Page 32 of Unyielding (Poplar Springs #3)

THIRTY-TWO

DECLAN

I went back inside and started cleaning up the exam room, wiping everything down and getting the equipment put away. My mind was still on poor Bailey and my parents.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Ruth asked.

I spun around and saw that she was frowning at me in the doorway with her arms crossed tightly across her chest.

Something was wrong, and whatever it was, judging from the look on her face, it was my fault.

“Of course, what’s going on?”

We walked into my office and Ruth leaned against the table across from me. “What happened with your parents and Bailey?”

“Yeah, that .” I rolled my eyes. “She got into their groceries for the fourth or fifth time. They told me she ate chocolate but left out that it was white chocolate until I was about to start treating her with activated charcoal. She’s fine, although I’m sure I’ll hear from them once the diarrhea kicks in with the high fat content of what she ate. ”

She pursed her lips. “I couldn’t help but overhear some of it.”

I winced. “I guess I got a little loud. Just frustrated with them, you know?”

“Oh, I know,” she agreed. “I know too well how frustrating folks can be. And it makes things more complicated when you’ve got personal history playing into the situation.

But the point is, they shouldn’t know when you’re frustrated.

Not here, when you’re acting as their vet.

You let yourself get upset and it showed.

You’re lucky we didn’t have any other patients here at the same time. ”

I winced. Yeah, that wouldn’t have been a great thing for other patients to overhear. But still… “I hear what you’re saying, but they’re my parents and sometimes, I feel like being very direct with them is the only way I can get them to hear me.”

“Doesn’t matter.” She waved her hand to cut me off.

“This is a small town, and before too long your clients are going to start feeling as familiar as family too. And that’s wonderful.

That’s how I want our clients to feel about our practice.

But no matter how close you get to these folks, you always, always need to stay professional when you’re on the job.

No matter how pissed off they make you. And trust me, they will!

It’s still amazing to me that people think that Dr. Google knows more than me, and don’t get me started about when they use AI to diagnose whatever’s going on with their pet.

But that’s a chat for another time. My point is, you have to keep your cool. ”

“You’re right ...”

“Never forget your professionalism when there’s an animal between you and the human. Now, I don’t suspect you’d ever get that hot with most folks, but I gotta be honest with you, the fact that you did lose it like that concerns me.”

I tried not to squirm in my seat. This was the second time I’d fucked up in under a month. My track record with Ruth was quickly going to hell.

“Yeah, my temper gets the best of me when it comes to my family. They’re a lot. But I promise you our clients will never see that side of me. It won’t happen again.”

“I expect it won’t. I’m not above admitting that I’ve had my own run ins and shouting matches with my own family, but I draw the line when I’m in vet mode.” She gave me a curt head bob. “You know, if I were the type of person to keep score, you’d be falling down the leaderboard fast.”

I tried to keep my expression neutral.

“I don’t know why I keep letting these things slide, Dr. Morris,” she continued. “Maybe I’m tired. Or maybe I just have a good feeling about you. But that leniency is going to go poof if you don’t straighten up and fly right. Got it?”

She pointed her finger at me and narrowed her eyes.

“Of course,” I said solemnly. “Again, my apologies.”

“Accepted and appreciated. I’m going to head out for the day. Can you handle everything here?”

“Yup, I planned to. I have to finish writing up some notes for the files and make a few follow-up calls.”

Ruth packed up her things quickly, leaving me alone with my thoughts.

It felt like everything was upside down in my life.

I couldn’t stop fucking up my one shot at taking over the practice, and then there was Shannon.

Even after the incredible time we’d had in her barn loft, things still felt…

off. I’d been thrown by the way she’d gotten so upset about Becca, almost like she thought there was something going on between us.

She seemed insecure about it, which was odd considering Shannon was one of the most self-assured people I’d ever met.

She’d explained some of the problems she’d had with Becca in the past, but that was in school.

Surely Becca wasn’t continuing this behavior more than ten years later?

It wasn’t as if they were in competition for clients given the very different types of horses they bred.

It was just bad luck that it’d been Becca I’d called on when the truth was that it was the work I’d put first and not any particular client.

I wanted something real with Shannon, and the only way it was going to happen was if I could buy out Ruth’s practice.

With the way things were going and how damn particular Ruth was, it was feeling less and less likely. I closed my eyes and rubbed my face.

The ring from my phone made me jump. I groaned when I saw the caller display. It was my sister, and after my parents’ visit, I’d already had about enough of my family.

“Hey,” I said warily.

“Is Bailey okay?” she asked in a worried voice. “Mom and Dad said she was in really bad shape.”

“Dahlia, come on, you know how they exaggerate. Bailey is absolutely fine and will continue to be unless our parents keep leaving stuff for her to get into on the floor. I don’t know how many times I’ve cautioned them not to leave anything resembling food where she can get at it.

Bailey is an absolute vacuum when she thinks it might be something to eat. ”

“I’m glad she’ll be okay. I was worried about her.” I noticed she didn’t comment on my other worry… well, rant.

I thought about broaching our mom’s forgetfulness again, but I didn’t have the energy to try to convince Dahlia that it was something we needed to look into.

“Do you need anything else?” I asked instead. “Sorry, but I’m a little busy trying to finish up for the day.”

“Yeah, uh, now that you mention it, did you have any luck finding those rubber gloves I asked about?”

I’d completely forgotten to look into it, but then again, my focus was supposed to be on my job and not tracking down a supplier for one of my sister’s school art projects.

“Honestly, I’m up to my eyeballs in work. I bet you could find a decent price online, probably just as good as what I’d pay through the practice.”

“Okay, I’ll give it a shot. Did I tell you what I’m having the kids do with them?”

I braced my chin on my hand and settled in to have a good listen, staring at my laptop screen as the numbers started to swim.