Always a Bridesmaid

Book 4: Whiskey Ridge

by Rachel Hanna

Genres: Clean & Wholesome Romance; Family Life; Small Town & Rural; Southern; Women's Fiction; Contemporary Romance; American Romance; Small-town Romance

Synopsis

He’s trying to start over in a new town, and they don’t like each other one bit. But, when he steps in to save her unexpectedly, they both start to regret it.

She’s used to being an in-charge attorney, and he’s a Southern guy through and through. When she has to rely on him to save her self respect, will they be able to work together?

Release date: August 23, 2018

Publisher: Independently published

Print pages: 154

Sample

CHAPTER 1

 

Samantha Ryan hated stereotypes. It was one of the things she worked on in her law practice every single day. Cases against corporations that discriminated in some way against one of her clients. Whether it was race, sexual orientation or gender, she fought - and won - most of her cases because of her ability to eloquently debate their side of the argument.

But today all she could hear in her head was the age old stereotype of “always the bridesmaid, never the bride”.

She wished it didn’t matter that she wasn’t married in her mid-thirties. She wished that she wasn’t so incredibly jealous that her younger sister had found the love of her life and was about to have the most amazing wedding in the north Georgia mountains. She wished that she could pluck out that jealous bone in her body that seemed to be wedged behind her ribcage, tweaking every heartbeat.

But here she was, sitting behind her fancy mahogany desk, staring out over the Atlanta skyline from the 20th floor of her luxury office building… thinking about how she was envious of her sister, Katie’s, good fortune.

Samantha’s life had always revolved around her career. Even when she was a little girl, her father - also an attorney - had drilled into her head that she was destined for law school. He’d said he saw the “gift” in her even when she was six years old and would hold mock court sessions with her stuffed animals. She vividly remembered looking through his thick legal books and wondering what it all meant, the smell of the musty paper assaulting her senses.

She’d followed directly in his footsteps, even attending his alma mater, The University of Georgia, and graduating with honors. When he’d died during her second year of law school, the ground seemed to give way beneath her feet. But she’d carried on, knowing that was what he wanted for her.

Meanwhile, her little sister was just about the complete opposite. Katie was a free spirit, to say the least. She’d skipped college, opting instead to do volunteer work in the poorest areas of Central America for two years. Once she returned stateside, she got her license to become an esthetician and spent her days giving facials and spa treatments to women in some tiny mountain town called Whiskey Ridge.

So why was Samantha envious? She made more money in a month than most people made in a year. She had one of the fanciest, most expensive apartments in the whole city. She drove a brand new car every year. She even had a personal chef prepare her meals and deliver them every few days. Her life was what other people dreamed of.

But she was starting to feel empty. Even winning the big cases wasn’t bringing her joy lately.

It had started with her mother’s death five years ago. Watching her fade away after the cancer diagnosis had been heart shattering. But more than that, it’d made Samantha reevaluate her own life. What was she doing all this for? The long nights, the early mornings… what was the end goal?

At her mother’s funeral, she suddenly realized that her life had no real purpose. Making money without a purpose was futile, in her opinion. Even at the funeral, she found herself longing for the kinds of connections she saw in family and friends. When the sad event was over, they all hugged and piled into cars together. She’d climbed into her small sports car and drove back to a lonely apartment.

So she’d started dating with the same vigor she’d had while pursuing her law degree, figuring that snagging a husband was just another task on her list. She’d find the right one, start her own family and she’d have an instant purpose in her life.

She hired an expensive matchmaker and went out on over a dozen dates before meeting Philip. He was a nice guy and very wealthy with his venture capital business. But after a few months, what little fire they had between them had burned out completely. In truth, it’d been like dating her brother, if she’d had one.

Deciding she couldn’t force love and chemistry, she’d started hitting the bar scene, singles groups and borrowing shelter dogs from the Humane Society to walk around the park. At times, she felt ridiculous and desperate, but she continued until she met Clint.

They had chemistry. They hit it off immediately, and she really thought he was “the one”. She’d even started planning what her wedding dinner would feature (filet mignon and pan seared tuna with a mango chutney). She recalled this time in her life as when she still had hope that Mr. Right was out there, that someone was the perfect match for her.

