Like Cats and Dogs, Kate McMurray [miss read books .TXT] 📗

hadn’t said anything, that this situation was unique and not every woman would bail on Caleb rather than try to work things out, but he still didn’t feel like he could trust anyone. He’d known everything was not hunky-dory between him and Kara, but most of his attempts to get her to talk about it had been rebuffed, and he hadn’t been given much chance to try to fix things. He suspected Kara didn’t want them to be fixed. That was on her, not Caleb, but still, he couldn’t help but think he wasn’t good enough for her.

But they’d been in New York less than a year when Kara had handed him divorce papers, and he’d lived in Brooklyn all of a month now, and this place was nice but still didn’t feel like home. He didn’t have much of a community here. But he couldn’t really go back to Boston and try to rebuild some happy past. Too much baggage, too many memories.

He let his first patient of the day into the exam room and reflected on the fact that he was lonely. Maybe that was what had led him to Lauren’s bed. He’d needed some kind of human connection.

Ugh, what a dreadful thought for the day. He focused on the dog in front of him, a blond fluff ball only identifiable as a dog because his tongue lolled out of his mouth.

“Hi, buddy,” he said, patting the dog’s head.

He needed to do something besides just go to work and go home, maybe. Find a hobby. Meet new people.

The owner of the goldendoodle was a middle-aged woman who grinned at him like he was the hot guy in an old Diet Coke commercial. All right. He smiled at her then looked at the chart. “Charlie here needs a couple of boosters. I’ll go get his shots ready.”

He ducked out of the room and took a deep breath. Yeah, he needed to do…something. Make some sort of change. The current limbo he found himself in was okay for now, but it was no way to live long-term.

Chapter 10

Caleb was manning the front desk when Olivia came in one evening a week later. She was taking the night shift that day, but had been running late, and now she was out of breath.

“Ugh, sorry,” she said. “I had an appointment in Manhattan and the subways are just…well. I got stuck at Broadway–Lafayette for, like, twenty minutes trying to transfer, and I swear, if I read one more story about some city program the mayor wants to spend money on that is not the subway, I am going to march down to City Hall myself and tell him my thoughts on that.”

Caleb laughed. “I’m sorry it took you so long to get here, but it’s fine. I didn’t have anything else going on tonight.”

But Olivia was already pulling her cell phone out of her bag. She murmured, “Great, voicemail,” and then listened to the message. “Oh, Lauren wanted to know if we have any more cardboard cat carriers we can spare. We’ve got a whole case of them in the back. Could you drop a few off to her on your way out? I’ll take over now.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

“You’re not still avoiding her, are you? I know you guys have argued in the past. I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position.”

“It’s fine, really. We’re not going to be best friends or anything, but I think we reached some kind of truce when she brought over that box of kittens.”

“Oh. Good. I mean, since we do so much work with the Cat Café.” Olivia shrugged out of her jacket and hung it on the hook behind the desk. “How’s that dog of yours, by the way?”

“He’s great. Friendly and well-behaved. I didn’t think I wanted a dog in my new apartment, but he’s the best roommate I’ve ever had.”

Olivia chuckled. “He’s a good dog, in other words.”

“Probably exactly what I needed right now.”

“Pets have a way of doing that. I’ve got a cat at home that just showed up on my fire escape one night. I live in a huge building with sixteen other units, but this little cat chose my fire escape, like he knew I’d be a good cat mama, and then one time I opened the window and he moved right in.”

Caleb nodded. In his experience, pets often chose their owners rather than the other way around.

“Anyway, what I wanted to say,” said Olivia, “is that if you wanted to bring that dog here during the day instead of leaving him at home alone, that’s fine. He was very good with the other animals those few days he was here, so I feel pretty confident we can leave him up here by the desk most of the time, unless you think he’ll bolt.”

“Nah, I doubt it. He hasn’t tried to bolt from me yet. He’s very sweet. Just a big, friendly dog.”

“Excellent. Totally your call, but I’ve always run a bring-your-pet-to-work style office. It just so happens that most of the other vets have pets that don’t leave their homes right now, although Doug has a German shepherd he brings by sometimes.”

“Thanks. I hired a dogwalker to take care of Hank a few times a day but having him with me here on overnights would be a help. I appreciate it.”

Olivia smiled as Caleb got up and gathered up his things. “No problem. I endeavor to make this a pleasant place to work.”

Caleb smiled as he grabbed his jacket. He really did appreciate Olivia. “Well, I’ll just grab those carriers from the back.”

Olivia had a recurring order of collapsible cardboard cat carriers for when they adopted out cats and small dogs, so there were plenty in the back room. Groups of five were held together with plastic ties. Caleb grabbed a bundle, swung by the office to grab his bag, and then said good night to Olivia.

He felt pretty good about popping in next door. Maybe