When Chloe’s tears subsided, I set her back in her seat so I could clean up the glass all over the floor.
After mopping up the liquid and sweeping all of the large chunks of glass into the dustpan, I dumped it and went in search of the vacuum to get rid of the last few slivers I might have missed.
I reached the hall closet and realized I hadn’t see Zeus in a while. He hadn’t begged to go out when I came down with Chloe and I had no idea where he might be.
The entire second floor searched and I came up empty. There was no sign of him. I started scouring the downstairs rooms when I heard a strange noise coming from the bathroom. The door was slightly ajar.
I pushed it open and stopped in my tracks. Zeus was on his side as his entire body shook uncontrollably.
“Oh shit, little man. I’m going to get you help.”
I scooped him into my arms and raced for the living room. I laid him on the couch, his body still seizing as I put on my shoes and scooped Chloe out of the seat. With Chloe on my hip and Zeus in my other arm, I bolted for the car.
Zeus rested on my lap as I sped from the driveway, kicking up stones as I left. “Don’t worry, buddy, everything is going to be all right.”
Now I just needed to convince myself of that.
4
Aiden
With Chloe in one arm, I carried the dog under the other. I’d already lost her, I wouldn’t risk losing him. Before we found out Christine was pregnant, that dog was her world. I raced inside the vet’s office and up to the counter.
“I need help.”
The woman at the desk looked up immediately, her brows draw together as her lips turned down into a frown.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No.”
“Are you a patient here?”
“No. I only moved back to town a few months ago, and we haven’t needed a vet yet, but now I really need your help.” I lifted the small dog onto the counter. “He started shaking uncontrollably and then this.”
Zeus lay there breathing, but otherwise unmoving, staring off into space.
Her eyes grew round once she took a good look at the dog. Before I could say another word, she was reaching forward, scooping Zeus up into her arms.
“Wait here, I’ll take him right back to the Doctor and I’ll come back to get you.”
The woman disappeared through a door behind the counter. Chloe’s soft cries hit my ears. I don’t know how long she’d been crying, but when I lifted her higher, it was obvious it had been longer than a few seconds. Her little face was red and wet where the tears had slid down her face.
“Oh, Chloe, I’m so sorry.” I wiped her face and held her tight to me. “It’ll be okay. Daddy didn’t mean to yell.”
I paced back and forth in the waiting area of the vets office, time seeming to move at a snail’s pace. What was probably only a few moments felt like hours.
The receptionist came back out front. “Come with me. I’ll show you to a room, but I just want to warn you, the doctor has your dog in a back area where she can run a few tests.” She held open the door for us to pass through, then led us down a narrow hall with blue walls. “He was beginning to move on his own right before I came back to get you.”
I let out a sigh. “Oh God, thank you.”
She opened a door on the left with a smile. “You’re quite welcome. I’ll bring you some paperwork to fill out so we can get you registered as a patient.”
I stepped into the room. “Thank you.”
“I’ll be back in a few.” She shut the door behind her, leaving Chloe and me in the empty room. There was a long table in the middle, attached to electronic control panel. There were two chairs to the right of the table. I took a seat on the one closest to the table and placed Chloe on my right leg as I couldn’t keep my left leg still. My brain knew the receptionist said that Zeus had started to move on his own and come back around, but until I saw him for myself, I wouldn’t be able to shake the nervous energy coursing through me.
The door opened a few seconds later the receptionist came in with a clipboard and pen in hand.
“My name is Charlotte.” She held up a folder. “I have the paperwork for you to complete.”
I looked down at Chloe sitting my lap and back up at Charlotte, who looked to be a few years younger than my mom.
“If you’d like, I can hold her for you while you fill out the forms.”
“Yes, please.” Charlotte reached out to Chloe, who went right into her arms.
“She’s beautiful. What’s her name?”
“Chloe.”
“Well, hello, Chloe. Aren’t you such a sweetheart?”
A lump formed in the back of my throat as I filled out the paperwork for Zeus. Not once in all the years we had him had I ever put my name on anything. Always Christine’s. I tried to swallow back the tears. This poor woman was only trying to do her job, she didn’t need to deal with my emotions, so I shoved it down to deal with later.
I finished filling out my information and held the clipboard out to her. She put the clipboard under her arm so she could hand Chloe back to me. Once I had Chloe sitting back on my lap, she flipped through the documents. After a moment, she looked up at me.
“I didn’t know you were Georgia’s son.”
“That’s me.” And just like that, pity filled her eyes and a conversation between two strangers switched to a direction I hated. It was one of the reasons I constantly wondered if I’d made the right decision in coming back here. I needed my parents’ help with Chloe, but it also left me open to moments like this. Moments where all my pain and hurt were on display for anyone who recognized me.
Christine’s death had been all over every tabloid and gossip magazine in the county. There was no escaping it. Everywhere I looked I saw pictures of her face.
