Healing the Vet's Heart

by Annie Claydon

  He’d wondered whether that would keep Caro away tonight. Maybe she didn’t want to run around after him this evening while he sank down onto the sofa to rest. But when he’d hinted that maybe he should rest tonight, and she might like to go home, she’d given him a smile.

  ‘Good. If you’re resting, then I can cook for you.’

  ‘What are you going to cook?’ He’d never seen Caro cook anything. She was good at taking stuff out of the freezer and heating it up, and she was quite capable of working her way through a mountain of fruit and a stack of sandwiches at her desk, but cooking required leaving her workshop for more than ten minutes at a time.

  ‘Anything you like.’ She shot him a frown. ‘That’s what cookery books are for, Drew.’

  ‘How about spaghetti Bolognese?’ Everyone knew how to make that.

  ‘Done.’ She pulled her phone from her pocket. ‘I’ll find a recipe, and we can get the ingredients on the way home.’

  ‘That’s okay. I have the ingredients...’

  When they got back to his cottage he spent a worrying forty-five minutes on the sofa, trying to tell himself that there was a limit to the amount of damage that one robotics engineer and a Labrador puppy could do in someone’s kitchen. Caro appeared in the doorway, crooking her finger at him, and he levered himself onto his feet and followed her.

  Phoenix ignored him completely in favour of the bowl of food that was laid out for her in the corner. The pans were all cleared away and in the sink. The blinds were drawn and the light over the dining table switched on. There were two plates of spaghetti Bolognese, a dish of grated Parmesan cheese, and a bottle of sparkling water on the table, along with a candle. The smell made his mouth water.

  ‘Sit down.’

  Drew regretted his doubts and did as he was told. Caro lit the candle and sat down, pouring the water into a couple of wine glasses while he sprinkled Parmesan cheese onto his food. She picked up her fork and he followed suit, aware that she was watching him.

  The spaghetti was perfect. The sauce was wonderful. Drew rolled his eyes as he ate the first mouthful, prompting a smile from Caro.

  ‘This is great. Really nice. Where did you get the recipe again?’

  ‘I found four different ones. So I worked out what each element was supposed to achieve and chose the parts I liked the best.’

  In other words, she’d applied the techniques she used in sorting and refining her own ideas. And it had all worked with the same apparent ease as her robotics projects.

  ‘Well, you have to write it down. This is much better than my recipe.’

  She gave him a luminous smile. ‘You didn’t think I could do it, did you?’

  He should come clean and admit it. ‘You don’t cook all that much. I can see why, you get interested in something...’

  ‘Yes, I know. I’m not working now, though.’

  Maybe she could be persuaded to work a little less in the future. Drew dismissed the thought. She was who she was, and just because that wasn’t compatible with his way of life, it didn’t give him the right to try and change her.

  ‘You’re as perfect when you’re not working as when you are.’ He decided on a compliment that covered both of their points of view.

  ‘Thank you.’ She waved her fork at him, grinning like a Cheshire cat. ‘Eat. Before it gets cold.’

  * * *

  They spent the evening in the sitting room, Caro with her laptop balanced on her knees and Drew sprawled on the sofa with Phoenix. Drifting back and forth between talk and silence, ideas and thought. When Drew started to doze, she left him to sleep while she finished what she was doing and then closed her laptop, walking over to the sofa to shake him gently.

  ‘Come upstairs if you want to sleep.’

  ‘Uh. Yeah... Sorry.’

  ‘Don’t be. It’s been a busy few days. You’re not working tomorrow, are you?’

  He thought for a moment. ‘I may go in late.’

  ‘That’s a good idea. You have two jobs at the moment, and one of them is to heal.’

  Drew sat up, and Phoenix jumped down off the sofa. Stretching, he got to his feet. ‘Anything I can get for you? Before I tear off your clothes...?’

  Tearing off her clothes sounded just fine to Caro. Now sounded even better. ‘Where do you find the energy?’

