The Doctor Next Door

Boone Pratt moved from where he’d been standing in front of Faith.

Feeling as if the coast was clear, Faith glanced up from Charlie to see what Boone was doing.

He was behind the reception counter removing his lab coat, rolling it up and tossing it somewhere Faith couldn’t see.

Then he returned to the waiting area.

Faith looked down at Charlie once more but out of the corner of her eye she saw Boone lean against the wall. He folded his arms across his chest, placed one ankle over the other and seemed to settle in to watch her.

It was unnerving and, under other circumstances, with someone else, Faith would have made conversation to ease the tension. But she wasn’t feeling friendly and was trying to avoid saying the wrong thing. So she pretended to be aware of only Charlie. When, in fact, she was much, much more aware of Boone Pratt than she wished to be. Aware and not unaffected by the sight of the man all cleaned up.

“I owe you an apology for yesterday,” he said suddenly. “That’s why I asked that you not come in until after office hours. You were right, I was rude and nasty to you.”

He’d overheard the parting shot.

But recalling that she had said that and that Eden thought better of him than she did, Faith decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and take a step of her own in the direction of peace.

Still without raising her eyes, she seized on the assumption that he’d been peeved because of something she’d done unknowingly and she said, “If I snubbed you one of the times I’ve been in town since high school it wasn’t intentional. You weren’t at Eden’s wedding and I only knew you were you yesterday because… Well, because it was you who was meeting me here. You don’t look like the same person you did all those years ago. I would never have recognized you if we did just run into each other on the street.”

“Yeah, I had quite a growth spurt first year of college. But yesterday was just some old stuff of my own, it wasn’t that you’d snubbed me sometime in the last eleven years.”

“I did something to you when we were kids?” she asked, believing that that was what his old stuff stemmed from.

“It’s not like that, no. I guess I just took offense at how much you hated Northbridge and those of us in it—”

“Hate is a little strong. I just wanted something different. There was nothing personal in it.”

“I’m sure there wasn’t. And hey, so we aren’t your cup of tea, that’s just the way it is. But yesterday, remembering it, set me off. Anyway, like I said, I apologize. It was uncalled for and out of line and Charlie here let me know it in no uncertain terms.”

That made Faith smile and look up from her dog to see that Boone Pratt was smiling slightly, too. And that yes, when he did, his remarkable face formed deep creases in his cheeks that only added to how great-looking he was.

“Charlie let you know in no uncertain terms?” she repeated. “Charlie talked to you?”

“You mean she doesn’t talk to you?” he joked.

“She is good at letting me know what she wants,” Faith conceded.

“Well, she let me know that she didn’t approve of how I treated her mom yesterday and I agreed she was right. So maybe we can start over?”

“Okay,” Faith said, a bit leery but again recalling that Eden liked him.

In the interest of starting over, Faith finally opted for friendliness. As Charlie curled up in her lap, she said, “Did you know that I’ve been enlisted to organize a fund-raiser for a horse rescue? And in a hurry—apparently the mayor wants it to happen next Saturday in conjunction with some sort of auction?”

She ended that with a question because she knew next to nothing about the project.

“A horse auction,” he said. “The horse rescue is my baby. I’m doing the auction. I knew the mayor was going to try to whip up something to go along with it, but this is the first I’ve heard of your being in on it. How’d that happen? Didn’t you just get to town?”

“I was enlisted by phone through my sisters. If I had to guess, I’d say Eve and Eden probably volunteered me. They’re saying that the mayor heard I would be back in Northbridge, somehow knew about my experience as an event planner and thought I was just the person for the job, but that seems fishy to me.”

“You think they offered you up for it?”

“My sisters want me to move back permanently—that’s part of what I’m supposed to be here thinking over. I’m sure they figured this would get me involved in the community again, that it would help convince me to stay. But however it happened, I said I’d do it. Even though it will be a huge crunch to pull it off on such short notice.”

Faith had the impression that Boone wasn’t particularly happy to hear that she was on board, but he was trying not to show it.

Then, with some leeriness of his own, he said, “Do you have any idea yet what you’ll do?”

