hey, all, Bri had to get off so she wanted me to post this for her! Enjoy her amazingness! Unfortunately, the doc formatting messed up in transit, and I don't have time to fix it.
Chapter 17
Millions of disorganized thoughts ran through my mind and a vibrant red blush climbed over my face. The room was completely silent, but I could have sworn I’d heard Joe mutter, laughter obvious in his voice, ‘busted’. I glanced over and saw him trying not to laugh; shooting him a glare, he lost it, his snort of unsuppressed laughter unbelievably loud in the silent space. I glared more intensely at him, mouthing “shut up.”
Emily broke the silence, her voice icy and dangerous. “What is going on here, Nicholas?” Nick didn’t meet her gaze, nor did he open his mouth to form a reply. Before either of us could respond, Skylar came running in, her small hand clutching the pager that Amy had given her; Nate, Denise and Papa J following her, looking confused.
“Mom, the pager!!” She was insistent and I could feel the seven pairs of eyes on us as I bent down to her, accepting the pager. A nasty curse slipped out from between my lips as Nick glared at me for breaking my self-imposed rule on cursing around my daughter. “No, no, no.” I complained as I crossed furiously over to the hotel phone, punching in the numbers.
“What’s up?” Nate spoke up and I glanced over at him; he looked confused and I realized that he didn’t know about my career. I explained silently, pointing to the emblem on my jacket and he nodded. I made a face as the owner picked up.
I knew this dog, and owner, all too well. The dog was completely untrained and mean to boot, leaving us absolutely no control over him. He was one of the biggest Pit Bulls I had ever seen and his sheer strength made it possible for him to split our muzzles along the seams. When his owners, whiney rude people who always wanted to be served first, brought him in; we would have to hurry to bring all our clients to the back or put some of them in unused rooms since this dog, Brutus as his name was would attack any other animal in the same room with him. Whenever we had to do something to him, it would take our three strongest assistants to hold him still while Julie, Amy and I sedated him, even if it was something as simple as taking his temperature.
“Hello? Is this Allie Baker? If not you’ll have to call back later. I’m hanging up in 30 seconds!” The typical greeting made me want to scream, but I spoke quickly, fighting to keep my tone even.
“Mrs. Chloe; this is Dr. Allison Baker from the animal clinic.” I bit my lip, waiting for the explosive reaction that was sure to take place. Nick shot me a weird look as my tone changed, becoming more professional as I unconsciously straightened, forgetting that she couldn’t see me.
“Dr. Baker, I’m appalled at your clinic’s answering service! I called nearly 5 minutes ago and my husband is on his way to the clinic with Brutus now! After you take care of Brutus tonight, we’ll be moving to a different clinic, so there will be no need to ring up the charges.” The age-old excuses and threats rang through my eardrum, but I ignored them. The Chloes were some of our oldest (and brattiest) clients and had, as long as I had known them, made threats to change practices and to “not ring up the charges”.
“Mrs. Chloe, I’m sorry, but I’m not at the clinic right now and it may take me a few minutes to get there.” The woman made a noise of outrage, but I ignored her. “Now, what’s wrong with Brutus?”
“Well,” I rolled my eyes, “he needs to have his shots done. And you know how the nasty other dogs don’t like him.” It’s only because he tries to eat them, I thought, waiting for her next excuse for calling me. “And you say you aren’t at the practice? How unprofessional.” The distain was clear in her voice and I struggled to keep my temper in check. “I’d hurry over there; you know how our Brute doesn’t like to be kept waiting!” The dial tone in my ear signaled the end of the conversation.
“Well then he’s just going to have to wait.” I snapped, knowing she couldn’t hear me, but needing the anger release. Skylar stood beside my leg, shyly standing behind me, avoiding Emily’s gaze as she glared murderously at Nick. “Because it’s not my fault your dog wants to kill everyone in sight and makes it impossible for anyone to get close to him.”
“What was that about?” Denise asked me kindly. I sighed, placing the phone back in the cradle, then turning my attention to the pager, flipping it end over end absentmindedly.