But then Clint found chemistry with an old high school girlfriend, and poof! He was gone too.

And then there was Clark, but she didn’t like to think about him. Her relationship with him was the one major failure of her life.

Samantha sighed as she looked down at her desk. She picked up Katie and Rick’s wedding invitation and ran her finger across the simple white ribbon that was woven through the thick card stock paper.

Katie had relocated to Whiskey Ridge years ago, calling it her perfect little mountain oasis. She’d met Rick there just after moving, and they’d had a storybook romance amidst the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Samantha had honestly been surprised when her sister asked her to be her maid of honor. It wasn’t that they weren’t close, but Katie certainly had good friends she’d assumed would be chosen for the role.

But her mother and father would want her to do this. She was all Katie had left of her family, and that meant the responsibility to make sure her sister had a great start to her marriage was all hers.

As an esthetician, Katie wasn’t exactly rich. And Rick ran a motorcycle repair shop, which Samantha thought was good money but it certainly wasn’t enough to have a big fancy wedding in the city. Actually, Katie hadn’t wanted that anyway, even when Samantha had offered. She wanted a small, country wedding at a little white chapel nestled under the blue tinged mountains.

Samantha had offered to pay for much of the wedding, but Rick and Katie had said no but thank you. They were good, hard working people, and Samantha’s money wasn’t something they wanted. They just wanted to be married and start their family.

Still, Samantha had wanted to do something big for her sister, especially since her parents weren’t there. So, she’d splurged on an amazing honeymoon package that would take them all over Europe. They would eat baguettes in Paris under the shade of the Eiffel Tower and then drink tea like members of the Royal Family in London. She wanted her sister to have an amazing, month long dream honeymoon before she started her life as a wife.

“When is it my turn?” Samantha heard herself whisper as she ran the ribbon through her fingers one more time before putting the invitation into her drawer.

“What’d you say?” Eileen, her assistant, sauntered into her office and sat down. She wasn’t the best assistant, but she walked around the office like it was her own personal runway anyhow.

“Nothing. Just mumbling. Did you file the Easton papers?” Samantha was almost always focused on business, especially when her emotions started to run away with her.

“Of course, Boss.”

“Stop calling me that,” she muttered as she looked for another file on her desk. “What about the company… the one that makes the coffee drinks…”

“Dayton Industries?”

“Right. Did Scott call about filing the appeal on that one?”

“Yes, Sam. Everything is under control. Why are you even still here?”

Samantha sighed. “You know I don’t give up control easily.”

“I know. I’ve worked for you for six years now, and this is the first vacation I’ve seen you take.”

Samantha slid more files around on her desk. “It’s not a vacation. I’m simply going to the mountains to make sure my baby sister has a great bridal shower, bachelorette party and wedding. Then I’m housesitting for a month.” She sat stone faced, staring at Eileen.

“And you look thrilled about it,” Eileen said with a laugh. “I hope you have a better poker face if you ever go to Vegas.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to go. It’s just that I have a lot of work here, and taking almost six weeks off is tough.”

“Bull.”

“What?”

“You know we have everything handled. And you have a cell phone and a laptop. I think there’s some other reason you don’t want to go.”

Samantha stood up and smoothed her skirt. “Well, I don’t have time to let you psychoanalyze me today, Eileen. I have to go home and pack.” She shot her a fake smile as she walked across the room and opened her office door.

“Fine. But do me a favor, okay?” Eileen said as she passed her and walked into the hallway.

“What’s that?”

“Try to enjoy yourself, for goodness sakes.”

    

Not much had changed from the last time she’d visited her sister in the sleepy little mountain town of Whiskey Ridge. Same stores, same trees, same happy looking people chatting on the sidewalks.

Meanwhile, she had already watched two condo buildings go up near where she lived in Atlanta. Progress was always happening, but Whiskey Ridge didn’t know a thing about progress, apparently.