Now eight months later, every person I knew before I went to college or ones I’d never met knew my story. I understood that their intentions were good. They simply wanted to give their condolences, just like any person would. What we never take into consideration when we teach our children those formalities is the way it makes the grieving person feel. Like you can’t escape the pain and the heartache. Because no matter how many times you try to move on with your life, to find a place where the hole in your heart becomes a dull ache, you can’t. You can’t run and you can’t hide from it.
Exactly like the woman now staring at me full of sympathy. She wanted to help. She didn’t understand the reminders, the I’m sorrys brought back every memory, every moment you no longer had.
But of course like every other time someone brought me to that place again, I opened my mouth and let it all out.
“Zeus was Christine’s dog.” The past tense tasted bitter on my tongue. “I gave him to her on her birthday back when we first started dated.”
Shut up, she doesn’t need to know all of this.
But that didn’t stop my mouth from continuing to run. “Besides Chloe he’s all I have left of her.”
She gave me the sad, sympathetic nod people did when they didn’t know what else to say or do. It was slow and their eyes almost never met yours when they were doing it.
“I know the doctor will do everything she can to figure out what’s wrong with Zeus.” She straightened and reached for the door, all the while keeping her gaze completely averted from mine. “She should be in soon to give you an update.”
In a flash she was out the door. I wasn’t sure whether I should have been relieved or mortified. Another person sent running because I couldn’t keep my mouth shut and my emotions in check until I got my ass home. A soft coo left Chloe lips and I couldn’t help but think about all of these small firsts Christine was missing. Things that she looked forward to from the moment she found out she was pregnant.
Lost in my thoughts, I almost missed the door in the back of the room opening. I picked Chloe up and moved to my feet, bracing for whatever news the doctor was about to deliver. Reminding myself to keep it together.<
br />
Not that I had a very good track record so far.
“Hello, Aiden.”
My head snapped to her face and I froze. “Lexi?” My gaze traveled all over her face. The last time I saw Lexi had been the summer before we left for college. “It’s been a long time.”
Lexi hadn’t changed much in all the years since I’d seen her. She’d always been pretty, but she’d grown more elegant and beautiful over time.
“You’re right, it has been a long time.”
“What are you doing here?”
She took hold of the side of the white coat and tugged it closed so I could read the name embroidered on it. Dr. Watson.
My eyes snapped to her face. “You’re the doctor here?”
She lifted a brow. “You make it sound like you can’t believe I could possibly own my own veterinary office.”
I boosted Chloe higher on my hip and held out a hand in an apologetic gesture.
“It’s not that. I didn’t even know you were going to school to become a veterinarian. Last I knew you wanted to go into communications and get a job interviewing people in the music industry.”
She shifted on her feet. “Well, I was only eighteen and probably not thinking clearly at the time. I’d wanted to be a vet since I was a little girl.”
“I remember,” I said, thinking of the little girl with curly brown pigtails who grew up a few houses down from my parents.
“Zeus is your dog, I take it.” The quick change of subject took me off guard, and like the snap of fingers the momentary excitement I felt at seeing Lexi disappeared as I was reminded of why I’d come to the vets office in the first place.
“Is Zeus okay?”
“He’s fine, but resting comfortably. I gave him a sedative to help his body relax. He was in the middle of a grand mal seizure. I’d like to keep him overnight to observe him.”
Going home without him was like a punch to the gut, but at least I hoped he’d still be coming home someday. “Okay.” I slipped my tongue out to wet my overly dry lips.
“Does Zeus have a history of seizures?” She looked at the clipboard in her hands. “I didn’t see you mention anything.”
“No. Up until now he’s been healthy.”
She nodded, her attention completely focused on the paperwork. She made a few notes, then stuck the pen behind her ear, a habit I remembered clearly.
“We’ll run some more tests to see what caused the seizure in the first place. It could be that he’s developed epilepsy over time, or it could be the sign of another underlying issue.”
I held Chloe tighter and took a step toward Lexi. “Lexi, I will do whatever it takes to save him. He was my wife’s dog.”
Her small hand reached out and rested on my arm. “I’m so sorry about your loss.”
And unlike every other person who said that, I actually believed it coming from Lexi. She didn’t look away or grow uncomfortable, she simply held my gaze.
It was strange standing there with one of closest friends from childhood, almost as close as Jackson, but unlike Jackson, Lexi and I’d lost touch over the years. As I stood there I felt more comfort from her than any other person since the moment Christine left me.
Lexi stepped back and cleared her throat. “Here’s my card if you have any questions. I’ll call you tonight if anything changes, otherwise I’ll call you in the morning. Hopefully we’ll have an answer and can take our next steps.”
I glanced down at Chloe in my arms. “Can we see him before we leave?”
“Absolutely. Follow me.”
Lexi opened the door and led us to a back room where Zeus seemed to be sleeping peacefully on a bed inside a pretty large cage. There were wires and IVs connected to his body. My heart raced, my mind heading right back to the moment all the machines appeared around Christine’s bed.
I sucked in a deep breath, willing myself to calm down. This was not the same thing.
But I knew I needed to get out of there.
“You’ll call me if anything changes?”
