Free Serendipity (Southern Comfort) by Lisa Clark O'Neill Page B

thing she had to a daughter. And despite the fact that Ava told her little, and complained even less, she knew the girl was under a tremendous strain. 
    The men she’d seen at all hours of the day and night weren’t lurking on the street because they needed veterinary services. 
    Knowing that Ava would talk about it only if and when she needed to, Lou Ellen tucked a lock of tousled hair behind the younger woman’s ear.  Her smile was bland as she shouldered the shotgun.  “So. What are we having for dinner?”
    Because it was exactly what she needed to hear, Ava laughed. 

CHAPTER TEN
    AVA had passed a perfectly pleasant evening with Lou Ellen over dinner and a bottle of wine.  She’d inoculated a litter of kittens, treated a rabbit with sore hocks and removed a benign lump from a Labrador before noon.  Lunch was spent at her desk, catching up on paperwork.  Her life was too busy to waste time with worry. 
    But whenever she had reason to be out front, Ava found herself looking for the black Thunderbird. 
    God knew why she’d had to provoke the man yesterday.  Galling as it was, she had to admit she’d behaved foolishly. 
    And the worst part of it was that she’d inadvertently drawn Lou Ellen into the fray. 
    Since that was bad enough, she’d held her tongue when Katie asked about her weekend.  Keeping it to herself – and keeping herself in line – was the best way she knew to protect the people she cared for. 
    Her thoughts wandered back to the task at hand as she finished a neat line of stitches on the abdomen of the pampered cocker spaniel she’d just spayed.  The little minx had gone looking for adventure, digging under the backyard fence while her mistress planted gladiolas. 
    She ’d found that adventure with the lab-terrier mix next door.
    The puppies had been given away and the fence repaired, but the purebred’s reputation was damaged beyond repair.  She’d retired from the dog show circuit in shame.
    Ava rolled weary eyes while she considered the ridiculous things people worried about.
    “Okay, Katie.  Let’s get this little tramp into post-op.” 
    Katie smiled as she finished cleaning up the implements Ava’d used during the surgery.  “Don’t let Mrs. Harris hear you say that.  By the way that woman was carrying on you’d think it was Queen Elizabeth that got knocked up.”  She helped Ava shift the unconscious dog into the room they used for recovery.
    Ava grabbed a paper towel to dab at the Betadine she’d gotten on her sleeve.  “Now why is it that you can make comments like that,” she asked Katie, “but when I do you mutter about sarcasm and customer relations.”
    “First of all, I never mutter.  You mutter.  I enunciate clearly and concisely.  The mode of delivery makes all the difference.”
    “Kiss.  My. Ass.  You’re right.  That sounds much better, ” Ava said as she headed toward her office. 
    “You’ve got fifteen minutes to consider why curse words are a crutch of the unimaginative,” Katie called after her.  “There’s a guinea pig with an infected war wound due in at four. Suspected hamster uprising.”
    “I’ll be sure to bring along a little purple heart.”
    Ava pushed a lock of hair from her face as she plopped into her seat.  The stack of files on her desk from her weekend patients threatened to topple over, so she grabbed one off the top.  And took the punch to the gut when she saw Finn/ Wellington scrawled by her own hand.
    The man was insanely appealing, but that surely didn’t warrant this dragging sense of disappointment.  It wasn’t like he was the first attractive man to ever express an interest. And he wasn’t likely to be the last. 
    Was she feeling so peevish because her uncle had inadvertently made Jordan something akin to a forbidden fruit? 
    How long had it been since she’d felt this way?  All tingly and excited and nauseous.  Probably not since… Michael. 
    Almost two years.  Almost two years