Raina
I wouldn’t have gotten into this line of work if I had wanted to have time to myself. When Rita and I had invested in this clinic, getting it cleaned up and turned into the practice that it was today, I had managed to convince myself that this would be a chance for me to set my own hours and take a little more time away from work. But in truth, with so much more on the line, it just made it harder for me to take a break and relax.
I was constantly running around, trying to make sure that everything was running smoothly and that we were going to make enough cash to get through the next few weeks, and that all our clients were receiving the best care that they possibly could as long as they were with us. It was hard, yes, but it was what I had always wanted. It was work on my own terms, and that work came along with a huge stack of responsibility, too.
I spent most of my day covered in cat scratches and dog hair, not to mention the occasional angry peck-mark left by a bird who wasn’t too happy about having to be brought in here in the first place. And I could say with certainty that I didn’t give a damn about any of that. I loved my job. I had loved my job before I’d ever started it, when I had taken my introductory course at college and met other people who were just as passionate as me. I adored animals—always had and always would—and the thought of getting to spend my time around them all day was the best thing I could think of in the world.
It had been at college that I had met Rita, too. She had the same outlook as me, the same passion, and it made me so happy to know that there were other people out there just like me. We stayed in touch when we had graduated, as we both took on tech jobs under more experienced clinicians, but it didn’t take long until both of us were jonesing for something that was a little more by our rules.
And that was how we came to open a place of our own.
It had been a couple of years now, and it had been hard when we had first been getting off the ground. Rita had been forced to cut her honeymoon short to make it back in time to take care of our first flurry of clients. We had built up a steady stream of people who trusted us and came back to us, no matter what, and they would never know just how fucking grateful we were for their returning here. In Portland, word of mouth was so important in getting anything like this off the ground, and we relied on it in the early days.
Those were far behind us now.
I cleaned up and got myself ready for the first arrival of the day, a bird who had managed to get caught in an electric fan and break its wing in the process. It was a delicate procedure to get it all fixed up and casted, but I managed it.
After that, we had a dopey dog who had eaten a shoe and managed to upset his stomach in the process. He needed some meds to make sure that he got it all out of him in one go without too much suffering. I scratched his head as he hopped off the table, and I couldn’t help but smile when I saw his owner scooping him up into her arms on the way out. The people who came here did it because they loved their animals just as much as we cared for them.
Next came a cat with a hurt leg, then thirty minutes for lunch, and then handling all the emergency intakes of the day—the pets who had managed to get themselves into trouble one way or another in the preceding few hours. I didn’t have to take on anything too upsetting, which was a relief.
I knew I was supposed to toughen up to this stuff the more time I spent in the industry, but that had never happened. In some ways, I hoped it never would. I felt like so much of my ability to actually do this job came from wanting to stop animals suffering, and if I stopped caring about that, then what motivation would I have to keep going?
I sent Hannah home as early as I could so she could rest up, and I cleaned up and prepared for the next day as best I could. By the time I stepped onto the train to take me back to my apartment, I was yawning so widely I could barely see.
I made it up the stairs to the little studio I lived in and crashed into bed. I had some frozen meals I could throw on the stove and cook, but I didn’t want to have to move for a little while. Sometimes, I was so tired that I wondered why I did this in the first place, but then I remembered the way the owner had happily scooped up her dog when she had been walking out, and I knew just why.
It was for the animals. And the good they did in the world. That was why I did it.
No matter how grueling it got, I owed it to them to give it my all, and I was going to keep doing that as long as I still could. Things might have gotten tricky, but I was committed.
And more than anything, I was glad that I could come home from work every day, confident that I had done some good in the world.
How many people got to say that?
Harry I went to pull the car out of the driveway. For once, it looked like we were actually going to make it to school on time. “Are you sure you have everything?” I asked Winnie again, certain that I was about to be caught up in my tracks and realize that we had forgotten something fundamental. “Harry, look out!” she shrieked at the top of her lungs. My eyes darted to the side mirror, and I saw something just behind the back wheel of the car—a little bundle of brown fluff, practically quivering in my line of vision. “What is that?” I muttered as I climbed out of the car to go check it out. I had no idea what had managed to get so close to the car this early in the day. We lived in a gated property, so whatever it was must have slithered in between a gap in the fence. Winnie was quick to follow me. I considered telling her to stay where she was, but I knew that wasn’t going to fly. She was too curious, just the way her mother had been. “Oh my gosh, it’s a dog!” she exclaimed as s
RainaAs soon as he walked out, I picked up the phone and dialed up the kennels to let them know that I would be stopping by later on.“Just so you know, I have an older dog that I’m going to be bringing in,” I told the answering machine. “This is Raina, by the way. Raina Walters. I’ll see you later today if everything goes well.”I hung up and went over to tend to the old, tired little dog that that guy had brought in just a few minutes before.“Hey, boy,” I said softly, petting the rough fur on his head. “Don’t know how you managed to end up here, but you’re in good hands now, okay?”The dog snuffled, as though acknowledging what I was saying to him and thanking me for my effort.“You shouldn’t be thanking me,” I told him gently. “You should thank that guy who brought you in here. And if you could get him to call me, too, that would be great.”I shook my head at myself. I needed to get my shit together. I was asking a dog for help with dating? Yeah, it was hardly my proudest moment.