“Actually it was a long drive here from Connecticut and I had a lot of time to think, so yes, I do. I was thinking that it’s spring and that’s a big time for people to clean out closets and basements and garages and cellars and attics. So I thought why not have them donate what they want to get rid of and arrange a flea market in the town square with all the proceeds to go to the horse rescue.”

She didn’t have a clue as to why he looked so surprised, but he did.

“Bad idea?” she assumed to explain it.

“No, that’s a good idea. A terrific one, in fact.”

“But you expected me to come up with a bad idea?” she asked, still confused by the shocked expression she’d prompted.

He smiled again, sheepishly this time, and she had to admit it was appealing. Very appealing.

“When you said you were enlisted to do the fund-raiser I had a flash of a black-tie affair that not many people would come out for. But a flea market? That’s perfect for Northbridge. The whole town will get into that.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“It’ll also bring out more folks for the auction, maybe increase the odds of selling some of the horses so I can get them off my hands.”

“Do you keep some of the rescued horses yourself?”

“More than I should. The same goes for a couple of other ranches around here. That’s why we need to do the auction and why the mayor said he’d do what he could to raise some money for us—funds are down after caring for as many animals as we have in the last month or so.”

“I didn’t think there were that many horses rescued at any given time.”

“It varies.”

“Has there been a big influx lately?”

“We had a hard winter. Closer to the big cities they see more neglect, abuse, problems from overcrowding, abandonment, that sort of thing. We can run into that here, too, but in the open countryside we’re more likely to see wild horses that have been hurt or stranded. Or, like now, a lot that couldn’t find food through the winter and were dying of starvation. That’s why we’re overcrowded right now.”

“You’ve been feeding them?”

“Feeding them, nursing them back to health. But we can’t just keep them all. Eventually, when the horses are ready, something has to be done with them. So we hold periodic auctions.”

“To make way for more horses that need help.”

“Right.”

So he had dimples and he did good deeds even beyond the call of duty that had brought him to Charlie’s rescue yesterday. Faith was beginning to see why her sister had been shocked by her complaints about him.

And since that left Faith wondering again about what part she might have played—however unwittingly—in the previous day’s events, she wanted to make sure she was particularly conscientious today. Which seemed to mean not dragging out her visit to Charlie.

“I’m sure you’ve put in a full day and want to get home,” she said then. “Your receptionist said you’re keeping Charlie there with you?”

“I have five dogs so one more doesn’t make much difference.”

“And Charlie is doing all right with the other dogs?” It was Faith’s turn to be shocked.

“Sure,” he said as if he didn’t understand the question.

Faith decided against telling him that Charlie was usually horrible around anyone else’s pets.

Instead, she said, “And you think I’ll be able to take her home tomorrow?”

“I’d plan on it.”

“Good. My house is pretty empty without her,” Faith said, standing and handing her schnauzer back to Boone.

Charlie had no qualms about being returned to the vet—another surprise—and actually tipped her head back once she was in his arms, lovingly licking the underside of Boone’s chin.

“Yes, you’re a good girl,” Boone cooed to her, placing a light kiss to the top of Charlie’s head.

And Faith felt a pang.

She wasn’t sure of what, but it came in response to that kiss.

It must have been over seeing how much her dog liked Boone, she decided. Ordinarily Charlie’s loyalty to her was intense and Charlie didn’t warm up to anyone else, so Faith wasn’t accustomed to sharing her affections.

“I’ll call in the morning,” she said as she made her way to the door with Boone and Charlie bringing up the rear.

“Okay,” the vet said. “And don’t worry, I know Charlie isn’t being herself but she’ll be back to normal soon.”

Faith nodded, partially turning to give her dog one last pet and kiss the top of Charlie’s head herself before saying goodbye.

“Have a nice night,” Boone called as she went out.

“You, too,” she responded with one last glance at man and dog.

And one last pang.

And while it still seemed logical that the pang was from leaving Charlie with someone else, it almost felt as if that wasn’t exactly the cause.

It almost felt as if that pang was jealousy.

Jealousy of her pet.

Who was in Boone Pratt’s arms.

But that couldn’t possibly be the case, she told herself.

And yet, the pang was there and with it was some curiosity about what it might feel like to have Boone Pratt’s big hands stroking her….

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