I was still mad when I got to
work the next day. His behaviour
dumfounded me. We’d had the best afternoon, and the more time I spent with
Isaac, the more I realized I liked him.
Not just liked... I admired him.
But his moods turned on a
dime, and he had a sting in his temper.
I had no doubt it was a
defence mechanism of some sort, and I could understand that. But I had no idea what had changed, what I
said, what I did, what triggered his tirade at me.
I hardly slept a wink because
I replayed the conversation over and over in my head, and by morning I was
tired and cranky, and quite frankly, pissed off at him.
I gave up on sleep and took
Missy for an early morning walk with hopes of clearing my head, and I didn’t
technically have to work being a Sunday, but figured I may as well get my head
around the Animal Hospital now that Dr. Fields was gone. By mid-morning, I’d done near a whole day’s
work and was feeling pretty good. Tired,
but good.
Until Rani put her head
around my office door and interrupted me. “Dr. Reece?”
“Yes, Rani?”
“Phone call, line two,” she said quietly, obviously not sure if I was
officially on duty. “It’s Isaac
Brannigan. I told him you weren’t the vet on call today, but he insisted.”
Insisted. I bet he did.
I gave Rani a smile. “Thanks. I’ll take it.”
She left and I stared at the
blinking button on the phone. I really
had no idea what this phone call would entail, whether he was calling to make a
complaint against me, tell me he’d like referrals to another not-gay vet, or
apologize.
With Isaac, I’d gather any of
those three options were likely. I
sighed when I realized it could very well be all three.
I picked up the handset and
pressed the flashing button. “Hello,
Carter Reece speaking.”
There was a fraction of
silence. “Um, Carter, it’s Isaac. Isaac
Brannigan.”
His voice sounded sheepish,
even a little sorry. I still played it
professional until I knew which way the conversation would go. “Isaac, what can
I do for you?”
“I didn’t think you were
working today,” he said. “I’ve been calling your cell phone, but it just goes
to voice mail.”
I pulled my phone out of my
pocket. “Oh, it was switched to silent,”
I said absently. There were three missed
calls from him. One last night, two this
morning. Then something dawned on me.
“Is Brady okay?”
Isaac cleared his
throat. “Oh, he’s fine,” he replied
softly. “That’s not why I wanted to
speak to you.”
I took a deep breath and
asked the loaded question. “Why did you want to speak to me, Isaac?”
He cleared his throat again
and I thought I could hear him fidget, or shift in his seat. “I wanted to apologize.”
I still couldn’t believe what
he’d said. “Apologize?”
“Yes,” he lamented. “I was rude to you, and I’m sorry.”
“Isaac, it’s fine,” I told
him, though I’m sure my tone said otherwise.
“No, it’s not.”
“Isaac,” I started, but he
cut me off.
“Could you come over?” he
asked quickly. “I know it’s a lot to
ask, all things considered, but I’ll make lunch. It’s the least I can do.”
I rubbed my temples. “Um...”
“Around one-ish?”
“You don’t hear the word no
very often, do you?”
“Uh,” he stopped. “Not very often, no.”
I smiled. “Fine.
I should be done around one-thirty. See you then.” I was still smiling when I hung up on him. I could have been there at his specified one
o’clock but figured I’d make him wait.
.jpg)
