From the Hat Down, page 28
“Doc?”
She looked up at Kelly.
“Your one-o’-clock’s here. Exam room two.”
“Be right there.”
Kelly nodded and hesitated, as if sensing the mood Meg was in. “Okay,” she said, and retreated into the corridor.
Meg stood and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to shake the chill that had come over the afternoon. Animals to check, she told herself. That’s the work to be done right now. She forced herself to relax. There was nothing she could do about her mom. But there was a lot she could do right here, and she needed to get her head in the game.
Fortunately the rest of the day passed the way she liked it to. No emergencies, and animals with things she could fix. She left work at six and after taking Moonshine for a walk, she went for a run around the neighborhood, which cleared her head even more. Her phone beeped with a text message while she was eating a salad for dinner. She checked it and smiled but finished her salad before she called Gina.
“Hey, Cowgirl. Happy Monday.”
“Same to you. What are you doing?”
“Just finished up a story and sent it off. And I did apply for the stateside position to see how I stack up. They already know me, so they’ll probably call for an interview.”
Meg braced the phone on her shoulder as she cleaned the big bowl she’d used for the salad. “And if you get it?”
“I’ll cross that river when I get there.”
“So you’re still not sure you want this position.”
“I’m not sure I want to keep doing what I’m doing, period,” Gina said. “I’ve had a bad case of ambivalence for a couple of years now.”
“Do you want to keep writing?” Meg leaned back against the counter.
“Yes. I’m damn sure about that. I just don’t think I want to do this traveling journalist thing. Or maybe I don’t want to do it overseas. I don’t know.”
“Maybe you just need a vacation.” Meg smiled. “I almost said ‘break’ but thought you might not appreciate it, since you almost got one. More than one.”
Gina laughed. “That’s the truth.”
“More details, please, about your healing. You can tell me. I’m a doctor, you know. Use words like fetlock and I’ll know exactly what’s going on.” She thought about Gina’s eyes and how they sparkled when she flirted.
“That’s kinda sexy, using vet terms like that.” Gina’s tone was playful. “So far, so good. Bruises are healing up. Ribs still hurt, but not anything like they did. Doctor said a couple more weeks, but even then I’ll probably still have a little discomfort.”
“Ribs take a while. Don’t do anything crazy.”
“Like try out for the Olympic beach volleyball team?”
“Yeah. Like that.”
“Damn. I was so hoping this year would be my gold year, too.”
Meg laughed. “How about your head? We haven’t talked about that.”
“Fucked up.”
She frowned. “What do you mean? Is the wound not healing?”
“Oh, yeah. That part’s fine. In a psychological sense.”
“What’s going on?”
Gina didn’t respond for a while, but Meg kept quiet, too.
“I’ve had a few bad dreams,” Gina finally said. “About what happened. And yeah, loud noises kind of startle me. But I heard lots of explosions and shit while I was overseas. I guess it’s finally getting to me. And I saw a lot of really bad stuff, Meg. Bad. Sometimes that bothers me.”
“How?”
“Certain things trigger certain memories.”
A knot tightened in Meg’s gut. “Do you have dreams about the other stuff, too?”
“Yeah. Not often. But enough that I think I’m going to see somebody about it. I don’t want shit to build up in me and I worry that it might.”
“That’s a good idea,” Meg said quietly. “I’ll help however I can.”
“Coming to visit will help immensely.”
Meg hesitated with her response.
“Meg? Second thoughts?”
“No, no. I guess I’m just wondering about. . .um. Sleeping arrangements.”
Gina chuckled. “Not to worry. I know it’s a little weird for you, coming to my stomping grounds like this. If you remember, my place has two bedrooms. One’s my office, but it’s got one of those futon couches. And if even that’s too weird for you, that’s okay. There are a couple of nice hotels pretty close. I have no problem driving you to either of them. I just want you to be comfortable and not feel pressured to do anything. And for the record, I’d be perfectly happy just talking. Maybe holding your hand for a hundred years. If you’re comfortable with that.”
