Chapter 4

Gwen

Frowning, I shrugged my purse higher onto my shoulder as I walked through the door to work. ”What”s going on?” I asked Cheryl, who was sitting at the desk. Rob, the head veterinarian, was in the corner of the room, speaking to the police.

When I pulled into the parking lot and saw the cop cars I”d nearly turned around again. Some of the cops were working with Fremont, so they all made me a little nervous. Though, Seek had friends all over the city who were on the force. And the officers who had shown up after the incident with Trent had been so kind and caring. They weren”t all bad and that was why I”d firmly parked my car and forced myself to walk in today.

”Someone broke in last night,” Cheryl said in an exaggerated whisper that was anything but quiet.

”Seriously?” I asked, my brows shooting up. ”Did they go for the medications?” Vet offices didn”t exactly get hit very often, but all it took was one desperate tweaker.

”No. That”s what”s weird,” she said with a shake of her head. ”They broke into all the employee lockers.”

”What?” I frowned, wondering why anyone would do that. ”Maybe it was a jealous ex or something?” I offered.

She shrugged her shoulders. ”Karen”s the only one who broke up with her boyfriend recently, but who knows. Far as the cops can tell nothing was taken, but they”re gonna want you to go through your locker and make sure everything”s still there.”

I didn”t keep anything of importance in my locker. Not even a picture of my children. As much as I wanted to, so that I could look at them throughout the day, I always figured it was better not to. Trent had gotten a little weird when we first split up and had shown up at my work a few times. Ever since then all I kept around here was the current paperback I was reading and a jacket. Of course, I locked my purse in there during the day, but it went home with me each night.

”What”s the plan for the day?” I asked.

”Got the word that we wouldn”t be canceling any of the surgeries. Just had to call to push back the first few of the morning.”

”Okay,” I said and went into the back area so I could stow my things away and get ready. There were still animals who needed to be seen, break in or not. I smiled at the officer who was in the back employee area.

”Morning, Ma”am,” he said with a return smile.

”Morning.”

”Could you please show me which locker is yours?”

I pointed toward number nine and waited as he used gloved hands to open it up. ”Anything missing?”

”No,” I told him, eyeing my book and jacket. ”It”s all there.”

”You pack light,” he teased. He was cute. I guessed around thirty or so, only a year or so older than me. Dark hair and soulful brown eyes. He looked nice in his uniform.

I held up my purse. ”You wouldn”t say that if you had a look in here.”

”Is that an invitation?”

I froze. ”What?”

Humor flashed over his face. ”Sorry. Kidding.” He held up his hands as a sign of peace.

My lips barely lifted as I brushed past and set my purse in my locker. I”d have to get a new lock, but that was a problem for later. We had clients coming in within thirty minutes, and I needed to help get the exam rooms prepped.

”Excuse me.”

I paused and looked over at the officer.

”I”m sorry, again.” He gave me a sheepish look. ”I was just joking around about searching your purse.”

”It”s okay,” I told him.

He hesitated, then held out his gloved hand. ”I”m David.”

”Nice to meet you.” I shook it.

”And you are?” he asked with a raised brow.

”Oh, right,” I laughed. ”Gwen.”

”Well, Gwen, it”s nice to meet you. I hope you don”t think this is too sudden-” I tensed, waiting for what he was going to say. ”but I wanted to see if you”d have dinner with me?”

I blinked in shock. That wasn”t what I was expecting at all. ”Dinner?”

”Yeah. Tomorrow night?”

”Tomorrow.” A slow grin spread over his face and my cheeks burned as I realized I was parroting everything he said. ”Thank you,” I finally stammered, ”but I can”t.” He was cute, but the guys would freak out if I brought home a cop. And I had my kids to think about. And there was the matter of the golden god lawyer I kept dreaming about.

”Okay,” he said. He held out a card and I took it from him. ”In case you change your mind.”

”Cops have business cards now?” I teased.

He shrugged. ”Better to be prepared. I”ll let you get back to work, Gwen.”

I gave him a friendly smile and hurried off to clean up one of the exam rooms that hadn”t gotten cleaned after the last client of the night from yesterday. My mind kept straying as I worked, wondering why David had asked me out. I was still young, but I didn”t exactly get a lot of dates. Probably had something to do with the fact that I was always at the clubhouse, work, or with my kids.

It didn”t matter anyway. I wasn”t interested in dating right now. I couldn”t afford to choose wrong and bring another man like Trent into our lives. That was the last thing me, or my children needed.

”Hey,” Karen said as she walked in the door.

”Hi. How was your weekend?”

”Pretty good. My mom came down and we had dinner together.”

”Oh, that”s nice.” Karen”s mom lived in Phoenix and they tried to have a mother daughter date once a month or so. I leaned over and cleaned the exam table surface.

”Who”s the cute cop?”

”Huh?” I asked, looking over at her.

She planted her hands on her full hips. ”The cute cop who was asking about you at the front desk?”

”He was?”

She gave me a knowing look. ”You better get out there before Cheryl gives him your number, your address, your social security-”

I bolted out of the room before she even had the chance to finish. David was walking out the door as I rushed back out into the waiting room area. He had that swagger that all men with a badge and gun seemed to have. I was pretty sure it had something to do with the heavy gun and other things on the belt they wore. Well, and the ego. There was always a massive ego.

