Diamond in the Ruff Read online

  She glanced at the clock. There were just twenty minutes left, and then she could close up properly. She surfed the internet for a little while, wondering if there was anything she could do beyond Redwood Crossing. She loved the town and was glad she had chosen to settle there, but she had something of a travel bug. Now that the business was stable, it was about time to take a vacation.

  She sighed and scrolled through different photos on a travel blog, imagining herself and Betsy strolling together on the beach. Betsy liked the sand, even though it got all over her fur. Maybe, now that the weather was getting more consistently warm, Harika could take her for a day trip.

  3

  Ellie

  “Bella, honey, what is it?” asked Ellie, snapping out of her thoughts. The greyhound was very rarely aggressive toward other dogs, and most often submissive when she thought she had to be. She seldom stood up for herself, instead relying on Ellie, or her own long legs, to get her away from aggressors.

  Ellie looked up and saw another dog standing in their path about ten feet away. Where in the hell had she come from? Ellie couldn’t see an owner anywhere, though the dog did have a collar. Maybe he’d gotten loose, or maybe his owner walked him off-leash.

  Ellie started to back away, intending to take Bella back the way they came, but Bella was rooted to the spot. Whether it was fear, or the desire to challenge the other dog, Ellie had no idea. But she had to get the hell out of there.

  The other dog was rust-colored and stocky, sort of like a Rottweiler, with bared teeth and fur spiked in an aggressive posture. Ellie didn’t like the look of him one bit, and needed Bella to leave. But no matter how much she tugged on her leash, she wouldn’t budge. And because she was a big dog, Ellie couldn’t easily scoop her up and carry her away.

  “Bella,” she said sternly, “let’s go.” She got down beside her and put a hand on her neck, unnerved by how her eyes were fixated on the other dog.

  She backed away instinctually when the other dog charged toward Bella, now becoming very worried. This other dog didn’t seem rabid or anything, but what did Ellie know. Those teeth were frightening enough.

  But still, Bella squared her front paws and stood her ground. Ellie racked her brain wildly—did she not recognize her scent? Was there just something about him that agitated her? It was bizarre—she was usually so easygoing, or at least submissive, with other dogs they met.

  Bella howled in pain when the other dog leaped for her shoulder, stepping back so that his teeth grazed down to her leg instead. He bit down and didn’t let go no matter how much she struggled to get free, and Ellie panicked, her heart skittering wildly in her chest. The scene appeared to be happening in slow motion. What the hell was she supposed to do? It would be foolish to attempt to go for the other dog, aggressive as he was, and tugging at Bella’s leash wasn’t going to help her.

  She cast around for a stick or something, but as soon as she spotted one she could use to beat the other dog away, the dog let go and bolted, immediately running back in the direction from which he’d come.

  It would have been nice to see where he went, but Ellie’s attention was on Bella, who was whining and whimpering. Ellie bent down to inspect her leg, which looked like it was in horrible condition. She thought she could see bone—or maybe it was just tendons or ligaments—and it was bleeding profusely.

  Bella needed to see a vet immediately.

  Ellie looked ahead to see if the other dog’s owner had materialized, but the ruffian was long gone. She could solve that mystery later. Now, she had to get Bella medical attention.

  She pulled out her phone and did a quick search for animal clinics in the area; thankfully, there was one just a couple of blocks away. But how to get Bella over there? She had no desire to walk, and when she stood up, she limped a little, aimlessly, before looking up at Ellie. Ellie unhooked the leash and coiled it in her pocket, realizing what she was going to have to do.

  “We’re going to get you some help before that asshole returns,” muttered Ellie. She considered Bella. The dog was about sixty pounds, give or take, so she wasn’t going to be easy to carry, but Ellie didn’t have a choice. She picked Bella up awkwardly, cringing at her howl of pain when Ellie knocked her leg accidentally, and hoisted her into her arms. Bella’s limbs splayed out, except for the injured leg, which was dangling alarmingly.