It was cute, but it was definitely stuck in some kind of time warp. On the other hand, there seemed to be no stress here. Everyone was smiling and waving and talking to each other. Where she lived, no one really talked. They all stared at their phones - herself included. She’d once watched a well dressed business woman walk right into a light pole because she was busy doing a livestream on her phone.

It was kind of funny once she was sure the woman didn’t have a concussion.

Samantha drove around the square and parked for a moment. She just wanted to watch the people and drink her expensive coffee she’d picked up in the drive through outside of town. After all, what would Whiskey Ridge know about good coffee? No reason to take the chance she wouldn’t be able to find something suitable.

Something about this place was appealing. She could see why Katie moved here all those years ago. But it wasn’t for her. No way. She liked the fast paced lifestyle of the big city. She liked honking car horns and the buzz that came along with packing thousands of people into a small space.

Or at least that’s what she told herself.

The sudden blare of her cell phone over her car speakers scared her so much that she almost spilled her drink. She pressed the button to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, sis. Where are you?” Katie asked, her upbeat voice a welcome respite from aggravated and intense clients.

“I just pulled into town.”

“Always late. Hurry up!”

“I’ll be there shortly,” she said, rolling her eyes. Katie was free spirited, but right now she was one stressed out bride. She wasn’t a bridezilla just yet, but Samantha didn’t want to find out if that transformation could happen.

She pulled out of the parking space and headed toward Katie’s cottage by the river. It was a beautiful place, so quaint and rustic. Samantha had only been there once, opting instead to invite Katie and Rick to her condo a few times each year.

The last time they’d come, Katie had said the loud noises were giving her a migraine. They couldn’t be any more different if they tried, she thought.

Katie was much more like their mother had been. In fact, she had spent her last summer at Katie’s little house, soaking in the peacefulness of the river bubbling outside her window. That gave Samantha comfort to know her mother had been happy there, although she knew it’d been hard on Katie to have her mother pass away in the guest room.

As she pulled into the long, curved driveway, she thought about how much she was like her father. He’d been a hard charging, type A personality, winning cases left and right… but also popping acid reflux medication like the little pills were candy. Some things she wasn’t happy she inherited from him.

So many days, she wished she could relax and let life happen. Even on the rare occasion she took a beach trip with her girlfriends - who she hadn’t seen in months now - they’d lay on the beach getting a tan and reading books while she had to walk and dictate client notes into her phone.

Ugh. Genetics can be hard to overcome.

“Sammy!” she heard Katie yell from the front porch of the little log cabin. For as long as she’d been able to talk, Katie had called her Sammy. And for just about as long, Samantha had tried to get her to stop.

“Hey, sis!” She pulled her much shorter sister into a tight hug. They were all the family they had left, and she appreciated having time with her.

Katie was short and petite, and her fire engine red hair went with her spunky but fun personality. Samantha, on the other hand, was taller, thin and fit from her habit of running when she was stressed, and had dark brown hair like her father’s had been before he went gray.

“Can you believe I’m getting married in a week?” Katie asked, a huge grin stretching across her face, pushing the freckles on her cheeks outward.

“No, I can’t believe it, actually,” Samantha said, flashing back in her mind to the thousands of small memories of her little sister. The princess birthday parties. The giggly “sister sleepovers” in each other’s rooms. The sad days they’d had to lay their parents to rest. They’d always had each other, but life was about to change. Soon, Katie would have a husband and her own kids. Samantha felt a new kind of loneliness in the pit of her stomach.

“You okay?” Katie asked, looking concerned. Samantha immediately straightened up and smiled. If there was one thing she’d learned as a lawyer, it was to change emotions and facial expressions on a dime.

“Of course! Help me bring my bags in, would you?”

 
  

Samantha sat at the small bistro table on her private deck overlooking the river below. The two sisters had spent the first couple of hours together getting Samantha settled in, having coffee and laughing.

But then Katie got down to business showing Samantha all of her wedding plans and giving her a tour of the house. After all, Samantha would be housesitting for a whole month, and the wedding wasn’t for a couple of weeks yet. Six weeks in Whiskey Ridge was going to be a challenge.