”There you are!” Cheryl said, looking excited.

My heart sank. Cheryl and I were friends, but she was ten years older, happily married, and was always trying to set me up with handsome men who came through the clinic.

”That nice young man asked for your number.”

Now my heart was back up in my throat.

”Please tell me you didn”t give it to him?”

The guilt was all over her face. ”I”m so sorry. I guess I shouldn”t have... I just thought-”

”It”s fine,” I sighed. Reaching over, I patted her hand. ”Just, in the future, could you please not give out my information?”

”Of course.” Tears welled in her eyes, making me feel like a heartless monster. It didn”t matter that there was probably a rule in our handbook that said not to give out co-worker”s information, I still felt bad for upsetting her. ”I”m so sorry, Sweetie.”

”It”s okay,” I said again. ”Really.” I paused, thinking about what Karen said. ”You didn”t give him my address did you?” I”d updated it when we moved into the clubhouse. If that cop showed up there, looking for me… I blew out a breath. There would be hell to pay. Especially right now with all the guys on edge over Fremont.

”Oh,” she gasped. ”No! Of course not. That would be a total breach of privacy.”

I tried not to laugh, because so was giving out my phone number, but she wouldn”t see it that way. ”Okay. Thanks Cheryl.” I turned and went into the back. My phone was stuffed into the pocket of my scrubs. Our doctors didn”t mind that I kept it on me—as long as it wasn”t out when I was with a patient, or in a surgery—so that if anything happened with my kids I could be contacted. It buzzed and I pulled it out to check it.

Unknown: Hope you don”t mind. I asked for your number. I”m hoping taking the initiative will impress you. -David

Shaking my head, I let out a huff of a laugh. No one had pursued me this hard in a long time. And it wasn”t even like he”d done much other than ask me out and get my number.

Karen stuck her head around the corner. ”Ready for the first of the day?”

I shoved my phone back in my pocket and David out of my mind, pasting a bright smile on my face. It wasn”t fake. My favorite customer was coming in today. His name was Rufus and he was a boxer. As soon as he burst through the door, a doggy grin on his face and his little nub wagging as fast as it would go, I knew it was going to be a good day.

Floppinginto a chair in the downstairs area of the clubhouse, I closed my eyes. It had been a good day. Good, but busy. I was so glad to be home. Dani had texted that she would bring home Sean and Grace. They still went to school out in Picture Rocks, even though we were living here for now. I wasn”t going to pull them from that school and disrupt their lives even more.

Dani was due in a week and a half, but she refused to go on maternity leave early. I wouldn”t be surprised if her water broke right there in her classroom. She was working like a maniac to have everything organized and set up for her substitute to take over.

”Hi!”

I looked over and smiled as Jordan came over and sat down. Most of us were just coming in from work. ”Hi. How was your day?”

”Great,” she said. ”Dad brought Haze into work today. We have extra mews available that she hung out in so that we could spend time together.”

”It must be so hard having her stay with your parents,” I commiserated.

”Yeah, I miss her.” Haze was her Harris Hawk. Jordan was a falconer, just like everyone else in her family, and she also worked professionally as one, and as a wildlife rehabilitator, specializing in raptors, with her dad at The Wildlife Sanctuary. ”But Mom and Dad are taking great care of her and Noah is flying her as much as he can in the meantime.”

”Good.”

Green eyes narrowed on me. ”You look beat.”

”It was a long day.” I shifted in my seat. ”We were backed up because someone broke into the clinic last night. So we had to wait for the cops to clear out before we could get started for the day.”

”Seriously?” she asked. ”Drugs?”

”See? That”s what I thought, too, but nope. They broke into our lockers.”

”That”s weird,” she said, scrunching her nose.

”I know. Probably just some tweaker who got confused,” I said with a shrug.

Kit and Susie walked in and came over to sit down with us. Kit detoured over to the bar and grabbed some cold bottles of beer.

I wasn”t much of a drinker, and margaritas were my poison of choice when I did, but I wasn”t going to turn the beer down after today.

”How”s everything?” Kit asked.

The only answer she got was the door bursting open and kids running in. Both Dani and Jenny followed them inside, looking amused as they all bolted for the couches. Gabby turned on the TV and they all quieted down while they watched their afternoon show. This was a ritual for us right now. All us women sat around with an alcoholic beverage—except Dani since she was heavily pregnant, and Sloane and Seek since they were breastfeeding—and visited while the kids watched their program. It was a great way to relax after work.

Everyone was here now, Tori, Sylvia, Seek, Dani, Daisha, Jenny, Eva, and Sloane. The only one missing was Keely. It was hard not to be bummed out that Keely was gone. Dani was keeping us up to date on what her sister was up to, but it wasn”t the same. We”d all grown close while she was here.

My phone buzzed and I checked it. I couldn”t stop the frown as I read the message.

David: How was work?

”Everything okay?” Seek asked.

”Fine,” I replied, too quickly. Every one of them stopped talking and focused on me.

Oops.