That Perfect Place Page 8

  “I’m really glad to hear it. Jill seemed relaxed about everything except Dr. Mirza.”

  “He’s hard to understand at times, but seems to get especially tongue-tied around Jill. He’s OK with me in the field. Seems to know which end of a cow is which.”

  “I’m afraid you’ll be stuck with him for a while. I don’t want any incidents that might chase Jill off. She’s going through a tough divorce and doesn’t need any more trouble just now.”

  Jim wondered if that included either of them asking her out. She was a woman he’d like to get to know better, and he had seen the reverential way Jake looked at her.

  ina was due early afternoon on Friday, but Jill wasn’t surprised when she showed up at closing time. Jake was just returning from a day in the field when Tina pulled up. Jill introduced the two and couldn’t help notice Tina’s reaction to her employer. Tina usually flirted with every man she met, but she positively purred at Jake. There was something about his warm amber eyes that drew women in.

  The imp in Jill took hold, and she asked, “Jake, I thought I’d take Tina for some Italian. Would you like to come along?”

  He looked over at Tina then back at Jill. “OK, but I have to drop Brad off in Indy first and see if Callie will stay with Megan. Ma’s playing piano for the ladies tonight.”

  “We’ll be there around seven. Just text if you’re not coming.”

  When they were safely out of sight, Tina grabbed her sister’s arm. “Jillian, why didn’t you tell me he was so dreamy? Don’t you just melt when he looks at you?”

  Her sister laughed. “No, I have yet to melt under his soulful gaze.”

  “You said he was divorced, right? And you have no interest in him?”

  “Other than the fact that Jake is a good vet and my boss, no, I don’t.” At least I hope not. Now where did that come from?

  “All right, then he’s fair game, and the game’s afoot. God, I’d like to strip search him. Did you notice his ass when he walked away?”

  “Oh brother. Just please don’t get me fired. This is the best place I’ve ever worked.” Jill had to admit to herself that Tina was right. He does have a nicely muscled rear view.

  Jake arrived a few minutes after the sisters. Several people greeted him as he came in. They were in a booth, so he sat opposite. It gave him a chance to compare the two. Tina was the older sister; she was slightly shorter and slighter of build than Jill, less curvaceous and more athletic. Her hair was a medium brown with blond highlights; her eyes were blue but didn’t stand out like Jill’s did across her whiter skin and darker hair. Tina was pretty, and she knew it and knew how to flirt. Jill had an innate elegance. And he found it irresistibly attractive.

  They were nearly finished eating and Jill was telling Tina about Jake’s amazing dogs when a woman showed up at their table. She was heavily made up but quite beautiful.

  “Well, Jakob, I was going to ask if you missed me, but I see you’ve kept yourself occupied.”

  Jake jumped up as if stung. “Cynthia, I didn’t know you were back in Iowa. Umm, Cynthia Mattson, may I introduce Dr. Jillian Maitland and her sister, Tina. Ladies, this is our leading Quarter Horse breeder, Cynthia Mattson. Do you remember the big indoor I pointed out to you on C 57, Jill? That’s her place.”

  “How do you do,” Cynthia said coolly. “Dr. Maitland, you must be the new vet everyone is buzzing about?”

  “I’m working for Jake if that’s what you mean,” Jill answered politely, wanting to smack the woman for her insolent tone.

  “Well, how nice,” she said icily. “Jakob, call me if you can spare the time.” She picked up a to-go order and stalked out.

  Jill looked at Jake who was acting rather sheepish. “She left me a message earlier today, and I forgot to call back,” he said by way of explanation. I couldn’t think of anything else but going out to dinner with you. Jake knew his attraction to his employee was dangerous, but his stubborn heart just wouldn’t listen to his brain and each day found him sinking deeper.

  Tina jumped in and said, “Jill told me about the car cruise tomorrow. I’d just love to go along, but I think Jill said she’s working?”

  “No, she has tomorrow off since she worked for me on Wednesday, so I’m on until about one. The club is supposed to meet at two at the park in downtown Jesup. We’ll wind up in Independence for dinner.”

  “What are we driving?”

