Chapter 7

Beth had only met Trudy Davis upon checking her in for her appointment, but now she held the woman’s shaking hand as they waited for Eli to return after he’d whisked the unconscious yet—thankfully—still breathing dog away.

“He has cancer, you know,” Trudy told her with a sniffle.

“Oh” was all Beth could think of to respond. She’d never lost anyone close to her and had never been the pet-loving type. Sure, she’d temporarily lost her career and had set aside a sizeable amount of time to wallow, but her injury was a setback, not something to grieve. Yet somehow a knot still formed in her throat, as if Trudy’s impending grief was contagious.

A lock of salt-and-pepper hair loosed itself from the other woman’s long braid, and Trudy reacted with a tearful laugh as she tucked it back in place.

“He always nips at my hair when this happens.” She looked at Beth with watery eyes. “Lost most of his teeth, though, so he never did much damage.”

Beth plucked a fresh tissue from the box resting on Trudy’s lap and handed it to her. “You really love that little fur ball, huh?” she asked.

Trudy took the tissue, added it to the wad of already used ones in her hand, blew her nose, and nodded. “Humans are great…most of the time. But there’s nothing like the connection you make with a pet.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Beth told her. She wasn’t yet ready to admit that she’d snuck out to the barn every night in the past week to visit Midnight. She’d left the stall door closed, of course, so she wouldn’t set off the alarm again. But she’d wait up until she saw the lights go out in Eli’s residence attached to the clinic, then wait until she was pretty sure that he had gone to sleep. And then she’d meet the mare, who’d reach her nose over the top of the gatelike door to nuzzle Beth’s chin. She couldn’t explain it, her draw to this creature, let alone her desire to ride it. All Beth knew was her loneliness felt a little less—well—lonely when she visited her new equine friend.

“You’ve never had a pet?” Trudy asked.

Beth shook her head. “Not any animal I’d consider my own. I don’t really connect with them. Delaney got that gene.” Midnight was some weird fluke. They were probably just two lonely beings latching on to one another. As soon as Beth got to know Meadow Valley a bit better, she’d probably forget all about the mare.

“It’s a wonderful thing to love an animal and have them love you back,” Trudy continued. “But you enter into the contract knowing that—barring any sort of unfortunate accident—you’ll likely outlive this creature that you’ve loved since the moment you met, and it will cause you immeasurable pain and heartbreak.” She sniffled and blew her nose again.

Beth shook her head, incredulous. “Then why even do it? Why set yourself up for failure?” It didn’t make sense. “If a relationship has an expiration date, what’s the point of entering into the ‘contract’?” She slipped her hand from Trudy’s so she could air quote the last word.

Trudy let out a tearful laugh. “Because if I gave up the possibility of pain, I’d also be giving up the possibility of joy. Years of it, which is what I’ve had with Frederick.”

The only thing that had ever brought Beth joy, true joy, was performing. No animal or person could make her feel what she felt when she was onstage. From the time she put on her first pair of tap shoes at four years old all the way through her Vegas debut and even to tearing her Achilles at what should have been her career-making audition…all of it was happiness like she never could have imagined.

Until it wasn’t. The past five weeks had been the unhappiest in Beth’s life, yet she couldn’t help but acknowledge how her evenings in the barn made the unhappy a little less un.

Beth narrowed her eyes, suddenly remembering something else Trudy mentioned.

“Did you really fall in love with Frederick the moment you saw him?”

Trudy raised her brows. “You don’t believe me? Maybe you and animals don’t connect, but has there never been anyone in your life you’ve simply looked at and thought, ‘If you’re as sweet as you are adorable, I’m going to fall in love with you before the night is through’?”

Beth laughed. She’d met plenty of men between her teens and now, and none of them had made her believe in love at first sight. Then again, relationships always came secondary to dancing, but still. If there was a man capable of sweeping her off her feet, wouldn’t that have shown through regardless of how focused she was on her career?

Her pulse suddenly raced as her body recalled the feeling of Eli scooping her into his arms as he somehow anticipated Midnight’s reaction before the mare even made a move. Even now, she could feel the place where the tips of his fingers met the bare skin where her shirt had ridden up.

You’re furious with him, she reminded herself. And she was. But it didn’t change the way her physiology responded to him then or to the memory of him now.

“No,” Beth finally croaked, realizing she hadn’t answered Trudy’s question. “Can’t say that I have.”

The other woman dabbed at the corners of her damp eyes with her tissue and smiled. “Very convincing, Ms. Spence. Very convincing indeed.”

Eli threw the door open before Beth could call the woman out on her unfounded teasing.

“He’s stable, Trudy.” He looked right past Beth. “I gave him some intravenous fluids and he let me do the ultrasound without a fuss. But the mass is obstructing the bowels, which explains the vomiting and dehydration. I think—I think you should let me operate.”

Beth had been so focused on Trudy while Eli and Frederick were gone. Calm, accepting Trudy. But in Eli’s blue eyes, she saw a storm brewing.

Trudy stood and strode the few steps to where Eli filled the space beneath the door’s frame.

