“Right. A polite way of saying they were strange.” Leena had talked to her mom on the phone a few times in the past month. Each conversation had been brief. The only comment her mom had made about Leena’s return to Rock Creek was a vague comment about it being nice that she and Sue Ellen could spend some time together. Then she’d gone back to talking about her friends in Florida, ending with a halfhearted invitation for Leena to come down and visit them sometime when they weren’t quite so busy.
For some dumb reason those awkward calls always made Leena feel as though she wanted to cry. She wasn’t sure why. She really needed to return to e-mails as her main means of communication with her parents.
“I’m not like Cole,” Leena said. “I’m not in love with Rock Creek.”
“You talking about me again, Princess?” he drawled from behind her.
“Yes, I am. I’m trying to get embarrassing information about you from your aunt so that I can use it against you should I need to at some future point.”
“No.” Cole dramatically placed one hand over his heart. “You wound me deeply.”
“I don’t want to wound you deeply, just slow you down a little.”
“Honey, I can go as slow as you want.”
Leena blushed. “Don’t talk like that in front of a nun!”
“Not even Catholic, yet she’s filled with guilt,” Cole told his aunt. “I suspect it’s because she wants me but is afraid to admit it. Especially in front of you.”
“Then I’ll leave you two alone to work it out.” Sister Mary gave him a hug before going to help a new customer.
“Why do you do that?” Leena gave him an exasperated look.
“Do what?”
“Never mind. It’s useless trying to reason with you.”
“Wait a second. Where are you going?”
“Back to work. I have a mean boss.”
“I could put in a good word for you.”
She gave him an evil glare.
“That didn’t come out the way I intended,” Cole said. “Never mind. I’ll walk back with you. Are you getting excited about your welcome-home party?”
“I’m not sure
excited
is the word.”
“Then what is the word?”
“Apprehensive.”
“You? You’re not afraid of anything.”
“Your aunt just told me that we all have fears, whether we admit them or not. Take you for example. You’re clearly afraid of commitment.”
“What gives you that idea?”
“Your track record. You’re a serial monogamist.”
“You make it sound like a crime.”
“You stay friends with your former girlfriends after you break up because you never really got emotionally involved with them in the first place. Everything was surface. A temporary good time. No broken hearts.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing . . . if you like shallow relationships.”
“You prefer broken hearts?”
Remembering the painful humiliation Johnny Sullivan caused her, she wondered if maybe Cole had the right idea after all.
“What’s his name?” Cole demanded.
“Huh?”
“The guy who broke your heart. What’s his name?”
“None of your business.”
“So you don’t deny that he did break your heart?”
“We are changing the subject.”
“No, we’re not. You always do that when things get too personal.”
“Do what?”
“Change the subject. Not this time. I want to know who this guy was. Someone in Chicago?”
“Why do you care?”
“Because I care about you. Why do you find that so hard to believe?”
“Because I’ve heard it before and it was a lie.” Fearing she’d already said too much, Leena walked away.
“You’re late,” Cole told Nathan. They were in Cole’s office, a total contrast to Nathan’s obsessively neat workplace. Nathan’s desk was orderly. Cole’s wasn’t. His office was cluttered with boxes, journals, books, pieces of rarely used equipment, and empty paper cups. But he knew where everything was and refused to allow anyone to mess up his system. The jumble drove Leena crazy. Fine by him. She drove him nuts too.
“What is this?” Cole asked as he unwrapped the suspicious-looking package Nathan had handed him.
“Lunch. I told you I’d bring food.”
“I thought you meant you’d bring a pizza or a burger or something.”
“Consider this
something
. Stop looking at me that way. It’s not radioactive waste. It’s just a sandwich.”
“Why is the bread so funny looking?”
“Because Angel made it.”
Cole immediately set the strange-looking sandwich back on his desk. Then he looked at Nathan. “Where’s yours?”
“I’ve got a burger from the Dairy Queen.”
“I’m not taking your food.” Cole shoved the sandwich toward Nathan. “Hand over the burger and no one gets hurt.”
