Page 57 of Situationship
“Schedule the cat,” he said. “Where is he?”
“His office.”
The “office” was where Ronnie watched the Golf Channel and twiddled his thumbs, which were lodged so far up his ass, Colin was surprised the idiot could sit.
He didn’t bother knocking. “You want to explain what happened to my Saturday schedule?”
Eyes glued to the flat-screen, Ronnie said, “Saturdays are for paying customers.”
“Your dad and I had a deal. Weekend mornings are for FurGet Me Not clients.” It was part of the reason Colin had signed on with the practice. “Which your dad always supported. He believed in it and so do I.”
Ronnie finally looked at Colin. “I’m not my dad and I’m not in the business of giving handouts. I’m in the business of making money.”
“Actually, you’re in the business of saving animals.”
Arms folded behind his head, Ronnie leaned back in his chair. “That’s why my dad left the business to me.”
“Actually, he offered it to me first, but it wasn’t the right time.” A decision Colin was regretting at the moment.
“Still isn’t. And if you want to continue to run the free clinic, you need to get outside funding to cover any and all expenses. Plus find a time other than work hours.”
“The only reason your dad’s clinic is so successful is because he understood the importance of giving back to the community. This isn’t a business for someone looking to get rich. If so, your dad would have been a doctor.”
“Lucky for all of us, that’s not what happened. This isn’t personal; it’s about the bottom line.”
Colin rested his palms flat on the desk and leaned in—real close. “This is personal as hell to me. I’ve dedicated nearly ten years to this practice, and I was operating on animals while you were still in grade school.”
“If you want to make this personal, I can open Sunday mornings for paying customers as well.”
Colin wanted like hell to argue but his phone rang. It was Maddison, who never called him. It was as if her entire generation was allergic to verbal communication. So his heart lurched.
“If I start working Sundays, I might just have to take off Mondays.”
Ronnie’s face paled. If Colin took off Mondays, there would be no one to do surgeries or run the back of the clinic. The threat was empty—he’d never do that to his patients—but it did scare Ronnie shitless.
With Ronnie still blabbering on about contracts and schedules, Colin walked out of the office and took the call. One look at Maddison’s face on the screen and his stomach hollowed out with worry. Her nose was red and her cheeks were blotchy.
She’d been crying and crying pretty hard.
“Baby, are you okay?” he asked even as he was grabbing his keys off his desk and heading down the hall, with Ronnie yelling that he didn’t have another surgeon to cover Mondays.
“It’s not personal, man, it’s about the bottom line.” And at that moment, Maddison was his bottom line.
“Yes,” Maddie said. “I mean no. I mean, I’m okay but I’m totally freaking out.”
“Slow down, tell me what’s going on.”
“I think I broke her.”
“Cancel all my non-emergency patients, and call Dr. Lim in. He’s on call,” he said to Barb, not stopping as he rounded the registration desk and started out the front door.
“Broke who, Maddie?” he asked.
“Her.” Maddison turned the phone’s camera around to show a little girl holding a towel to another child’s head. A bloody towel. Even worse, it was Teagan’s little girl.
“Where’s Teagan?”
“Who?”
