Page 14 of Falling For Her Cowboy (Silver Creek Ranch #9)

Chapter Eight

“ H ey, Doc, would you mind taking a peek at this X-ray?” Heath asked from Ridge’s office door. The experienced vet tech had been with Ridge for a few years now, and if he was asking for Ridge to look at something right away, that didn’t sound good.

Ridge had only just sat down after seeing countless patients in the office.

He and Faith had been extremely busy with a flood of appointments.

From dog attacks to an emergency C-section of a goat that had been brought in, to sick guinea pigs to a wellness check for a goose. It had been one hell of a day.

“Sure thing.” Ridge pushed up from his chair and followed Heath through the halls of the clinic toward the radiology area.

He had just heated up his coffee for the third time, and it looked as if it was going to go cold again.

Maybe it just wasn’t meant for him to drink his much-needed caffeine source. “What do we have?”

“A golden was brought in. The parents said he hadn’t been eating and they thought he was in pain.

Dr. Giles was to see him, but she got pulled into an emergency surgery.

I went ahead and did the X-ray, but I needed someone to look at it.

” Heath gave a few more details of the case as they arrived at the reading room.

The film was already up for Ridge to review, and he immediately saw the issue.

“Hmm…” He folded his arms and took another second to make sure he wasn’t missing anything else, but he already knew the problem. “How old is the dog?”

“A little over a year,” Heath answered.

“Well, it would look like our patient has been a bad boy. He’s eaten something he shouldn’t have.

” Ridge pointed to the foreign object that shouldn’t be inside the retriever.

The dog’s stomach had tried to pass it along, but it was now stuck in the intestines, and that was why the animal wasn’t eating and the parents were correct.

He was probably in a world of pain. Looked like Ridge was about to scrub in for surgery.

“Where are they? I’ll go speak with them now. ”

“Thanks. They are in room four. Want me to get the other OR suite ready?” Heath would be assisting on the case.

“Please.” Ridge slapped Heath on the shoulder and walked through the busy clinic. He arrived at the golden’s room and pushed open the door. “Hey there, family.”

He introduced himself and could see the worry on the couple’s face. The dog was lying on the floor, panting in obvious pain. He went over the X-ray with the parents.

“When can the surgery be done? Our kids will go insane if something happen to Jimbo.” The woman sniffed. She reached up and wiped a lone tear from her eye.

“I have time now. This would be considered an emergency. With the object being positioned in the bowel, Jimbo won’t be able to pass this.

Not taking this out will lead to extreme pain, sepsis, and eventually death.

” Ridge had to be careful when speaking with families about their beloved animals, but he was going to be honest. Animals were brought in all of the time having eaten something they shouldn’t.

“This would be standard surgery, and with Jimbo being young, I don’t foresee any possible complications, but they can happen.

Jimbo will be running around and eating again within a few days. ”

“Okay, please. Do whatever you have to do to save our pup. He’s like our third child,” the man said.

“Doc, we trust you. Please take care of our baby.” The woman reached down and gave Jimbo a pat on his head.

Ridge offered a small smile at the dog’s tail waving slightly. That was a good sign.

“We certainly will. Just give us a few minutes, and Heath will be back here to get Jimbo.”

Ridge shook both of their hands then left.

He shut the door and made his way back toward the surgical suites.

He paused at his phone buzzing in his pocket.

He pulled it out and read a message from his father asking for him to come check in on a new calf that was born today with a deformed snout.

He quickly responded and continued on. After his surgery, he could head out to the ranch.

It had been two days since his dinner with Melah, and she hadn’t been far from his mind. The kiss they’d shared had done something to him. Her soft lips and the sound of her moan when he’d backed her up against the truck had replayed in his mind repeatedly.

Well, if you want to do it again, you can.

Her words echoed in his head. He wanted to do more than kiss her. What he wanted may even scare her. He could see the slight hesitation in her. He wasn’t sure what had happened to her, but he’d have to be careful, let her set her own pace with them.

And there would be a ‘them’.

Her desire for him was evident. She felt the connection between them. There was no doubt with the way she’d initiated their first kiss.

