Page 11 of New in Town

“So a few annuals for some horses… easy?”

She squints up at him suspiciously. “It sounds pretty routine, yeah. Why?”

“I’m going to need you to come out to the ranch,” he replies with a shrug.

“Why?”

“Well, it’s my understanding that vaccines and check-ups keep horses healthy. And it’s generally recommended that they—”

“Not that part,” she says with a wave of her hand. “Why me?”

“You just said that large animals are pretty much your specialty.” The corner of his mouth quirks up, the look in his eyes suggesting she won’t be getting a real answer out of him. When she doesn’t answer immediately, he holds out the puppy that has been relaxing in his arms. “Should we start with this one before scheduling the others?”

Motioning for him to place Pippa on the exam table, she moves to withdraw the necessary vaccines from the fridge in the room. She wonders why he is so open to her while no one else is. And at the thought, a thrill of hope rings through her.

“Seriously. Howisthe transition going?” he asks carefully.

“I like Sterling Ridge more than it likes me,” she says honestly, immediately regretting it. She opens her mouth to backpedal her words, but he holds up a hand.

“I get it, people around here are stuck in their ways. They love to welcome visitors, but since you’re replacing one of their own at the clinic—It’s dumb, by the way. I don’t agree with them.”

“You must think clearer than most.”

“Exactly,” he says with a smirk, his cool eyes studying her. “Who else have you treated animals for this week?”

She hesitates, dropping her gaze back down to Pippa.She begins the vaccinations, a crease forming between her brow at his question. “Um, no one.”

She doesn’t need to look up; she can feel the shift in his demeanor. Ignoring the skip in her heartbeat from him being upset on her behalf, she continues. “Whenever Arlo tries to hand them over to me like he did with you that first morning, they refuse to see me. They have all requested him instead.”

This is the first time she’s admitted it to anyone. All week, she’s been sending positive reports back to Jules and Charlotte. Grey doesn’t respond immediately. Glancing up, she finds his eyes still trained on her, his facial expression unreadable.

“That’s bullshit,” he finally says, softer than before.

She shrugs as she finishes the last shot and withdraws a treat from her pocket. When Pippa laps it up happily, she pulls another one out. “I think good girls deserve two treats,” she tells the puppy.

“She gets way more than two out of me with those puppy dog eyes,” he says with a laugh.

“In that case,” she says, grinning back at him as she pulls a third from her pocket.

Making their way back up front, Maddie sees Arlo sitting at the reception desk. He looks up with a smile, glancing between her and Grey. “Do you have any other animals to send Maddie’s way?”

“We actually just talked about that. It’s time for annuals at the stables,” Grey replies nonchalantly, like they aren’t casually talking about giving her pity clients. Maddie opens her mouth to stop the conversation, but Arlo beats her to a response.

“It’s not 30 percent, but that’s a good jump in numbers by about two dozen.”

“Thirty percent?” Grey asks, looking between them.

“The goal is for about 30 percent of the caseload to see Maddie, for her to stick around with us.”

That’s not quite the deal we made, Maddie thinks. But she’s learning quickly that Arlo often has something up his sleeve. And by the way he’s smiling, she knows this is one of those occasions.

“Any ideas on how we could get her out there to the town? Make them see that she’s one of us.”

“If you need to get out in town more, I’d be happy to be your company,” Grey says, an earnest look on his face.

Did he just ask her out on a date? She feels a flash of excitement that she quickly tries to tamp out. That would be an awful idea.

“Sterling Ridge’s most elusive bachelor. If you take Maddie out a few times, people would start flocking to see her here.”

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