RainaI watched the dog for one more moment before I turned and headed out the door. I was a little sad, leaving him behind like that—well, I was always a little sad when I had to leave a dog behind, but even for me, I was sadder than usual. Maybe because I knew that that dog was the only connection I had to one of the only men in years who had actually turned my head, and now that I had handed him over, there was no reason for him to get in touch with me again.I decided to treat myself to some Greek takeout on the way home. There was a beautiful restaurant not far from me that made an amazing vegetarian gyro, and I was obsessed with them. I inhaled the deliciously savory scent as I tucked it into my bag and carried it down the last couple of blocks to my house. The fact that I had walked most of the way home meant that I had totally earned this, right?Right.I tried not to get too hung up on my body. I was tall, and I had the body to match my height. I wasn’t tiny and lean and litt
HarryI knew that I should have been replying to all my emails at that moment, but in truth, I was more caught up in making sure that I had everything covered for Winnie for the next few months.I had no idea how my sister had managed to take care of her by herself for so long. Sure, I had seen the struggle when she had first had her, but I’d had no idea just how much it was going to take out of me on a day-to-day basis.Jesus Christ, the stress of it all. The running around trying to make sure that everything fell into place, that all the bits and pieces came together at just the right moment and just the right time to be sure that everything worked out. She did band and played soccer after school, and that meant I had to make sure there was always someone there who could pick her up and take her home—whether it was Yara, me, or one of the sitters I practically had on twenty-four hour call right now.My sister had worked her ass off to get Winnie this far in life, and it was the leas
HarryI hesitated. I didn’t want to just come out and agree so quickly because that would be tantamount to agreeing that what she had done was a good idea. But she had a point. I had been off the market for such a long time, and it wasn’t doing me any good to be cooped up in the house alone all the time. I would have to get back out there eventually, one way or another. Maybe this was a blessing. I was never going to do it myself, so perhaps Yara putting in the effort was how I could get back into it.I had dated before what had happened, of course. Quite a bit actually. But I had never found anyone who had actually made me want to settle down. Most of the women I met had this edge to them, like there was something on their mind other than just spending time with me. I soon came to figure out that it had nothing to do with me and everything to do with the family name that I was attached to.They took one look at that, and dollar signs started pulsing in their eyes. They couldn’t see a
RainaI rubbed a smear of blood off my wrist and sighed. Ugh.This had been a whole lot harder than I had thought it would be. Work had been pretty mellow right up until the last half hour. Then someone had brought in their dog, who’d been hit by a car and broken his leg.I’d had to set the fracture and get this poor thing all calmed down and dosed up so that he wasn’t freaking out too badly. I was covered in blood, and all I wanted in the world was to go home, have a hot shower, and clean myself up.But instead, of course, I had to go and get myself ready for my darn date. I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t found some way to wriggle out of this since Reed had announced that he had set it up in the first place. I had credited myself with more in the way of guts than that, but I figured this was the only way that I was going to get my brother off my back so I could get back to work again.“You’ve deleted the dating profile thing, haven’t you?” I asked over our coffees the day after he’d
RainaI put a pair of heels in my bag, put on some sneakers so I could actually be comfortable, and went to my truck to start the trek across town to this date that I had no choice but to go on. As soon as this was done, I was going to go to Reed and watch him delete that dating profile myself.No way I was letting this slide again. I couldn’t believe he’d let it go this far, and I was already mad as hell at him for thinking he could just interfere like this. I didn’t get myself involved in his dating life.But then, I knew that he didn’t need my help. He was a great guy, and he was always attracting women, whether or not he was making the effort to do it. His job meant he was in contact with a whole host of different people, and he had the easy, charming confidence to get anyone he wanted to fall for him.It was what made him such a great guy to have on your side in the courtroom, and it was what made all the girls in town tumble over themselves to get their hands on him. He didn’t n
HarryYara is getting a raise.That was the first thing that crossed my mind as soon as I saw the woman who was waiting for me at the table at the restaurant I had been sent to for this date. I couldn’t believe it. It was the very same vet who had treated that dog that we had brought in a few days ago. And damn, if she didn’t look even more outrageously gorgeous than she had then.Her hair was loose around her shoulders, and her gorgeous green eyes seemed to shine in the light of the candle flickering on the table between us. Once we had gotten over the initial shock and ordered our wine, Raina looked at me across the table and shook her head.“Okay, I have a confession,” she admitted. “This wasn’t actually my idea.”“No?”“No, my brother set me up on this date,” she confessed. “I was going to cancel it, but I knew the only way he was going to get off my back was if I just went along and played through the evening for him. I had no idea it was going to be you.”“In that case, I guess