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Chapter 6
The usually packed parking lot behind the clinic was completely abandoned when I parked my truck. The wind blew an empty plastic bag next to my feet as I held my ID against the card reader on the wall next to the door. I grabbed the cold metal of the handle to push the door open, taking a deep breath to steady myself. I was nervous, practically shaking with excitement like a kid on Christmas Eve.
You got this.
Coffee tray in one hand, I stepped into the clinic and waited for that familiar ring of the bell above the front door. It was pretty dark in the clinic, with only a few lights on here and there.
“Noah.” I heard her sweet voice before I saw her. I turned to find her down the hallway waving at me. The sight of her made my insides clench. She looked amazing. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, and she was wearing a knee-length suit skirt with a white shirt tucked into it at her slim waist. Her eyelashes were an elegant black from mascara, not too much, just enough to highlight her blue eyes. She wasn’t wearing her glasses, which was kind of disappointing; they were so sexy.
The corner of my mouth perked up. “I brought coffee, but I’m afraid the blueberries got snatched by the neighborhood kids.”
She laughed and leaned over to smell the coffee. “Those darn kids. But coffee is really all I’m craving right now.”
Briefly, my eyes wandered to her breasts pressing against her shirt.
Stop it!My eyes snapped back to her face just in time.
“My office is right in here. How’s your arm by the way?”
“It’s healing fine.”
She nodded and opened the door to one of the clinic’s countless offices. The room itself looked like all the other administrative rooms where the vets and techs hung out between examinations. There was a couch, a small coffee table, and a desk pushed against the wall with a phone, a computer, and the skeleton of a cat on it.
“I share this office with the other vet students. It’s pretty quiet most nights, especially since the new pet hospital opened a few blocks from here.”
She sat down on the couch and waited for me to do the same. Placing the coffee on the table, I sat next to her with enough space between us to keep it innocent.
“How far are you into your program?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer to that; it was in her file.
“This is my last year of residency. So pretty far, I guess.”
“Do you like it?” I avoided looking at her. Instead, I studied the cat skeleton. Its mouth was open as if it were constantly hissing at me. I looked away, daring to glance at her. She tilted her head and played with a strand of hair that had come loose. God, she was so beautiful. How could anybody be so beautiful?
“I love saving animals, but it’s hard when I can’t. You know exactly what I’m talking about, though, don’t you?”
“I do.”
Animal control officers had to deal with a lot of animal cruelty. I knew that’s what she was referring to, but I understood what she meant on a more personal level. I’d seen the light of human life leave someone’s eyes right before they turned empty and dull.
Mila’s expression grew blank. “My mom always said that if you’re not making someone else’s life better, then you’re wasting your time.”
“She’s a wise woman,” I said.
“Not really,” Mila corrected me. “She ran away with another man when I was little and left my brother and me to my dad, who honestly should have never had kids. He died not too long after that.”
I turned to face her, our eyes locking. I hated seeing her this sad. I wanted to pull her into my arms and kiss her pain away. I’d protect her from the world, take the whole universe apart, piece by piece until there was nothing left to threaten her. It was a ridiculous, unrealistic thought. Life was full of ugly twists and turns. But it didn’t change the fact that I still wanted her to never have to feel pain again.
“I’m...” I said, reaching out for her hand but then pulling back. “I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be,” she said, curling her lips into a faint smile. “I was the one who brought her up, and it’s not like you knew.”
I looked away, trying to hide my shame.
I did know. I know almost everything about you from your file, Mila. I know that you got a C on your biology paper and studied day and night to get an A+ on your next one. I know how you like your coffee: one Splenda with milk. I know you put hot sauce on everything, even on freaking fries. I know you love the force of a violent thunderstorm, the kind that makes the floor shake under your feet when the thunder growls, and I know you love the smell of the sea because it makes you dream of faraway lands and a different life.
“What about your family?” Her voice was kind and soft, forcing me to look at her again. I never talked about my family with anybody. I was more of a closed-book kinda guy. At least I had been until now.
“It’s just me. And now the cat, I guess. My mom died when I was young. My dad a few years after, from cancer. I think he just didn’t want to be without her anymore. I try to be happy for him. I hope he’s with her again.”