As she stared down at the constantly moving water, she thought about how everything moved at a snail’s pace here. It was so dang quiet that she could hear every thought in her head. The sound of the river was doing absolutely nothing to drown out that inner tape recorder that constantly played back all of the mistakes she’d made in her life.

“More coffee?” Katie asked from the doorway behind her.

“Nah. If I drink anymore, I’ll never sleep tonight.”

Katie took a seat in the chair beside her. “Oh, you’ll sleep. This is the most peaceful place on Earth at night time. Crickets chirping. Owls hooting. The sound of the water flowing by.”

“Sounds a little dull,” Samantha said without thinking. She could see a look of hurt on her sister’s face for a moment.

“You need some relaxation, Sammy.”

“I disagree. Relaxation leads to thinking which leads to stress.”

“Not for everyone. Maybe if you’d give this place a chance…”

“I’m here for six weeks, Katie. I think that’s plenty of time, don’t you?”

Katie smiled. “I could never imagine leaving here. Rick had an opportunity for a job in Chicago, helping his uncle at his shop up there. He declined.”

Samantha almost swallowed her own tongue. “He declined? Chicago is an amazing city! And I bet the pay raise…”

“Stop! Jeez, Sammy. Don’t you know by now that we don’t want that life?”

Katie almost sounded mad, which wasn’t in her nature at all. But the frustration on her face was very evident.

“I’m sorry. I just want the best for you both.”

Katie rubbed Samantha’s arm. “I know you do. But what I don’t understand is how you can’t see that Whiskey Ridge, and this life we’re building here, is what’s best for us. This is our forever home. We can’t wait to walk our first baby around the square in a stroller during the Fourth of July parade. And we’re so looking forward to standing at the door of the elementary school and waving goodbye on the first day of kindergarten. This is where we want to build our family.” She stared out at the mountains and smiled as if she was in some far away land.

“I get it. And it’s a great place, sis. It really is.”

“So, I have to work tomorrow, as you know. I was wondering if you could do me a huge favor?” Katie asked, a grin on her face as she pretended to pray.

“You mean aside from planning your shower, bachelorette party, being your maid of honor and housesitting for you?”

“Just one more small thing.”

“What is it?”

“I need you to take Sophie to the doctor.”

Sophie. Her large and very hyper two year old boxer. The dog that bounced around like a kangaroo and passed gas like a group of bean-eating Marines.

“Katie, you know how I feel about that dog.”

“I know, but she’s been throwing up this week, and I just don’t have time to take her during the day with my schedule. My boss is really riding me because I’ll be taking so much time off after the wedding. And she’s my baby!”

As if on cue, the unruly dog came bounding around the corner, sliding on the hardwood floors like she was a very uncoordinated figure skater. Unaware of how big she was, she shot straight up into Katie’s lap, kissing her mercilessly.

“She looks fine now,” Samantha said dryly.

Sophie jumped down and took off after the cat down the hallway. At least Whiskers had the decency to leave Samantha alone. He hid most of the time, only coming out for meals and the occasional trip to the litter box.

“She’s not fine. I couldn’t bear to enjoy my honeymoon if I thought Sophie could be sick…”

“Fine. I’ll take her tomorrow while you’re at work.”

“Great! Thank you so much. I’ll leave the veterinarian’s business card on the counter.”

“Perfect,” Samantha said with a sigh. Katie leaned over and hugged her sister tightly.

“I know this is challenging for you, Sammy, but I think it’s going to change your life. I really do.”

She pulled back and smiled as Samantha tried to figure out what the heck that meant. But before she could ask, her sister was running back into the house.

 

CHAPTER 2

Samantha was not a morning person. She never had been, but the sound of a dog throwing up could wake even the heaviest sleeper.

As she slowly stood up from her queen sized cabin themed bed, she looked around the darkened room for the alarm clock. It was seven-thirty, and the first rays of sunlight were just starting to peek through her wooden window blinds. It took awhile for the sun to make it so far back into the darkened woods.

“I hate you, Sophie. I really do,” she mumbled to herself as she pulled on the fluffy white bathrobe her sister had provided.

