The Lantern Lake Winter Collection
By
Gretchen S.B.
Pizza Pockets & Puppy Love Copyright © 2019 by Gretchen S.B.
A Flurry of Feelings Copyright © 2019 by Gretchen S.B
Teacher’s Crush Copyright © 2019 by Gretchen S.B.
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
Works by Gretchen S.B.
Night World Series:
Lady of the Dead
Viking Sensitivity
A Wolf in Cop's Clothing
Visions Across the Veil (A Night World Novella)
Hidden Shifter (Summer 2019)
Berman's Wolves Trilogy:
Berman's Wolves
Berman's Chosen
Berman's Secrets
Berman’s Origin (Fall 2019)
Anthony Hollownton Series:
Hollownton Homicide
Hollownton Outsiders
Hollownton Legacy (Spring 2018)
Delta House Series:
The Doll Making Delta
Romance Novellas:
The Tongue-Tied Hunter
Poker in Portland
Big City Bachelor
Pizza Pockets & Puppy Love
A Flurry of Feelings
Teacher’s Crush
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my editor Lacie at Pelican Proofing and proofreader Rose David. You ladies made this book readable for everyone.
Thank you to Talina at Bookin it Designs for giving this book such a beautiful cover.
As always, thank you to my friends and family who cheer me on as I work toward my dream of being a full-time author.
Last of all, but not least, is the Hubster. Although he hates to be mentioned, he deserves credit for all his support.
Pizza Pockets & Puppy Love
Chapter 1
"Fired! What am I supposed to do with that? I’ve held that position for the last five years. Department cuts usually mean the person with the most seniority keeps their job, but not in my case; nope, in my case the other person was younger, flirtier, and stabbed me in the back. I can't believe she was taking credit for my work so she could get my job, the nerve!"
A whine from the back seat interrupted Gail’s tirade. She glanced over her right shoulder to see Murphy, her faithful German shepherd mix shifting his feet back and forth in a doggy potty dance.
"Hang in there, buddy! I saw a sign for a rest stop coming up in about a mile. I promise we will pull off to piddle."
She wasn't much of a speed demon, but Gail felt her foot press harder on the peddle. She did not want Murphy to have an accident; they had another hour and a half, at least, before they got to Shoreline. He was eight, which meant his bladder wasn't as reliable as it had once been, and she couldn’t remember whether she’d walked him this morning in the midst of all the moving.
Another whine appealed to her from the back seat just as she started to pull off the freeway.
Gail's heart started beating faster. "We're almost there, Murph, I promise. Be a good boy and hold it a little longer." She kicked herself for being such a bad dog mom.
Swinging into the first free space, Gail yanked out her keys and snagged the dog leash from around the gear shift. Tugging the back door open, she reached out and barely missed Murphy's collar as he bolted out of the car.
"Murphy!" she called after him as she shut and locked the car.
He was a loyal dog but not the most obedient. Turning away from the car in the direction she heard Murphy take, Gail spun around and got the wind knocked out of her as she slammed into a large male shoulder.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I wasn't looking. I'm chasing after my dog," Gail sputtered.
"So I see, shouldn't he be on a leash?" questioned a deep voice.
Her temper flared. "Yes well, sometimes the call of nature is stronger than I am." She glared at him before resuming the chase for Murphy.
What she saw was more attractive than she expected. He was a few inches taller than her own five-foot-eleven with wavy black hair struggling to escape from a ponytail. He looked like something off one of the romance novels boxed up in her trunk. Shaking her head, Gail side-stepped the attractive stranger and noticed two leashed, well-behaved boxers staring up at her. Normally, Gail would have cooed at the dogs and asked to pet them but now was definitely not the time. Against her nature, she dashed off to a grassy area where she could see Murphy.
He seemed preoccupied with his sniffing, so Gail took the opportunity to hook his leash up to his harness. "I know you aren't going to run away, buddy, but do you have to make me look bad?"
Murphy lifted his head to look at her while lolling out his tongue to give her a wolfy grin before returning to his sniffing. Gail’s embarrassment and frustration melted. Since adopting Murphy five years ago she'd always found it hard to stay mad at him for long periods of time. He was a wonderful companion and usually a good dog, despite the occasional rambunctious outbursts.
Sighing, Gail took her attention off Murphy as he sniffed around; not particularly wanting to watch him smell every blade of grass, she scanned the parking lot in the trees beyond it. It looked like Mister ‘my boxers are perfectly behaved’ was gone, for which she was grateful. Other than her bordering on ancient Mazda3, there were less than a handful of cars at the rest stop and no other dogs that she could see. Which was fine by her as Murphy was incredibly sociable and she didn’t feel like making small talk while he made friends. They were halfway to Shoreline, to her sister’s, and all Gail wanted to do was get there, and lock herself up in the room that would be her hideout until she could get back on her feet.