  ‘I have plenty of energy.’ Drew looked wide awake now. ‘My leg just gets in the way a bit sometimes.’

  Drew had been an active and resourceful lover last night, but now he was hurting. He’d been forced to rest for so long now that all he wanted to do was shake off those constraints, but he was in danger of overdoing things.

  ‘I have a solution. If you’d care to try it?’

  ‘I’m always interested in your solutions...’

  She followed him upstairs, and he caught her hand, leading her into the bedroom. Drew pulled her close, kissing her, and Caro backed him towards the bed, pushing him down onto it.

  ‘I want you in full working order tomorrow, Drew. You’ve been overdoing things.’

  ‘Whatever you say...’

  ‘Seriously?’

  He gave her a melting look. ‘Seriously. I’m entirely in your hands.’

  She’d hold him to that. She pulled off his sweater and shirt, started to undress him. Drew meanwhile had found something to do with his own hands, and they were skimming her body.

  She wriggled free of him, backing away. Drew leaned back onto the bed, watching her as she undressed.

  ‘I’m liking this in your hands business very much.’

  ‘I can see...’ Caro pulled back the bedspread, piling two pillows on top of each other. When she climbed onto the bed, flipping her finger towards them, he got the gist of what was expected of him and pulled himself backwards to lean against them.

  ‘Is this where you tell me I won’t feel a thing?’ He grinned teasingly.

  ‘I have reason to believe that you’ll feel everything.’ She grabbed a pillow from her side of the bed, propping it carefully under his knee. ‘Comfortable?’

  ‘Very. Thank you.’

  His gaze followed her every move as she crawled slowly across the bed towards him. He reached up, caressing her cheek, and she felt him shiver as she climbed astride him.

  ‘Caro, this is the best way of resting...’

  She smiled, and saw his eyes darken suddenly. They both knew what came next, and the air itself seemed to be trembling with passion.

  She bent down to whisper in his ear.

  ‘Just lie back, sweetheart.’

  * * *

  Last night had been something else. Truly something else that owed nothing to the simple mechanics of great sex. Caro had taken him as he was and had turned caring into blinding, nerve-shattering passion.

  He felt different. And, however much Drew told himself that this wasn’t good, that he’d promised not to get so involved, he couldn’t help it. Caro had captured his heart, and everything she did and said only made her hold on it more secure.

  Ellie had called him early, not enquiring where he was or who he was with but telling him that he wasn’t needed at the clinic today. Volunteers from local charities would be helping out with the birds, and the efforts of the environmental agencies in breaking down the oil slick were coming to fruition.

  Drew knew that Ellie’s assertion that there was nothing for him to do wasn’t entirely true. He was sure he could find something, but it was clear that she and Lucas were managing. And in a perfectly co-ordinated pincer movement, Caro told him that she needed his help with the prosthetics project.

  He spent the morning in her workshop, his leg propped up in front of him on the sofa. When Phoenix started to fret, jumping up onto the windowsill and pawing at the window, Caro told him to stay put, and that she’d take the puppy out for a couple of circuits of the small island.

&
nbsp; Drew picked up the pieces of the prototype that Caro had been printing on the 3D printer, and which lay on her desk. He couldn’t see how they fitted together, but there were notes and diagrams. He sat down, placing the pieces in order, and began to fathom how it would all work. He started to clip them together, and suddenly saw the concept clearly. It was simple but ingenious.

  ‘What are you doing?’ He hadn’t heard Caro come in and he looked up to see her standing in the doorway of the workshop. Her face was like thunder, and he wondered what could have happened to make her so cross.

  ‘I’m just taking a look at this. It’s amazing...’

  His words seemed to make her even crosser. ‘Well, don’t. You signed an agreement, remember?’

  Okay. He remembered. But he still couldn’t see why Caro was so angry. He put the pieces of the prototype back down on her desk.