That was the only way Beth could describe Eli’s entrance into the room. He filled the space. He took up presence. Hell, he was presence. And despite her anger, she couldn’t deny that when Dr. Eli Murphy entered a room, she felt him there.

Trudy raised a palm to Eli’s cheek and gave him a loving pat.

“We already discussed this,” she began calmly, but her voice broke on the last word. “He’s too old for surgery. You yourself said he might not survive it—”

“But…” Eli interrupted, yet when Trudy shook her head, he said no more.

Beth watched the helpless resignation set into his features, and her heart broke a little for a man she barely knew, a beagle she’d barely met, and a lovely woman who seemed too wise in the ways of love and loss for this to be her first experience with it.

“Can we do it here, or should we go to him?” Trudy asked.

Eli swallowed, and Trudy lowered her hand.

“He’s resting comfortably, so why don’t we go to him?”

Trudy nodded, and Eli held the door open for her.

Beth sat frozen, not sure what to do. She suddenly felt out of place, like she was about to be witness to something too intimate, an overstepping of boundaries she wasn’t sure she was ready to cross.

“Are you coming?” Eli asked, answering her unspoken question.

“Oh.” Beth bolted up from her chair. “Of course.”

His blue eyes were now clouded over with gray, and Beth wondered if this happened every time Dr. Murphy had to let an animal go. Didn’t both doctors and vets somehow detach from situations like this? If not, how could they possibly continue in such a profession?

Eli pulled the door shut after she exited the room. Then he took the lead and headed toward the imaging lab where Frederick waited.

Trudy grabbed Beth’s hand and leaned in close.

“My Frederick was Eli’s first patient,” she whispered. “I’ve made my peace, but he’s going to need a friend when all is said and done.” The other woman nodded toward Eli, who had stilled with his hand on the door to the clinic’s imaging room.

This wasn’t just any loss for the doctor Beth had secretly marveled at all week. His first patient. She couldn’t imagine the hurt he must feel, and she didn’t know how she would be any help to him when, as Trudy said, all was said and done. But she could do one thing. She could let go of the resentment she’d been hanging on to all week.

So she did. And just like that, all Beth’s anger rushed out of her in one epic wave of release.

They followed Eli into the imaging room where Frederick lay drowsily on a towel atop a stainless steel table, an IV tube taped to one of his legs.

Trudy ran to her dog and showered him with pets and kisses.

Eli strode to the other side of the table and began typing a combination onto the keypad of a small safe.

Beth grabbed his free hand, and Eli flinched, but his shoulders relaxed as he pivoted to face her.

“Whatever you need, Eli. I’m here.”

The corner of his mouth twitched, as if he was trying to smile. But he didn’t. Or more likely, couldn’t.

“Thank you” was all he said before getting back to work preparing the medication.

Beth’s throat tightened, and her heart ached. For the dog and its human, yes. But when she looked at the doctor—at the man who had to perform the deed himself—she felt awash in a grief she could not explain. All she knew was that this would be the last appointment for the Murphy Veterinary Clinic today.

Eli’s phone lit up in his pocket. He glanced down at it, hands gloved as he readied the syringe.

“Can you grab that?” he asked, voice rough as he looked at Beth.

She nodded, then reached into the pocket to retrieve the phone.

“It’s a text,” she told him. “From Boone.”

“Shit,” he hissed. “Midnight’s appointment.”

Behind them, Trudy sang softly to Frederick: “In My Life” by the Beatles.

Beth’s chest tightened.

“Unlock it.” She tapped on the screen, then held it up to Eli’s face without waiting for him to respond. “I’ll tell him you need to reschedule.”

Eli nodded. “Thank you.” His voice was barely above a whisper.

Beth fired off a quick response to Boone, explaining the situation. He responded immediately.

“Should he come inside?” she asked, relaying the younger Murphy’s request.

Eli shook his head. “Tell him to head back to his family. I’ll call him later.”

Beth sent the response, waited for Boone’s acknowledgment, and then dropped the phone back into Eli’s white coat pocket.

He sighed, set the syringe on a small silver tray, and spun to face Trudy and Frederick.

Eli cleared his throat. “Trudy…” he began, and the unspoken plea in his voice made Beth’s throat burn.

Don’t cry, she told herself. These people do not need you blubbering all over their moment. You’re a bystander. Possibly even an interloper. But you’re here, so keep it together.

Trudy straightened, her eyes meeting his. “Eli…” she countered. “Even if he survived the surgery, it would only be a temporary fix. The time it would take him to recover would be time enough for the tumor to start growing back. I can’t put him through all that suffering just for him to suffer more.” She reached a hand across the table and gave his upper arm a squeeze. “It’s sooner than we’d hoped, I know…” She trailed off, and a tear ran down her cheek. Still, she pressed her lips into a smile. “Thank you for all you’ve done for him throughout the years. He is so lucky to have had you to care for him all this time. We both are.”

All Eli seemed to be able to do was nod.

“Would you like to hold him?” he asked. “You can sit with him in the chair against the wall.”

Wordlessly, Trudy scooped the beagle into her arms, careful not to tug on the tube taped against his leg.

