A Puppy And A Christmas Proposal

For breaking her heart?

He could deal with the dog on his own. ‘Feel free to find the owner and be the hero of the hour. Why do I need to be involved?’

He shrugged. ‘Because I don’t know what to do next.’

‘Have you developed an allergy to phones or something?’ She shook her head. ‘Call the rescue centre.’

‘I did. No one’s reported a missing dog and they’re full so they can’t take this little one. No room at the inn, right?’

She rolled her eyes at the very bad Christmas pun. ‘The animal pound in Kendal?’

‘Same. Full, no missing reports filed.’

‘The police? Here—’ Raising her eyebrows, she thrust the surgery’s laminated card of emergency numbers towards him. ‘Call the local station.’

He took the card but shook his head. ‘You know, you’re not being very helpful.’

Say what? He had a nerve. ‘Alex, I am always helpful in times of need. This is not one of them. I’m in the middle of something very important. I have to go to Meg—’

‘But you know about dogs.’

‘I know about sick ones.’ That was a little disingenuous. She knew a lot about animals in general, she just didn’t feel a need to abandon her sick dog to help Alex.

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know anything at all. He’s not mine and he needs to go to his rightful owners. He hasn’t got a collar so it’s not just a case of picking up a phone. Maybe he has a microchip? Or what if he hasn’t? What if he hasn’t got anyone?’ He almost—almost—looked genuinely concerned. ‘What do we do then?’

‘We? Oh, no. That is not going to happen.’ She was not going to get embroiled in this.

‘Me,’ he corrected. ‘What do I do with a lost puppy? I’m working all weekend. I haven’t got time for this. Oh.’ Alex’s mouth crumpled as a stream of liquid left the dog and hit the counter, splashing Alex’s jeans en route. ‘He keeps doing that.’

‘At least we know his urinary system is in good nick.’ It was getting late and she needed to check the blood results and generally tend to Meg but she also had a duty of care to the puppy too. Or, at the very least, she needed to make sure it was safe and cared for, and that the person responsible for it had an inkling of how to keep a dog alive. ‘Look, if you can give me an hour or so to get Meg sorted then I’ll be able to concentrate on this little one. Why don’t you go home and bring him back later?’

‘I’d prefer to stay here. You have all the equipment. I have nothing suitable for a pet at home. Plus, he doesn’t like cars, he howls like I’m trying to kill him. I tried to soothe him with some classic tunes from the nineties but that didn’t work, and neither did Rihanna, which I don’t understand at all, because when Rihanna sings I’m all ears.’

‘Okay, okay. That’s enough.’ She didn’t want to know any more, she didn’t want to hear his voice or see his face or be subjected to his bad puns, because those were things from her past and she was working forward now, not looking back. She dug out a bowl and filled it with water, and another one with puppy food. ‘Give him something to eat and drink then go through to the staff room and make yourself a coffee.’

And she’d make sure she stayed safely at least two doors and a corridor away from him.

‘Thank you.’ He breathed out slowly, relief flickering across his eyes, and then he smiled.

God, that smile did her in every time. No. She stood tall. She was immune. She had to be.

‘It’s okay, I’ll just add it all to your bill, which is growing by the minute.’ She watched in amusement as Alex put the dog on the floor and then proceeded to follow it around, growling every time it started to get frisky or inquisitive. He clearly had no idea how to look after dogs.

She closed her eyes and counted backwards from ten, wishing that seeing Alex Norton in charge of a puppy—or, rather, completely out of control with a puppy—didn’t make her knees weak and her ovaries prickle. ‘Why do I get the feeling that I’m going to regret this?’

‘How’s she doing?’ Alex lowered his voice to a whisper and crept into the treatment room, almost fearful of disturbing Beth as she was so completely focused on the collie. But he’d waited and waited and now he was worried the old dog had passed on and she was in here grieving and dealing with it all on her own. But no, both vet and patient were holding on. ‘I’ve brought you a cup of tea, Beth. Thought you might need one.’

As always, the sight of her made his heart stutter. Her long honey-coloured hair had fallen over her face as she titrated the IV drip attached to Meg’s paw, but he remembered every detail of her pretty features; the dark brown eyes that were warm to everyone, but him. With good cause, he knew. The perfect nose and mouth that had a generous smile...mostly. Not tonight, obviously.

Yes, this was difficult. He hadn’t wanted to bring Spike here, but he’d run out of options. And he’d hoped Beth had had the day off. No such luck.

It had been hard enough for the few weeks she’d filled in as the general practice receptionist when their regular one had suddenly taken ill, but he’d always managed to skirt past her and had tried to avoid any lengthy conversations about anything other than work. He’d breathed a sigh of relief when she’d left to take up a vet position here because time and distance, it appeared, didn’t make you forget. Strange, how the body instinctively remembered.

She looked tired, but as beautiful as ever. Capable and professional and forthright, and still angry with him. Beth had always worn her heart on her sleeve and he knew he’d stamped all over it, so had no claim on her time or generosity. But for the zillionth time in his life he wondered whether he’d actually done the right thing all those years ago.

Yes. He had. He’d had to set her free rather than lock her to him and an uncertain, potentially very dark and bleak future. And now? Even though things had gone a lot better than either he or the specialists had hoped, he still couldn’t give her what she wanted or deserved. But it didn’t hurt any less to have lost her. Never mind aching for the body he knew that fitted so well against his, the mouth that was made for his kisses. He fought against the rising regret. He’d done the right thing.

