Always A Bridesmaid: A Whiskey Ridge Romance Page 2

  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 la
st 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.

  Chapter 3

  Katie stood at the sink running water over the mound of lettuce. Such a simple thing, really, but Samantha couldn’t recall the last time she’d done anything so domestic. She usually ordered out or had her personal chef drop by to do some batch cooking.

  “So you didn’t like Dr. Ellison, huh?” Katie asked with a giggle.

  “He was a bit… judgmental. Critical, actually.”

  “What’d he say that was so critical?”

  “Well, for one thing he assumed I don’t like dogs.”

  “You don’t like dogs.”

  Samantha was shocked that her sister would think that.

  “Excuse me? I love dogs!”

  “Really? When is the last time you actually had a dog?”

  Samantha thought for a moment. “When we were kids.”

  “You mean when we had Jack?” Katie asked, her mouth hanging open.

  “Yes.”

  “Sammy, you need a dog! You’d be so much less lonely in the big city if you had a doggie. Plus, I bet you’d meet tons of great guys at the dog park,” she said as she started cutting up cucumbers.

  “Oh, yes, that’s what I’m aiming for. I totally want to meet a man at the dog park. Maybe we can have our first kiss while he scoops up dog excrement.”

  Katie rolled her eyes. “Do you ever even try to loosen up?”

  “I’m as loose as I’m going to get.”

  Katie pulled the chicken out of the oven and peeled back the aluminum foil covering it. Samantha watched her in awe wondering how she learned all of these domestic tasks. Maybe Samantha just hadn’t paid enough attention when they were growing up.

  Their mother had been a fabulous cook. Apparently Samantha’s apple had not only fallen far from that tree, but it had rolled down a hill and into a high-rise building with a full-time front desk staff.

  “Look, I’m just saying you deserve a little happiness in your life,” Katie said as she slid the chicken back into the oven.