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“ W ell, I think I can safely say that Fillmore here is the very image of perfect health. Isn’t that right, Fillmore?”

Fillmore waved his sorry excuse for a tail happily, his long tongue lolling.

Chloe had been telling the truth – he was in perfect health. With his scraggly teeth, patchy fur, and raggedy ears he probably wouldn’t be winning any beauty pageants any time soon – but he was still a perfect dog.

“Did you hear that, Fillmore?” Fillmore’s person, Luna, asked him as she scooped him up into her arms. “Dr. Chloe here says that you’re in perfect health.”

“He clearly has good people looking after him,” Chloe said truthfully. Luna was Henry’s mate, and Chloe knew that the two of them absolutely doted on Fillmore.

He was also incredibly spoiled, traveling the world with Henry and Luna as part of Luna’s work as a travel writer. That dog was better traveled than Chloe was!

The three of them had just arrived back from a month-long journey around Scandinavia, with a trip to Malta on the side. Chloe had to admit that she was a bit jealous… but then, she had her own perfect life right here.

Still, just because she loved life in Girdwood Springs, it didn’t mean that she wasn’t making travel plans for the future! She’d devoted so much of her life to study and then work that she hadn’t really had much opportunity to go anywhere.

And doing new things was sounding a lot more exciting, now that she could share the experience with the person she loved.

The person I love, she thought again giddily. The one who was meant for me.

Even now, four months after their adventure with Curtis, it still felt like the first time they’d met. Every morning when she woke up next to Ethan, she got those same new-love butterflies in her stomach.

She really couldn’t believe that she would have this for the rest of her life. It was beyond her wildest dreams.

Fillmore tilted his head at her expectantly, blinking his oversized brown eyes, and Chloe laughed.

“Sorry, buddy! Got lost in my thoughts for a moment there. You’re all good to go.” She smiled at Luna. “My exceptionally talented receptionist will get you sorted out.”

“Thanks, Chloe,” Luna said, smiling back. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

Luna and Fillmore left the room, and Chloe started entering Fillmore’s notes and cleaning up.

As tempting as it was to go out and join the others, she ran an impeccably tight ship, and didn’t want anything hanging over her head that would need to be done later. This was her business, and she was ultimately responsible for all of it – and she wanted it to be as good as possible.

Once she was done, she headed out into the reception area, where everyone was waiting for her.

“I feel like someone should be yelling ‘Surprise!’” she laughed.

It wasn’t a surprise party at all, of course – it was the official opening party for Girdwood Springs Animal Hospital, which she was very much aware of, having organized much of it. Or a re-opening party, she supposed.

And sure, it was technically a few months late, but it had seemed like the best option.

The time had gone by in a blur, the pressures of running a new business after having moved across the country and taken a tumble off a cliff, not to mention spending a lot of time with Ethan, keeping her flat-out busy.

It had felt best to give everyone some time to get settled in before throwing the party.

The other reason, of course, was that it gave Sylvie and her mate Gale the opportunity to attend, now that baby Lily was three months old.

Chloe hadn’t been able to stand the thought of intruding upon their time with their new baby, but she’d really wanted them to be able to come to the party as well. Sylvie had been so kind to her when she’d first arrived in town.

So in the end, it had been best to wait… and Chloe was glad that she’d had the chance to get settled in first. She was a part of the town, now, having been welcomed with open arms. It felt like home.

It was home.

Speaking of Sylvie and her family…

She looked around.

“Are Sylvie and Gale here yet?”

It seemed pretty obvious that they weren’t, given that there wasn’t a mass of people huddling around and cooing over the baby, but she wanted to be sure.

“Last I heard, they were still trying to get out of the house,” said Natasha, Kieran’s mate. “I’ve been getting updates from Sylvie for the past two hours. Every time they’re almost out the door, something happens.”

Eula laughed. “That’s babies for you. They’ll get here when they get here. Or possibly not at all.”

“Well, hopefully they’ll show up,” Chloe said with a smile. “Though I wouldn’t blame them if they just turned around and went back to sleep.”

She turned to where Ethan was sitting behind the reception desk, typing away.

“Are you going to join us any time soon, Mr. Workaholic?”

He looked up at her with his penetratingly blue eyes, his dark hair curling artfully, his shirt unbuttoned ever-so-tantalizingly at the collar, and she swallowed.

