‘Okay, delete para two. And the third para rather relies on the concepts explained in the second, so you’d better get rid of that as well...’
It didn’t take long to distil the description down, but by the time she returned to her seat, Drew’s head was spinning. So much for keeping things professional. Maybe if he concentrated on looking and sounding professional, then his instincts would get the idea and follow suit.
‘I’ll send this through to Tegan, then? She has the mailing list and she’ll send the emails out.’
‘That’s great, thank you.’ There was a hint of excitement in Caro’s tone. It was the beginning of a new challenge, and suddenly it all seemed new and exciting to Drew, too.
He led her through to his consulting room, showing her where she could set up her camera and the force plates that would measure the animal’s gait and the force generated by each foot strike. Caro looked around the room thoughtfully.
‘I want to quantify climbing movements as well...’
‘We have a set of steps that will help with that. Lucas is going to bring them from the storeroom when he’s finished his morning surgery.’ Drew’s phone rang and he answered it.
He knew that Caspian Smythe-Bingham always kept his phone handy to respond to emails and social media, but he hadn’t expected him to be this quick. Or this positive. Drew smiled, asking him to hold on for a moment.
‘We have our first participant. Caspian can bring his Pekingese in any time this week. When are you free?’
‘Tomorrow!’ Caro’s enthusiasm sent a tingle racing down Drew’s spine. ‘Or any time this week. Whenever suits you.’
Drew smiled, speaking into the phone. ‘How would tomorrow at ten suit you, Caspian?’
The date was set, and Caro was finding it difficult to conceal her excitement.
‘So we’re ready to start. I’ll have to calibrate my equipment, I don’t suppose you have a dog with nothing to do right now, do you?’ She made it sound like a wonderful adventure that was just waiting for them to plunge in.
‘I’ll ask Ellie if we can borrow her Labrador for a few hours.’ He laughed at Caro’s sudden expression of dismay. ‘Esmerelda is Phoenix’s mother. And she’s very placid, she won’t eat you.’
‘I’ll take your word for it.’ Caro was obviously willing to negotiate any danger to push her project forward. She unbuttoned the sleeves of her blouse, rolling them up. The perfect, pristine version of Caro was beginning to give way to the mussed-up work version, and Drew wondered which he liked the most.
Both. He liked them both.
* * *
Caro had always been of the opinion that you didn’t actually have to like anyone or anything in order to invent something. Sure, you had to know a bit, so that the work was appropriate and solved a problem. But treating every dog that came into the surgery as if it were a long-lost uncle or auntie wasn’t necessary.
She supposed it was necessary for Drew. He must like animals, otherwise he wouldn’t have become a vet. They had ten people on the list to be seen today, and Drew’s manner with each of the dogs calmed them so that it was easier to put them through the vario
us exercises that Caro had devised. There was a different side of Drew to see each time. Man and dog. Handsome man and puppy. Smiling, disastrously attractive man, taming a troublesome Pekingese. And so it went...
‘Peter...’ He smiled broadly at the young lad who entered the consulting room with his mother and a brown and white puppy. ‘Thank you for bringing Rolf along...’
‘How are you, Drew?’ Peter’s mother asked the inevitable question. Everyone seemed to know Drew, and they were all concerned about him.
‘I’m good, thanks, Laura.’ Drew’s smile didn’t betray the fact that this had already been asked and answered more times than Caro cared to count this morning. ‘Very happy to be back at work. How’s Brian? I haven’t seen him in a while.’
‘Oh, fine. Pretty busy at work. Everyone’s car seems to have something wrong with it at the moment...’ Laura’s hand flew to her mouth. ‘Sorry...’
Drew grinned, shrugging off the gaffe, and bent down towards Rolf. The pup nuzzled at his outstretched hand, seeing only a new friend.
‘This is Caro. You’ve seen the information about her research? Do you have any questions?’ Drew introduced her in much the same way he’d done before, and Caro smiled at Laura.
‘We’ll leave the details to you, Drew. We’re happy just to participate.’ Laura smiled back, eying the camera and the force plates. It had already occurred to Caro that most of the people they’d seen this morning were here because they liked and trusted Drew.
‘Do you want to film us?’ Peter looked up enquiringly at Caro, and she was about to show him how the treadmill worked when Drew broke in.
‘Yes, that would be great. Perhaps we could just walk Rolf up and down over there for starters.’ Drew pointed to a space to one side of the area that had been set aside for filming.
Caro flashed him a questioning look and Drew gave a small nod. If that was the way he wanted things...