Defending Hayden (Second Chances #7)(25)

Amanda turned bright red and cleared her throat. “Sorry, Dr. Briggs. I was just stating a fact.”

He waved her off. “I already know the story. I’m just glad I get to finally meet him. He is coming here to pick you up, right?” he asked, turning to face me.

“Who’s coming?” Jeremiah asked.

I threw my hands in the air. “Looks like everyone’s going to know my personal business by the end of the day.”

Amanda burst out laughing. “Dr. Hunter, everyone in this city will know once you’re in the public eye. The media will have a field day with this. You’ll be in the papers, tabloids, you name it.”

The thought terrified me. I hadn’t thought about what would happen if Derek and I started making appearances. “Shit,” I grumbled under my breath. “You’re right.”

“Who are we talking about?” Jeremiah asked, his gaze darting back and forth. I could sense his jealousy and hoped like hell there wouldn’t be a problem.

Michael patted him on the shoulder. “Hayden started spending time with Derek McLaughlin. He’s coming to take her out to lunch.”

Jeremiah’s jaw tensed. “Is he, now? I guess that means we all get to meet him.” He put his bottles of water in the refrigerator and walked out of the room without a single acknowledgment to me. I guessed he was pissed.

It was time for my first patient, so Amanda hurried off out of the room, leaving me and Michael alone. “Looks like you broke ole Jeremiah’s heart,” he said, laughing.

I blew out a frustrated breath. “Hopefully he’ll get over it.”

“I don’t know. He’s been hard up for you for a while.”

“Thanks for the encouragement,” I said, hitting him on the arm.

“You’re welcome, babe. Just make sure you don’t leave for lunch without introducing me.”

I kissed him on the cheek. “I won’t. Now get to work.”

Three days had passed, and Derek had lived up to his word. Every morning he texted me a simple Good morning and now he was going to eat lunch with me. Everything we were doing wasn’t exactly what friends would do, but I had to keep it that way. He’d specifically said he didn’t want my heart. Though it had hurt to hear, it was for the best. But dammit to hell, I wanted more.

I started to walk out into the hall and stopped when Amanda caught me by the arm, pulling me back inside. “What are you doing?” I asked her.

She handed me a chart and I looked inside. She said, “Mrs. Jenkins is here with her beagle, Lady. Do you remember them?”

I nodded, thinking back to the time when Mrs. Jenkins had brought in Lady after she was bitten by a snake. The poor dog had been through a lot and managed to live through it. “Yes, I remember,” I said.

“Well, the poor thing has a growth on her throat. I’m not the expert, but it looks like a thyroid carcinoma. I wanted to give you a heads-up before you go in there. Mrs. Jenkins is really upset.”

“Thanks, Amanda, I appreciate that. I’ll go now.” I’d seen many dogs and cats with that form of cancer, and there was a good chance of survival if the growth could be removed. If not, they had to go through chemotherapy.

“They’re in room three.”

Holding the chart to my chest, I knocked on the door and entered. With a tear-streaked face, Mrs. Jenkins looked up at me, and my heart broke. “Good morning, Mrs. Jenkins,” I murmured softly. Lady was in her arms, and I could see the growth on her neck. It wasn’t large enough to restrict her breathing, but in another few weeks it probably would be.

“I wish it were a good morning, Dr. Hunter.”

I set the chart down and sat across from her. “Looks like Lady’s been through a lot the past couple of years.”

She snorted. “Tell me about it. My baby can’t catch a break.”

“When did you notice the growth?” I asked.

She blew out a frustrated sigh. “Let’s see…it started coming up a couple of weeks ago, and I thought it was just a bug bite. The bugs around here must love her, because she gets bites on her all the time and they go away. But this one hasn’t gone anywhere; it just steadily gets bigger.” She rubbed behind Lady’s ears and kissed her nose. “She doesn’t seem to be in any pain. That’s why I didn’t rush her here sooner. But now that it’s grown, I wanted to get her checked out.”

I rubbed Lady’s head, smiling when she licked me. “We’ll get you fixed up, little Lady.”

“What do you think it could be?” Mrs. Jenkins asked. “And don’t sugarcoat it. I want to know what you really think.”

Lifting Lady’s chin, I felt around the tumor, knowing very well what it was even without the CT scans. “Mrs. Jenkins, I can’t give you a formal answer without running some tests, but from the looks of it, I’d say Lady has what we call a thyroid carcinoma. It’s a cancer that is very common in cats and dogs.”

“Can it be treated?”

“Yes. Depending on what we find from the tests, we’ll be able to determine if we can operate or if we’ll need to administer chemotherapy. We won’t know until after we examine her more thoroughly.”

Sniffling, she held Lady close to her chest. “Will you be able to do that today?”