Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 26941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 26941 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 135(@200wpm)___ 108(@250wpm)___ 90(@300wpm)
“All of which I’m sure you told Mrs. Frankel. If Anna would stop feeding the dog table scraps, she could have avoided needing to spend money on a special diet.”
I nod. “That is the truth.” I smile at my mother, who is a beautiful woman.
We share the same thick brown hair that I wear past my shoulders, and my mom cut just above hers. Marsha Davidson, not Stillman anymore since she married Glenn Davidson, has gorgeous skin she takes good care of with expensive creams, and always wears her makeup perfect. She is warm and generous to a fault.
She loves to work, whether it’s necessary or not, a trait I inherited. My mother was the receptionist at my dad’s veterinary clinic in California. Dad passed away from a heart attack right before I was due to leave for college, leaving my mother and me devastated.
Ultimately, my mom sold the practice that I was supposed to join when I graduated vet school. Unable to bear the painful memories and wanting to be near me, while I attended my dad’s alma mater in Manhattan, my mother moved to New York City, too.
Once she adjusted to her new surroundings and being a widow, she moved to the Hamptons full-time and took a job with my godfather, my dad’s college best friend, and a veterinarian, Dr. Harry James.
Harry became my mentor. He owns this clinic and has been here for me, helping me make vet school choices, giving me a job when I graduated, and we had an agreement. When Harry was ready to retire, I would buy out the clinic with the money I was left in trust from my mother’s sale of my father’s vet business. My dad left my mom well cared for with life insurance, and my mother insisted my father would want me to use the money to open my own practice.
Losing my father altered the course of my entire life and led to me moving across the country to settle in New York. My mom married Glenn Davidson, a man who treated me like a daughter, and I care for him deeply. Thanks to Glenn, I have two stepsiblings, Amy and Connor. But being a part of the family always makes me feel disloyal to my real father. Only here, with my dog, and at the shelter where I volunteer, do I feel truly at home.
“Well, that’s something you don’t see every day,” my mom says. While I was lost in thought, my mom walked to the windows looking over the parking lot.
“What is it?”
“A dog in a convertible wearing sunglasses,” my mom says, laughing. “Come look!”
I stride over and glance out the window, recognizing the golden dog. “Is that Bella?” I ask, narrowing my gaze. “That definitely looks like Bella Kingston. Is she on the schedule today?” I didn’t see the retriever on the list of appointments, but Sasha or Xander could have called to bring her in if the dog was sick.
“No, she’s not,” my mom says.
A man climbs out of the Corvette, a gorgeous royal blue convertible, and strides around to get the dog from the passenger seat.
“That’s definitely Bella, but that guy is not Xander.”
The man in question tries and fails to keep the sunglasses on the dog’s face and finally tosses them onto the seat. I can’t help but laugh. People and dogs are always fun to watch. This guy has a tall, lean frame and dark brown hair. Something about him seems familiar, but I can’t place him. He grasps the leash and leads the dog on a walk, obviously doing the smart thing before bringing the pup inside.
But before he walks away, he turns toward the building long enough for me to get a good look at his face. Even with aviators on his eyes, I know.
“Oh, my God. It’s Axel,” I say, my stomach feeling like a kaleidoscope of butterflies has taken flight.
“Your Axel?” My mother’s voice rises in excitement.
“He hasn’t been my Axel in forever.” I cover my churning belly with my hands.
“He’s the last guy you dated, so sue me for calling him yours.”
I frown and glance at my mom. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Well, I would.”
I sigh at my mother’s persistence. “I don’t tell you everything.” Not that there is anything to tell, which is why my mother’s dig hits home.
Marsha means well and wants me happily settled, but I’ve never met a man who lives up to … well, Axel and what we shared. But it isn’t like I chose between school and career or a nunnery, for God’s sake.
My mother takes another glance between the horizontal blinds to get a better look.
“Cut it out,” I mutter.
I step away from the window and head back behind the counter, gesturing for my mother to follow. Which she does. I don’t want to get caught ogling the rock-star drummer. Even if he is my ex.