  “Well, I’ve got a ’73 Chevelle SS, and there’s a 1980 Trans Am in the garage. It needs to be checked over though. Nobody’s run it in a month or more.”

  “I’d be happy to look over both cars tomorrow morning, but I’d like to ride with you if I could.”

  “I promised Callie she could ride shotgun. We’ll work something out.”

  They wound up at Jake’s usual haunt. Andy Willis and a couple of people Jill was acquainted with were already there. Tina tried hard to get Jake to line dance, but he turned her down.

  “Let’s not press my luck,” he said.

  “I don’t care if you’re a lousy dancer,” she came back.

  “It isn’t that. I guess nobody told you I’m missing my right foot. I’m still getting used to the new prosthesis. Go dance with Andy. He’s good and would be real flattered if you asked him.”

  Tina blushed but went obediently to ask Andy who was delighted to oblige.

  “I’m sorry,” Jill apologized. “I didn’t think to tell her about your foot.”

  “It’s OK. I guess I’m more worried about Cynthia coming in. She knows I hang out here a lot.”

  “Is she possessive then?” Jill laughed lightly.

  “More like consuming.” He laughed back.

  Jill line danced with Andy twice. When a ballad came on a bit later, Jake stood up and offered her his hand.

  “My turn,” he said. “We’re too young to sit the good ones out.”

  Jill hesitated for just a second. “Sure, I like this old stuff.” She felt a bit awkward. Line dancing was less personal, and she hadn’t danced much with anyone other than her husband.

  “Jakob, I’m over the boy-girl thing, but I don’t think you would have asked me to dance if I were Jim,” she teased, harking back to her first Friday at the clinic when he had asked her out to dinner.

  “How do you know?” he came back. “OK, so maybe there are a few fringe benefits to your being a woman. This is just a friend’s dance, right?”

  “Oh, no, I’m buttering up my boss for a good raise when the time comes.”

  “It’s working.” He bent down and whispered in her ear, delighted with the way her curves fit up against his body.

  Jill felt dizzy as they finished the dance. Must be the alcohol—it couldn’t have been him. Jake just isn’t my type, and he’s not that great a dancer either.

  Jake seemed thoughtful and paid a lot of attention to his drink when they sat back down. He wasn’t sure if dancing with her had been heaven or torture.

  A few minutes later, everyone was taking a breather at the table when Jim Cullen came in and they motioned him over. Introductions were made, and Jake asked Jim if he had gotten most of his moving chores out of the way.

  “Bank, yes; post office, yes; insurance, yes; car registration, not yet. I did manage to get all my utilities turned on, finally. The contractor came by today to give me an estimate. The things I wanted done are between ‘wow’ and ‘ping,’ so I guess I’ll have to scale back a bit.”

  “Jim is fixing up his grandparents’ farmhouse out on Otter Creek Boulevard,” Jake explained.

  Tina perked up at that. “I remodel houses for a living, you know. I’d be glad to come by and do a consult.”

  “How much would a consult cost?” Jim asked.

  “Buy me dinner sometime—other than that, nothing unless you hire me to do the job.”

  The two put their heads together and talked about remodeling as they sipped their beer. A few minutes later they were on the dance floor and having a good time.

  “I think I just dropped
off her radar,” Jake commented.

  “Is Jim married?” Jill asked.

  “Nope, confirmed bachelor.”

  “Just her type then, Tina usually moves in for a few months than moves on. She’s a bit more outgoing than I am.”

  “Apparently, that’s his MO as well. This could get interesting.” Jake finished his beer and stood up. “Some of us have got work in the morning. I’d better go. See you all tomorrow.”

  Jill danced with Andy again and talked for a few minutes and then left when it seemed as if Tina and Jim were going to make a late night of it. She was always surprised at how fast her sister moved when she found someone attractive.

  “Don’t worry, little sis. I’ll get to somebody’s home sooner or later. Don’t wait up.”

