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Shutting the door, I got in the drivers’ side, did my belt up and turned the engine on.

“Let’s go,” Ty said, jumping into the passenger side.

“Huh?” I looked at him confused.

“To the vets?” I just sat there and stared at him. He was coming with us?

“Yeah,” he said with raised brows.

“Oh, right.” Clearing my throat, I wiped my hands on my jeans and did a U-turn. I’d never drove with Ty sat in the passenger seat and it made me nervous. Made me more aware of how I drove, I felt like he was watching my every move.

“Where’s Evan?” Eli asked.

“He’s gone back to the warehouse, bud.”

“Oh.” Looking into the rear view mirror, I watched as Eli turned in his seat trying to see the dog again.

“Will he be okay?”

“He should be, bud, let’s get him to the vets and they will know,” Ty told him.

“Where is the vets?” I asked, not knowing where I was going.

“Take the next left and go to the end of the road and then take a right,” he said, waving his hands about in the air. Why do people do that? They could never just say it, they always had to act it out with their hands as well.

“Okay.” I followed his directions and looked at him confused when we got there; thinking that was the end of his directions.

I was wrong, so wrong.

Fifteen minutes later, we finally got there after many, many more directions. I should have just let him drive, it would have been so much easier.

“I’ll go inside and get someone to help us,” Ty said and pushed out of the car as Eli undid his belt.

“Can I go see him, mama?”

“Yeah.” I nodded.

We got out and walked around to the back of the truck, pulling the tailgate down. The dog hobbling closer to us and lay down.

I stroked the dogs head when he moved closer, trying to comfort him as he whined. It broke my heart to see him in so much pain. Looking down at Eli, his face marred with a frown, I said. “It’ll be okay.” Not knowing whether I was talking to Eli, me or the dog.

Ty came back out a couple of minutes later with someone following behind him. Stepping back, I pulled Eli with me while we waited for them to get the dog down, before following them inside.

They went straight into a private room so we stayed back and waited in the reception area. Picking Eli up, I sat him on my lap and we waited.

I could hear his whines from out here and each one was more upsetting than the last. Finally, they stopped and that’s when I blew out a relieved breath, hoping that he would be okay now.

It was dark by the time Ty came out of the room, he stood with his hands on his hips and I watched as his chest moved on a deep exhale. Lifting his head, he met my eyes and smiled gently.

“He’ll be okay,” he said to me as he moved closer, then crouched down to Eli. “All stitched up.”

“He better now?” Eli asked wriggling in my arms. Letting him down, he sat on Ty’s knee and wrapped his arms around his neck.

“Yeah, bud.” He smiled.

“What happens now?” I asked.

“He’ll probably go to the nearest animal shelter when he’s better.”