Meg grinned. “I think I can handle that.”
“But only if you’re comfortable. I’ll be content just being in the same room with you. No expectations, okay? Let’s just plan on spending some time, see how things go. Speaking of which, is there anything in particular you want to do in L.A.?”
“The beach would be nice.”
“Done. Anything else?”
“Let’s play it by ear, see what comes up.” Meg went back into the house and rubbed her feet on the kitchen rug. Moonshine padded past her into the living room.
“Okay, so I’m nervous again,” Gina said in a rush.
“I am, too. But excited.” Meg shut the back door and locked it then went into the living room and sank onto the couch. Moonshine had already made himself at home on the other end.
“Damn. What’ll I wear?” Gina muttered. “Fuck. I’ll have Grace over. She has style. She’ll fix me up.”
Meg grinned. “She’s a straight girl. Maybe Mary should pick your outfit.”
“Good point. She’s not as sexy butch as I am, but still.”
Meg choked on a laugh. “I won’t let her know you said that.”
“Please. She knows it. I’m the hotter of the two of us,” Gina said, humor in her voice. “But sadly, I’ll probably still have to wear shorts because my pants still rub this gash on my leg wrong. Do you think they make tuxedo shorts?”
“I have no doubt that if they do, they’re to be found in California. And I don’t care what you’re wearing. I just want to see you.”
“I know. I’m just really nervous. Honestly, I haven’t been this nervous since the night I sang the Dixie Chicks song at River Rest.”
“You were nervous then? Why?”
“Not because I was going to sing in public. That’s not a big deal for me. It was because I was singing to you.”
“Seems to me it turned out all right.” Meg put her feet up on her coffee table, remembering how it felt, to hear Gina turn a country song into a blues grind, and how it felt to kiss her for the first time under a Wyoming moon. Would she feel the same, when she was in Gina’s presence?
“It did,” Gina said. “And it still is. Okay, Cowgirl. Before I forget, I’ll pick you up at the airport, so don’t worry about getting a cab or anything.”
“You sure? What if you’re working on something?”
“Nope. I’m sure. Of course I’m going to be there to pick you up. Thanks to modern technology, there’re these things called text messages that we can use to coordinate our locations.”
Meg laughed. “Okay, okay.”
“All right, Cowgirl. I need to get some writing done. Thanks for talking.”
“Same to you. Sleep well.”
“You, too. ’Night.”
“’Night.” Meg hung up. “See you soon,” she said softly. Moonshine looked at her. He seemed to be smiling. “Yeah, whatever, bud.” She stroked his head, thinking about the first time she and Gina were together, and the memories brought heat and anxiety. Was it okay to think about being with Gina physically? Or was she getting way too far ahead of herself? What if Gina wasn’t sure about that? And what if, when they saw each other, Gina didn’t feel that way? She gave Moonshine a final pat and stood. She needed to quit thinking about this, and just go with the flow. Like Gina said, no expectations.
Too bad she couldn’t convince herself.
The wound on the terrier’s back was about he size of the head of a nail, the tissue puffy around the edges.
“Okay, Jared.” Meg looked up at him. “How did Misty get this?” He had a scruffy musician look to him and she suspected he was a student at the university. Haley had her hands on either side of Misty’s ribcage. The dog probably only weighed twenty pounds soaking wet. She was remarkably calm, probably because of Haley’s dog whisperer abilities.
“We noticed it yesterday,” he said, worried. “So we don’t know for sure.”
“It’s a puncture wound and it’s infected. Does she ever get out of the yard?” She looked at him and then at the woman with him. Shelley, she remembered.
He glanced at Shelley and they both nodded.
“Do you have a gate or fence that she crawls under?”
“Yeah. A gate. An old wooden thing,” he answered. “We’ve tried putting milk crates and stuff next to it but she usually moves ’em or digs around ’em.”