Frederick perked up long enough to give her a sloppy kiss on the chin.

Trudy laughed, and then Frederick nestled into her arms, his body relaxing as if ready for what was to come.

“It’ll be quick,” Eli told her. “He won’t be in pain anymore.” Despite the pain Beth knew he was in, Eli’s tone was now laced with the comfort his client and patient needed.

He rounded the metal table and set the tray on the side opposite the woman and her canine companion. Then he gently lifted the syringe and knelt in front of the chair.

“Don’t tell my other patients,” Eli cooed softly to Frederick, “but you’ve always been my favorite.” He scratched the pooch behind the ear, and Frederick simply blinked.

“He’s ready,” Trudy whispered. “So I guess that means I am too.”

Beth saw Trudy safely to her car.

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked.

Trudy gave her a teary smile. “I got to love that crazy, toothless rascal for a decade of my life. I will miss him every day from here on out. But I meant what I said before. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Beth felt a tear trickle out of the corner of her eye, and she quickly swiped it away. “I’m sorry,” she explained. “I don’t know what came over me. It doesn’t make sense. I barely know you or Frederick, and I—”

Trudy grabbed her hand and made her stop short. “Sweetie, you don’t have to apologize for crying for my Frederick…or for me for that matter. This town is one big family, and like it or not, you’re a part of it while you’re here. Though you might be careful with your claim of not connecting with animals, because I think my little guy got to you.” She nodded toward the clinic. “He’s taking it harder than it looks. Losing patients is part of the deal for him, but this one might be the exception—other than Fury.”

The other woman didn’t wait for Beth to ask questions but instead climbed into her vehicle and slowly pulled away.

Beth spun slowly back toward the clinic’s front walkway, a sinking feeling in her stomach. How did she comfort someone from such a loss when she didn’t understand the first thing about how Eli felt? When she didn’t really know him at all? If Delaney was sad, a marathon of nineties Keanu Reeves movies always did the trick. She knew her sister. Knew how to be there for her, to love her. But how did she do that for someone she’d barely spoken to all week?

Ryan, the clinic’s tech, had finished with his feline teeth cleaning in time to collect Frederick and prep him for pickup by the crematorium, so she found Eli in his office, white coat on the back of his chair as he sat in only his scrubs, typing away at his laptop, a pen clenched between his teeth.

She knocked softly on the open door. “Hey there. Just wanted to check in. I canceled the rest of the day’s appointments and thought I would pop by to see how you were doing.”

Pop by? Ugh. Beth was the awkwardest awkward to ever awkward.

Eli’s head shot up, his blue eyes alarmingly bright. He grabbed the pen and set it on a stack of papers on the desk.

“Thanks for your help.” Eli grinned. “I think Trudy really likes you. I just need to finish up this paperwork for the crematorium, and then I’m going to call it a day, so if you want to clock out and go see your sister or something, feel free.” He raised his brows. “I’ll still pay you for the day, of course.”

Beth took a couple of steps into the room, her brow furrowed. “What is this?” she asked, waggling her index finger at him.

He furrowed his brow right back. “Um…paperwork?”

“No…” She paused, trying to choose her words carefully and also wondering why she wasn’t simply clocking out and escaping the situation altogether. “I mean this.” She pointed at him again. “The Mr. Chipper, I-didn’t-just-say-goodbye-to-my-first-ever-patient thing. I saw you in there, Eli. I know you’re not okay. Trudy knows you’re not okay.”

His smile remained, but a muscle twitched in his jaw.

Eli leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “You haven’t spoken to me in a week, and now you think you have me all figured out, huh?”

His words stung, but she held her ground. “That’s not you talking,” she told him. “It’s your grief, so I’m not going to play your game.” Her pulse quickened. Because she was playing just by engaging. Why? He’d already given her an out. Why wasn’t she running while she had the chance?

He straightened, his smile faltering now. “I think I remember saying you’re dismissed for the day, Ms. Spence.”

She shook her head and instead took a few steps closer.

“What are you doing?” He sprang up from his chair.

Beth countered by rounding the desk so she was right in front of him.

“Delaney’s working at the shelter today. Nolan’s with her grandma. And since I’m not allowed near Midnight without you as a chaperone, I have no one else to hang with and nowhere else to be.” She shrugged. “So I’m not leaving you alone. You can dismiss me and Ms. Spence me all you want, but I’m not falling for it, Dr. Murphy.”

Eli tried to back up, but his chair was already against the wall.

“Why are you doing this?” he asked, and she could hear his resolve begin to crumble.

A single tear leaked from the far corner of his eye, and on instinct she reached for him, her palm landing on his cheek and her thumb wiping it away.

“I don’t know,” she admitted.

She waited for him to jerk away, but instead he exhaled a shaky breath.

“Don’t go,” he whispered, and he suddenly looked so much younger than his thirty-six years.

“I won’t,” she whispered back, her thumb now tracing a soft line across his cheek. She kept telling herself that Trudy’s belief in love at first sight only applied to animals. But then, for no reason she could explain, she stood up on her toes—walking cast and all—and pressed her lips to his.