by Cora Jay
Harika laughed. “Yep. I’ve got a surgery for the afternoon and I want to make sure I’m well prepared.” She frowned. “This line of work can be risky, you know.”
Ellie’s heart twinged uncomfortably, as she remembered just how close to death her dear Bella had gotten. “I’m sure.”
They took a moment to clean up, then walked back to the clinic. Ellie stopped to pet Betsy again, who sat still and patiently as she soaked up the attention.
“I’ll call you when I have the mock ups ready,” said Ellie, glad to be getting back into the business mindset. The brief, almost friendly lull she’d shared with Harika… It had been nice, but it had also felt completely foreign.
“Sure,” said Harika. “Have a good one!”
Ellie left the clinic, walking back to her house with a spring in her step. It was always so energizing to meet with a client, especially when you had good synergy and a similar vision for what the end result should look like.
And Harika herself… She was compelling, Ellie couldn’t deny that. But why? She was just a vet. A vet who’d wiggled herself into Ellie’s life somehow, with her disarming warmth and easygoing nature.
Sure, they could be friends. Maybe. But the thought of heading back home to her sanctuary was even better. Bella would be waiting back there for Ellie to give her her lunchtime treat, with some snuggles.
Sometimes, Ellie thought that might be all she needed.
8
Harika
Harika picked up the grumpy, sedated cat and placed her into her carrier, making sure to tuck her in with her towel so she was nice and comfortable on the way home. She mewled piteously when the door was shut, and Harika wished she could give her a treat, but it wouldn’t be a good idea while she was recovering from the surgery.
“Thank you so, so much,” said Linda, bending down to peer inside the carrier. The young woman and her husband had just adopted the elderly cat a couple of months ago—bless them—and Harika regretted that they had to deal with health problems already.
But Biscuit was going to be fine. She just wasn’t going to be too happy for the next few days, while she was recovering.
“It’s not a problem,” said Harika, smiling. That familiar feeling of her heart expanding came over her. It happened every time she sent a pet home healthy and happy. It was half the reason she was a vet, anyway. One could get addicted to the feeling.
After Linda left, Harika went back to Shalini at the front desk to see what her other appointments were. Shalini turned to her as she approached, her warm eyes meeting her. Harika was glad to have her around, now that her parents had left. Bowen was competent, but Shalini was a calming presence.
And for some reason, Harika felt agitated, antsy, like she had an electrical current running through her.
“So what’s next?” she asked.
Shalini clicked around to find the schedule, then slowly scrolled down. That was one of the things that made her so calming, Harika realized—how deliberately and gracefully she moved.
“You have Bella next. The owner’s name is Ellie Rookwood,” she said evenly. Of course, since she had been gone, she didn’t know Bella’s story.
And that explained why Harika felt so antsy. She checked the schedule frequently throughout the day, but because of Biscuit’s surgery, it had completely slipped her mind that she was meeting Ellie next.
She shouldn’t feel nervous. But her heart was pounding faster, and images flickered across her mind’s eye. She had to get over herself, and fast, because Ellie would be coming in…
Right about now.
The door opened and the big, lanky greyhound walked in first. Betsy immediately walked up to her and started growling, so Harika quickly went to scoop her up. “Calm down, Betsy!” she said. “If you treat guests like this, I’m going to have to leave you at home, and I know you’re not going to like that.”
She looked at Harika warily, her scrunched up mouth twisted into a grimace. A sense of unease invaded Harika’s heart. Betsy usually got over her dislike of people quickly, and Harika instinctively trusted her reactions to people. If she growled when she saw Ellie and Bella, that couldn’t be good, could it?
She pushed the thought away. Bella was a patient here for medical attention, and Harika needed to help her, regardless of what was going on inside Betsy’s head.
“Nice to see you again, Ellie,” said Harika. They hadn’t seen each other since the design meeting last week.
“Same to you,” said Ellie, who seemed flustered. Harika couldn’t pinpoint why. Maybe Bella had given her some trouble on the walk over.
Shalini materialized behind them, and Harika wondered why, until she realized that it was normal for the vet techs to handle routine appointments and greet patients first. She gazed at Harika patiently, waiting for her to step out of the way.
What was getting into her? “Shalini will have a look at Bella’s leg first, then I’ll join you shortly,” she said. Maybe some of Ellie’s flustered nature was rubbing off on her, because she just didn’t feel right.
While Shalini took them back, Harika replaced her at the computer and found her thoughts racing. There were emails to be replied to, so she did, but her actions were mechanical. She couldn’t stop thinking about Ellie.
Damn it, was she getting a crush on the woman?
It didn’t make any sense. Sure, they’d met each other over a crisis situation, and she’d seen Ellie at her most vulnerable—two things, Harika knew, were guaranteed to give a jumpstart to emotional intimacy. And Ellie looked good, that was for sure. But she couldn’t have developed a crush between two silly things like that, could she?
She had to think about this objectively. As objective as one could be regarding feelings, anyway. She was currently deprived of the pleasures of being in a relationship—not only sex, but also emotional intimacy. And she’d developed a closeness with Ellie. So it stood to reason that she was developing a crush.