  She seemed comfortable enough—at least, as much as she could be—when she was settled in that position. Ellie wasn’t looking forward to getting the blood all over her jacket, or to attracting attention by being such an odd sight, but she had to do it for her beloved dog.

  Thankfully, the route to the clinic cut through the residential area, so she came out onto a side street, which led onto the main road. People did look at them with wide eyes, but Ellie barely noticed when she found herself in front of the clinic.

  Another wave of panic washed over her as she realized the lady inside looked like she was about to close up. Some of the lights had been turned off, and the clinic looked empty expect for the brown-skinned woman at the desk. Ellie had to move quickly if she wanted to get Bella seen.

  She walked up to the door and tried the handle, adjusting Bella’s weight in her arms and attracting the attention of the woman. Now that Ellie could actually see her, she realized the woman was the doctor, because she was wearing a white lab coat.

  “Please help me,” said Ellie. “My dog just got attacked.”

  The vet stared at her for a moment, shocked. Ellie looked down and took stock of the blood soaking into her jacket. But it didn’t matter—Bella needed to be treated right now.

  4

  Harika

  Harika had not been expecting to see a woman burst through the door with a severely injured greyhound slung in her arms. Her eyes went right to the dog’s front right leg, which looked broken, blood saturating the fur around it.

  “Come on back,” said Harika, indicating for the woman to follow. She immediately went to an examination room and cleared the table. “Go ahead and place her here.”

  The woman gently lowered the dog onto the table; Harika winced internally when she heard the dog whimper in pain.

  “I’m Dr. Harika Knowles,” she said.

  “Thanks. I’m Ellie. Ellie Rookwood. I’d shake your hand, but…”

  “No worries,” said Harika, waving her hand. “What happened here?”

  “We were out on a walk and a stray, or, well, an abandoned dog, attacked Bella. She usually is submissive, but with this one, she was aggressive, which was weird. She stood her ground and he went for her. I tried to look at the information on his collar, but he bolted as soon as he hurt her.” Ellie wrung her hands, her eyes fixed on Bella. The dog’s eyes were half-closed and she looked completely morose.

  “Poor baby,” said Harika, stroking the greyhound’s head. She licked her hand once. “She’s such a sweet girl.”

  “I know,” said Ellie, her voice cracking. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “Let’s see,” said Harika, getting a pair of rubber gloves. She took some cleaning wipes to clean the blood from the area. Bella was a well-behaved patient, or maybe she was just in too much pain to protest what was happening to her. She sat completely still even as Harika did the painful work of cleaning the wound.

  When Harika finished, she was better able to see what had happened. It was a bad wound, down to the bone and potentially fatal if not treated, simply due to infection. But she’d dealt with plenty like this before—dogs fought with other dogs frequently—and she knew just how to heal her. As long as Bella didn’t worry the wound too much, and her owner followed her instructions closely, she would be just fine.

  “Let’s do some X-rays first,” said Harika, all business. “It looks like there may be a fracture, and we need to pinpoint how severe it actually is.”

  Harika regretted sending Bowen home early. She should have known better. The extra hands would have been useful now, and she didn’t want to seem unprofessional by asking Ellie f
or help. She carefully scooped up Bella to take her to the radiology room. “We’ll be right back. Please, have a seat.”

  Bella was still cooperative, not even complaining as Harika moved her fractured leg into position and went through the whole process. Most dogs were a pain because they moved around too much and had to be restrained to take a proper X-ray, but Bella was perfect. They were in and out in just a few minutes.

  Harika stroked Bella’s head as she inspected the images. There was a fracture, just like she’d suspected, and she imagined the long, lean muscles would be bruised as well. How hard had that other dog bitten her? And why would she do so, seemingly unprovoked? Bella had her rabies shots, which was good, but still… It was worrisome. Harika would have to ask Ellie for a description of the dog, to see if she recognized it from around the neighborhood.

