Knowing the Yorkie’s owner was in a clear state of distress, he headed into the front room where she intended to wait out the surgery. “You’re welcome to stay, Ms. Bonner, of course. But once he’s out of surgery and in recovery, he won’t want to do anything but sleep. We’ll keep him in recovery through tomorrow morning, and so long as there are no complications, you should be fine to pick him up before noon tomorrow. The best thing for him will be to sleep it off for several hours and through the night as much as possible. You remember Janice? She’ll be assisting me, and she’s here till eight. She’ll make sure he’s on the mend before she takes off for the night.”

After a bit more reassurance, Ms. Bonner agreed the best thing for her would be to head over to her daughter’s house where her grandkids could keep her busy until her beloved dog was out of surgery. Gabe promised to call with an update once the Yorkie was in recovery, and she headed out after enveloping him in a hug he’d not expected.

“God bless your caring soul,” she said, patting his cheek with motherly pride as she pulled away. “I know why Dr. Washington looked to you to take over his practice.”

Letting the compliment roll over him, Gabe headed to the back to scrub up, then slipped on a sterile surgical gown, gloves, cap, and mask and headed into the operating room.

The whole building was in dire need of updates, some things more than others, but the operating room had been remodeled a little over ten years ago, and the equipment and supplies were high-quality. This was one of the main reasons Gabe was excited to take over the practice at the price Dr. Washington was asking. That and he liked the clientele the older vet had built up over a forty-three-year career. When it came to the building itself, a long-ago converted home that had been built in the late 1800s, Gabe still wondered what he was getting himself into. In a dream world, he’d purchase the business only and move into a newer building, but in every discussion they’d had to date, Albert hadn’t been willing to consider splitting the sale. Before Gabe ended up signing on any dotted lines, he still needed to have the building inspected and to carve out time for a lengthy discussion with the business consultant he had on retainer to guide him through this.