So why did it feel different? Emotions couldn’t be analyzed like that—she should know, being the kind of person she was. It was futile, but oh so tempting, to try to wrangle them into neat corrals.
Harika decided to peek in before Shalini came to get her. She was getting bored out here. If the phone rang, she could pop out and get it. She had to see what was going on—she had to get another glimpse of Ellie.
Betsy trotted after her as she went down the back corridor, but the dog knew she was only allowed in the lobby, so she stay put, peering at Harika curiously as she went. It was almost like she knew something, and for all Harika knew, she did.
Harika slipped into the examination room, and everyone present looked up at her. She suddenly felt sheepish.
“Just thought I’d come check on Bella,” she said.
Shalini threw her that warm, friendly smile, and she felt at ease again. When the vet tech turned back to Bella, the long braid at her back whipped around, and she bent down to stroke Bella’s head. “You’re being such a good girl,” she said.
“Let’s see,” said Harika, coming up to inspect the greyhound’s leg, trying her hardest to ignore the close proximity of the woman she was crushing on. Damn it! Now that she’d vocalized her feelings, labeled them, she felt like they were becoming more intense, snowballing into something she couldn’t control.
And it was just so embarrassing that Ellie was standing there, oblivious to the turmoil in Harika’s mind.
“It looks like she’s doing amazingly well, considering her age and history,” said Harika, glad she could depend on her voice to not give her away. She’d practiced her bedside manner quite a bit in veterinary school. For some reason, it had been a focus of hers back then—she’d thought she’d need to know how to prevent her bleeding heart empathy from coloring her delivery of bad news.
She was glad she’d bothered to take the time.
“Thanks, Harika,” said Ellie. “Shalini said the splint would need to be on a little longer, though, right?”
“That’s righ
t. As long as it’s not bothering her too much, let’s have her keep it on just a couple more weeks. Better to be safe than sorry—we wouldn’t want her to refracture it or worse,” said Harika. Hiding behind the words she had to say was comforting.
“Great, thanks guys,” said Ellie, stroking Bella’s head as the greyhound lazily looked around the room. “You can’t imagine how thankful I am.”
“It’s no problem, Ms. Rookwood,” said Shalini smoothly, her accent as elegant as her demeanor. “Bella is a lovely girl.”
“I know. I’m glad I got her.” Ellie looked down at the dog and smiled.
“I suppose it’s time for billing,” said Shalini, making as if to move to the front.
“Oh!” said Harika. “Um, we’re doing a barter.”
Shalini tilted her head. “A barter?”
“Ellie’s a graphic designer, and she’s offering to do the logo and print materials, and even the website, in return for Bella’s care,” explained Harika.
Shalini turned to Ellie. “How wonderful! It’ll be thrilling to see what you come up with.”
Ellie smiled, and Harika felt a shiver of frisson. “I sure hope so.”
Shalini returned the smile and slipped out of the room.
“How’s progress going on the print materials?” asked Harika, unsure of what else to say. What she really wanted to do was ask Ellie out, but she couldn’t do that as long as they were both clients of each other. That was what people did when they liked someone, right? Just asked them out? So many of Harika’s past relationships had blossomed from close friendships, so she was rusty.
“I should have samples to you at our next meeting,” said Ellie, one hand still stroking Bella’s head, then moving down to scratch behind her ears. “If you like them, I can help you order as many of them as you need through the printer I use. Then we can talk about the website.”
“Excellent,” said Harika, delight bubbling up inside her. She really was excited about the new branding for the clinic; Ellie had managed to come up with exactly what she wanted. But there was more to it, too—so much more. There was something profoundly satisfying about collaborating with someone like this. Someone who could be a friend, or something more.
But not now. Now, Harika would have to let Ellie go, unaware of her intentions. At times like this, Harika often felt neurotic. She was overthinking the situation to a ridiculous amount, and it killed her that Ellie didn’t know. For all she knew, Ellie had a girlfriend or something. Or even a wife. Maybe even kids, though Harika doubted it. She didn’t know a damn thing about the woman.
“I guess I’ll see you when the samples come in,” said Ellie, smiling simply. “Thanks again.”
“Not a problem at all,” said Harika, shaking her head briefly. She followed Ellie and Bella out the door, keeping her eyes on the greyhound’s form. They were so funny-looking, sometimes, with how slender they were. But her eyes traveled up to see Ellie’s firm ass in her jeans.
Whoa.
That was not what Harika was expecting. She needed to get a hold of herself. She couldn’t be staring at clients’ asses—how uncouth.
But on the other hand, she couldn’t let Ellie slip away, when Bella’s treatment was complete and the design project was over. The thought of parting ways with Ellie after that infused Harika with an unpleasant sense of anxiety. She needed to keep Ellie around, and while she didn’t fully understand why—hell, she needed to stop lying to herself, she did know why—she knew it was critically important.
Ellie—Eleanor Rookwood. At the very least, she needed to unravel a little more of the mystery, penetrate the heart of this woman. Something about Harika made her like people who were a challenge, people who were tough nuts to crack. Harika thrived on learning about their innermost secrets, their personal details. She needed to know, and she treated them like a dragon hoarding gold.