  Jill slept in, but Tina still hadn’t returned by the time she got up. Around ten thirty, Jill drifted down to the clinic. The cabin was on the wooded portion of the property so you couldn’t see the front of the hospital but could see a bit of the driveway and Jill had noticed quite a few cars pulling in. The waiting room was full, and Steph gave her a relieved look when she asked to have some of the patients sent to exam room two. Jake ran right into her in the treatment area.

  “Oh, sorry, Jill. What are you doing here?” He took just a moment longer than needed to steady her with his arm around her waist.

  “You helped me out last Saturday, so I’m returning the favor,” she said, trying hard not to make anything of the lingering embrace.

  “So by way of thanking you, I shove you into the wall.”

  “You didn’t know I was here.” My skin feels like it’s on fire where he touched me. She shook her head to clear away the impression. “Jake, I have a German shepherd in here diagnosed with bilateral hip dysplasia at another clinic. It’s not right though. I’m thinking injury, but they say he wasn’t hit or hasn’t fallen recently.”

  “Let me look at the x-rays.”

  She pulled two plates from a folder and put them on the viewer. “They were done elsewhere. The Allards are here for a second opinion.”

  “No wonder. These are bad films. How does he present?”

  “Extremely sore, unwilling to move, and he’s only eight months old.”

  “See if they would be willing to schedule him for Monday so we can take some better films.”

  She shook her head. “I think we have a surgical emergency here. Jake, I’d feel really good about it if you would look at him for me. He’s barely walking, but there is no atrophy and it’s too quick an onset.”

  “Sure, I’ll be right in.” He nodded. “Let me just dose this wormy kitty.”

  Jake entered exam room two to find a worried young couple hugging their shepherd pup. He was reading the card as he entered.

  “Hi. I’m Dr. Gundersen. Looks like Dirk here isn’t feeling too well. Now you told us he had been limping slightly for a week and suddenly was very lame when you came home from work Thursday?”

  “Yeah, we took him to our regular vet yesterday morning, and he took x-rays and said hip dysplasia and that he would need surgery.”

  Jake watched the dog walk a few steps and then gently palpated the hip area. Dirk was very sensitive just in front of the left hip joint. There was some soft-tissue swelling and a small hard lump.

  “Is there a chance something heavy dropped on him?”

  “I don’t think…wait—there were some four-by-four posts in the garage that had fallen over sometime in the last few days.”

  “Was Dirk in the garage?”

  “Yes,” both owners answered at once.

  “If you can hang for about an hour, I want to put him under and x-ray this. I can’t speak to the original cause of the limp, but I think he may have a broken pelvis.”

  The x-rays showed an ilial wing fracture. Jake recommended immediate plating since the dog seemed to be in extreme pain. The Allards readily agreed.

  “Good call, Jill. Will you stay and scrub in with me or maybe you want to take the lead on this one?”

  “I’ll assist, of course, but I think I’d like to watch this time. Thanks, Jake. I didn’t want to send them home to worry all weekend.”

  “Yeah, you were right. Dirk is in too much pain to wait.”

  They finished up the other waiting animals and went to get a quick lunch. Jill found Tina on the porch of the cabin waiting for her.

  “My God, Jill. I think I’m in love—or at least extreme lust. Why didn’t you tell me these vets were so…wow. I think we should get Jim to come on the car cruise.”

  “I’m afraid the cruise is off, Tina. We have an emergency surgery this afternoon.”

  “Damn.”

  Jill’s phone rang about that time. It was from the farmhouse. Ida was calling to say she had a batch of food made up and why didn’t they come over. Callie was apparently restless and wanted company. Jill asked her sister, who agreed, and they walked over to the big house to find Callie very upset with Jake because she wanted to go on the car cruise.

  “Callie,” he answered her patiently, “my job is to help sick and hurt animals, you know this. Now am I supposed to let this dog suffer another day because you want to ride in a car?”

  “But Ida promised, you promised.” She wrapped her hair around her fingers as she whined.

  “I have an idea, Callie,” Jill broke in. “My sister here is a race-car driver. If you help her get the Trans Am running, you and Tina could go on the cruise and maybe Jake and I will be done in time to take you to the picnic or maybe even Chinese.”

  The little girl thought this over for a minute. “Can I hold the map?”

