The Dog Park by Laura Caldwell

Author:Laura Caldwell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2014-10-15T16:00:00+00:00

24

“Okay, I think it’s time for Baxter to get some sleep,” someone said.

I straightened up. My back seized. How long had I been bent over Baxter like that?

I looked around, almost as if I were coming to, the way Baxter had. Still no one in the ICU but us and the nurses. And Dr. Kasha standing over us.

“He’s asleep,” I said. I looked back down at Baxter, who sighed and shifted around. “I think he’s comfortable.”

“He is,” she said kindly. “But I’m really not supposed to have you back here for this long.”

“Oh. Okay.” I didn’t move. None of us did. “What am I supposed to do now?”

“I’d suggest you go home and try to get some sleep. Do you have a car here?”

“I don’t have a car,” I said. Then I said, “Marilyn Miles.” As if that explained everything. “I don’t want to leave him.”

“You’re welcome to stay in the waiting room.”

Silence. Finally, I said, “Okay.”

Dr. Kasha and a nurse moved Baxter to the kennel, waking him up in the process. As the kennel doors closed, he seemed wide-awake suddenly. He tried to give his body one of his doggy shakes, but the movement could only reach his little shoulders before the pain, apparently, was too much. He seemed to freeze, black eyes unblinking.

“Baxter!” I said.

“He’s okay,” Dr. Kasha said. She reached in and petted him softly, and the gesture calmed him. He looked at me forlornly, his eyes asking, What is happening and why did it happen?

The walk down the hallway back to the waiting room went too fast. I pushed the silver doors, this time expecting the sterile, brown-sofa’d vacuum of the waiting room. But it was no longer empty.

“Dude, get over yourself.”

Gavin?

He was leaning on the front desk in sort of a casual way, but his voice was tight, nearing loud.

He didn’t see me right away, and the person he spoke to had their back to me. It was a man. Dark hair.

“Sebastian?”

Both of them turned, angry expressions on their faces.

“Jess,” Sebastian said, his face clearing. He moved to me, looking down from his six-two height. “Is he okay?” His eyes were anguished.

I shrugged. I shook my head. Then I started to cry. Sebastian pulled me to him, pulling my face into his T-shirt, into the smell of him, and I felt comfort rush over and around me, as if I’d been plunged into a bath of it. I hugged him back.

I allowed myself a few sobs, hugging Sebastian tighter than I had in a long, long time, before I registered Gavin’s presence again.

I disentangled myself from Sebastian’s embrace, which seemed reluctant then. “Hi,” I said to Gavin. I hugged him then, too.

“Why didn’t you call me?” Gavin said. His voice sounded pained.

“I couldn’t remember your phone number. I didn’t have my cell phone.”

When I pulled away from Gavin’s hug, I took a step back. And I realized I was standing there between the two of them, almost equidistant to each of them.

“How did you know?” I said to Gavin.

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