Concealed Attractions (Cedar Island Tales) (69 page)

Ben was stunned. He
looked
at his calendar. H
e had an
appointment with his advisor in two days.

“Gawd! I’ll have to get cracking to put together a plan so I can get that seminar.”

He scribbled some notes and checked the dates when the Board exam classes
would be
offered.
“A dream come true—working with Joel,” he mumbled to himself.
He wanted
to tell
Julie
and the twins about
it
, but, th
at
, too, would have to wait until he was certain all the details could be
worked out.  And
Danni
. He knew
how she would react to the news.

Joe
l
shrugged out of his lab coat. “
Danni
. When you’re done making sure
all the boarders
have food and water for the eve
ning, come talk to me.
”

He
shut
his office
door before pull
ing out the evaluation forms detailing Lucy’s
first
full
month
of externship
.

Danni
knocked
and
entered Joel’s office
. “What’s up?”

“I want your
professional opinion. A
bout Lu
cy
.” 

“Why are you asking me?”

“You’
ve observed her
when I haven’t been around. What do you think of her
and her
work?”

“
Let’s see. S
he does very meticulous surgery. Her sutures are very neat
.”
She
squeezed her hands together
. “I’m no
t sure what you want me to say
.”

She watched hi
s
pen
scratching the paper. “
I don’t want to get her fired
, Joel
.” She squirmed in her chair. “You never asked me what I thought of Ben’s work.”

“I didn’t have to
.
Y
ou don
’t have a relationship with Lu
cy
.”

“But I didn’t when
Ben
started here, either.
”

“
True
, but you didn’t have to do
things for him that I know you’
re doing for Lucy. Speak your mind,
Danni
. I need to know.”

She sighed. “Well, s
he seems
to be afraid of the bigger dogs.
I’ve told you that before
.”

Joe
l
nodded as he made notes. “Continue.”

“She hates working with the cows and sheep. And when you ch
ecked Mr. Duncan’s
mare
at his place,
I thought she was going to jump out of her skin. It was like she thought the
mare
was going to deliberately step on her or something
. All
she did was turn her head to see what we were doing with her foal.”

“I noticed that, too. Anything else?”

“Well, she—
Joe
l
,
I’m not sure I should say this.”
Dannilynn
climbed
off the couch
and walked
over to the pictures on the wall
.

“
Talk to me
,
Danni
. I need the unvarnished truth.
I’ve already asked Kate and Bronnie.
”

Danni
sat down
again
. “She doesn’t think I do anything—
you know,
valuable
here
.  The
sam
e with Bronnie
or Barbara
, your new tech
. I mean, she acts like she’s better than us.  I know she’s like you—a vet—but you couldn’t get your work done without Bronnie at the front, and someone has to walk the boarders and clean the cages and make sure there’s food and water and stuff
and help you with procedures that take more than one person
,
and
you
don’t treat us like that.”

He wrote more notes. “Anything else?”

Dannilynn
was quiet
as she looked out the window
.

“Something’s on your mind,
Danni
. Tell me.”

“I—when Ben st
arted here and I used to assist,
when he was really new, I sometimes gave him little hints about things and he always
took
them.” She
looked
back at Joel, the red highlights
in h
er
hair shining in the sun
.
“It wasn’t
like I was telling him
how to do
his job,
but I had watched you so many times. And he always
listened
. He told me once it helped him get better at what he was doing.”

“And?”

“Well, this one time when Lucy was
suturing
and I was monitoring the
gas for her
, I made a suggestio
n
and she about bit my head off. L
ike how could I possibly know what she should be doing. I
didn’t say
she was doing it wrong. But, she never gives
me
credit for knowing anything
. Kate
said
it
’s
happened
to
her, too, and she knows a lot more than I do
. I’m sorry if I shouldn’t have said that.”

Joel smiled. “You were right to tell me,
Danni
. It’s important that us big-shot vets be team players.”
He put
down
his pen.
“
One last question
.
”
He
leaned back in his chair
and placed his feet on the desk
. “Where do you think she would do the most good
—be happiest
?”

Danni
was silent for a
long minute
. “
H
m
m.
Well, s
he likes to
look
things up, do your lab work
and stuff
. In fact, she spends
lots
of time doing that,
not that she
doesn’t get it all done right.
Is there a research center for vet
s? I think she’d be good there. Y
ou know, where she doesn’t have to deal with walking-around animals and where she wouldn’t have to get dirty, no manure and that sort of thing.” She
leaned back i
n
to
the couch
cushions
.

“You read my mind.
If
I can
convince
Wally
, I’m going to ask him to find her a spot
like that
.”

“Are you going to fire her?”

“
You know
I can’t fi
re her. But
the
extern
ship supervisor can find her another pos
ition.
”

“Does this mean you’ll
be bringing Ben back?”

He read the hope in her eyes.
He must not have told her.
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you
?
”
H
e
looked
at the calendar, wondering why
Ben
hadn’t called
.

Before he could reply, Dannie asked,
“So, when will Lucille
be gone?”

“I
have to
talk to
the extern supervisor
first.”

“Then I
should leave so you can do that.”

“You want her gone that badly?”

“
Let’s
just say
I think we c
an
do
just fine
without her,
and I don’t think our customers w
ill
miss her all that much.” She smiled at him.

He chuckled.
“Go on home
and have
some
dinner
. I
need
to
make
some
calls
.”
Joel
picked up
the phone.

After talking with
Wally
, he called
his extern
.

“Lucille Lamont
speaking.
”

“
Lucille
, it’s Joel
.
Would you mind coming back to the cl
inic?
”

“It’s after hours.”

“I’m aware of that.
Some
times, we have to work past
five
. This is one of those tim
es.
”

“I’ll be there in
ten
minutes.”

“
Thank you
.”
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. “Now to tell her the score
without being
too
blunt
,” he mumbled
, recalling
that
she ha
dn’t
pick
ed
up
on
subtle
r
hint
s
he had
offered
at other times
.

Two days later, Lucille
was gone
for good. Joel had
one of the techs or
Dannilynn
assist
him
with all scheduled
procedur
es
needing more than one person
. He rearranged the times when he visited the farms so
Danni
could
accompany
him there, too
.  A
lthough
he and the techs
were busy later into the evening than he preferred, the tension he had
detected
among the staff eased.
But why hadn’t he heard from Ben?

Chapter 1
8

Ben’s voice came through the phone almost too loudly.
“I hope it’s not too late
to call
.”

Joel
yawned. “No, it’s not too late.
I’m
keeping longer hours than I
prefer
, what with it being light out
till
after nine
. By the way, your girlfriend is
a terrific
surgical assistant. I may just decide to hire her. God knows she’s a lot easier to work with than that tight-assed Lucille.
”

Ben chuckled.

“
I asked Angie if there was a relationship between how girls w
ear their hair and how they act. She
said I was grasping at straws. But, honestly, Ben, I know there has to be a reason some girls wear their hair in tight bu
ns instead
of loose, like Ang
e
la
and
Danni
.
”

Ben
snort
ed.
“I
met
Luc
y
after
she came back
here
. You would not have been happy how she described your practice.
She pissed off
Doctor
Walker
, who
took
her aside
and
said
her perception was faulty. She’s no
w at some lab in Pennsylvania.
Good riddance,
if you ask me
.”

“I’m glad she’s in a place where she’s happier. This clearly was not the right
spot
for her—in spi
te of how she
looked
on paper.
On the other hand, she never threatened anyone
with her fists
.”