Tess laughed. "My practice is limited to animals, I'm afraid."
"More's the pity. Now, what do I owe you, dear?"
Tess watched the elderly woman dig out her checkbook with chapped, arthritic hands. Even though she was well past retirement age, Mrs. Corelli cleaned houses five days a week, Tess knew. It was hard work, and the wages were meager, but since her husband's disability pay had dried up a few years ago, Mrs. Corelli had become the sole provider for her household. Whenever Tess felt tempted to sulk because she was strapped and struggling, she thought about this woman and how she soldiered on with dignity and grace.
"We're actually running a special on services right now, Mrs. Corelli. So your grand total for today is twenty dollars."
"Are you sure, dear?" At Tess's insistent nod, the woman paid the clinic fee, then tucked the pet carrier under her arm and headed for the exit. "Thank you, Doctor Tess."
"You're very welcome."
As the door closed behind her client, Tess glanced to the clock on the waiting-room wall. Just after four. The day had seemed to drag on endlessly, no doubt due to the strange night she'd had. She had considered canceling her appointments and staying home, but she'd marshaled herself and worked the full day. One more appointment, and then she could get out of here.
Although why she was so eager to race home to her empty apartment, she had no idea. She felt edgy and exhausted at the same time, her entire system buzzing with an odd kind of disquiet.
"You have a message from Ben," Nora announced as she came out of one of the dog-grooming rooms. "It's on a sticky note by the phone. Something about a fancy art thing tomorrow night? He said you mentioned you'd go with him a few weeks ago, but he wanted to make sure you hadn't forgotten."
"Oh, shit. The MFA dinner exhibit is tomorrow night?"
Nora gave her a wry look. "Guess you forgot. Well, it sounds like fun anyway. Oh, and your four-twenty vaccination called to cancel. One of the girls called in sick at the diner, so now she's working a double shift. She wanted to reschedule for next week."
Tess gathered her long hair off her neck and rubbed the tight muscles at her nape. "That's fine. Will you call her back and rebook the appointment for me?"
"Already did. You feeling okay?"
"Yeah. It was a long night, that's all."
"So I heard. Ben told me what happened. Fell asleep at your desk again, eh?" Nora laughed, shaking her head. "And Ben getting worried, calling the cops to look in on you? I'm glad he didn't get into hot water with them about that stray cat he picked up."
"Me too." Ben had promised when he dropped her off at home that he'd turn right around and pick up Shiva from the clinic so he could take the animal back to its owners, like the police had instructed him to do. He wouldn't promise that another rescue attempt was out of the question, however. For what wasn't the first time, Tess wondered if his tenacious zeal, as well-intentioned as it was, might one day be his downfall.
"You know," she said to her assistant, "I still don't understand how I could have accidentally speed-dialed his number in my sleep... "
"Huh. Maybe subconsciously you wanted to call him. Hey, maybe I should try that one night. Think he 'd ride out to my rescue too?" At Tess's eye roll, Nora held up her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying! He seems like a really great guy. Good-looking, smart, charming--and let's not forget totally into you. I don't know why you won't give him a fighting chance."
Tess had given him a chance. More than one, in fact. And even though the problems she'd had with him seemed to be a thing of the past--he'd vowed time and again that they were--she was wary of becoming involved again beyond anything but friendship. Actually, she was beginning to think she might not be cut out for the whole relationship thing with anyone.
"Ben is a nice guy," she said finally, picking up his message and stuffing it into the pocket of her khakis under her long white lab coat. "But not everyone is all that they seem."
With Mrs. Corelli's check topping off the day's receipts, Tess stamped it for the bank and started preparing a deposit slip.
"You want me to run that out for you on my way home?" Nora asked.
"No. I'll do it. Since we're clear of appointments now, I think I'm going to call it a day." Tess zipped the deposit slip into the leather receipts envelope. When she looked up, Nora was gaping at her. "What? What's wrong?"
"I don't know. Who the hell are you, and what have you done with my workaholic boss?"
Tess hesitated, sudden guilt about several days' worth of filing yet to be done making her second-guess the idea of quitting early--or rather, as it actually happened to be, on time.
"I'm kidding!" Nora said, already racing around the desk to herd Tess out into the small lobby. "Go home. Relax. Do something fun, for crissake."
Tess nodded, so grateful to have someone like Nora in her corner. "Thanks. I don't know what I'd do without you."
"Just remember that at my next pay review."
It took only a couple of minutes for Tess to ditch her lab coat, grab her purse, and shut down the computer in her office. She left the clinic and walked out into the afternoon sunshine, unable to recall the last time she'd been able to quit work and stroll to the T station before dark. Enjoying the sudden freedom--her every sense seeming more alive and attuned than ever before--Tess took her sweet time, making it to the bank just before they were closing and then catching the subway home to the North End.
Her apartment was a tidy but unimpressive one-bedroom, one-bath unit, close enough to the expressway that she'd learned to consider the steady hiss of flowing, high-speed traffic to be her own brand of white noise. Not even the frequent horn blasts of impatient drivers or the squeal of vehicle brakes on the streets below her place ever really bothered her. Until now.