“Just a difficult client and a crazy, untrained dog; nothing too unusual,” I groaned, putting my hand on Skylar’s head as she curled against my body, still hiding from Emily’s scalding gaze. “Okay, Skylark, you ready to face us some Brutus?” She shook her head emphatically and I stared at my daughter as tears began to fill her hazel eyes. “Skylar, honey,” I knelt down to her level, ignoring everyone else as I focused solely on my daughter. “What’s wrong?”
“He scares me!” The tears flowed out of her eyes, making soft paths down the edge of her cheekbones. I pulled her into a hug, rocking gently back and forth, cuddling her close.
Distantly, beyond the world of my child, I heard Emily mutter distinctly, “baby.” A furious, roaring monster erupted in my chest at her words and I knotted my fingers in the hem of Skylar’s shirt to keep myself from murdering my ex-boyfriend’s girlfriend. I squeezed my eyes shut, determined to keep my self-control in place.
I didn’t have to worry. With a quiet rustle, all three brothers stood in front of Emily, their glares searing holes through the wall behind her. When he spoke, Joe’s voice was low, husky and filled with protective anger. “Get. Out.” The words were snapped apart; in no way could they be mistaken for a single, gentler, sentence. He pointed to the door, illustrating his point. “Get the he.ll out of here.”
“Nick!” She looked crazed and her tone was high-pitched, scoring the lovely sound of spazzing diva. “You can’t let them kick me out!” She moved toward Nick, who stood behind me and Nate caught her in a firm grip, grabbing her arm. “Let go!” I could sense that this was about to get ugly, so I shot Denise a desperate look and she moved forward, touching Skylar’s back gently.
“Hey sweetie.” She bent down behind me, so she could look at Skylar and wiped away her tears lightly. “I’m your daddy’s mommy.” Skylar watched her cautiously and smiled softly. She was still sniffling and hugging my shoulders, pressing her cheek into my coat as she laid her head along my collarbone, snuggling close. “I think your daddy and mommy have some things to work out, so do you wanna come play with me?” Skylar silently shook her head and I could feel a couple of tears fall onto my jacket.
“I wanna stay with Daddy.” Her voice cracked with tears and I heard her sniffle again.
“Hey baby girl.” I heard Nick’s voice and sensed that Denise had backed away, probably going to keep her other sons from killing Emily. He placed his hand on my back to stand himself and I couldn’t resist the shivers that wiggled down my spine.
From the smile in his voice, he knew exactly what he was doing to me and when he moved his hand lower, pressing into the small of my back as he stood up, I was sure it was on purpose, but the realization didn’t do anything to my weak knees. I let Skylar slide out of my grasp as Nick picked her up and swung her to rest on his hip, brushing a few curls away from her face. “Skylark, I need you to do me a favor, okay?” He watched her reaction carefully, as did everyone else in the room; Emily temporarily forgotten. “Your mom and I really need to talk, so can you go with” –he stopped unsure of what to call Denise.
“Lady.” Skylar said firmly, looking up at her grandmother. I caught her gaze and saw tears sparkling in her expressive brown eyes. “Lady.” She repeated, turning to Nick.
He grinned at her. “Do you want me to come get you when we’re done talking?” She nodded and hugged him, before silently taking Denise’s hand and leaving the room, Papa J following and closing the door behind them.
The second my daughter disappeared, I straightened, whirling on Emily. “I can’t believe” –the words were hissing from my mouth and I could see her shrinking away from me. Nick’s hands caught my shoulders and held me back, but he was glaring at Emily just as fiercely as I was.
Kevin stepped forward, looking at Emily. I could tell he wasn’t as riled up as Joe and I were, but there was definitely a trace of anger in his soft voice. “Emily, I really think it would be best for you to leave now.”
She turned to shoot her gaze toward Nick. “Are you breaking up with me?” He simply pointed to the door and a devastated look crossed her face, only to be replaced by one of pure hatred. I was eternally grateful that Skylar had left the room after she paused at the door, turning to face Nick and flick him (or us, I wasn’t sure) off. He didn’t move, just simply glared at her, and she left, grabbing her purse and slamming the door behind her, causing the walls to shake. I sighed, turning in his arms to simply stand there, absorbing the feeling; enjoying it while I could.