“No way—”
Cole didn’t wait for permission. He grabbed the burger and bit into it before Nathan could do a thing.
Nathan gave him a steely-eyed glare. “Stealing a man’s burger is illegal.”
“So is passing off one of Angel’s yellow-squash bread with boiled carrots sandwiches on me.”
“She’ll be upset if I don’t eat it.”
Cole shrugged. “Your problem, not mine.”
“And if Angel is upset, Skye is upset.”
“Again, not my problem.” Cole finished off the burger in four more bites.
“Isn’t there some animal here at the clinic that would like a yummy sandwich like this?”
“Don’t even think about it,” Cole growled. “I wouldn’t wish that on any creature big or small.”
Nathan sighed and tossed the paper-wrapped sandwich in the garbage. “So have you told Leena you’re crazy about her yet?”
Cole just gave him a look. “Man rule number forty-one: Never cause a hassle in your buddy’s castle.”
“You stole that phrase from Algee.”
“The meaning is the same.”
“I just find it amazing that a man who is supposed to be so charming with women, who always has smooth sailing with the opposite sex, suddenly hits a brick wall with this woman.”
“She’s not like the others.”
“Because she’s immune?”
“If she was immune, we wouldn’t have been making out in your office.”
“You both looked pretty amorous in front of the mini-mart too.”
“She was afraid I’d squash her goodies.”
Nathan almost snorted the soda he was drinking.
“Not those kind of goodies,” Cole said. “I meant food. She’d bought some stuff.”
“I heard a rumor that she got you a jug of antifreeze. Is that true?”
“Yeah.”
“First time a woman’s done that for you I bet.”
“No more bets. And yeah, that was a first. I’ve had a lot of firsts with Leena.”
“You’re a dead man.”
“What?”
Nathan just shook his head. “You don’t have a prayer. You’re already as good as hog-tied and bound.”
“I am not.”
“No use protesting, buddy. It’s a done deal.”
“It is not. Eating Angel’s sandwiches has adversely affected your brain function.”
“I only had one bite one time and that was months ago. No, I’m not the one with limited brain capability. You are. What are you afraid of? Why don’t you want to tell her how you feel about her? She obviously feels the same about you.”
“She’s going back to Chicago the minute she can.”
“And that’s a problem? Why? Your relationships don’t last all that long to begin with. What’s wrong with enjoying the time she is here?”
“When did you become Dear Abby?”
“I’m not sure, but I think she’s dead.”
“And so will you be if you keep bugging me about this.”
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you, though.” With those final words, Nathan left Cole alone to wonder what the hell it was about Leena that made her different. He should have figured her out by now.
He’d learned some stuff—like the fact that he loved the way a strand of her hair trailed down her neck when she pinned the rest of it up. Or the fact that she had the best cleavage he’d ever seen and the most voluptuous body. And then there was her husky laugh. He was getting hard just thinking about it. About her laugh. How weird was that?
She was in his dreams every night, teasing him with her smiles and kisses, urging him on with her moans of pleasure.
Was his buddy Nathan right? Was Cole already a goner? Was this what it felt like to go overboard about a woman?
A knock at his office door interrupted his thoughts. “Yo, doc, you got a minute? Leena said I could come on back,” Algee said. “And she even smiled at me. I think she’s over her mad about the bet.”
“Or she’s planning some new kind of revenge.”
“That’s possible.” Algee sat in a chair across from Cole. “I just wanted to make sure you and I were good. About the bet, I mean.”
“The bet is officially off.”
“Yeah, I figured. Too bad in a way, seeing as how I would’ve won.”
“Oh no you don’t. You’re not drawing me back in. Remember, you’re the one who blew it by telling Tameka everything.”
“We’re dating.”
“Bully for you.”
“Are you and Leena dating?”
“Not exactly.”
“So you’re just doin’ the deed around town?”
“No, we’re not, and even if we were, it’s nobody’s business.”
“I hear you, man.” Algee held up his hands in a universal peace gesture. “I just wanted to make sure that you and I were copasetic. I mean after I broke that man rule thing. I didn’t want to mess with that.”
