Natural Born Lawman

Yeah, right.

Dusk was falling by the time he’d showered and changed into jeans and a T-shirt. He strolled up the walkway at Dani’s with his mind on the excuse he was going to have to come up with for his visit.

He was about to knock on the front door, when he heard chaos erupt in the veterinary clinic. Muttering under his breath about the fact that he’d left his gun at home, he raced around to the clinic entrance and pounded on the door. It was opened by a frazzled Patsy, backed up by a snarling dog that looked perfectly capable of tearing both of them limb from limb.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, and turned back toward the dog, which was straining on its leash. “Punk, hush up. You’ll get your food when it’s your turn.”

Her total lack of concern about the huge dog’s barking brought a smile to Justin’s lips. He leaned back against the doorway and admired the methodical way she was moving from pen to pen.

“If I were you, I’d take care of Punk first before he decides to turn you into dinner,” he observed casually.

She shot him a defiant look that would have been wasted on Punk. “And let him win? I don’t think so. He’s nothing but a big bully. He’ll wait his turn.”

Even though she spoke with conviction, he noticed that she skirted carefully just out of the huge dog’s reach as she worked. He also noticed that her hands were trembling as she scooped food into the other animals’ dishes. Obviously this was some sort of test she was putting herself through. Was it possible that Punk represented another bully in Patsy’s life? Perhaps one she hadn’t stood up against? Justin couldn’t help wondering about all the gaps in her background he hadn’t been able to fill in.

“What are you doing here?” she asked as she kept on working.

“I just thought I’d stop by to see how your first day on the job at Dolan’s had gone.”

A smile broke across her face. “It went great. Everyone is really nice. They were very patient.”

“It didn’t seem to me they needed much patience. You were a whiz at the grill when I was there, better than Sharon Lynn, in fact. Have you done that sort of work before?”

“Way back,” she admitted.

He grinned. “It couldn’t have been that long ago. You can’t be more than what? Maybe nineteen?”

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