Her gaze shifted to the chocolate lab lying between Frank’s and Megan’s feet. “And what’s your name, gorgeous?”

“He doesn’t—”

“Jasper,” Megan announced, as if that had always been his name.

Frank groaned inwardly. He hoped she wasn’t getting attached. This animal belonged to someone. No way would a stray look as healthy as he did.

“Well, let’s get Jasper weighed and see how he’s doing.”

“Jasper” stood the moment Megan did, and he obediently trotted after her into the examination room. Frank, shaking his head, followed.

The veterinary assistant—the name “Sherri” was stenciled on her scrubs—stopped beside a large metal scale. “Let’s see if we can coax Jasper on here.”

Before Megan could even nudge the dog in the right direction, Jasper walked over and stepped on the scale.

“Hah, what a good boy,” Sherri said. “Wow, 125.8 pounds. I’d never have guessed it.” She scribbled the weight on a sheet of paper and slid it into Jasper’s chart.

“Do you have one of those chip scanners?” Frank asked. He ignored Megan’s severe look. “Jasper just wandered onto our property today, and he has no collar or tags. We don’t know anyone who’s missing a lab in our area. But we wanted to do the right thing and see if he’d been chipped or not.”

“Oh, of course. Be right back.” Sherri disappeared through another door while Megan began fervently petting the top of Jasper’s head. Moments later, Sherri returned with what looked like a thick stick with a small loop on its end.

Megan grabbed Frank’s hand as the veterinary assistant approached Jasper.

Sherri passed the wand back and forth over Jasper’s back. “Hmm. Most vets inject the chip between the animal’s shoulders, and I’m not seeing anything there.”

Megan squeezed Frank’s hand tighter.

“Let’s just make sure there isn’t one anywhere else.” Sherri slowly moved the wand over Jasper’s hindquarters and then back toward the front again. As she neared the right front leg, the dog whined.

“It’s okay, Jasper,” Megan said soothingly. “She’s not going to hurt you.”

The veterinary assistant paused over the dirt-encrusted wound. “Poor baby, you’ve got an ouchie. Dr. Dew will make it all better.” She finished dragging the wand over Jasper and shook her head. “No chips that I can find.”

Frank sensed Megan’s smile without even having to look. He sighed wistfully with the realization they had just adopted a dog. “Okay,” he said. “In that case, in addition to tending to that wound, let’s get Jasper a full workup.”

“Okay. Dr. Dew will be in to look at Jasper in a bit. And since it looks like Jasper is favoring his right front leg, we may need to take x-rays and sedate him to treat the wound. It’ll be at least four hundred dollars.” She raised a questioning eyebrow.