Haley gently stroked Misty’s head as she listened.
“Okay,” Meg said. “When you get home, go have a look at that gate. Chances are, you’ll see some old nails sticking out. My bet’s on one of those. Pull them out or bend them so she can’t hurt herself again. And get yourself some firewood logs and put them against the bottom of the gate so she can’t get out. Lie ’em on their sides. Is there any way you can put a little sandbox or something for her in the back yard?”
Shelley nodded.
“Put a bunch of her bones and treats and stuff in that sandbox area and let her dig in that. Keep hiding things in there for her to find so she gets in the habit of sticking around and digging there. Terriers are escape artists and they’re pretty smart. They get bored. So you have to keep them busy. And the best way to do that is find parts of your yard that you don’t care get dug up and hide things for Misty to find. Make it a game.”
“Cool. Thanks,” he said, smiling with obvious relief.
“All right. I’m going to take Misty in the back so we can shave her fur around the nasty and then we have to numb it up and clean it out. I’m also going to give her a shot of penicillin to help with that infection. Has she been on that before?”
“Yes,” Shelley said. “She didn’t have any problems.”
“Good. I’ll also give you some salve to put on it and you’ll have to put a gauze pad on there and wrap it with gauze every night before she goes to bed. Try that for three days. If you think it’s getting worse, come back. If it’s getting better, do the gauze and salve thing for another three days. In the meantime, go to Walgreen’s or something and buy her a baby T-shirt. That’ll keep her from messing with the sore and it’ll help keep it clean.” Meg gently picked Misty up and cradled her in her arms. “Have a seat in the lobby and I’ll be out in a few.”
“Thanks,” Shelley said, looking as relieved as Jared. “We’ll see you in a bit, sweetie,” she said to the dog.
Meg opened the door into the back. She handed Misty to Haley so she could numb the dog up and shave a patch on her back. Ten minutes later she and Haley carefully cleaned the wound. Meg hummed “Soulfully” by Catie Curtis as she worked and Haley stroked Misty, keeping her calm. The song had been on her mind all morning.
“All right, have a look and see what you think,” Meg said after she’d irrigated the wound and allowed it to dry a bit. Haley picked up the magnifying glass she’d put out with the cleaning supplies and numbing agent and examined the wound. “Looks clean.” She handed it back to Meg, who also looked.
“You’re right. I think we got it. Cool. Let me give her the penicillin and then you salve her and wrap her up.” Meg administered the shot then smiled at Haley. Show me some of them skills, girl.” She stepped back to give her room to work.
“Nice. Good job,” she said as Haley finished wrapping the band of gauze around Misty’s back over the pad on the wound. “Make sure you give Jared and Shelley a card in case they need to bring Miss Thing here back. Take her on out. Oh, and take a tube of Furacin as well as some gauze pads and gauze wrap. A couple days’ supply on that.”
“Sure thing, Doc.”
“You’re doing some good work here.” Meg smiled as she pushed through the door into the lobby to let Jared and Shelley know that Haley would be out with Misty. She handed her write-up to Sandra for invoicing and went back to her office. She had thirty minutes to eat her lunch before her next appointment. As she munched on her sandwich, her phone dinged with a text. She checked it and called Sean.
“Doctor Horse Chick, you never call, you never write since some wench from California reappeared in your life,” she lamented.
Meg laughed. “Spare me. Ted was out of town and then you had that two-day seminar in Denver. How’d it go?”
“Blah blah blah vet stuff blah blah blah. But enough about me. Provide insight into your far more interesting life.”
“Are you at work?”
“Of course. Lunch break. So come on. Spill it.”
Meg smiled. “When did I talk to you last?”
“Sunday.”
“That’s what I thought. And that’s only the day before yesterday.”
“And how many times have you talked to her since that amazing email she sent?”
“Um, twice.”
Sean giggled. “Uh-huh. Can I presume that things are still going well?”
