Perils of a Papillon (Fuzzy Love #3) - Tara Lain Page 0,3
to the rest of the dog lectures.
An hour and a half later, the panel changed and the speakers switched over to cat experts. New people came in, and Toby and Molly started to the door. Interesting that the beautiful man didn’t move from his seat, the cat carrier at his feet.
Wonder why he came to the first half? Maybe he has a dog at home?
Toby would happily sit back down and listen to the cat lectures, just so he could stare at the guy. Sigh.
As he reached for the door, Erica, one of the clinic’s other vets tapped his arm. “Don’t forget your appointment for Harry’s shots at noon.”
What? Toby glanced at Molly who looked guilty. Toby nodded. “No problem. Thanks for the reminder.” Leading a now semi-docile Harry, he walked out into the bright late-morning sun, then frowned at Molly.
She planted her hands on her hips. “I put it on the calendar.” That was Molly. Best defense was always attack.
“It might have been nice to actually point it out to me, since you write a lot of things on the calendar and we were coming here—together!”
She sighed. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I forgot too.”
“You can’t do it, right?”
“Gotta work.” One of Molly’s gigs was as a barista.
“And I need to drive you.” It wasn’t a question.
“I’ll walk home from the coffee shop.”
“Okay. Come on.”
Once in their old Toyota that he’d parked several blocks off PCH in deference to the busy weekend traffic, Harry immediately fell asleep in the back seat. Not a good sign since it meant he’d be full of energy by the time they got to his appointment.
Toby pulled into the slow flow of cars on the Coast Highway and headed for the coffee shop in Costa Mesa where Molly worked.
She said, “Okay, time to tell me the bad news part.”
He didn’t pretend not to understand. “Mrs. Hamilton wants me to bring a plus one to her party.”
She shrugged. “So invite someone.”
He glanced at her. “Don’t be dense. She wants me to bring my boyfriend.” He said the word with quotation marks around it. “And that boyfriend had better look and act like he’s damned near close to marriage, or I can pretty much forget the full-time job.”
“Well damn,” she huffed. “That’s not fair. You’re a great teacher.”
“That’s why I got invited, but it doesn’t solve the boyfriend problem.”
“You don’t happen to have one of those boyfriends stuck in a closet somewhere, do you?”
“I was going to ask if there’s a guy at the coffee shop we could bribe.”
“With what? My firstborn child? Besides, the only gay guy at the store’s very, very attached to a leather daddy you don’t want to mess with.”
“I’m so screwed, and not in a good way.”
“What about one of the people you tutor?”
“The oldest one’s seventeen.”
“Escorts cost a fortune, I bet.”
“Yeah. Enough. Maybe we’ll think of something.”
They drove in silence for a while, until Toby pulled up in front of the popular coffee shop on busy 17th Street in eastside Costa Mesa.
She gave him a tight smile. “Don’t worry. We’ll think of something.” She sighed and slid out of the car. Toby waved and drove away. Harry slept on.
By the time he got back to Corona del Mar, he only had twenty minutes until their appointment. He stopped for a cheap café latte at a fast-food stand and then drove around looking for parking. That took so much time, he barely got to drink his latte.
Finally, he leaned into the back seat and nudged the monster dog in the ribs. Harry raised his head slowly. “Woof.”
“Yeah. Time to go see Erica.”
That made him perk up. Harry loved Erica.
After getting Harry out of the car, they started down the street, with Harry getting faster and pulling harder on his lead the closer they got to Beachside Animal Care. “Heel.” Harry barely broke stride. Hell, finally Toby quit trying and let Harry propel him to the entrance.
As he opened the door, the main thing he noticed was the silence. There was no one in the waiting room, which almost never happened at Dr. Fairweather’s clinic, especially not on Saturday. Those coveted hours were usually jammed with people. Maybe having the panel discussions that morning had worn everyone out.
“Woof.” Harry’s big, baritone bark filled the waiting room.
“Woof, woof, woof.” Uh-oh, that was Batshit scratching and barking behind the door that led into the treatment rooms and offices. Harry replied, and in seconds, the riotous barks and noise level approached the threshold of pain.