Animal Prints: Sweet Small Town Contemporary Romance (Michigan Moonlight Book 1) (7 page)

Still, he was the only man she’d met in a while who caught her interest.

The short, yappy barks of a Chihuahua signaled the arrival of Pancho Villa, a little dog who suffered from a Napoleon complex. He had to be caged in a cat carrier to prevent him from pressing all of the big dogs into his private army. As if that weren’t enough, Colette’s spine stiffened when she heard Jamie’s voice in the waiting room.
 

Anything could happen if her six-year-old nephew was around. Jamie could run so fast his shoes flew off and landed on roofs. Jamie could find the one pile of dog crap in the yard and track it throughout the house. Jamie could somehow sit on a piece of bright pink sidewalk chalk and smear it all over his little rump. If Jamie was in the waiting room, all hell would break loose.
 

“Jamie, get away from Pancho’s cage.” The sharp tones of Colette’s mother cut the air from behind the receptionist’s desk. Colette stepped into the long hallway that ran down the center of the clinic and briskly walked to the waiting room to head off trouble.

“But, Grandma, I just wanted to see…” Whatever Jamie was going to say ended in a cacophony as Pancho launched from his carrier. Six pairs of hands reached for the little dog to no avail as he ran down the hall. With the skill of an experienced tracker, Pancho found his way to Trigger, a Great Dane, who stood, wet and shaking, in the bathing tub at the end of the hall.
 

In fear or in some age-old instinct to follow the little general, Trigger leaped from the tub, knocking the hose off the faucet and spewing water everywhere. A chorus of wailing and barking rose through the air, inciting Trigger to skid wildly down the hall spreading water and suds in his wake.
 

Colette caught the renegade Chihuahua and tucked him under her arm. Behind her, the water faucet squeaked closed and the flood ended. She had a bead on Trigger who now stood isolated in a corner of the waiting room, his sides quivering. Colette approached him slowly, speaking in a low soothing tone. Just as she thought she could get him, Pancho wiggled from beneath her arm, used her side as a springboard, and knocked over Fluffy’s cage. The white and brown spotted bunny panicked at the sight of Trigger and leaped to the safety of the receptionist’s desk, spilling coffee and knocking over a display of pet food.
 

A cascade of animal food and treats littered the floor while a crew of animals raced forward to pick over the windfall. By the time most of the animals were leashed or contained, Colette’s ponytail holder had disappeared completely, leaving her hair hanging loose down her back. Her phone’s persistent jingle sang again and she waved a dismissive hand at it while sitting on the floor and running her fingers calmingly down Fluffy’s long ears.

“I’m answering your phone, Collie. I’m tired of listening to it ring.” Her mother marched into Colette’s office to retrieve the phone.
 

“Don’t bother, Mom, it’s probably just a….”

“Hello? Yes, this is Colette’s phone, but she’s busy with a rabbit right now. Can I help you? I’m her mother.” Her mother walked back into the hall where she could see Colette and listened for a minute. Colette cringed on the inside. She hadn’t mentioned Ian in her recounting of the weekend. What if it was him calling? “You did? Oh, thank you. We love the cottage as well.” Her mother cast a glance at her that said
you are so busted, young lady
. Colette felt like the time she got caught sneaking back into the house when she was thirteen. Of course, then she’d hidden in the barn to watch a cow give birth. Now, she was in a lot more trouble. “No, Colette didn’t mention Mrs. Connelly’s runaway dog…oh, I see…would you like to talk to her? I think she’s got Fluffy calmed down now.” Colette’s fingers still smoothed along Fluffy’s side, but out of reflex more than anything else. “It’s
Ian
, dear.” Her mother handed her the phone with one eyebrow cocked almost to her hairline.

“Hi, Ian,” Colette said into the phone quietly so the entire clinic didn’t hear. “Sorry I didn’t answer your calls earlier, but it’s been a little crazy.” She handed the rabbit back to its owner, got to her feet, and walked to her office.

“I hope Fluffy is some kind of animal,” she heard the teasing note in his voice.

“He’s an anxious pet rabbit. We’ve just had a little incident in the waiting room, but everything’s under control now.” She closed her door and sank into her desk chair.

“Good, because I was hoping you were free to have dinner with me tonight.”

 
“Tonight? I don’t know…I…”
 

“Do you have plans?” he asked, a little disappointment in his voice. “I can be flexible on the when, but I want to see you again…soon.”

Playing with the squeeze ball on her desk, she tipped back in her chair and tried to relax, remembering that she enjoyed his company and had already agreed to a date.
 
“Okay, but it can’t be a late night,” she said, setting her reluctance aside. “I have to be in early tomorrow. Why don’t you meet me at Eileen’s Bistro on the corner of Rose and Bay at seven?”
 

Having made the plans, she disconnected and stalled a few minutes before going out to face her mother. Fortunately, a roomful of patients waited for her while her father was performing surgery. The string of animals should keep her occupied until at least lunch, which meant her mother would have no time to butt in. In the next hour and a half, Colette vaccinated two dogs, examined a guinea pig with a nervous tick, took blood from two cats, and successfully dodged her mother. But, at high noon, when the waiting room was empty and only clumps of fur remained, her mother cornered her.

“So let me get this straight,” Jade Peterson began with a dramatic flip of her dark brown hair. In looks, Colette’s mother, with her olive skin and dark eyes and hair, looked nothing like Colette, who was a Daddy’s girl in every way. “
Ian
spent the night at the cottage?”

