Page 40 of Unyielding
“I’ve been to the Rooftop with Shannon. If you have a chance to go, I recommend it.” Even if I didn’t have the best time there.
“Shannon Cafferty?” I nodded watching her face for any indicator of what she was thinking. I knew that Julia Lett was single and while she was a beautiful woman, she was no Shannon.
“If you two are interested, you should check out Buckman’s. There’s nothing like being able to let off a bit of steam throwing axes around,” she said. She slammed the tailgate on her truck and stuck her hand out. “Been a pleasure working with you, Declan, and if you’re good with it, I’ll give you a call the next time I need help.”
I shook her hand, noting that it was cool to the touch and her grip was firm and friendly. “You too, Julia, and I’ll do the same.”
As I followed Julia back to town, the exhaustion I’d managed to ignore for the last few hours hit me like a wave. I almost pulled over to take a nap, but if I did that, I had no idea how long I’d sleep. Julia honked her horn and waved as she turned off and I kept going into Poplar Springs. I was relieved that she hadn’t been flirting with me because the only person I’d been thinking about was Shannon. It’d been days since we slept together and I’d been too busy to do more than text her. I knew it wasn’t fairto her but right now, I needed to do everything I could to make sure Ruth sold me her practice.
But that didn’t mean we couldn’t have a little fun. Julia had mentioned Buckman’s. It was new and popular. I was due a night off. I wonder if Shannon would be interested in going with me. As soon as I got home, I’d text her and see. And after? Well, the idea of another night holding her in my arms sounded good, too.
TWENTY-FOUR
SHANNON
“Looks like you’ve got a healthy little girl here. What’s the name again? Rita?” Ruth squinted at her tablet.
“Vida,” I answered.
I tried to hide my disappointment that Declan wasn’t doing the follow-up appointment himself. We’d texted and talked on the phone a few times since our magical night together, and even though I understood that the practice had gotten busier and that he was still working overtime to try to right a wrong, a tiny part of me worried that something was weird between us. My worry doubled when I saw Ruth’s truck pull in instead of his.
“That’s right. Dr. Morris told me the two of you named her together. Sweet,” Ruth said, her eyes on the foal who was dancing around her stall and looking like she was gearing up for some zoomies.
I couldn’t help asking, “Where is Dec—um, Dr. Morris? I thought he’d be the one to come by.”
Ruth tutted while tapping on her tablet. “I accidentally double-booked him today. He had to cover a client way out inBarnesville this morning because my old truck has been acting up. I figured you’d be a quick and easy appointment to handle myself, whereas he’ll be dealing with pig diarrhea for the next few hours, plus the drive.” She shuddered. “The last time I made a call out there, it took me weeks to get the stink out of my truck seats.”
“Oof, yeah. I once slipped in some manure and didn’t realize I’d gotten it on my pants. I threw them directly in the wash on top of some of my sister’s clothes. I’m surprised you didn’t hear her screaming when she pulled everything out of the dryer to see it baked into her favorite outfit. She gave me the cold shoulder for three days.” I shook my head and Ruth chuckled.
I wasn’t naïve. I understood why Declan hadn’t been making any time for me. With all the contacts he’d made at the Cattlemen’s breakfast, plus the growing referrals through word of mouth, his schedule had filled quickly. On top of that, he was determined to step up after the phone charger incident and was probably doing triple the work to show Ruth that he was worthy of taking over her practice. But I couldn’t douse the tiny flicker of doubt inside of me that something else was going on.
Maybe he thought sleeping together had been a mistake?
“Didja hear me?” Ruth asked.
“What? I’m sorry, could you repeat that?”
“I said Vida looks great and you won’t need to see me or Dr. Morris for her or her mama until her one-month checkup, unless something flares up.”
“Oh, okay. That’s great,” I said, mustering up a half smile.
She tapped again on her tablet. “According to the file notes, your Cremello did well with the AI and it took. Did you want me to check on her while I’m here?”
“Yes, please,” I said. I pointed her to Iris’s stall, where she was munching away on the hay cubes I’d left for her. “I’ve been giving her the higher nutrient feed that Dr. Morris recommended, and she seems to be doing well.”
Ruth gave Iris a quick check and I kept quiet. When she pulled the stethoscope out of her ears, she said, “Everything seems okay. One of us will bring the ultrasound machine to the next visit and we’ll see if we can confirm the fetal heartbeat and if she’s having one baby or two.”
“Thank you.” As much as I appreciated the woman’s thoroughness, I was frustrated that Declan wasn’t here. He was the one who talked me into trying AI and I really wanted to share this moment with him.
I considered sending Declan a funny GIF about pigs as Ruth finished up her notes, but when I scrolled through our last few messages I realized that they were all him apologizing for taking so long to respond, or begging off on any of the tentative plans we’d made.
I calculated our time apart again. It had been five days since he’d spent the night, which wasn’t a crazy long time to not see each other given his workload, but it was enough to make me feel strange and uncertain.
“All set, Shannon,” Ruth said. “Should we use the card on file?”
I nodded. “That’s fine, thanks. I appreciate you coming out. It’s been a long time. It was nice to see you.”
“Pshaw.” Ruth laughed. “I’m sure you’d prefer seeing that handsome young doc instead of wrinkly old me.”
