Playing to Win (Summer Beach Vets 2) - sweet contemporary romance (10 page)

Dan came across the room and crouched down next to Will. He put a hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“Milo’s come through surgery fine, mate.”

Ellie felt the breath leave her lungs in a sudden rush. Her body slumped in relief—she hadn’t realised until now how tense she had been holding every muscle.

“He’s going to be okay?” Will cried.

“He’s not out of the woods yet,” Dan cautioned. “But the good news is that I managed to repair the perforation in the intestines without having to remove too much of his bowel. And there doesn’t seem to be any damage to his stomach lining. So he should make a full recovery, providing that there are no complications after surgery. He’s young and healthy so that should improve his chances.”

“Can I see him?” asked Will eagerly, jumping up from his chair.

Dan smiled. “Just very quickly. He’ll be pretty woozy from the anaesthetic and pain meds still, so he might not respond much.”

“He’ll know me,” said Will confidently.

“Okay, come on—I’ll take you in to see him.” Dan put a hand under the boy’s elbow.

“Can… can I come too?” asked Ellie.

Dan looked at her and Ellie flinched slightly as she saw the warmth in his grey eyes fade. But he simply said, “Sure,” and turned to lead the way to the hospital ward.

Sonia decided to stay behind, so Ellie and Will followed Dan down the hallway. Inside the hospital ward, Ellie looked around in surprise. She had never even been in the waiting room of a vet clinic before moving to Summer Beach, never mind the inner ward of an animal hospital. She was amazed at how much it looked like a human medical facility, with sophisticated equipment and gleaming operating theatres.

The only difference was that there were rows of crates along the walls, each with a little furry patient. Ellie could see larger crates on the other side of the room, holding a couple of larger dog breeds. It was towards these that Dan led them, and Will ran past him to crouch next to a big crate in the corner. Ellie saw a dark brown shape stretched out on the blankets.

“Milo! It’s me!” Will reached through the bars of the crate to caress the soft, brown ears.

Ellie wondered if the chocolate Lab would respond at all. He looked like he was fast asleep, his legs sprawled out anyhow on the blankets. A large section of his abdomen had been shaved and she could see a row of stitches running up his belly. It made him look a bit like a Frankenstein dog. One of his front legs was also shaved and a bandage had been wrapped around the IV insertion point, where a thin plastic tube connected him to a saline drip.

“Will, he’s probably too out of it to know what’s—” Dan started to say gently, then stopped.

The furry brown tail twitched. Will stroked Milo’s head through the bars of the crate and talked to him excitedly. Then slowly, slowly, the tip of the dog’s tail began to wag feebly. Ellie felt something catch in her throat and had to blink back tears.

Crouching down next to Will, she reached through the bars of the crate as well and stroked Milo. His fur was thick and soft, his body so vibrantly
warm
. Ellie smiled, then wiped a tear away surreptitiously. She looked up to see Dan watching her, a strange expression in his eyes. Quickly, she dropped her gaze to the dog again.

“When can he come home?” asked Will, looking up at Dan.

“Providing that he doesn’t get an infection or any other complications, he should be able to go home tomorrow. But he’ll have to wear a plastic cone-collar and you’ll have to make sure that he doesn’t lick his stitches,” said Dan sternly. “Or let him swallow anything else!”

“I will,” Will promised.

“All right, mate. I think we should leave him now to sleep off the anaesthetic. You go home and get a good night’s sleep—and you can come back to see him in the morning, okay?”

Will nodded happily, gave Milo one last pat, then stood up and followed Dan out of the room. Ellie hesitated a second, then touched her fingers to her lips and transferred the “kiss” to Milo’s head.

“Get well soon,” she whispered.

She stood up and hurried after the others. Outside, Sonia was just finishing up the payments and signing documentation at the reception counter. Dan ushered them all out of the clinic and walked with them across the parking area to the sidewalk at the front of the hospital. He rotated his neck and grimaced slightly as he eased the tension out of his shoulders.

“Bye Dan! Bye Ellie! See you tomorrow!” Will waved as he got into a car with his aunt. The car reversed, did a three-point turn, then moved off slowly down the street, its red taillights fading into the distance.

“Um… I guess I should get going too,” Ellie mumbled, looking down at her hands.

“I thought tonight was your important awards dinner.”

Ellie’s head jerked up. She was surprised and touched that he remembered. “Yes, it was, but when I found out about Milo, I decided to stay with Will.”

Dan raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t want to get involved?”

Ellie flushed. “I… I changed my mind.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, his grey eyes searching hers, then he gave a curt nod. “Well, I’ve got to get the post-operative notes done… Goodnight.”

He turned and started walking back to the hospital. Ellie watched him go, her heart sinking with each step he took. She felt desperate to do something—and yet she felt paralysed by fear. She couldn’t bear the thought of Dan walking away from her but, at the same time, she didn’t know what she wanted him to do. Come back and kiss her? Be a part of her life? But nothing had changed, had it?

She thought back to their fight on her doorstep last night. Everything she had said then was still true. They were still two completely different people, with completely different attitudes and views on life. Could it ever work? Or was she just letting herself in for agony and heartache?

Suddenly Will’s words in the waiting room came back to her:

“I love Milo. He’s the one I want—and he’s worth all the trouble in the world!”

Ellie looked at Dan. He was almost at the front steps of the hospital now. She wanted to call after him, to tell him that she was sorry, that she wanted another chance, that she was more than ready to “get involved”, to take any risks, if it meant that he would be by her side. But the words stuck in her throat.

