Page 1 of Healing Her Cowboys (Silver Creek Ranch #6)

Chapter One

R eese fidgeted in her seat, trying not to run for her life. She was trapped between a woman holding a red parrot and a coffee-colored hound dog sniffing her favorite New Balance shoes.

The dog owner seemed too preoccupied with an issue of Time magazine to care about his shoe-loving canine.

Waiting rooms already made Reese nervous. Being stuck in a packed one for pets made her even more stir-crazy.

She was a nurse to humans for a reason. Animals freaked her out. Too many late-night YouTube videos were enough to solidify her decision to never care for animals or own a pet. She was fine by herself.

“Are you here to see Dr. August?” the woman with the parrot asked. The parrot chose that moment to stare at her with its owner. Its eyes were black and lifeless. Her eyes were so pale blue that they were almost colorless. They made a creepy pair.

“Uh, yeah,” Reese said, eyeing the bird carefully. She didn’t trust the thing one bit.

“You didn’t bring your precious one with you?”

“My precious one?” Reese looked at her, confused as hell. What was she in? Lord of the Rings: Pet Edition ?

“Your animal, honey,” the woman said, gesturing to the other people in the waiting room.

Reese realized everyone had some animal with them. A lizard here. A cat pawing at its cage over there. She was the only one pet-free.

It didn’t even bother her that she was the only one with even a hint of melanin in her genes. The random animals were what set her on alert. All she needed was for one of those animals to break free of their owner, and she was bolting for the exit. Meeting be damned.

“Oh, no. I don’t have pets,” she finally said to the parrot owner.

The woman looked her up and down as if she were an oddity. “Really?”

“Really.” Reese hoped that turning away would end the conversation. It did, but she could still feel the woman’s eyes boring into the side of her head.

Reese hated medical facilities, and the irony wasn’t lost in her. That’s why she preferred home health and rehabilitation nursing jobs.

This waiting room reminded her too much of a doctor’s office. She was prepared to have a meeting with her old friend who was now a veterinarian. Reese wasn’t expecting to wait an hour past her appointment time, and she was getting anxious.

The administrative lady at the front desk eyed her funny from behind the clear-plated glass when she signed in for the appointment. She was a woman with silver-white hair tied back into a bun, and she seemed far past gone from the job she was working at.

“Ms. Divine?” The receptionist said. “Dr. August will see you now.”

Reese stood up so fast that she almost tripped over the hound dog.

“Sorry,” she said to the owner. “Excuse me.”

The man finally looked away from his magazine. All he did was nod before going back to his office reading material. She actually felt sorry for the dog.

The receptionist opened the door for Reese to come through. Although the hallway was narrow, it was decorated with endless pictures of animals. They were mostly dogs and cats, but a few exotics like snakes and lizards were thrown into the mix.

A sweet and spicy scent circled through the hallway as they walked to the back.

As Reese breathed it in, the smell calmed her from the inside out. It got stronger after the receptionist opened an office door.

“Dr. August will be with you shortly,” the receptionist said, ushering her in before closing the door behind her.

Reese stood in the empty room. She spotted the diffuser right away.

The scent filled the small space and contrasted with the aesthetics.

May’s office was just as bright and cheery as she was.

Plants stood in every corner of the room but were still visible to the sunlight that shone through the windows.

On the shelf behind her desk were pictures of May and her husband Jason smiling and enjoying multiple vacations. France, Italy, Ireland, Australia, and even India were all represented.

Another reminder that Reese could be traveling far away from her home state of Virginia.

The door opened as May glided through it. “Reese! I’m so sorry to keep you waiting.” She pulled Reese into a long and tight hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you too, May.” Reese did miss her old college roommate, but they saw each other at least once a year when she came back.

May pulled away first. “Why didn’t you call Nina or me so one of us could go with you? You know we would have been there for you.”

Reese smiled and nodded. “I know. I just needed to see them this year alone. It was something I had to do by myself.”

May watched her. “Is there something different about this year?”

Reese sighed. “I’m considering extending my travel contract for longer this time.”

“What? We only see you when you come back to visit them. You know we want to see you too, right?”

“I know. You both are the only friends I have from college. The only friends I have at all. It just gets harder each year, you know?”

May hugged her tighter this time. “I can’t imagine losing my parents, so I have no idea what you’re feeling. But you know we’ll always be your family.”

“I know that. It just gets harder to come back every year.” She had replaced the flowers at her parents’ gravesite like she did every year on their wedding anniversary. She refused to celebrate the day they left her. Still, visiting them this time hit her differently.

“Then maybe move back here and you won’t have to visit,” May said. “You can’t be ready to leave Hampton Roads yet.”

Reese looked at the floor to avoid May’s scrutiny. The woman could read her face in the dark. Her two friends could sense her emotions since she was bad at hiding them.

“You’re already packed up?” May asked.

“I’m leaving Virginia for longer this time. I only stopped by because you sounded desperate.”

May grabbed her hands and pulled her into a seat next to her. “I am desperate. I need your help, and I don’t know anyone else who can do it.”

“That can’t be true. Your husband literally works across the hall. You heal the animals, and he heals the humans. You’re like a superhuman medical duo.”

“He needs your time for this one too, and I promise we’ll pay you for it.”

Reese crossed her arms. She was afraid to ask more, but curiosity still got the best of her. “I know it’s serious if you’re clocking my hours for it. Do I have to babysit a crazy old woman or something?”

“How about a handsome veteran living here in Williamsburg instead?” May said with a sly smile.

“Don’t think I missed that you left out if he was crazy.”

May shook her head. “You know I hate that term. We all have baggage. Brik Dunn is no exception.”

Reese knew she wasn’t leaving that office without agreeing to whatever May needed help with. She wasn’t a pushover to anyone else but her friends. Like May said, they were her family, and she couldn’t turn down family.

It sounded simple enough. All she had to do was oversee the man’s home exercises with his new prosthetic. She hadn’t renewed her travel nursing contract yet, so she had the time.

Maybe it would help her figure out what she wanted to do next. Visiting her parents’ graves in Norfolk every year only reminded her how lonely her life was when she stopped to think about it.

“Fine,” Reese said, standing up. “Have Jason send me information on the patient and his address. I’ll head over after I check out.”

“Hey,” May said before Reese could leave. “I know your parents are as proud of you as we are. I don’t doubt that one bit.”

Reese nodded. “Thanks.” As she walked back through the sea of animals and their owners, she did her best to remember the empty hotel room where no one waited for her.