The Sweetgum Ladies Knit for Love (20 page)

Fortunately, no one else was waiting. Esther breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure how a healthy, agitated Ranger would behave around other dogs. He’d already shown a lethal interest in the cat next door that liked to perch on top of the fence and tease him with her just-out-of-reach purring.

“Good morning, Mrs. Jackson.” Pam, who did double duty as receptionist and veterinary assistant, greeted them with her usual cheer. She had a pleasant face and an easy smile. Esther
knew the woman enough to say hello in the grocery store, but that was all. Now she found herself wanting to hurry around the desk, deposit Ranger in her lap, and beg for mercy.

“Hello, Pam. Thank you for getting us in so quickly.”

“It’s pretty quiet around here today.”

On the counter next to her, a large fluffy cat had draped itself across the in box. From the back of the building, Esther could hear the barks and meows of animals being boarded. Pam’s definition of quiet, Esther decided, was a loose one.

“I’m just at the end of my rope with him,” Esther confided, desperation driving her to lower her guard and admit that she didn’t have everything under control. “This morning he dug up one of my rosebushes.”

Pam came around the desk and knelt beside Ranger. She rubbed him vigorously behind the ears, and in a split second the dog had flipped on his back and offered up his belly for Pam’s further ministrations.

“Oh, you’re a pushover.” She rubbed his stomach vigorously and looked up at Esther. “Where does he sleep at night?”

“In the kitchen,” Esther lied without batting an eyelash. There was no way she was going to confess that Ranger slept on Frank’s pillow. It was too… revealing. Like walking down Spring Street in her peignoir set.

Pam straightened, leaving a disappointed-looking Ranger to roll off the floor and give himself a good shake. “Well, I’m sure the doc can help you. He’s good with animal behavior.”

Esther nodded as she made a face. “I’m here to take my medicine.”

Pam looked surprised, then chuckled. “You’ll certainly be his most interesting appointment of the day.” She nodded toward the chairs under the window. “Have a seat, and he’ll be with you in just a minute.”

Esther disliked waiting, but she supposed she had no choice. Dr. Everton was the only veterinarian in town.

As promised, her wait wasn’t lengthy. Ranger had stretched out on the linoleum and was snoozing contentedly when Pam’s voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Esther? You can take Ranger on back.”

Esther tugged on the leash, but Ranger wouldn’t budge. “C’mon, dog.” She pulled harder, and the dog slid across the linoleum.
Fine
, Esther thought.
Whatever works.
She towed him, like a reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh, past the reception desk and into the hallway.

“First door on the left,” Pam called out after them, laughter in her voice.

Esther marched determinedly toward her goal. Ranger began to resist, but his paws couldn’t gain any purchase on the slick floor. Triumphant, Esther pulled him around the corner and into the exam room. Only when Ranger slid to a stop at her feet did she hear the male laughter from a few feet away.

“Beauty conquers the beast.” More laughter. “Hello, Esther.”

Esther’s head shot up, and there, standing in the middle of the exam room, was Brody McCullough.

“You!”

“Me.” He wore wire-rimmed glasses, which he hadn’t had that day on the road. “You seem surprised.”

“Where’s Dr. Everton?”

“You haven’t heard?” His smile softened. “He retired two weeks ago. I bought his practice from him.” He paused, then chuckled. “I’ve been told the Sweetgum grapevine is usually pretty efficient.”

“But you’re a…” Words failed her.

“A veterinarian. Yep.”

He wore a white coat over a professional shirt and tie. His khakis had probably seen better days, but they were neatly pressed. His lace-up shoes were designed for a man who spent most of the day on his feet. Esther certainly couldn’t fault his appearance.

“What seems to be the problem today?” He lifted Ranger onto the small stainless steel top of the examining table. The dog, his nerves in high gear, was visibly shedding.

Esther bit the inside of her cheek. As desperate as she’d been only an hour ago, she now found herself reluctant to lay out the facts.

“That day, by the road, you didn’t tell me who you were.” She couldn’t keep the accusing tone from her voice.

“I hadn’t taken over the practice then, and I knew Ranger
wasn’t in serious danger.” He stopped, and a flush rose to his cheeks. That intrigued Esther. The good doctor—or veterinarian, as it were—wasn’t completely imperturbable. “I’m afraid I was in a bit of a hurry.” He stroked Ranger behind the ears. “I never would’ve sent you on your way if I thought this guy was in serious jeopardy.”

“Oh.” Esther wondered what his hurry had been, then just as quickly reminded herself that the new veterinarian’s private life was none of her concern.

“So what are his symptoms?” the vet tried again. The gold flecks in his red hair shimmered under the bright lights in the exam room.

“He keeps digging up my flower beds,” Esther managed to say at last. “And he urinates in the house.” She held up a hand when the vet started to speak. “I take him out frequently during the day and at bedtime. It’s not like he doesn’t get the chance to do his…business in the yard.”

Brody smothered a smile. “Well, he has been through a fair bit of trauma. He may need time to adjust. Those kinds of behaviors are usually triggered by anxiety.”

“What in the world would he have to be anxious about?” Esther had been cooking chicken for his dinner, for heaven’s sake.

“Do you allow him on the furniture?”

Esther shook her head.

“What about the bed?”

She hesitated for just a split second too long before answering. Brody McCullough gave her a knowing look.