Having to stay with her little sister and her brother-in-law still grated on her. They were expecting their first kid, had stable full-time jobs, and a house. All Gail had was Murphy. She didn't know what she was going to do with herself. She had already begun applying for jobs in and around Seattle since she found out she was getting fired last week―or laid off, as her boss preferred to say.
Gail had graduated from Central eight years prior and almost immediately got the receptionist position before being promoted to the position she had been fired from. She enjoyed her job. It had its ups and downs like everything else but overall, she loved her life. It certainly wasn't a dream job, not that Gail knew what her dream job would be, but she'd been happy. Until Shelley Masters was hired part-time and wheedled her way into the new chair's good graces, whispering in his ear that Gail hadn't been doing as good of a job as she was actually doing. The chair of the department made Gail's boss lay her off when budget cuts rolled through, even though it should've been Shelley since Gail had seniority.
Frustrated, Gail forced herself to clear her head of those thoughts. It was already done and there was nothing she could do about it now. Her job was to find a new career that would support her and get her own place to live. That was probably several months off since real estate in the Seattle area was drastically higher than it was in Ellensburg.
It took longer than necessary for Murphy to find a place to squat and do his business, but they needed to stretch their legs, so Gail didn't rush him. After all, it wasn't as if they were on a deadline. Now that she was unemployed, they had all the time in the world―a depressing thought.
Chapter 2
"Welcome back, Robert, did you and the dogs enjoy your long weekend camping up in the mountains?" Doctor Herb Struthers as
ked his junior partner as he and his two boxers walked through the doors of the clinic. Lantern Lake Veterinary Clinic was the only vet clinic in all three cities around Lantern Lake. They were on the border between the city of Lantern Lake and the city of Bunny Ridge. That meant Herb taking on Robert as a junior partner gave the community the second veterinarian they sorely needed. The two of them made house calls to the neighboring ranches and farms on the far-stretched outskirts of Lakeside. One of them made rounds out there at least once a week. They’d gotten into a decent groove, but their office manager had retired two months ago and neither of them had the time or the wherewithal to hire a new one, meaning things were a mess.
It had not helped that Herb scheduled his vacation for two weeks ago and then forced Robert to go on a camping trip for a long weekend. Herb and his wife just had their thirtieth wedding anniversary, so he'd been gone a week and a half; with no help, Robert had been overwhelmed. So, when Herbert pushed him to take a long weekend to go camping with the dogs he didn't have to push hard.
"It was good. But on our way back into civilization we stopped at a rest stop so the girls could do their thing and ran into someone who let their dog run around the rest stop off-leash. Plus, the dog wasn’t listening to her. It was a disaster waiting to happen. I don't understand some people."
He knew he shouldn't be as aggravated as he felt, but dog owners who didn't take the time to train their pups properly bothered Robert. He taught obedience classes to help pay for college expenses and ever since then seeing a perfectly good dog go untrained got on his nerves. That woman hadn't even been watching where she was going. At six-foot-three it wasn't easy to miss Robert from a few feet away, plus a boxer on each side. She hadn't been paying attention at all and it was that flighty sense of entitlement that irked him.
“But it's all over now. It was maybe five-minutes of your trip and the rest of the weekend went smoothly, so don't dwell on it; no good comes from that," Herb advised sagely, almost chastising.
"You're right, you're right." Robert shifted around the front desk to where Herb was staring at several piles of paperwork. Herb had never been a terribly organized individual to begin with so having Susan there for the last thirty years had been the glue that held the veterinary practice together. When she retired and moved to Seattle to be closer to her grandkids, it was as if Pandora's box exploded both at the front desk and in Herb's office.
"Why don't you head on home. Unless there's a call you have to make today, the girls and I can close up shop. We’ve only got…" Robert checked the Fitbit on his left wrist. "Three hours until we call it a night. Go home and have dinner with Wendy."
The older man watched Robert for a second and he swore Herb would tell him no, but he nodded once with a gentle smile. "That would be nice, thank you. I will open and I'll see you when you get in." With that he tidied up the pile he had been standing in front of, no doubt putting it even further out of order than it already was and slowly meandered, as was his way, to his back office. No doubt to grab his things and finish up any paperwork he’d need to do before he left.
Robert leaned down and unhooked the leashes from both of his dogs, patting their sides as he did so to let them know they were free to roam about the clinic. He hung the leashes on the long leash rack they had behind the counter. He turned away knowing he didn't need to pay attention to either girl. Both Millie and Meriwether were well-behaved enough and knew the clinic well enough they would sniff around for a while and eventually end up both laying in the large dog bed that sat in the corner of his office snoring loudly until he woke them up to leave.
Looking at all the paperwork on the front desk, Robert sighed. He knew this would need to get tackled eventually, but he didn't feel like dealing with whatever stacks of paperwork Herbert left. Instead he made his way to his own office to see what calls and emails needed the most urgent attention.