  ‘You do remember, don’t you?’ She wasn’t going to let this go. ‘Because I have a copy...’

  ‘I remember. I’m sorry if I overstepped any boundaries.’ Drew got to his feet. Annoyance was beginning to tug at him, but he didn’t want to argue with her. Arguing never did any good.

  ‘Any boundaries? You know just what the boundaries are, Drew. I told you that my work was separate from everything else and you said that was okay.’ She seemed close to tears. ‘You don’t look at my work. It’s mine, and I’ll let you have the finished product when it’s ready.’

  ‘I’m trying to help, Caro. You asked for my help, remember?’ He couldn’t let this go.

  ‘Yes, I asked you to help. I didn’t ask you to go behind my back.’

  Phoenix was sitting between them, looking back and forth, as if she knew that something bad was happening. Drew knew that something bad was happening, but he just couldn’t work out what it was. Caro seemed to have changed so suddenly.

  ‘All right. I’m not going to engage with this, Caro. We’re both tired, and we probably need some space.’ Drew wasn’t sure that space was going to make any difference. But at least it ruled out any more conflict.

  ‘I don’t need any space, Drew. I just need you to understand.’

  ‘Okay. Well, I’ll go away and think about it. Maybe you should think about whether this reaction of yours isn’t just a little bit paranoid.’

  He turned, wondering if she might protest. All he heard was silence. He knew all about those silences, too. His parents had kept them up for days...

  Drew grabbed his stick and called Phoenix, who bounded up to him as if she too wanted to get away from this. Clipping her lead onto her collar, he put on his jacket and walked out of the house without looking back.

  This had been his mistake. He’d fallen for Caro, knowing that she was different from him. Knowing how committed she was to her work and knowing he couldn’t change her. He should also have known that it was only a matter of time before the differences started to chafe, and the inevitable niggles turned into arguments.

  Phoenix started to whine, pulling at the lead and pawing at the front door. ‘No, Phoenix. We’re not going back.’

  The puppy gazed up at him. Phoenix didn’t know about the bitterness of being let down, she was all trust.

  The thing that had been niggling at the back of his mind suddenly became clear. He didn’t understand, and he’d given Caro no chance to explain.

  ‘Did it look as if she was about to explain, Phoenix?’ He bent down stroking the puppy’s head and she nuzzled against his hand. It was probably asking a bit much of a puppy to mediate between two grown people.

  He could do better than this, though. He didn’t need to walk away, maintaining the silence the way his parents had. If Caro was angry then she must have a reason, and he wanted to know what that was. Understand a little maybe.

  He lifted the latch, pushing the front door with his finger. Caro clearly hadn’t locked it behind him, and when the door drifted open a little he could hear the muffled sounds of her crying. That left him no choice. He had to go back and make things right. Even if he had to battle with Caro to do so.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  IT HAD BEEN a surprise to see Drew sitting at her desk, handling her inventions. She’d reacted when she should have stopped and thought. But Drew was the one person that she’d thought would never betray her, and it had felt as if the bottom of her world had just fallen out.

  It was too late now. Maybe he had intended to read through her notes behind her back for some reason. That wasn’t the most likely evaluation of the situation. They’d shared so much already, and she’d never explained why sharing her work was such a touchy subject for her.

  She’d messed up. If he had any sense, he wouldn’t be coming back now.

  ‘Caro...’

  She almost jumped out of her skin. So much for Drew having any sense.

  ‘I’m really sorry, Drew. You were right to go, and you should...just keep walking.’

  ‘I’m not going to do that. I want to do it; I think you know why I can’t deal with arguments. But that’s my problem, not yours. So you can just throw whatever you want at me, and we’ll take it from there.’

  ‘I don’t want to throw anything at you, Drew.’ She couldn’t look at him.

  ‘That’s fine too. I think I need to know why you reacted that way, though. I obviously hurt you, and I didn’t mean to.’

  ‘It’s not your fault.’