“Just don’t do it again.”
Leena was about to lock up for the day when a boy came to the clinic door just as she was flipping over the OPEN sign to CLOSED. He pounded on the door, his face desperate. “I need to talk to the vet!”
Leena didn’t have the heart to turn him away.
Hearing the pounding, Cole came into the reception area as she let the boy in. “What’s going on?”
“I need your help to find him!” The boy’s face was streaked with tears.
“Calm down.” Cole placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Find who?”
“A cold-blooded fugitive.”
Chapter Fourteen
“Whoa there,” Cole said. “It sounds like you came to the wrong place. You need the sheriff.”
“No. I need you.” More tears formed in the boy’s eyes. “To find Bob.”
“Is Bob your dog?” Leena asked. “Did your dog run away from home? Is he the fugitive?”
“Bob is my tortoise. A red-footed tortoise. He ran away from home.”
“Ran?” Leena repeated.
“Okay, crawled. Can you help me find him?” Tears continued to roll down the kid’s freckled cheeks.
“Sure.” She gave him a reassuring hug. “Sure, we’ll help you find him. Cole is a vet. He knows where tortoises go when they run away from home. Right, Cole?”
“I, uh, may have some idea . . .”
“So there’s nothing to worry about.” She cut Cole off before he could say anything to dash the kid’s hopes. Leena knew all about dashed hopes and she couldn’t cope with any more of that today. “Tell him, Cole, that there’s nothing to worry about.”
Instead Cole said, “Where are your parents?”
“My dad’s still at work and my mom is making dinner.”
“You’re Tommy Taylor, right?” The boy nodded. “So, Tommy, when did Bob go missing?”
“Yesterday.”
“Could he have been chasing a female tortoise?” she asked Cole.
“Bob hasn’t keep me up-to-date on his dating schedule,” Cole said.
“I can pay you.” Tommy held up a handful of dollar bills. “I’ve got a Wal-Mart gift card too, worth ten dollars. I got it for my birthday two days ago, but I’d rather have Bob back.”
“Keep your money and gift card,” Cole said. “You don’t have to pay us to help you. Right, Princess?”
“Right.” Why had Cole looked at her that way? Did he think she was so desperate for money that she’d take it off a little kid? “Don’t worry, Tommy. We’ll find Bob for you.”
Since it was a nice sunny May day and Tommy’s house wasn’t far from the animal clinic, they all walked there, with Tommy telling them all about Bob en route. “He doesn’t bite. He eats from my hand sometimes and he’s very gentle. He travels fast, for a tortoise I mean, and his favorite hiding places are under bushes or flowers or decks. He’s not afraid of the dark. He likes it.”
“Where have you looked?” Leena asked.
“Everywhere! We even took some of the boards out of our deck to look under there, but we didn’t find Bob.”
“Never fear, Cole the super vet is here.” Leena was rather proud of the rhyme.
Tommy and Cole just rolled their eyes, indicating they were not similarly impressed.
Cole was good with kids. Leena had noticed it before, many times. She should probably let him handle this search on his own.
As if reading her thoughts, Cole took her hand and told Tommy, “My assistant and I will take it from here. You keep searching inside your house to make sure he didn’t hide out somewhere in there.”
“You take the yard to the right,” Leena said, “and I’ll take the one to the left.”
Cole didn’t budge. “No.”
“Okay, then I’ll take the one to the right—”
“We stick together.”
“Why? It would be much more efficient if we broke up.”
“We’re a great team together.”
“Yeah, right,” she scoffed.
“We are. You don’t think so?”
“We don’t have a lot in common.”
“We went to school together.”
“You were two years younger. Still are.”
“Does that bother you? Because it sure doesn’t bother me.”
“Shouldn’t we be searching for Bob?”
“Right.”
He tugged her after him as he headed for the yard next door. She put an end to that by digging in her heels and refusing to move.
Cole turned to face her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not some dog on a leash you can haul after you.”