Olivia waited, hoping he’d respond, but the pointer simply stared at the door, wagging his short tail expectantly. She had a sinking feeling that dog training was harder than she’d anticipated.

“Step in front of him. You need to distract him from the door.”

Olivia did as instructed, repeating her command and attempting to draw the pointer’s attention to her closed fist. At first, he attempted to step to the side to look around her, but when the taut leash prevented it, he glanced from her fist to her face and back to her fist. “Sit, Morgan. Sit.”

With a lick of his lips and a grunty little groan, Morgan sank back onto his haunches. Once he’d held the pose for a couple of seconds, Olivia rewarded him with a treat and an encouraging pat on the shoulder. “Good boy!”

Happiness radiated through her. Sure, it had been a small success in the scheme of things, but it was still her first win in this new, structured world of professional animal care. “Now what?” she asked Patrick.

His brow furrowed just the slightest bit. “Now you open the door.”

Suppressing a giggle, Olivia said, “Of course. I open the door.”

When Morgan hopped back to all fours and wagged his tail hard enough for his whole body to wag along with it, Olivia opened the door. “Come on, Morgan. Let’s go for a walk.”

Chapter 18

Four months ago, when Albert Washington had proposed the sale of his practice to Gabe, the “real and honest” food for thought he’d given was that if Gabe wanted his own practice, he’d best sign on for long days and late evenings. Gabe didn’t mind the demanding schedule or even the fifteen-minute appointments late in the day on a Friday that morphed into emergency surgeries—especially when they saved lives.

But this afternoon, two things were in the back of his mind when he took radiographs of a middle-aged Yorkie in distress and found several small stones, one of which was lodged in his urethra blocking urine flow. Neither of them had anything to do with his confidence in saving the dog. Even new in practice as he was, Gabe had begun to lose track of the cystotomies he’d performed. As far as surgeries went, an emergency bladder-stone removal tended to be relatively simple, and he went into most of them with confidence when he gave owners reassuring odds of success and recovery.