Page 42 of The Grumpy Vet
"What? No. We're best friends. That's it."
Dad's eyebrow lifts north. "Best friends who shower together?"
"What are you talking about?"
"The day I arrived. Linus was making dinner while you two were getting showered and changed.Together. You should've seen both your faces when you came out to greet me. A giantBustedsign was flashing over both of your heads. And there have been other things."
"What other things?"
"The way he looks at you when he thinks you're not looking. The way his eyes go soft whenever you speak. The way he reaches out to touch you but stops himself and quickly looks over to see whether I've noticed. Son, I think your best mate is in love with you."
A gust of air leaves my lungs. On the one hand, I'm relieved Dad hasn't uncovered what'sreallygoing on, but on the other, I'm confused. What is he talking about? He's wrong. Dario isn't in love with me. He can't be. It makes no sense.
Then again, Ican'torshouldn'tbe in love with Linus, and yet I am.
This is all way too confusing.
"Keep an eye out for it, son. And you'll see," Dad says, patting my knee. "It might be purely friendship love at your end, but I'm pretty certain it's more than that for Dario."
I finally meet his gaze. "Gonna need some time to process this."
"Take all the time you need." He smiles warmly. "But trust me, I know a thing or two about these things." And with that cryptic comment, he gets up and says, "I'm heading over to Linus's. You wanna join?"
"Nah. I'm good."
"All right. We still on for dinner?"
"Yeah, we are."
"Cool. I'll be back then."
"No worries."
I sink back deeper into the couch. After the bombshell Dad just dropped, I've got some serious thinking to do.
11
Linus
For a grumpy bastard like me, I'd have expectedmaintaining a neutral faceto be easy. It should be second nature, a talent so well-developed I could list it in the special skills section of my résumé.
But as Oakey fills me in on his theory about Dario being in love with Ryde, my heart is pounding, my chest feels hot, and I'm not sure if I'm succeeding in keeping my emotions off my face.
"You're looking about as sceptical as Ryde did when I told him," Oakey says with a light chuckle. "Know something I don't?"
"What? No. Don't be silly. Here, Cluck Norris." I use feeding time as a welcome distraction to avoid having to stare my best mate in the face. Been doing a lot of that this past week, and I'm surprised—but glad—he hasn't picked up on anything.
As far as I'm aware, he doesn't suspect a thing. Well, at least not the real thing. I don't know where he got this idea about Dario being in love with Ryde from. I mean, if he is, he's done a bloody good job of hiding it. I haven't picked up on anything.
Oakey shoots me a knowing grin. "I know a thing or two about someone being secretly in love with their friend."
I empty out the water container and turn the hose on to refill it. "Don't know what you're talking about." He laughs, and once I've placed the water back in place, I smile, too. "That was a long time ago," I remind him.
So I may have had a little crush on Oakey when I met him during my vet studies in Sydney. I was young, naive, and this was in the era when going online meant enduring the annoying whine of a dial-up modem for a few painful minutes. He was my landlord, and I read too much into things, thought there might've been mutual feelings, and ended up making a foolof myself courtesy of one especially awkward candlelit dinner. Thankfully, Oakey's a cool guy. We moved past it and went on to become best friends.
"It's been good seeing you," he says, changing the topic, much to my relief.
I scatter a few treats around and look over at him, smiling. "Been good to see you, too."