It would be unprofessional to jump him at our shared place of business, in front of all these nice people.

So why is he tempting me like this?!

She supposed that he couldn’t help it – he was just naturally jumpable.

He raised one perfect eyebrow. “So what were you doing in there for ten minutes, then, when you could’ve been joining the party?”

“That’s different!” she exclaimed. “That’s hygiene-related!”

“And this is financial hygiene,” he said smoothly. “You want the numbers to balance, right?”

“Fine,” she huffed. “But you’re all done now, aren’t you?”

She held out her hand to him, not giving him an option.

“I guess I am,” he said, grabbing her hand and standing up.

She hugged him for a moment, not feeling embarrassed about doing so in front of a room full of people. Everyone else here was the same with their mates. It was refreshing, being with people who were so open in showing their love and appreciation for others.

Still, as much as she could’ve happily spent the entire evening in Ethan’s arms, there were limits… and she really did want to say hello to everyone!

The room was packed full of people:

Henry and Luna, with Fillmore scrambling into Henry’s arms and lavishing his face with happy kisses.

Margot and her chimera shifter mate Levi, who seemed taciturn, but was really a friendly guy underneath it all.

Kira and her dragon mate Caleb, who was apparently busy planning some sort of gourmet food and film festival coming up later in the year.

Kieran and his mate Natasha, the latter of whom had been a godsend in terms of encouraging Ethan to drop the corporate mindset and embrace slower small-town living.

And there were her other friends, as well: Eula and Janie were here, as were Diana and Ash, with Bella dutifully accompanying them.

Even the Sugitas had accepted her invitation, looking relaxed and happy after their cruise.

She wanted them to see that she was taking good care of their business, and to thank them for providing her with this opportunity.

If she hadn’t taken over their clinic, her life would be very, very different right now.

Emily from the bakery was here as well, having brought plenty of food for everyone. She’d been covering while Sylvie was on maternity leave, though Chloe knew that Sylvie had been checking in regularly.

There was no need for Sylvie to be concerned, though – Emily was doing a great job, and Chloe hoped that Sylvie had been able to relax and just spend time with her new family.

And then there was Margot’s fluffy black cat, Monty, who was casually wandering around like he owned the place.

Margot had told Chloe that Monty was her magical familiar who could become invisible to certain people whenever he so chose, and Chloe had just gone with it. It made as much sense as anything else.

“You really have done a fantastic job here, darlin’,” Eula said, sidling up to her with a glass of sparkling wine in her hand and a twinkle in her eye.

“It’s been a team effort,” Chloe said truthfully. It was so much easier to run a business when you had half the town helping you out!

And Ethan had been absolutely invaluable.

Chloe had originally expected to be putting in long days in order to keep everything running smoothly, but with Ethan’s help, she’d been able to just focus primarily on animal care.

Not that she didn’t have to do some paperwork, but she had time to relax as well.

Life really was wonderful.

She shifted her gaze to look at the locket, which hung from a delicate chain that sat around Eula’s neck. It had been cleaned up and polished, and now had a brilliant silver gleam.

“You did a fantastic job with the necklace,” she said, indicating it. “It looks amazing.”

A thought occurred to her, and she continued, “Is the new chain strong enough? I’d hate for it to get lost again.”

I’m certainly not going to go rappelling down a cliff to fetch it again, that’s for sure. You’re on your own next time, Eula!

“Oh, don’t you worry about that,” Eula said with a grin. “Our friend Margot here put some kind of a spell on it. Location spell, she said. If it goes missing, I’ll know exactly where it is.”

“Well, that’s handy,” Chloe said, impressed. Maybe she could get Margot to cast the same spell on her keys.

“Dr. Fenwick!” came a booming voice behind her, and she turned to see the Sugitas approaching, drinks in hand.

“Thank you for rescuing our little vet clinic,” said Dr. Sugita, shaking her hand warmly. “We were worried that we would have to either shut down without someone to take over and leave Girdwood Springs without a vet, or never retire.”

“I should be thanking you ,” said Chloe, with genuine gratitude. “This clinic has been an absolute life-changer for me.”

“We love what you’ve done with the place!” exclaimed Mrs. Sugita. “We were here for so long that we didn’t notice how run-down it was getting.”