She opened her door and looked into the hallway. It was dark, the wood paneling not doing anything to help with the absence of light.

“Katie?” she called out. She’d forgotten to ask her sister what time she left for work, but she assumed she was home alone. The retching sound continued as she walked into the living room and found Sophie coughing up things she didn’t want to see that early in the morning. “Ugh.”

The dog wasn’t doing well, that much was obvious. She didn’t have time to even make coffee or eat breakfast - and who would have an appetite after this anyway?

After throwing on a questionable outfit of black yoga pants and ratty pink t-shirt she found in her sister’s laundry pile, she loaded Sophie up into the old pickup truck Rick had given her keys to last night. There was no way she was taking the dog in her nice car, so she was thankful that she had the beat up mound of metal to cart the canine to the vet.

It wasn’t that she didn’t like dogs. She actually loved well-behaved dogs. This dog was not well-behaved. Well, she was at the moment, but only because she’d thrown up so much that she was low on energy.

Sophie laid in the seat next to her with her chin resting on her paws. She’d occasionally look up at Samantha as she drove, but she definitely wasn’t herself.

“Sorry you feel bad, girl,” Samantha said. She did feel bad for Sophie. “But I have to admit that I kind of like this new laid back personality.”

The dog groaned and rolled to her side.

“When I was a little girl, we had a dog named Jack. He was a Jack Russell Terrier. Kind of an obvious name. We weren’t very creative people…”

Why was she talking to this dog like it understood her?

“So Jack was a little spastic, but he was smart. We trained him to do things like bring in the newspaper and turn on the TV. We were pretty lazy back in those days…”

As she drove, she looked around the small mountain town and couldn’t help but smile. Everything was so simple. So easygoing. So quiet. No one was rushing. There was no real traffic. In fact, she’d only seen one traffic light in the whole town so far. And it always seemed to be green.

She pulled up in front of what was supposed to be the vet’s office, but it looked more like a log cabin at the end of a gravel driveway.

“Surely this isn’t a real vet’s office,” she said to herself. But there was a big wooden sign with the name of the place carved into it - “Ellison Veterinary Hospital”. It looked like a rather new sign, but the building sure didn’t look new at all. Maybe it’d been built around the time Sherman marched through Atlanta? Or when Abe Lincoln was a boy?

Samantha pulled into one of the few parking spaces in front of the place. They weren’t really marked with anything except wooden logs in front of each one that were obviously there to show their width.

Before going in, Samantha called her sister just to be sure this was the right place.

“This is Katie. Can I schedule a facial for you today?” she said in her most chipper voice.

“Hey, sis. It’s Samantha.”

“Oh, hi, Sammy. What’s up?” she asked in a whisper. Her boss apparently wasn’t big on personal calls.

“Listen, I’m at what I think is your vet’s office, but it looks a bit ramshackle.”

“Ramshackle? Is that even a real word?”

“Google it. Anyway, are you sure you want me to take Sophie here?”

Katie giggled. “Yes, I’m sure. Dr. Ellison is a great vet.”

“Okay. If you say so.”

“Call me later and let me know what you find out, okay?”

Samantha hung up the phone and got out of the truck. As she walked around to the other side to open the door for Sophie, she eyed the building carefully one more time. Maybe it was supposed to have this shabby chic look. Very shabby. Not so chic.

“Come on girl,” she said as she helped Sophie down from the high vehicle. The dog was able to walk, but she wasn’t her normal peppy self.

Samantha pulled open the heavy door. It looked to be hand carved with an image of a bear cut into the thick wood. She coaxed the dog inside as the door slowly shut behind them.

Surprisingly, the inside wasn’t as bad as she’d feared. There was a small waiting area with concrete floors, a large scale to weigh the animals and a front desk made from the same type of wood as the door.

“Can I help you, hon?” an older woman behind the counter asked. Even though she lived in Atlanta, she wasn’t used to someone calling her “hon” or being so friendly. Atlanta was still a big city, after all.

“Um, yes. This is my sister’s dog, and she’s been sick. My sister is busy… well, she’s getting married in a couple of weeks… anyway, she asked me to bring Sophie here.”