Forcing himself to not look at her, he focused on her patient. It was easier that way, because looking at Beth made his heart hurt. And sing. And beat hard and fast to her rhythm. Life had definitely been easier without her around, but he didn’t want to think about not seeing her when she decided it was time to move on.

He didn’t know anything about dog care but Meg’s breathing seemed less laboured than before. She appeared calmer and less stressed. But that could have been his imagination.

Beth straightened and drew her gaze from the dog. Her eyes were soft and kind almost as if, for a moment, she’d forgotten to be angry with him. She took the cup he was holding out and had a sip. ‘Lovely, thank you. I’m parched actually.’

‘I wasn’t sure if you still took it white, no sugar.’

‘Yes. Oh.’ Beth blinked and just like that she slipped back into the woman she’d grown into whenever she was around him: guarded, professional, distanced. She swallowed and put the cup down on the counter.

Damn. He shouldn’t have alluded to the past. ‘How’s Meg?’

Beth breathed out and he could see she was shutting him out. The warmth in her eyes slowly seeped away, her back straightened and she turned away from him. ‘She’s holding her own. Just. She’s had a hell of a ride. But I’ve run the tests: full blood count, biochemical analysis and urinalysis. Done an ultrasound of her abdomen and then an endoscopy and it looks as if she’s got gastrointestinal bleeding and some liver damage.’ Her voice was measured and professional, as if she were giving a report to someone she didn’t know. ‘She’s been in a few times recently, with the odd cut or weird symptom that led to nothing, and has no other significant morbidity, so I’m thinking she’s eaten something. I can’t be sure, but with the damage to the gut it’s classic signs of ibuprofen poisoning. And if that’s the case we need to keep a very close eye on her over the next few days.’

‘Poor Dennis. It would be terrible if he lost Meg so soon after Nancy.’ As if the guy hadn’t been through enough already, having nursed his wife through cancer. ‘He’s not really coping, is he?’

‘No, he isn’t and it’s so sad.’ Beth gave a sharp shake of her head. ‘I know grief eats away at you and sometimes makes you distracted, so I need to have a chat with him about whether he may have left any tablets lying around that Meg could have got into. People don’t realise how dangerous some medications humans take are for pets.’

‘I’m his GP. From memory, he isn’t on ibuprofen but I’ll double-check at work tomorrow. It’s easily bought from most shops, so he might have some regardless. I haven’t seen much of him recently, but he’s clearly lost a bit of weight and he looks a bit dishevelled compared to when Nancy was alive. He always made an effort for her.’ He wondered how it was to have a love that lasted decades. Then stopped himself from going down that track because it wasn’t going to happen to him. ‘Maybe I could be there when you have that chat. Give him a bit of support, you know?’

Beth raised her eyes and looked at him. He could see she was thinking hard about this. Was that because she didn’t want to spend any longer than necessary in his company? Were things so bad between them that they couldn’t even do a joint professional consultation? But she eventually nodded. ‘Okay. Yes. That’s probably a good idea. You know him better than I do. It’ll be good for him to have someone there that he’s familiar with.’

‘Good. Let me know when you’re planning to chat to him. Now, it’s getting late and I wondered if you’ve got time to just wave your magic wand over that little guy out there and see if he has a family who are missing him. And I don’t want to leave him too long on his own.’ At her wide eyes he reassured her, ‘I popped him in one of the holding cages with some biscuits and a toy duck. Yeah, I know, just add it to the bill, right?’

She looked at her watch. ‘Shoot. I’ve been in here over two hours? I’m sorry. Poor pup. But I needed to deal with Meg.’

‘I know you did. But if there is a family out there, they’re going to be frantic. I called the police and there are no missing-dog reports. I’m stumped. You’re my last hope, Beth.’ He tried the smile again, hoping she’d at least smile back. Or even laugh. Because if they had to spend time together then he’d prefer it without the daggers and sharp words.

‘We won’t be long, old girl. Hold on for me.’ She gave Meg a quick stroke then whipped round to Alex. ‘Come on, then, let’s get this sorted.’

Wow. No smile. Definitely no laugh. She really hated him, and he didn’t blame her one bit. He walked through to the place where they kept the large crates. The little pup jumped up as they entered the room, tail wagging, paws thumping, and yelping so enthusiastically it tugged at Alex’s heart. ‘What kind of dog is he?

Beth opened the cage and helped Spike jump free onto the ground. She bent down and ruffled the back of his neck. ‘This beautiful boy is the best kind there is. A pure-bred mongrel.’

He was so out of his depth here. ‘Is that a thing?’

‘Alex, really? It means he’s a cross. I think there might be some Labrador in there. He has huge paws so he’s going to be big, but he hasn’t got a lab tail. This is more beagle. He’s got the tricolour patching, but...’ She frowned and ran her hands over Spike’s ears. ‘The ears are wrong...’

‘Wrong?’ Alex felt strangely protective all of a sudden. ‘There’s nothing wrong with his ears.’

‘I mean the ears are wrong for a beagle. Look, these are pricked. Beagle ears are pendant. Well, actually...’ she smiled and held up one ear ‘...he has one of each. I guess we’ll know more when he’s older and grown into himself.’