I was snapped out of my distraction when the dickhead decided to listen to me. “Fuck you,” he muttered at me, and then jabbed a finger in Harlow’s direction, “And your boss will be hearing from me.” He grabbed his kid by the arm and his dog by the leash, and made a hasty exit. Not fucking soon enough, as far as I was concerned.
After he left, I looked at Lisa to make sure she was alright. She was looking at me wide eyed but didn’t say a word. “You okay?” I asked her.
She nodded. “He wasn’t very nice but I feel sorry for his dog; he didn’t get to see the vet,” she said.
I crouched down in front of her. “No, he wasn’t a nice person. There are lots of other vets he can go to though so you don’t need to worry about his dog,” I said, and waited a moment before saying, “Okay?”
“Okay,” she agreed.
I stood back up and turned to Harlow. She was standing with her arms folded across her chest and I struggled not to stare at her tits that were now pushed up by her arms. She had one of the best racks I’d ever seen; a man could die happy after getting an eyeful of that. My dick was in agreement with that. Shit, time to rein this in; there was a kid in the room.
I moved my eyes to hers and was greeted with that irritated look again. “Thanks for that,” she said, but I wasn’t entirely sure she meant it.
“You’d rather I’d stayed out of it?”
She dropped her arms and slowly shook her head. “Not necessarily, but it was a bit over the top really. I’m used to dealing with assholes like him, so I didn’t need you to threaten him like that.”
“You shouldn’t have to put up with that shit.”
She sighed. “No, I shouldn’t have to, but that’s the general public for you.”
“Well, if you have any more trouble from that guy, you call me. I’d be only too fuckin’ happy to sort him out for you.”
She took me in, and I mean, her eyes raked over me, and assessed me, before she muttered, “I bet you would.”
At that moment, we were interrupted by a guy who came from the back room. He looked at me, and asked, “Is Monty your cat?”
Before I could reply, Lisa piped up, “Yes, is he okay?”
Directing his attention to Lisa, he replied, “Well, I need to keep him here overnight because I need to operate on him, but he will be okay. Would you like to come out the back and say goodbye to him?”
Lisa hesitated, looking to me for guidance. “Can I?” she asked me.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll wait here for you.”
She followed the vet, leaving Harlow and I alone. Harlow gave me a strange look and I waited to see what she was going to say. She opened her mouth but then shut it quickly, like she’d thought better of it. Instead, she reached under the counter and produced a sheet of paper. Sliding it, and a pen towards me, she said, “Please fill these details in for Monty. Just make sure you leave us the best number to contact you on in case of an emergency.”
“You think something’s going to happen to the cat?” I asked. Christ, Lisa would fucking lose it if that cat died.
“He should be okay, but just in case.”
“Good, because that kid doesn’t need to lose anything else in her life.”
Her eyebrows pinched together and she looked confused.
“What?” I asked.
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. If you’ve got something to say, say it.”
Her eyes flared with surprise, and then she replied, “Okay, why did you leave it so long to bring Monty in, especially when your daughter obviously loves - ”
And then the vet came out, interrupting us again. “Monty needs an operation on his face as he has a cat fight abscess and it’s been left too long to be able to treat it with just antibiotics,” he said, giving me the look I was sure he reserved for pet owners who didn’t look after their pets properly. “We’ll call you tomorrow when he’s ready to be collected.”
I didn’t have the time or the fucking inclination to check him on his attitude. “Fine,” I said, curtly, and picked up the pen Harlow had given me and filled out their paperwork.
Once I’d filled it out, I slid it back to her and asked, “What time tomorrow do you think it will be? I’ve got a lot on so it’d be good if you could give me a heads up.”
She appraised me, probably noting my shortness with her. I gave zero fucks about what she was thinking. A minute ago, I wanted to rip those jeans off her; now I had no interest in her judgmental ass. Stuck up pussy was my least favourite kind.
“You’ll probably be able to collect him anytime after lunch. I’ll call you to confirm that,” she replied, coolly.
I nodded once, and then said, “Thank you.” Turning to Lisa, I asked, “You ready to go, darlin’?”
“Yes.” She sounded anything but sure.
“Monty’s in the best place tonight. The vet will get him better and then tomorrow we’ll come and get him. Yeah?”
“Yeah.” That was better; she at least sounded like she believed me.
“Okay, let’s go, kiddo,” I said, and gently guided her to the front door, giving Harlow one last glance before leaving. It was a shame about her; my hands on her tits would have been a spectacular sight.
Chapter 2
Harlow
“Hey, Ma,” I called out as I pulled our front door open and headed inside.
Thank God today was over; it’d been one of the longest days at work in a long time. We’d had lots of sick pets come in for emergency care, not to mention a couple of asshole customers. Scott Cole flashed through my mind as I thought of the assholes. Yeah, I’d totally memorised his name when he filled in his cat’s paperwork. He was freaking hot; how could I not remember his name? But he wouldn’t pass my checklist. What checklist, you might ask. The one I’d written after the last guy I dated cheated and lied his way through our three year relationship. That checklist. The one that forbade me to even look at a guy who oozed sex the way Scott did. I also didn’t do guys who had a temper like his, guys who didn’t love animals as much as I did, and I preferred single men with no children. Kids weren’t a complete no go for me, but I could do without the added baggage. Oh, and not to forget the fact that he was a biker. I liked my men a little rugged but that was taking it to the extreme in my opinion. Never having met a biker before, I couldn’t be sure, but the image I had in my mind was that of a chauvinistic, domineering man who couldn’t commit to one woman. So, Scott was off limits. I mean, what kind of pet owner wouldn’t bring their pet to the vet as soon as it got sick? Not the kind of man I wanted to date.
“I’m in the kitchen,” my mother called out. I smiled; it was a good sign when she was in the kitchen after a day at work in a kitchen.
I found her a minute later, arm deep in dough. “You’re making bread!” I loved her bread, as did lots of other people. My mum was renowned for her bread making skills. People from all over Brisbane flocked to her café to satisfy their desire for it. Well, they used to anyway. These days her café wasn’t doing so well; it was the reason I’d recently moved back home with her. She needed help financially to keep her business afloat, so I’d come home to help her out. I now divided my time between my part time job at the vets and working with mum in her café. Besides, after I’d kicked that cheating asshole to the curb, leaving my life in Gympie behind hadn’t been a hard thing to do. A fresh start was just what I needed.