The woman stared at her for a moment as if she was trying to take the information in. “Okay. What’s your name, sweetie?”

“Samantha Ryan.”

The woman looked down at a notepad. “Darlin’, I sure don’t see an appointment for you on my list.”

“Right. I know. I didn’t even think to call ahead. My sister just said…”

“We’re real busy today, dear,” she said, shaking her head. Samantha turned around and noticed only one other customer in the waiting area and at least one exam room open.

She turned back to the woman and summoned her sweetest voice. “Listen, I know I should’ve called. Ditzy me, I just totally forgot. It’s just that this poor pup here has been throwing up something awful, and I’m worried sick about her.”

The woman stared at her again, as if she was trying to figure out if Samantha was serious or was making fun of her Southern heritage and accent. She hoped it wasn’t the latter because she knew firsthand that nothing was worse than ticking off a Southern woman.

“I just don’t know where I’d put you…”

“Hilda? Is there a problem?” a voice said from behind Samantha. She turned and saw one of the most handsome men she’d ever seen. He had more of a tan than she’d imagined someone could get in the mountains and thick, dark hair that begged to have fingers running through it.

“Well, this lady came in without an appointment and I…”

“Oh, hey, Sophie,” he said, ignoring both Hilda and Samantha as he bent down to pet the dog. “Uh oh, you definitely don’t seem like yourself. Put them in room two,” he said, looking back at Hilda.

Samantha watched him intently, although he didn’t seem to notice her at all. Of course, today she was just wearing a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt, but if she had her expensive business suit…

“Ma’am?” Hilda said from beside her. “Follow me.”

Dr. Ellison had disappeared, so she followed Hilda - who definitely didn’t seem to be her biggest fan - into the exam room.

It was small, with the same concrete floors. There was a metal table and a couple of chairs, along with the requisite pictures of dog breeds on the walls. She could hear barking from the back, but Sophie didn’t seem to notice or care. She just laid down and sighed.

A few moments later, the door opened. A young woman appeared, a big smile on her face.

“Hey there, Sophie! Hi, ma’am,” she said.

Why was everyone calling her ma’am? It was a little unnerving.

“Hi.”

“I need to take Sophie to the back for some blood tests. Dr. Ellison will be in shortly.” She took Sophie’s leash and disappeared into a back room.

Samantha stared down at her phone, wondering if she should call work and check in. But she’d only been gone a day, and Eileen would probably bite her head off for not taking some time off. Unable to stop herself from thinking about work, she checked her email instead.

“Dang it!” she said out loud as she read some frustrating followup about a pending case. “Stupid idiots. They don’t know who they’re messing with…” she said as she typed out a response that would singe the eyelash hairs of the recipient.

“Yikes! I’d hate to be on the receiving end of that.”

Dr. Ellison was standing in the doorway, and she was mortified. He slowly shut the door, smiling the whole time.

“Sorry about that. Work stuff.”

“Hmm…”

“Hmm?”

“Just seems if work stuff evokes that reaction, maybe you’re in the wrong business.”

What was this guy’s deal? Who was he to judge her?

“Excuse me?” she said, cocking her head to the side.

“No offense. I just believe you should love what you do everyday.” He sat down on the rolling stool across from her, a satisfied look on his face.

“And what makes you think I don’t enjoy my work? Don’t you ever have a bad day as a vet?”

He thought for a moment. “Nope.”

Samantha rolled her eyes. “Oh please. That’s a lie, and you know it.”

“You’re a very blunt person, aren’t you?” he said with a laugh.

“I’m not the one who came in here and judged a perfect stranger based off one small moment in time, Dr. Ellison.”

“So what do you do for a living anyway?” he asked, still smiling in the most irritating - yet cute - way.

“I’m a very successful attorney in Atlanta, actually,” she said, sitting up straight in her chair with her chin jutted out like she was trying to win some kind of competition.

“Makes sense,” he said, which just infuriated her further.

“Is this how you welcome all of your new clients?” she asked, her blood pressure starting to rise.