Well, she’d see what happened anyway. There was no rush. The project wasn’t even halfway close to being completed.
There was time for Harika to plan her next move.
9
Ellie
“Honey, you’re almost better!” cried Ellie, scooping the greyhound into her arms and looking into her face. Her snout was so long that her nose easily touched Ellie’s, and Ellie laughed at how cold and wet it was. Bella gave Ellie an experiment lick, and when she didn’t back away, continued licking more.
Aware of how close she’d come to losing her—a broken leg could turn into a whole lot worse, after all—Ellie held her tightly, never wanting to let go.
Bella bent her head down and settled herself awkwardly on her lap. She was too big to fit there comfortable, but it never stopped her from trying, her long legs splayed out in all directions like she was a pile of sticks. She closed her eyes and sighed, the splint shining in the light filtering in through the window.
Bella was going to be fine. That was great. And the work Ellie was doing for Harika was actually going to be more costly than Bella’s treatment, so she’d get a little more from it. That was also good.
But what wasn’t good was the fact that it was a lean month overall. The extra few hundred that was going to come from the vet clinic project wasn’t going to cover the relentless student loan payments or past medical debts Ellie had accumulated, which felt increasingly like a ball and chain around her foot. Every time she got a big job, or made a breakthrough of some kind in her career, they were there to remind her she couldn’t float up too far, that she couldn’t dream too big.
It wasn’t ideal, the life of a freelancer. But it was what Ellie had always dreamed of, ever since graduating from her liberal arts college. She saw all her friends going into their 9-5s, content with the regular, blessedly predictable paychecks and schedules. Something about it did tempt Ellie; she couldn’t lie to herself.
But then, there was the flipside. She remembered vividly a time when she’d wanted to plan a road trip with her friends from college, a couple years ago. She’d checked out locations and planned it all out. Her friends had been ambivalent but she hadn’t let that stop her. She kept pressing them to check when they were free to go, so they could actually pin down dates.
But it hadn’t happened. They hadn’t been free. Half of them hadn’t been able to request the vacation time, or they’d had to save up their vacation time for something else, like a family commitment. Most of them only got two weeks of vacation time a year, which was exactly the length of the road trip. Ellie didn’t blame them for not wanting to use up their whole vacation on a road trip, but…
Two weeks of vacation time a year?
Really? People signed up for that?
And then and there, Ellie decided that wouldn’t be her life. She wasn’t going to live a life where she had to ask someone for permission to travel. And it wasn’t even traveling—she loved being able to where she wanted, when she wanted. She wasn’t chained to a chair in an office, doing God knows what.
After the summer of the failed road trip, she’d gotten an office job, despite her reservations. But she’d done it with the goal of starting her own business on the side. Slowly and steadily, she racked up clients and stayed up late many nights to complete projects.
She eventually reached the point where her freelancing income exceeded the meager pay she was getting from the office.
And that was when she quit.
It had been a few years since then, but she didn’t regret her decision. She got to spend the whole day with Bella, and care for her now. She didn’t envy her coworkers with small children and pets, who had to juggle schedules around their rigid hours. She didn’t envy them their constant requirement of interacting with coworkers who were pleasantly friendly at best.
Not that Ellie had many friends herself. But still. As an introvert, forced interaction with a predetermined group of people was not her cup of tea. Solitude was what recharged her, refreshed her. She looked forward to the end of the day, with just Bella. She was so introverted that sometimes, even Bella’s company would gr
ate on her. But she liked her own space, and she liked the dog, and they still remained the best of friends.
Ellie took a break to stretch. There were different states of work focus she found herself in—the intense kind, which had helped her carry through to the end of the previous project, was one, but this was the more relaxed version. It wasn’t as stimulating, but it wasn’t as exhausting either.
It meant that she could step away from the computer any time she wanted, and that was what was important, anyway.
She got up and walked around the house. Being someone who worked on a computer all day long, she was very conscientious when it came to keeping herself healthy. She’d put in a lot of research to look up the most ergonomic home office solutions, and did wrist exercises several times a day.
After all, she’d be completely fucked if she developed carpal tunnel. Her hands were her livelihood, and they needed to be in tip top shape if she wanted to execute all the details and precise lines that made her work distinctive.
Just when she sat back down to work again, her phone pinged. It was probably a client; that was half of the correspondence she received. But instead, it was a number she didn’t recognize, one that wasn’t programmed into her phone already.
Despite that, she recognized something about it. Four-one-four-two… That sequence was familiar.
Her heart fritzed, and she slid the screen to read the message. It was simple, as was typical of his style. I’m back in town. Want to get a drink?
Ellie stared at the phone in horror. It was Aaron. She knew it. He hadn’t even bothered to sign the text message, assuming incorrectly that Ellie would have saved his number. Ellie’s heart sparked uncomfortably; she hadn’t felt like this in a long time.
Aaron. Aaron Rochester. His face immediately swam into her mind. A blonde mop of hair, wisps tousled by the wind. Sharp cheekbones. He looked like a fashion model, and could have been one, if it weren’t for his bold demeanor.