Lexi’s brows drew together. “I will.”
“Thank you. I’ll wait for your call then.”
It might have seemed insane or incredibly bizarre, but that didn’t stop me from spinning on my heel and racing for my car.
In minutes, I had Chloe strapped in her car seat and sat with my head resting on the steering wheel. Sweat beaded at my temple and I couldn’t catch my breath.
I couldn’t live like this. Something had to change. I just didn’t know how to pull myself out of the hole I was in. Chloe deserved better, not a father who lost his shit every time medical equipment was involved, even when it was for a dog.
Tonight was not the night, though. Tonight I’d get Chloe in bed, then drown my sorrows in a bottle of whiskey.
At least then I knew I’d sleep for the night.
5
Lexi
The door closed behind Aiden and his daughter and for a moment I couldn’t move. What kind of alternate universe was I living in? I knew he’d moved back to town about a month after his wife’s death, but in all that time I hadn’t seen him even once.
Then today he came in like a tornado with a sick dog in tow. I gave myself a mental shake. There was still a dog I needed to take care of. I could worry about Aiden Cormack after I’d done my job and figured out what was wrong with Zeus.
I opened the back door of the exam room and walked into the hall. The numbers from Zeus’s blood work were elevated, which could have been caused by any number of things. I made my way down to the room where he was resting comfortably.
He’d had one hell of a seizure when Aiden brought him in. I grabbed a chair from the side of the room and rolled it over next to the cage. After checking his vitals and reflexes, I wrote out new orders for blood work. The only way to figure out the problem would be to run specific tests on his blood. Until then it was a waiting game.
Hopefully we had an answer before he had another seizure.
“Hey, Dr. Watson, who do you want to come in to watch over Zeus?”
“I’ll take this one.”
Charlotte stopped in mid-dial. “You’re staying?”
The accusation that I didn’t stay with my patients all night wasn’t what she meant. Charlotte knew I’d stayed the night before to watch over a sick cat. The rule was one night and one night only.
“But that’s two nights in a row,” Charlotte argued.
“I know, but Aiden is an old friend of mine. I can only imagine how much he’s freaking out about his wife’s dog.”
She sighed. “He told me it was his wife’s dog. It’s just terrible what happened to her.”
“It is. Aiden and his daughter didn’t deserve that.”
My mom had called me the day after it happened. It had to be one of the worst moments of my life. When we were growing up, I always thought one day Aiden would stop looking at me like a best friend and see me. The girl who’d loved him since eighth grade. That never happened. I wanted him to be happy, even if it wasn’t with me. And I knew Christine had made him happy.
He left for college on the other side of the country and instead of that romantic return for winter break to profess his love for me like I expected, I just got let down. Aiden had formed a new band and they were playing in places all over his college town. Same thing happened most years. He’d swoop in the day of the holiday and be gone again that night.
It took me a few years, but I realized Aiden never had the same feelings for me. Even deep down like I believed. Or at least had hoped were there.
There was a time I wallowed in self-pity, none of it directed at him. He didn’t deserve it. Wasn’t his fault I didn’t tell him how I felt or that he didn’t feel the same way.
That was all on me.
I was happy for him and Christine. For everything he’d achieved in his music career. I had a drink for him the night he’d gotten married. Seeing his smiling face with Christine on his arm all over the Internet pushed me to move on. To fin
d my own happiness. When I found out about Christine’s death it was like a punch to the gut. I never wanted for him to be anything but happy.
Seeing Aiden tonight only solidified that. The light, sparkling personality had up and disappeared. The spark in his eyes was gone and I honestly didn’t know a way to bring it back.
Not that it was my job.
Or was it?
“Dr. Watson, are you sure you’ll be okay?”
I turned and offered Charlotte a smile. “I’ll be okay. I won’t have to be up all night, but I want to be here to check on him every so often.”
“Okay, if you’re sure.”
“I am.”
“There aren’t any more appointments for the day, so I’ll finish up the paperwork and lock up for the day.” She reached for the papers on the table next to me. “If you change your mind, please call me. I’ll come over and give you a break.”
“I will.” I looked back at Zeus sleeping peacefully.
Charlotte turned to leave, but I called her name again. When she glanced back, I dipped my head to her.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Charlotte smiled and left me alone with Zeus. Instincts I’d long buried and thought were gone came racing to the surface. The need to take care of Aiden, the same as I’d done when we were younger.
I’d moved into the house a few doors down from him in first grade. It was a quiet cul-de-sac with a ton of kids, but no other girls. I’d always played with the boys in my old neighborhood. Why not? It was play outside with them or play inside by myself. Not really one to be alone, I wanted to jump into all of the games. My first attempt hadn’t gone well and I almost left in tears. If it hadn’t been for Aiden, I probably would’ve never left my house.
And that was where the friendship between Aiden and me began. He stood up for me when no one wanted to play with the new girl.
Even after Aiden met Jackson and the two connected instantly, he never blew me off. It became the three of us instead of the two. I would do anything to help them. I liked helping people.
Last and Forever Page 3