“First of all, they’re my patients, not my clients. Secondly, Sophie has been seeing me for a few weeks now, ever since I came to Whiskey Ridge. So we’re old friends.”

“Well, maybe you’re not a good doctor if the poor girl keeps throwing up,” Samantha muttered loud enough for him to hear her. Yet again, he smiled.

“I guess your sister didn’t tell you?”

Samantha furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Tell me what?”

“Sophie has a condition called gastroenteritis that flares up when she eats something from the yard. Being down there at the river, she gets into all kinds of stuff. We’ve changed her food and put her on medicine, and that keeps it at bay most of the time. But when she gets like this, Katie likes for me to check her out, do a quick x-ray, that kind of thing. We’ve found a few foreign objects in her stomach, all of which have passed without issue so far.”

Samantha felt duped. Why hadn’t her sister given her more information about Sophie’s issues?

“So she’s okay then?”

“Most likely. That’s why my tech is running some extra bloodwork and an x-ray just to be on the safe side.”

“Good. Then we’ll be on our way soon,” she said, looking back down at her phone.

“So what kind of law do you practice in Atlanta?”

She didn’t want to make small talk with this guy, no matter how cute he was, but being trapped in a small room gave her little choice.

“Mostly corporate, but we do a variety of cases.”

“Interesting.”

“What about when you put a dog to sleep?”

“Excuse me?”

“You said you never have bad days as a vet. Surely, euthanizing a dog makes for a bad day?”

“Wow, you’re really stuck on this, huh?”

“Just answer the question, Dr. Ellison,” she said in her best cross examination voice.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said, putting his hand to his forehead like a soldier.

“Don’t call me ma’am. And answer the question.”

“When I have to put a dog down, it’s always sad, but the only time I do it is when the dog would be better off going to doggie heaven than living in pain or misery. So I don’t call that a bad day because I feel like I’m doing a service to the animal and the owners. I’m able to relieve the pain, and that’s a blessing.”

“Oh,” she said quietly.

“And we have a private pet cemetery here on the property, so my staff is able to lay our patients to rest on a rolling hillside with a small grave marker which makes our families happy because they have a place to visit.”

“That’s very nice,” she said softly.

“So, no, I don’t consider any day a bad day as a vet because I do what I love.” He leaned back against the wall and smiled, obviously waiting for an answer. Or maybe an apology.

“Well, I…”

“Here’s Sophie!” the perky vet tech said as she entered the room. She definitely hadn’t learned the lesson of feeling the energy of a room before stepping into it.

“Hey, girl!” Dr. Ellison said, petting her head before crouching on the floor beside her. “What did the films show?”

“Nothing but a little gas,” the tech said. “Still waiting for the labs to finish.”

“Let me know,” Dr. Ellison said before the tech left the room. He palpated the dog’s belly and listened to her heart and lungs before sitting back on his stool. “Everything is looking okay. I think she got into something in the yard. I’m considering coming to Katie’s house and doing some looking around in the yard just to see if I can figure out what poor Sophie here is getting into.”

Coming to the house? Vets in the mountains made house calls?

“I’m sure Katie would appreciate that.”

“Are you not a dog person, Miss Ryan?”

“Why would you think that?”

“It’s just that you haven’t been petting Sophie and you’re a little standoffish to her.”

She felt very uncomfortable under his gaze, like he was watching every move she made.

“As a matter of fact, I love dogs. Well behaved dogs, that is.”

“Ah, yes. Sophie can be a bit… boisterous?” he said with a chuckle as he rubbed Sophie’s head.

“I guess that’s one way to put it.”

“Still, if you’re going to be taking care of her for awhile, you might want to build a rapport with her.”

How did he know she was there for awhile?

“Labs look good,” the tech said when she came back into the room.

“Okay, let’s increase her meds. I’ll make time to go out to the house and see if I can figure out what’s making this little girl so sick,” he said, rubbing her head one last time before standing up. “Your meds will be at the front desk with Hilda. Tell Katie I’ll be in touch soon.”

Before she could say another word, he was out of the examining room, and Samantha stood there wondering what this guy’s deal was.