“You can. And you’d be right.”
“So how are you doing? You’re going to see her in two days.”
Meg didn’t respond for a few moments. “Excited and nervous. But we did talk about that, and she doesn’t have an issue with me staying in a hotel if I feel weird.”
“Good.”
“She asked what sorts of things I’d like to do in L.A. I told her I’d like to go to the beach. So we’ll do that.”
“Even better. Activities that involve being outside. In public. She’s not going to force you to stay locked up in her apartment where you hash out the last decade, have a potluck, and then do it again. Although isn’t that kind of a lesbian thing to do? Process something until it’s not only dead but practically mummified?”
Meg almost spit out her bite of sandwich as she laughed. “Is that the kind of lesbian I am?”
“Hmm. No, I suppose not. Oh, God. Is she?”
“No. I mean, at least not that I remember.”
“Here’s hoping she hasn’t acquired that habit. Leave that for re-runs of Sex in the City. Or in your case, The L-Word. So really. How is your retro-crush?”
“I’m keeping an open mind.”
“But?”
“That obvious, huh?”
“A little. Are you okay?” Sean asked, concern in her voice.
Meg sighed. “I’m trying really hard not to get my hopes up, but I think I’m too late. And I’m scared as hell that I’ve already invested way too much in this and that somehow, it’ll be a let-down. But it feels really good, and that’s scary, too.”
Sean tsked. “That’s honest and healthy. So good for you. But I also think that keeping an open mind is the right way to go. And Meg, keep an open heart, too. Can I call you tonight? I know I saw you on Friday, but I want to make sure that nobody else has shown up to mess with you or Haley.”
“Yes. I’ll be at home. And no, nobody else has shown up. But I’ll catch you later.” They signed off and Meg put her phone back in her belt holder. She’d have to tell her about Irene’s latest email, too.
“Hey, Doc,” said Kevin from the doorway. “You’re up.”
“On my way.”
“Exam room one.” He left and Meg finished her sandwich and went to wash her hands.
Chapter 27
She read the email again, for what was probably the hundredth time. Just a few lines from Gina, but in those lines both the start of something new and the acknowledgement of a shared past, though all she’d said was she was really looking forward to Meg’s visit and she couldn’t believe she’d see her in just a few hours. She thought then about the story Sean had told her about her dad and stepmom, and how the years between them had served more as a reason to catch up than an excuse to regret. Would it be like that for her, when she was finally in the same place as Gina, finally an arm’s length from her? Or was she really caught up in wanting to relive the past?
She closed the message. She’d know soon enough. Her stomach clenched in anticipation and anxiety.
Somebody knocked lightly on her partially open office door.
“Yeah,” she called.
“Got a minute?” Roy asked as he pushed the door a little wider.
“Sure. What’s up?”
He smiled and came in, but he didn’t sit down. He generally didn’t. Instead, he leaned against the wall by the door. Moonshine got up from his bed in the corner and went up to him, doing his doggy smile. Roy bent over and rubbed his head with both hands for a few seconds then gave him a final pat and looked at Meg again as Moonshine went back to his bed after properly greeting the visitor. “I wanted to tell you that you’re doing a hell of a job with Haley.”
Meg regarded him, a little surprised. Roy would let you know if he approved or didn’t approve of something you were doing, but usually about animals. “You should thank yourself, too,” she said. “And Mark and Randy and everybody here, because she’s worked with all of us.”
“But she’s taken to you, and I think this has been really good for her.”
“Did you know her dad?”
“Yeah.” He hooked his thumbs on his belt. “Good man. Ginny took Haley under her wing after he died. She and Trent did what they could for her, and she’d come by here as a teen after school sometimes, when she was staying in town with them. But she had a lot of things to figure out.” He grinned, and it made him look like country singer Clint Black. “But don’t we all?” Anyway, watching you with her, I think you should consider doing some teaching or seminars.”