“I couldn’t leave him in the kitchen all alone,” Esther protested. “He was miserable.”

“Your mistake was letting him get the best of you.” Brody continued to rub Ranger behind the ears. “Dogs are pack animals. You have to show them that you’re in charge.”

Esther fully grasped the irony of the vet’s admonishment. She, Esther Jackson, had been in charge of almost everything in Sweetgum for years. She couldn’t remember when she hadn’t chaired the spring social at the country club. The garden club had bowed to her will for decades. And even the women’s auxiliary at the church consulted her before making any important decisions. So why was she having such difficulty keeping one medium-size dog in check?

“So what do I do now?” Even though the dratted animal had peed on her best oriental carpet and scratched up her kitchen cabinets demanding a treat, she wasn’t ready to part with him. Truth be told, he provided just the kind of companionship she enjoyed—constant, watchful, and unable to talk back.

“I’d suggest you try some obedience classes.”

“Obedience classes?”

“There’s a man who lives outside of town who offers them on a regular basis. Pam told me about him. I can give you his card.”

Esther had always achieved whatever goal she set for herself
through sheer strength of will and determination. She couldn’t imagine she would need anyone’s help to resolve her issues with Ranger.

“Maybe you could just recommend a book?” She was not averse to reading up on the subject. When she had a spare moment.

The vet nodded, but the movement was reluctant. “I can, but I’d really advise you to sign up for the classes.”

“I’ll think about it.” She had no intention of letting anyone else witness her inability to control Ranger. She reached over to reattach his leash.

“Esther?” Brody laid a hand on hers where she held Ranger’s collar. The simple human touch weakened her knees. Not in a romantic way. She was long past that. But other than the occasional hug from her grandson, Esther’s human contact was limited to politely shaking hands while passing the peace at church.

“Yes?” She refused to jerk her hand away, kept it still. But she gripped Ranger’s collar far too tightly.

“I do apologize for my phone call that night. I didn’t mean to disparage your ability to take care of Ranger. It’s clear you’re fond of him.”

Esther nodded. “I overreacted. Don’t give it another thought.”

They stood there for a moment. Brody opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again. Finally, Esther resumed her task, clipping the leash onto Ranger’s collar, and Brody dropped his hand.

“If you need anything else, please don’t hesitate to call.”

“Thank you, Dr. McCullough.” Calling him by his title, the formality of it, helped her cope with the strange moment. Esther was not someone who reached out to others or who did well with others reaching out to her. But at that moment, she wanted to stay in the exam room. She wanted to sink into the chair behind her, take refuge from the mess of her life, and let Brody McCullough be in charge. But she couldn’t.

“We’ll see Ranger for his checkup in a few months,” Brody said. “Pam will call you to schedule it.”

“Thank you.” She nodded. “I appreciate it.”

She scooped Ranger up from the exam table and set him on the floor. Ranger was delighted to leave. He raced ahead, straining against the leash and pulling Esther down the hallway and out the door. In her high-heeled Donald J. Pliner pumps, she labored to keep up with him. He stopped when he came to her Jaguar and waited beside the passenger door, tail wagging, for her to let him in.

Esther was supposed to put him in his crate when he rode in the car, but she just couldn’t bring herself to do it. He enjoyed hanging his head out the window so much. With a sigh and a furtive look over her shoulder, she opened the passenger door and Ranger bounded in.

“Tomorrow,” she warned the dog in dark tones. “Tomorrow we turn over a new leaf.”

Ranger looked blithely unconcerned as he settled in for the ride home. And Esther wondered if she had the wherewithal to manage all the leaves in her life that needed rotation.

The November meeting of the Sweetgum Knit Lit Society fell on the Friday before Thanksgiving. Eugenie half worried, half hoped that several members would phone her in advance to say they couldn’t make it. If that happened, she could cancel the meeting altogether and they’d never have to discuss the Song of Solomon.

Sadly though, no one did any such thing, and so twenty minutes before the appointed hour, she was wiping off the table in the Pairs and Spares Sunday school class.

The tabletop was sticky with spilled coffee and doughnut sugar, which meant that Napoleon, the church custodian, must be on vacation. She vaguely remembered Paul mentioning it to her. She often listened with only half an ear when Paul talked about church business. She was so overwhelmed with all her own new church activities that she just didn’t have the energy.

Eugenie was depositing the wad of paper towels into the brimming trash can near the door when she heard her husband calling her.

“Eugenie? You here?”

She stepped into the hallway, and the smile that spread across her face when she saw him was as inevitable as it was pure. “I’m here.”

He gave her a quick kiss and squeezed her shoulders. “I wasn’t sure I’d have a minute to come up between meetings.”

Although most of Sweetgum was at the homecoming football game, Paul and a handful of the church leadership had scheduled a stewardship meeting. The annual pledge campaign, where they asked people to turn in an estimate of their giving for the next year, was not going as well as he’d hoped. The thought caused her stomach to twist. She had never mentioned her conversations with Hazel to Paul, and he seemed to take her sudden immersion in church life at face value.

“Have you had any great insights into the mysteries of church giving?” she asked with sympathy. When it came to managing the library, at least she had compulsory tax money—instead of voluntary philanthropy—to count on.

“I don’t think that mystery will ever be unraveled,” Paul replied, teasing, but then his expression sobered. “I think it’s far more likely we’ll be faced with some budget cuts for next year.”