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Beth’s chest tightened.

“Unlock it.” She tapped on the screen, then held it up to Eli’s face without waiting for him to respond. “I’ll tell him you need to reschedule.”

Eli nodded. “Thank you.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

Beth fired off a quick response to Boone, explaining the situation. He responded immediately.

“Should he come inside?” she asked, relaying the younger Murphy’s request.

Eli shook his head. “Tell him to head back to his family. I’ll call him later.”

Beth sent the response, waited for Boone’s acknowledgment, and then dropped the phone back into Eli’s white coat pocket.

He sighed, set the syringe on a small silver tray, and spun to face Trudy and Frederick.

Eli cleared his throat. “Trudy…” he began, and the unspoken plea in his voice made Beth’s throat burn.

Don’t cry, she told herself. These people do not need you blubbering all over their moment. You’re a bystander. Possibly even an interloper. But you’re here, so keep it together.

Trudy straightened, her eyes meeting his. “Eli…” she countered. “Even if he survived the surgery, it would only be a temporary fix. The time it would take him to recover would be time enough for the tumor to start growing back. I can’t put him through all that suffering just for him to suffer more.” She reached a hand across the table and gave his upper arm a squeeze. “It’s sooner than we’d hoped, I know…” She trailed off, and a tear ran down her cheek. Still, she pressed her lips into a smile. “Thank you for all you’ve done for him throughout the years. He is so lucky to have had you to care for him all this time. We both are.”

All Eli seemed to be able to do was nod.

“Would you like to hold him?” he asked. “You can sit with him in the chair against the wall.”

Wordlessly, Trudy scooped the beagle into her arms, careful not to tug on the tube taped against his leg.

Frederick perked up long enough to give her a sloppy kiss on the chin.

Trudy laughed, and then Frederick nestled into her arms, his body relaxing as if ready for what was to come.

“It’ll be quick,” Eli told her. “He won’t be in pain anymore.” Despite the pain Beth knew he was in, Eli’s tone was now laced with the comfort his client and patient needed.

He rounded the metal table and set the tray on the side opposite the woman and her canine companion. Then he gently lifted the syringe and knelt in front of the chair.

“Don’t tell my other patients,” Eli cooed softly to Frederick, “but you’ve always been my favorite.” He scratched the pooch behind the ear, and Frederick simply blinked.

“He’s ready,” Trudy whispered. “So I guess that means I am too.”

Beth saw Trudy safely to her car.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

Trudy gave her a teary smile. “I got to love that crazy, toothless rascal for a decade of my life. I will miss him every day from here on out. But I meant what I said before. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Beth felt a tear trickle out of the corner of her eye, and she quickly swiped it away. “I’m sorry,” she explained. “I don’t know what came over me. It doesn’t make sense. I barely know you or Frederick, and I—”

Trudy grabbed her hand and made her stop short. “Sweetie, you don’t have to apologize for crying for my Frederick…or for me for that matter. This town is one big family, and like it or not, you’re a part of it while you’re here. Though you might be careful with your claim of not connecting with animals, because I think my little guy got to you.” She nodded toward the clinic. “He’s taking it harder than it looks. Losing patients is part of the deal for him, but this one might be the exception—other than Fury.”

The other woman didn’t wait for Beth to ask questions but instead climbed into her vehicle and slowly pulled away.

Beth spun slowly back toward the clinic’s front walkway, a sinking feeling in her stomach. How did she comfort someone from such a loss when she didn’t understand the first thing about how Eli felt? When she didn’t really know him at all? If Delaney was sad, a marathon of nineties Keanu Reeves movies always did the trick. She knew her sister. Knew how to be there for her, to love her. But how did she do that for someone she’d barely spoken to all week?

Ryan, the clinic’s tech, had finished with his feline teeth cleaning in time to collect Frederick and prep him for pickup by the crematorium, so she found Eli in his office, white coat on the back of his chair as he sat in only his scrubs, typing away at his laptop, a pen clenched between his teeth.

She knocked softly on the open door. “Hey there. Just wanted to check in. I canceled the rest of the day’s appointments and thought I would pop by to see how you were doing.”

Pop by? Ugh. Beth was the awkwardest awkward to ever awkward.