Behind the hospital building, a fiery kaleidoscope of colours blazed across the sky. Pink and orange and purple and gold. Just like that first evening when she had come to the clinic to thank Dan and he had invited her to go for a walk on the beach—and she had refused. She had made the wrong choice then.

She wasn’t going to make the same mistake now.

“Dan!”

He paused and turned around. In the gloom of the shadows, it was hard to see his face, read his expression.

Ellie swallowed and took a few steps forwards, then drew a deep breath and said, “Fancy a drink?”

Dan came swiftly back to her. He stopped in front of her and she saw from the glint in his eyes that he remembered that evening as well as she did.

“Who, me?” he asked with a smile.

Ellie slowly returned the smile. She gestured in the direction of the beach. “Yes, there’s… there’s a beautiful sunset. I heard that you like to have a walk on the beach at the end of the day sometimes. Then… maybe we can stop off at the Laughing Kookaburra for a drink.”

Dan laughed softly. He walked with her until they reached the entrance to the beach. He turned and said with a smile, pointing at her stilettos, “What about your shoes? You can’t walk in the sand in those.”

“I’ll take them off—go barefoot!” Ellie kicked off her heels and stood in her bare feet. “Someone once told me that that’s the only way to walk on a beach—with the sand between your toes.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in what that someone said.”

Ellie stepped closer to him and looked up into Dan’s eyes. “I do now. I realised I was wrong—but that someone also told me that it’s okay to make mistakes.” She reached up on tiptoes, her lips inches from his. “I hope he thinks it’s okay to
forgive
mistakes too.”

Dan drew a sharp breath, then he pulled her to him and claimed her lips. His mouth was warm and tender, both an apology and an invitation. Ellie slid her arms up around his neck, feeling his hands firm around her waist, and kissed him back with all the feeling that was bursting in her heart. When they finally broke apart, Ellie sighed and leaned back in Dan’s arms, her own arms looped loosely around his neck.

He smiled down at her and said, “It didn’t seem appropriate at the time, but when I saw you, I wanted to say you looked stunning in your dress. You would have been the most beautiful woman at the awards dinner tonight.”

Ellie laughed. “You’re pretty good with the flattery, Dr O’Brien.”

“There’s just one thing that needs changing though…” He reached up with one hand and pulled the pins out of her hair, releasing it from the chignon at the back of her head. It cascaded down around her shoulders.

Dan smiled as he claimed her lips again. “Much better.”

“How did the meeting with your boss go today?” asked Dan as Ellie arrived at the beach towel spread out on the sand and dropped down next to him.

She leaned back on her elbows and stretched luxuriously, digging her toes into soft, white sand at the edge of the towel. She had left work early today to make it down to the beach before the sun set and she was so glad she did. A strong breeze was blowing off the sea, bringing a fresh, salty tang that she could almost taste on her tongue. She tossed her head back as her loose hair blew into her eyes. A few feet away from them, Will was laughing with Milo, who looked a bit silly wearing a plastic cone-collar around his neck. But the chocolate Lab was wagging his tail as he sat and watched the boy build a huge sandcastle.

“It went really well,” said Ellie, bringing her attention back to Dan. He was sitting with one knee up, the other muscular leg stretched out next to her, the afternoon sun catching the droplets of water on his tanned chest and shoulders. It would have been a perfect pose for the resort’s male beach model shoot, thought Ellie impishly. She hadn’t told Dan about her idea yet. One thing at a time…

“So he wasn’t spewin’?” Dan raised an eyebrow.

“No, he was really nice about it. He did do the talk himself in the end—he used my notes but put his own spin on it—and apparently it was a huge success.” Ellie paused, then glanced at Dan and added shyly, “He also told me that they’re offering me a permanent contract at the resort in place of the one-year contract I’ve got now.”

Dan’s grey eyes snapped to hers. “And you accepted?”

Ellie nodded. “I signed today. Five years.”

“Five years? That doesn’t sound permanent to me.” Dan frowned.

Ellie shrugged. “That’s just the standard contract terms—but it’s on a rolling basis. It will get automatically renewed every five years.” She leaned forwards until her lips were inches from his. “I would have signed a lifetime contract to stay in Summer Beach if they had one.”

“Well, I’ve got a lifetime contract you can sign,” said Dan with a smile. His lips brushed hers softly, then he pulled her into his arms and kissed her until they were both breathless.

“Are… are you sure you wouldn’t want to offer it to someone else?” asked Ellie as they broke apart.

“I’m sure,” said Dan. He touched his lips to hers again. “I love you, Ellie Monroe.”

Ellie felt like her chest would burst with emotion. It was a mixture of thrilling fear and sweet joy, all rolled up into one. It was intoxicating. “I love you too,” she whispered.

“Are you and Ellie going to do gross kissing stuff all day?” asked Will, standing next to them and screwing his face up as he looked at them.

Dan laughed and let her go. “No, mate, we’re going to teach Ellie to surf,” he said as he stood up and picked up the surfboard lying on the sand next to him.

Ellie started to follow, but Milo bounded up, tossing sand everywhere as he climbed onto her lap and tried to lick her face. She squealed and giggled as she was attacked by a combination of slobbery, pink tongue and wet Labrador.

Dan finally took pity on her, reached a hand down, and hauled her to her feet.

“All right?”

“Yes,” Ellie laughed, as she tried to brush the sand off herself.

Somehow, she had a feeling that her life was going to get very messy from now on… and she was going to love every minute of it. 

THE END

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