Chapter 3
Panic set in, full-fledged five-alarm panic. Through tears Gail entered ‘nearest veterinary clinic’ into Google and was getting off the freeway exit for a city called Lantern Lake. She heard another large sneeze from the back and chanced another look at her companion. It was barely dusk when Murphy started sneezing, a lot. When Gail turned to look at him, she saw he was sneezing blood. It was horrifying, like something out of a horror movie and she felt overwhelmed. She'd merely pulled over to the side of the road and begun wiping his nose but when it became clear this wasn't some momentary thing, adrenaline began shooting through her system and fear gripped her like a set of nails. She hadn't the wherewithal to do more than enter in the words looking for the nearest vet clinic. She followed the electronic female voice as it hopefully guided her to somewhere that would save Murphy.
According to Google, the place was open another two and a half hours and she was only ten minutes away.
"Hang in there, Murph. I'm trying to get there as fast as I can. Please be okay. Please be okay. I can't lose you." Her words came out as a sob. Losing her job, her life as she knew it had been hard but losing Murphy would be devastating.
~~
As Gail threw her car into park, she barely noted that the building, which had a large parking lot, was much smaller than she would expect an animal clinic to be. They couldn't have had more than two or three examination rooms. The building was made to look like a log cabin, as had several other buildings she'd passed on the way here. If she hadn’t been so panicked, she would've thought it had a rustic charm, but that barely even registered as she hooked the leash to Murphy, picked him up, and lifted him out of the car as he was too busy sneezing and wheezing to get out himself.
She could barely see through the tears as they went up the three long stairs to the porch that led to the front door. Gail ripped one of the double glass doors open and hustled herself and Murphy into a decent sized sterile-looking reception area. There was no one there, but lights were on in the back, so she did the only thing she could think of.
"Help! Is anybody here? This is an emergency. I need your help," she yelled, probably louder than necessary but she couldn't gauge her voice in her panic.
Mere moments later a large man appeared, dashing down the hallway. Though she couldn't entirely see him as her eyes were still glassed over, she could see he was wearing a lab coat and she breathed a wrenching sob that almost felt like relief.
"Oh, thank goodness." She rushed toward him putting out the leash in front of her. "I don't know what's wrong with him. For the last fifteen minutes he's been sneezing blood and wheezing, and I know he's not okay. We’re on our way to Shoreline from Ellensburg and stopped at a rest stop. We didn't stop anywhere else. It was the only new place we went." Gail had to stop herself from speaking further as it would only degrade into babbling and then eventually sobs.
A large hand reached out and took the leash from her. "All right, let me take a look. While I take him back, why don't you go ahead and have a seat over there." The voice was calm and had a rolling depth to it. Something about it seemed slightly familiar, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Odds were it wasn't familiar and she was just going crazy from shock. “There are new patient forms on the front desk. Go ahead and fill one set out for me, please.”
Nodding, she forced herself to turn away from Murphy, shaking and praying he would be all right and made herself sit in one of the dozen chairs set out in three neat rows. She couldn't lose Murphy, she just couldn't
~~
"I want to keep him overnight for observation." That deep rumbling voice came from the hallway where he and Murphy disappeared sometime earlier.
Gail's head shot up and she looked at the man. A sense of dread circled her stomach at the thought that Murphy was so bad he had to stay overnight in the vet clinic. Then she got a look at the man. She knew why he was familiar now. He had been the guy scolding her at the rest stop. That was all she needed. Now she was even less of a responsible dog owner in his eyes. Perfect. Gail made herself set those thoughts aside.
"Why?" It was a
ll she could get out. Normally she was more eloquent, but her lips had to be forced to make words.
The large man, slowly sat down in the chair next to her and looked at her with stern eyes that held a little bit of kindness and sympathy around the edges. "I'm guessing he ingested some rat poison. I don't know how much but it would be best if we could keep him overnight. I want to be able to watch him if things get worse versus having you come back. It could save precious minutes if something should happen. He's lucky in that I don't think he's going to die. The fact he is such a large dog and there was probably a very small dose works in your favor. People sometimes lay down poison without thinking about it."
Letting her head drop into her hands, Gail felt the tears fall. She was relieved Murphy would live, even though he clearly would need to recoup. But the relief was soon chased by the fact that vet bills were expensive, as were hotel bills. Not that she knew where the nearest hotel was. She had a small savings, but this might deplete half if not more of it. She had already paid to have a lot of her stuff put into storage in Seattle and that had eaten up quite a chunk.
"How much is it going to cost?" Again, she forced the words past her lips. She felt horrible discussing money when Murphy's health should be most important, but she had to be practical. And that made her even sicker.
Gorgeous blue eyes looked at her appraisingly for a moment. "Honestly, I don't know. I'm sure we can work something out that'll be manageable for you since I am guessing this kind of emergency expense is not something you planned for. My partner will be in in the morning. The two of you can work something out."
It wasn't an ideal solution, but what choice did she have? Gail nodded slowly; she had always prided herself on being good in a crisis and here she was practically falling apart. "Could you point me in the direction of the nearest hotel?"
Lantern Lake Winter Collection: Books 1-3 Page 1