“Uh-huh. He was chasing Semper and missed the last ferry. I tried to find him a place to sleep on the island, but no one could take him.” They entered the break room at the back of the clinic. “The only decent thing to do was to let him stay at the cottage.” She defended her actions.

“I suppose you had dinner.”

“I wasn’t going to let him starve.” Colette grabbed a diet soda out of the fridge while her mother unwrapped sandwiches sent over earlier from her elder daughter’s café, Hemingway’s Haunt. “I cooked dinner, we drank a little wine, he took a ton of pictures, and that was that.”

“Pictures? Of you?” Jade shrieked.

“Of everything. He’s a photographer.”

“Who’s a photographer?” Lexy flung open the exterior door and flew in. Colette’s older sister never stopped moving. She whirled in a constant spin, which created chaos nearly everywhere. In a kitchen, it created magic.

“The man who spent the night at the cottage with Collie.”

“What?” Lexy ducked down to plant a kiss on her mother’s cheek. “About time.”

“What are you doing here in the middle of the day?” Colette growled at her sister over a roast beef sandwich.

“I came to apologize about Jamie. Nate called me after he picked him up a little while ago. I don’t know what I’m going to do with the boy.”
 

“Lots of exercise might help,” Colette suggested.

“He never stops moving as it is,” Lexy said about her middle child.

“Can’t imagine where he gets that.” Jade grabbed her eldest daughter and yanked her to a sitting position on the bench beside her. “Don’t worry about Jamie. He’ll be fine in fifteen years. We need to know about this man.” She pinned Colette with her dark eyes. “‘Fess up!”

“Who is he a photographer for?” Her sister asked.

“Freelance, I think.”

“Umm. That translates to unemployed in most circles.”

“He’s not unemployed. He’s working for one of the resorts in Boyne taking photos and building a website.”

“Websites!” Jade and Lexy said together, their expressions wordlessly critical.

“And he plans to open a studio of his own soon,” Colette said, feeling defensive.

“Where?” Lexy demanded.

Colette chewed a piece of beef and reviewed her conversations with Ian. “He never said where. He’s just out of the army. Maybe he hasn’t decided yet.”

“Unemployed and homeless ex-soldier.” Lexy broke off a piece of bread from her mother’s sandwich and popped it in her mouth. “Did he have a nice car at least?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t notice what he drove.” Colette tried to bring up her last glimpse of Ian in the parking lot, but all she could see was his green sweatshirt and smoky expression. The car was a dark blur behind him.

“Balding, round like Friar Tuck, past a certain age?” Lexy badgered her.

“Lexy,” Jade said, “maybe he’s a perfectly nice—”

“No,” Colette responded to her sister. ”I think he’s what they call
Army Strong
.”

“Well! At least, he’s got a good body.” Lexy stole some chips from her mother’s bag and flashed her sister a grin that was pure dare. “That can work for a while in a relationship.”

“He had thousands of dollars in camera equipment if that means anything to you. He’s not a bum.” Colette took a huge gulp of soda, crushed the can on the table and tossed it into the recycling bin. “Shit. I don’t know anything about him. What if he is a bum?” She looked appealingly at the two women who sat across from her.

“Do your instincts say bum, dear?” Her mother asked, showing more sympathy now.

“No, but my instincts suck when it comes to men. I’m a bum magnet, you know that,” she whined and slumped her head down on the table. “Damn, I agreed to have dinner with him tonight.” Her mother stroked her hair as she fought down the memory of her last disastrous relationship with the conniving Tyler. “Why can’t men be like dogs? Dogs are easy. I always understand them.”

“They pee on your flowers though. Men, generally, don’t, although Jamie…”

“It’s only dinner,” Jade interrupted. “Maybe you can get him talking about himself and his plans.”

“Shouldn’t be hard,” Lexy pointed out. “Men like to talk about themselves. Where are you going?”

“Eileen’s,” Colette moaned, not lifting her head.

Her sister let out a low whistle. “Romantic. And she’s got a great wine cellar. Pour a bottle of Merlot in him and you should learn everything you need to know.”

“We drank wine at the cottage. I didn’t notice any effect.”

“Isolated cottage, wine, dinner. What else, Collie? Candles, firelight?”

“Yes,” Colette admitted in a small voice, “but nothing happened.”
 

“Nothing, but a whole bunch of romance.” Lexy sighed. “Romance disappeared somewhere between the second and third child.”

“It comes back.” Jade patted her elder daughter’s hand. “Collie, we’ve got a full schedule this afternoon. If you’re going to have time to clean up for your date, we better start seeing patients.”

“I can’t go on a date with him. I don’t even know him.” The panic rose in Colette’s throat.
 

“You should go.” Jade reached across the table and squeezed Colette’s arm. “Are you meeting him there?”

“Yeah.” Colette lifted her head from the table and met her mother’s eyes. Her mother’s steady gaze helped her regain her self-control.

“Smart girl. Now, both of you, go back to work.” With a wave, the elder Peterson dismissed her daughters.

Colette hustled around the last corner on her way to Eileen’s at exactly seven that evening. She glimpsed the sparkling waters of Little Traverse Bay between the downtown buildings, enjoying how the water danced with the light breeze, jumping up in little splashes—like what her heart was doing. She wanted to see Ian, wanted to spend more than one summer evening with him, but she needed answers to some questions.