  ‘Maybe not. It’ll be my fault if I walk away without finding out what’s going on with you. So, if you don’t mind, I’m just going to wait here until you think you can tell me.’

  Phoenix bounded up to her, nudging and pawing at her legs, as if she hadn’t seen Caro for months. Caro scrubbed at her eyes with her sleeve, remembering too late that it probably wasn’t a great look.

  She felt the sofa move as Drew sat down next to her, handing her a piece of kitchen roll from the kitchen. She tore it in half, blowing her nose with one piece and rubbing at her eyes with the other. He reached forward, smoothing down a lock of hair that was obviously sticking up and she turned the corners of her mouth down. She must look an absolute fright...

  ‘You look beautiful.’

  ‘What are you, a mind reader?’

  ‘Sorry. Won’t happen again.’

  She reached for him, and his arms closed around her shoulders. The warmth of having him close only made her burst into tears again.

  ‘I messed up, Drew.’

  ‘Yeah. Me too.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  ‘So am I. Now tell me something I don’t know.’

  Caro heaved in a breath. It was time to face up to him and tell him the truth. He deserved that at least. She couldn’t do this while she was still in his arms, so she sat up straight, looking into his eyes.

  ‘It’s not your fault, Drew, it’s mine. It’s...’ Suddenly it hit her. Drew wouldn’t have treated her the way that Blake had. ‘It’s not my fault. I don’t think it is anyway.’

  ‘So tell me whose fault it is.’

  ‘Blake. He taught at one of the universities I was associated with in California.’

  ‘He was your teacher?’ A note of concern sounded in Drew’s voice.

  Caro shook her head. ‘If I’m honest, there wasn’t a great deal that he could teach me.’ This was new, too. She could see Blake from a different perspective now, and it didn’t do him any favours.

  ‘Okay. More a colleague, then. To be honest, that doesn’t sound quite so inappropriate on his part.’

  He knew. He’d put two and two together and realised that no one could hurt you as much as someone you loved. That was why Caro had been so afraid when she’d seen Drew looking at her work.

  ‘I thought he loved me. I loved him, and I thought I’d found my home with him. I shared all my ideas and...’ Caro shook her head miserably.

  ‘He took them from you?’

  ‘W
orse. When the water feature in our garden kept getting gunked up I developed a self-cleaning valve. He patented it, and I lost the rights to it, which meant I couldn’t develop it any further and make it available free in developing countries. He didn’t steal it from me, he stole it from all the people who might have benefited from it.’

  ‘What did he do with the patent?’

  ‘He tried to sell it. There was a lot of interest and he was set to make a life-changing amount of money from it. He told me that I was stupid, and that someone had to look after my business affairs for me.’

  ‘Wait. No, Caro. Anyone who ever tells you that you’re stupid...well, that reflects on them and not you.’

  ‘Trusting him wasn’t my finest hour...’

  ‘Someone deceived you. That doesn’t make you stupid.’ Drew shook his head. ‘Is there anything you can do to claim the patent back?’

  ‘I was so embarrassed. I left him and put the whole thing in the hands of an attorney in the States. She’s trying to get the patent transferred to a charity that will do the right thing with it, and it looks as if she’ll succeed. I just... I can’t get any closure from that, Drew. I just wanted to crawl away and hide. Forget about it all.’

  ‘But you can’t, can you?’

  Caro sighed. ‘I think that’s pretty self-evident, don’t you?’

  ‘Okay. I’m going to take this as a compliment.’

  She stared at him. ‘How do you work that one out?’

  ‘You were afraid that it was all happening again. That someone you cared about would betray you. To jump to that conclusion, and react so strongly, means that you must care about me.’

  ‘That’s...one way of looking at it. I do care about you.’

  ‘And I imagine it’s not so easy to trust me after what happened.’

  ‘I’m working on it.’

  He pulled her close, kissing the top of her head. ‘Yeah, I’m working on a few things too. Neither of us is perfect.’