Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 69468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69468 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 278(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
“Relatively okay.” Having said my piece, I was happy enough to get on with discussing the real reason for my visit. While I was there, I checked in on a few other horses and discussed ongoing treatment plans with Kat. Then it was onto a hasty lunch from my cooler in my truck before the next stop.
Like most days, my Monday was packed with scheduled visits, but for once, I stayed on track without any emergencies to derail me. I made it back to town and the building housing our veterinary practice while the July sun was still overhead. I dropped Cinder’s blood sample off for our tech, who handled basic lab work, before stopping by Luna’s small office. Luna was my professional partner. She handled mainly small animals and pets and was finishing up her charting for the day.
“Back before closing time.” She smiled up at me. In her mid-forties, Luna had short hair somewhere between dark brown and silver, burgundy glasses, and a near-permanent teasing lilt to her voice. “That’s a rare pleasure.”
“Shush. It was a relatively slow day.” I held up a hand. “Don’t jinx it.”
“You deserve a whole string of slow days, Jude.” Luna adjusted her glasses so they wouldn’t slip farther down her angular nose. “In fact, this is why—”
“We’re not hiring.” I cut her off before she could renew a long-standing argument about staffing. “I’ve got the fieldwork covered.”
“The margins aren’t as tight as they used to be.” Luna adopted the same tone she used with her nine-year-old to get him to wear a hat in winter. “You could loosen the reins a bit.”
“Could.” I made a noncommittal sound. My father was the one who’d originally hired Luna, but she’d become a dear friend as well as a savvy business partner.
“Could start with that rattletrap of a truck.” She moved on to her second favorite topic. “It’s becoming a liability.”
“I’ll think on it before winter,” I promised.
My truck, which had been a secondhand purchase from the family of a late army buddy, had seen me through vet school and the past decade. My father had driven his last truck well over two decades until, like most of his things, it was held together by duct tape, epoxy, and sheer stubbornness. To my mind, I should be able to eke another five years out of my truck at least, but the Baldwin men had never been great with change.
“Winter’s a ways off.” Luna was as accurate as ever.
“Yep.” I matched her dry tone before switching the subject deftly as Grayson had earlier. “How was your day?”
“The usual. Kitten season.” Luna gave a weary shake of her head as she flipped off her computer monitor and rose from her office chair. “My voice is hoarse from spay and neuter lectures and calls to and from the rescues.”
“Keep fighting the good fight.” I clapped her on the shoulder before she hung her white coat on a hook near the doorway where I stood.
“Always.” She graced me with a smile as she collected her purse. “I’d better get on home to Mitch and the kids. He’s grilling tonight, so I don’t want to miss that.”
“You got yourself a good one.” I grinned back. Luna’s husband Mitch was a salt-of-the-earth guy. Mitch worked at the feed store and ran herd on their three kids. Like Luna, he’d become a decent friend over the years.
“You should think about finding—”
“Go on now.” I cut her off by steering her toward the rear door of the practice. She was only too eager to play matchmaker for me, but she, of all people, should know how difficult it was to find someone willing to put up with a veterinarian’s hours. “You better get home before the steak is all gone.”
“I’m going.” She gave me a little wave on her way out the door.
I locked up behind her before settling in to do some charting of my own, return a few calls, and set my schedule for the next day. I also used the opportunity to go over our accounting books.
Luna was right that our margins were in better shape than they had been in years, due in no small part to her convincing me to finally raise fees. I liked to keep things as economical as I could for struggling farmers and townsfolk, but some of the big horse operations weren’t hurting for cash, so asking for more from the high-end cases made good business sense. Plus, the area was growing, and more activity in town meant more business for us. My dad would be pleased with the state of our cash reserves, but I could hear his gravelly voice warning me to be conservative with taking on new bills. We can make do. The man always had hated to spend.
My stomach growled, reminding me I should probably head on home. We had two dogs and a cat who needed to stay over at the clinic to heal from surgeries, so I made sure Luna had reviewed their treatment plans with the part-time tech who would check in on them overnight before I headed home.