Ridge entered the suite. Heath had everything set up for him. Unfortunately for Jimbo, there would be no endoscopy procedure to extract whatever it was he’d eaten. That would have been ideal if the object had remained in his stomach. Ridge was going to have to open him up to get the object out.

“I’m going to go ahead and bring Jimbo back,” Heath said.

Ridge figured he’d do a little work while Heath grabbed Jimbo.

He quickly logged in and answered a few emails.

Pretty soon, Heath had Jimbo in the room and up on the surgical table.

The poor pup whimpered, and Ridge’s heart went out to him.

This was what he had always dreamed of when he was a kid.

Helping sick animals had always been close to his heart.

He moved over to the table to help Heath get an IV line placed so they could administer fluids and the medication that would sedate the animal while Ridge worked.

Once the pup was asleep, they quickly began. Surgery didn’t take long, and Ridge had to chuckle when he pulled the foreign object out of the pup’s intestines.

“Well, Jimbo, your mother is going to be shocked when she sees what you ate.”

Jimbo had consumed a woman’s small underwear—a thong to be exact.

“Oh my.” Heath laughed.

He shook his head and offered a sterile silver bowl for Ridge to drop the underwear in. They’d bag it up and give it to the family later if they wanted it. Some families liked to keep the items removed from their pets as keepsakes, and Ridge was sure they also used them for conversation starters.

“Can’t say we haven’t seen this before. I just hope it’s the mom’s and not anyone else’s.”

Ridge drove on the Silver Creek Ranch and inhaled sharply.

The fresh air flowing through the open windows gave him his second wind.

Fatigue had set in, but he was going to have to ignore it for now.

After discussing the outcome of Jimbo’s surgery with the parents, he’d had to see two more patients before he’d been able to leave to go out to the ranch.

He called his father to find out where the new calf was located so he could go check him out.

“Hey, Ridge. Are you on the ranch?” Andy’s gravelly voice came onto the line.

“Yeah. I just got here. Where is the calf?” Ridge ran a hand along his face and grimaced from the amount of stubble that greeted him. At the rate he was going, he should let it keep growing and see what he looked like with a beard.

“He’s out in the southern pasture. Melah is with him. The momma rejected him and tried to hurt him,” Andy said.

Ridge sighed. It was always a trying case when the new mommas rejected their babies. It could be because of the deformity or just the momma didn’t bond with the calf when it was born.

“I’m on my way.” Ridge disconnected the call and increased his speed.

He wasn’t sure if it was to get to the animal or to see Melah.

Just the thought of being near her again sent his heart racing.

His grip tightened on the steering wheel as he guided the vehicle in the direction of the pasture Melah and the calf were.

He slowed down a bit and drove along the dirt road, trying to catch sight of Melah.

He finally spotted her sitting on the ground with a black form in front of her.

He killed the engine and got out. He went around to the back where his bag was and snagged it.

He wasn’t sure what to expect but wanted to take his travel supplies with him.

There were plenty of times he’d had to do impromptu procedures on the ranch.

He stalked toward Melah, and his heart stuttered. She reached up and wiped her face with the back of her arm.

Was she crying?

Had the calf died?

He picked up speed.

She turned and glanced over her shoulder. A small smile came to her lips. “Hey there, Doc.”

“Is everything okay?” Ridge immediately dropped next to her and placed his bag down.

The physician in him assessed the calf the moment he laid eyes on him.

Its body looked normal. Sizing was good.

He appeared healthy except for his face.

His snout was tilted to the side, and there was a gap between his lip and the inside of his mouth.

“Yeah. I just got really emotional watching the mom kick and push him away. She wouldn’t allow him to nurse.” Another tear slid down her face as she rubbed her hand along the calf’s neck. She lifted the half-empty bottle. “I figured I’d try to get him to eat something.”

“Did he drink any?” Ridge reached for the calf.

The small black cow tried to pull away, but Ridge kept a firm grip on him.

He did a quick peek at his eyes and opened his mouth so he could check inside.

It didn’t seem as if there were any other issues with the calf besides the gap and the twisted snout.

“A bit. He seemed to get tired, so I was giving him a break,” Melah said.