“Oh, speaking of Angie—”

“Were we?”

“Angie, the house—same thing. Anyway, her birthday is next weekend. We should do something now that we’re not on call twenty-four seven.”

“Like a party?”

“God no. Then we’d have to invite her employees. A small thing. You, me, Lil, Stormy, the Watsons. Get the grill out if it’s nice. I could make a cake!”

“What kind of cake?”

“She likes red velvet.”

“Red velvet? What about chocolate?” said Morgan.

“What about it’s Angie’s birthday, so we make the cake she likes?”

“Fair point. I’ll do some steaks and those big-ass mushrooms Lil likes.” She’d been itching to get the grill out since the beginning of May.

“You should invite Emilia.”

Morgan twisted Stevie’s words back at her. “It’s Angie’s birthday. Angie hasn’t met her.”

“So? She’s new in town. Maybe she wants to make friends. I’ll stop kidding you about her. I’m serious, though. Ange won’t mind, and you were friends with her dad. That reminds me. Didn’t he say his daughter was a vet that one time?”

“What?”

“You don’t remember? While we were fishing? That one time I came with you? He asked you about your loans because he was worried about her.”

Stevie’s words jarred her memory. Ray had mentioned something about his daughter’s medical school loans, but then why had Emilia reacted the way she had when she found out about Morgan’s profession? Had she lost her license? Morgan found that unlikely, but she supposed it was possible. Regardless of the reason, if it was a sore spot, thrusting Emilia into the midst of a group of vets and vet techs didn’t seem like a good idea.

“We’ll see. We don’t want to scare her away.”

“We’re charming. Who doesn’t love talking about abscesses over dinner?”

“Exactly.”

“But she’s one of us.”

“Because all vets are the same?” said Morgan.

“When it comes to abscesses, yes. Speaking of abscesses, I do not want to get kicked again by this next one.”

• • •

The sound of tires on gravel rescued Emilia from the cloud of dust filling the living room. Nell barked from her refuge on the porch. She set down the sander and pushed her way outside, jerking her facemask down for a welcome breath of fresh air and shedding her safety goggles.

Morgan’s truck idled in her driveway, then shut off. Emilia unclipped Nell’s lead, and together they went to greet the women stepping out of the truck. The contrast between Morgan and Stevie amused her now that she had let her resentment toward Morgan go. Morgan had a good six inches on Stevie, maybe more, and her strikingly dark hair accented Stevie’s honey blond ponytail.

“Hey,” she said, suddenly aware of her ragged T-shirt and old jeans. Morgan and Stevie were dressed for the field, but their clothes, at least, didn’t hang off their shoulders because the neckline had disintegrated with too many washes. She tugged it up.

“What’s the emergency?” Morgan asked.

“Rabid dust bunnies?” said Stevie.