Sugar Springs by Kim Law Read Free Book Online

Holly’s voice followed along behind him. “You know where to find me when you change your mind in the morning, Doc. Come on by. We’ll go after the breakfast shift.”
    The old man to his right shot him a glare so blazing it should have singed the hair off his head. Yeah, right. Like he’d be taking any of the ladies of Sugar Springs on anything remotely resembling a date. He did not have a death wish, no matter how many stupid acts he’d pulled in his younger days.

Cody took in the rounded belly of the woman making her way up the sidewalk and had to agree with Holly’s earlier assessment. Keri Wright was about to pop. That baby had to be making its entrance soon.
    He stood from the rocker on the clinic’s front porch and moved to reach out a hand to help the lady vet up the brick steps. She looked like she might topple over backward if she didn’t have something steady to hold on to.
    “Thank you,” she said, the words wispy with a shallow breath, and accepted his hand graciously. Her other hand pressed low on her bulging belly as she made her way up the three stairs. “Cody, right?” At his nod, she continued, “Sorry I didn’t make it back over last night. I get home these days and can’t seem to get myself back up to do anything.”
    “No problem,” he said. He opened the door to the office and held it for her to enter before him. “I got in later than intended anyway and found the key exactly where you said I would. Boss and I made it fine.”
    “Boss?” Keri shot a wave and a smile at the curly-haired receptionist as she led the way through the narrow halls to her office.
    “My dog.”
    “Oh, that’s right.” She laughed a little as she fanned her face with her hand. “Pregnancy brain. I can’t keep anything straight these days. I also can’t believe you’re going to be okay in that little space with a Great Dane.”
    It wasn’t ideal, but they’d had worse. “He’ll spend the better part of the days down here with me, and we go for runs a couple times a day. It’s only six weeks. We’ll make it work.”
    With an audible grunt, she lowered herself to her chair and motioned across the desk. “Please, have a seat. I need to rest a minute before I show you the place.”
    “Looks like you need to go have that baby.” The words were out before he could catch them and keep them in, and he instantly felt heat form in the back of his neck. “I’m sorry—”
    Her laughter cut him off. “No need to be sorry. You’re right. Only this little guy is being stubborn.”
    “When’s he due?”
    A tired smile touched her lips. “Yesterday.”
    “Oh.”
    “Yeah.” She sighed in agreement. “
Oh
. I needed to keep working at least until you got here, anyway, so I can’t decide if he’s being helpful or stubborn. Given the doctor says I’m likely still at least a week away, I think it’s pure stubbornness.”
    Cody couldn’t help but agree. He’d been around plenty of animals in the later stages of pregnancy, but no humans. He was aware each gestation period could be somewhat unique and that babies came in their own time. He felt bad that he hadn’t been able to make it to town before yesterday so she could take some time off, but the surgery he’d needed to handle in Los Angeles couldn’t be scheduled before Tuesday. As it was, he’d made it cross-country in only two days. Luckily, Boss liked to travel as much as he did.
    A black long-haired cat wandered into the room and wound through Cody’s legs. He reached down to scratch the top of its head and it purred in contentment.
    “That’s Howard,” Keri said. “He showed up right after I opened the doors to this place three years ago. No one claimed him, so I kept him.”
    “Well that answers one question. I didn’t remember the clinic here when I was last in town.”
    “And that was what? Ten years ago?”
    “Closer to fourteen.” He’d learned she wasn’t a Sugar Springs native when they’d talked on the phone, so