Pets of all shapes and sizes, along with their owners, were seated among the rows of chairs as Brent and Diane entered the busy waiting room of Dr. Elliot Colton DVM.
Navigating the crowd, Brent stepped over a large white carrier when the occupant startled him with a loud ‘WOOF!’.
Approaching the reception window, a fresh-faced, twenty-something girl in a white lab coat greeted them. “Can I help you?”
Brent stepped forward and motioned for Diane to bring Rambo’s still listless body up to the window.
“We called earlier. We need to see the doctor. This cat’s been shot and she needs help.”
The young girl gasped, looking over the counter past Brent and seeing the blood all over Rambo and all over Diane.
“Oh, my God! Bring her right in. The doctor is waiting for you.”
She motioned to a door on their right. “I’ll go tell him you’re here.”
They watched as she ran down the hall.
Elliot Colton had been Rambo’s vet ever since Aaron found her and he recognized her at once. Taking the cat from Diane’s bloodstained arms, he disappeared into the exam room. While Colton went to work, Brent and Diane returned to the reception area.
During the next hour, Diane paced the room and Brent made small talk, unsuccessfully trying to calm her. After her fourth lap of the waiting room in less than ten minutes, she spoke. “This is taking too long. She must be worse than we thought.”
Brent moved to her side. “Don’t assume the worst, she’ll be all right.”
“She better be, or I’ll shoot that son of a bitch Freemont myself.” She started another lap of the room.
Looking at her, he lifted one eyebrow, “You couldn’t really do that, right?”
She stopped pacing and gave him a confused look, “Do what?”
“You couldn’t really shoot him, could you?”
“Shoot…who?” she offered a momentary look of confusion. “Oh, Freemont? I guess not, but if I were him, I wouldn’t want to run into Aaron anytime soon.”
“Yeah, he’s got some serious anger issues.”
“You just have to get to know him. He’s very protective.”
Brent watched her continue pacing and thought about everything that happened since he met her a few short hours ago. She had shown several different sides of herself and he was amazed by her. He assessed her qualities, and being a guy, went through his mental list. Looks…check, Brains…check, Body…check, check.
Great looks aside, he found himself genuinely intrigued by a woman so cool under pressure she could hold an Army colonel at gunpoint and yet, on the verge of tears, paced the floor over an injured animal. He found her contrasts very interesting indeed.
He put his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry. The doctor will fix Rambo up good as new. You’ll see.”
As the words came out of his mouth, he hoped he wasn’t lying.
"Chain Reaction" Power Failure Book I Page 34