’d followed the road as best she could and somehow, thankfully, had made it to the office.

What was probably only half a mile or so had become a nearly impossible journey until the glass door of the clinic came into view. And now there she was. There hadn’t been time to mull over the next step—how she would get home with no working vehicle, especially with the weather throwing such a fit.