  She carried Bella back and placed her on the table again; from now on, she wouldn’t need to be moved because Harika could give her a cast and stitches right here. She’d be working late tonight, but she was never one to turn down an animal who needed help.

  She pulled up the X-rays on her phone to show them to Ellie. “As you can see, the bone is fractured. Poor thing. I’m going to have to give her stitches, bandage her, and then put a splint on.”

  Ellie nodded. “Whatever you need to do.”

  “And I’ll send her home with some anti-inflammatories and pain meds. If you can return within a few days to have her stitches removed, that would be perfect,” continued Harika, immediately getting to work.

  She could see the visible relief on Ellie’s face—the lines had softened, and her muscles were more relaxed. That was what Harika liked to see. She had a tendency to be fairly empathetic, and her job became just a little more difficult when the pet owner was in a flustered state. Now she could do her work while Ellie waited.

  Bella finally made some sounds when she put the stitches in, and Harika soothed her as best she could. “I know it hurts, Bella,” she said in a soft voice, her heart hurting a little bit at the expression of pain in her face. But unlike a lot of dogs, she wasn’t looking at Harika like she thought she was the one hurting her. She was unusually trusting of the vet, and that made her feel a spark of delight.

  A barking sound came from further down the corridor. Ellie turned to look, alarmed.

  “Oh, that’s Betsy. She needs her dinner, so she’s being a diva. Don’t mind her,” said Harika, chuckling.

  “Betsy?”

  “My dog. She’s a Shih Tzu mix and she loves to hang out here. She’s not used to being ignored. There’s usually someone around who’ll give her attention.”

  Ellie smiled. Good. Harika liked to see people smile, too.

  After finishing the stitches, it was easy enough to put the bandage and splint on. Hopefully, Bella would be sedate and sensible enough to avoid putting weight on that leg, and to avoid running and jumping—dogs, like children, sometimes forgot that they were injured when they were excited.

  “Will you be able to watch her and give her the medications?” asked Harika.

  “Oh yeah, I work from home,” said Ellie, walking up to the table and taking Bella’s face in her hands. Bella licked her eagerly, some of her good spirits starting to return. “I’m a graphic designer.”

  “Very cool,” said Harika.

  It was actually more than cool—it was serendipitous. Harika had just been wishing for a graphic designer this morning, and now, one had walked right into her office. Maybe, when Bella was feeling better, she could ask Ellie about the project.

  “Bella is all done,” she said. “Now I’ll send you guys home with some of the meds I have on hand, as well as prescriptions you can pick up in the morning.”

  “Excellent, thanks,” said Ellie. But there was another expression on her face. She looked uneasy, even as Bella wagged her tail limply, gazing at her owner.

  “Do you have any questions?” asked Harika, gently prodding.

  “Erm,” said Ellie, looking away, “I guess we’ll talk about the billing now?”

  “Right,” said Harika. “Come on up to the front desk and we’ll see how much it comes down to.”

  Harika had to turn the computer on again and spend a couple of minutes inputting the codes. Something about the way Ellie was looking around the waiting room uneasily made her think something else was up, but she ignored it for now. Deep down, she wondered whether Ellie was going to be able to afford the treatment. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but that was her gut instinct.

  She got up to print out the receipt and presented it to Ellie, placing it on the counter in front of her. “Here you go,” she said. “Total comes out to $608.30.”

  Ellie took a moment to set Bella down, then looked at the receipt, her mouth turning down in a frown. “Um, is there any way you can work out a, I dunno, a payment plan or something?”

  Aha! Harika had been correct. “I’m sorry, but payment is due in full. It’s the office policy… We do have this option, which you can apply for…”

  Harika handed her a brochure for VetCredit, a company which offered loans for vet bills. But it didn’t seem like Ellie was enthusiastic about it. She took the proffered brochure and read it listlessly.