  “Sure,” said Tina, giving her sister a dirty look. “Maybe we can get the new vet to come with us.”

  “OK, but I get to have a Coke.” She looked at Jake defiantly.

  “One Coke, Callie. Now, can we eat lunch in peace?” Jake mussed his hair in the gesture of frustration that was now familiar to Jill.

  Once again, Jill was impressed by her boss’s surgical skills. She retracted the middle gluteal muscle upward while he reduced the fracture with his long, strong fingers and inserted two small plates to hold it steady. By the time the two vets were ready to leave to catch the end of the car cruise, Dirk was awake and seemed to feel better. Jeanine had brought Vanessa down for a piano lesson with her grandmother and promised to keep an eye on the dog until they returned.

  They chatted about the business on the drive down. A song came on the radio Jill didn’t like. Both of them reached for the tuning knob at the same time, and their hands met.

  “I hate that song,” Jake said, laughing as he snatched his hand back quickly.

  “Me too,” Jill answered. Her heart was beating faster, and she couldn’t look at him. Oh shit, this can’t be happening. Now what’ll I do?

  When the two arrived at River Walk Park in Indy, Callie was seated near the bandstand where an oldies band was playing. She had a can of Coke in her little hand and a pinwheel spinning on the back of her chair. Her neck and wrists were wrapped in beaded necklaces.

  “Hey, Jake!” she yelled. “Tina and Jim got me all kinds of good stuff. We had fun.”

  “That’s great.”

  “The car cruise was just riding around though, so we sang and played games.”

  They set up their chairs on Callie’s right. Jim leaned over and asked how the surgery had gone.

  “Smooth,” Jake said.

  Jill filled in. “Jake here is being modest. It went great because he is a whiz at orthopedics. In vet school, I only got to see the things he does from a distance. I would never have the confidence to try it on my own.”

  “That’s horseshi—rubbish,” Jake retorted, amending his speech because of Callie. “I’ve seen you operate. You’re perfectly capable of doing procedures like that one. All it takes is a more experienced hand to guide you on the first few.”

  “I’ll let you two hash it out and stick to cows. That little stuff makes my eyes hurt,” Jim grumbled good-naturedly.

&
nbsp; There were food vendors in the park, but Jake went across town to get some pasta for Callie. She insisted she wanted linguine Alfredo, which she only picked at after he brought it to her.

  While he was gone she started to fuss, but Jim handled her with practiced ease. He soon had her smiling again.

  Tina came over and whispered in her sister’s ear, “If it wasn’t for Jim, you would owe me big time for this. That kid is tough to handle. Jim was a saint. I would have smacked her several times today if I had been by myself. She’s very spoiled.”

  “Tina, she lost her only parent just last year.”

  “Oh shit, I didn’t know. Well, your Jake still needs to be more assertive. Both this kid and his mother lead him around by the nose.”

  “Tina, he is not my Jake, and his family is none of our business.”

  “Hey, you dumped the kid on me, so I’m entitled to an opinion. And he could very easily be your Jake, if you wanted. He already has that special look in his eye when he sees you.”

  “I hope you are making that up because I am not falling into that trap again.”

  “What trap?”

  “Falling for my boss.”

  “Now who’s an idiot? The right chance only comes around once. You need to grab onto it. I’m sure going to,” she said, looking pointedly at Jim.

  The adults were really enjoying themselves, but Jake had to break it off shortly after the meal because Callie was sleepy and complaining about a pain in her side. He also was anxious about their patient. Jill was trying to decide whether to leave with him or not when Bob Mattson came up.

  “Jillian, I thought that looked like you. If I had known you liked old cars I could have lent you one of my collection. I have a ’56 Corvette and a ’32 Packard you would love.”

  Jake had swung Callie onto his shoulders and was picking up their chairs. “Jill, don’t let me stop you from having a nice evening.”

  “I’ll see that she gets home, Gundersen,” Bob said dismissively.

  “The lady is capable of making up her own mind, Mattson. I’m only interested in hearing her preference.”

  Jill did not like this situation at all. She didn’t welcome either Jake’s chivalry or Bob’s friendly but pushy overtures.