  “Or,” said Harika, an idea springing to mind, “you said you were a graphic designer, right? I’ve actually been looking for someone to do the branding and logo for my offi—”

  “I’ll do it,” said Ellie immediately, looking up.

  “You haven’t even heard everything,” said Harika, a wry smile crossing her face.

  “I mean, I need to pay for this somehow. If you need a new logo, I’ll do it. Anything for Bella.”

  Excitement bubbled up in Harika’s chest at the thought of finally getting the snazzy new look she’d dreamed of for the clinic. And Bella’s treatment hadn’t actually been too expensive, in the grand scheme of things, so a barter would be perfect.

  “Okay,” said Harika, “I’ll be in touch.” She smiled.

  “Really?”

  “Really. I do need new branding. Or at least, that was what someone told me. I needed a stronger brand,” said Harika.

  Ellie’s eyes lit up. This was probably right up her alley. Of course, Harika didn’t yet know if Ellie would actually be any good, but her impulse was to offer the woman a way to pay, and if it worked out…

  “Thank you so much,” said Ellie, bending down to leash Bella.

  Betsy trotted up to Harika’s legs and she picked her up, holding her in her arms. She growled at Ellie and Bella.

  “Come on, Betsy, what’s your problem?” Harika asked, looking down at the little dog. “I know you’re hungry, but that’s no reason to be rude to our guests.”

  Ellie laughed, the relief evident in her voice. “Thanks again, Dr. Knowles. I really owe you. Please call me whenever you want to so we can set up a time to talk about what you want.”

  “I will. And… Call me Harika.”

  Harika smiled as the greyhound and her owner exited the clinic, into the cool evening. There was something else she’d noticed, after the initial scare. Now that she knew Bella was going to be okay, she’d noticed Ellie herself… Of course, Harika was the kind of woman who always had her eyes open for attractive ladies, whether she had the time or impetus to act on her attraction or not. But Ellie was striking. When her sweatshirt had ridden up on her sleeves, Harika had caught glimpses of colorful tattoos, bright on Ellie’s pale skin.

  It wasn’t surprising for a designer to have tattoos, but Harika immediately found herself wondering what stories they held. That was what people who had tattoos got them for, right? The significance?

  Maybe Harika would be able to find out.

  5

  Ellie

  It was difficult to carry Bella back to the house, but Ellie managed, somehow. They were both dead tired when they got back, but Ellie remembered that Bella needed a dose of her pain meds before bed, so she mixed them in with some dog food. Bella hadn’t had dinner, so she downed i
t all without even noticing the pill.

  And then the dog promptly passed out in her bed.

  Ellie brushed her teeth and washed her face like she always did, debating whether she had enough energy left to fix a meal and wash the sweatshirt. In the end, she rummaged through her fridge for a frozen pizza, nearly dozing off and burning it, and took a shower to get the grime and bits of blood off of herself.

  She took the sweatshirt in with her and rinsed it with cold water; since it was dark gray, it was hard to tell if it was actually clean or not, but she’d just do a load of laundry tomorrow.

  But despite everything that had happened today, she couldn’t sleep when she went to bed. It was one of those odd nights where she was practically falling asleep at every turn, but when she was actually under the covers with the lights out, she stayed wide awake. Obnoxious, was what it was.

  There were just too many thoughts racing through her mind, demanding her attention. Was Bella really going to be okay? The vet had seemed perfectly casual about the whole thing, like it was standard, but Bella was an older dog and she’d already endured stress on her body from her racing past.

  Well, if she ended up disabled, Ellie would love her all the same.

  It was kind of Harika to have offered her the graphic design job in return for free, or reduced service for Bella. Incredibly generous. Ellie was so overwhelmed that she couldn’t believe it had happened at all. Did vets even do that normally? Probably not… Harika had mentioned she needed the graphic design work to be done, anyway, so it was really just Ellie’s stroke of luck that her had been the closest clinic.