Mommy Loves The Doggy Doctor (Mommy's Little Matchmakers Book 6) Read online

  Women in the general sense of the word—not Ashley in particular, of course. She’d already loved and lost the day Chase had died.

  Now Gwenny was her whole world. There was no time for romance or relationships in her busy life—or her heart.

  “But these puppies are white,” Ashley said in confusion. “Dalmatians always have spots, right? Or am I getting my Disney movies mixed up? Cruella de Vil trying to go after their spotted coats?”

  “Look closer,” Luke said with a deep chuckle. “They’re born white, but now their spots are starting to appear.”

  Ashley took a closer look at Pudgy’s fur. Sure enough, his spots were just starting to emerge.

  She exclaimed in delight. “Well, what do you know. Isn’t life amazing? I learn something new every day. I now know Dalmatian puppies earn their spots.”

  It was a good reminder for her to keep looking for the good in life. Sometimes it was just underneath the surface. Since her husband Chase’s death two years prior, Ashley had turned into somewhat of a Negative Nancy—a woman who always saw the cup as half-empty. But really, after all she’d been through, how could she not?

  Chapter Two

  Depression sometimes weighed down Ashley’s whole body. Especially just after the accident, the only reason she got up in the morning and didn’t let full-blown darkness overtake her was the strength of her love for Gwenny. As much as Ashley would have liked to have shaded her room in blackness and crawled into bed to stay twenty-four/seven with her covers pulled up tight to her chin, she had a daughter who needed her to be strong for her.

  And so, because she was a mother, she had been—and still was.

  Every minute of every day.

  It wasn’t as much of an issue now as it had been, but Ashley still occasionally felt the effects of grief.

  How ironic it was that Gwenny had bounced back so much better than Ashley had. Despite all that had happened to her, she was a truly happy little girl who rarely complained about anything. Being wheelchair-bound molded her but it didn’t define her.

  Gwenny rolled her wheelchair toward Ashley.

  “What happened to the puppy that was on your lap?” Ashley asked when she realized Gwenny was no longer cuddling with Pink.

  “She jumped down and ran away from me.” Gwenny’s eyes filled with crocodile tears—something which was quite unusual for the ordinarily joyful little girl. “I think she didn’t like me, Mommy.”

  “Sweetheart, what—” Ashley started, but Luke immediately jumped into action, scooping Pudgy from his father’s hand and depositing the roly-poly puppy onto Gwenny’s lap.

  “Here you go. Try him,” Luke said enthusiastically. “It’s not you. Puppies have different personalities and you have to find the one that matches you perfectly. You’ve got to keep a tight hold on him, though. He’s our wiggliest character by far.”

  The little guy appeared to be instinctively empathetic, whining and licking the tears off Gwenny’s cheeks until the little girl was squealing with laughter and delight.

  Ashley’s heart warmed as Gwenny threw her arms around Pudgy and hugged him close, flipping him on his back and cuddling him up like a newborn baby. To her surprise, the incredibly rambunctious puppy didn’t even try to protest or wriggle away from her, but rather settled right in as if he belonged there in Gwenny’s arms. Moments later, he was sound asleep, his tongue lolling out the side of his mouth and a tiny snort coming from his black nostrils.

  “I don’t believe what I’m seeing,” Ashley whispered. “Did that puppy just instantly nod off to sleep?”

  Luke chuckled softly. “Puppies are like that. Full of energy and bounding around one second, and the next, they flop over onto the floor, sound asleep.”

  “I wish I had those qualities—rambunctious energy and the ability to immediately drop into sleep. I don’t know which one I’d like more. They both sound pretty nice to me right now.” She sighed. “I’m lethargic all the time, and yet when it’s time to close my eyes and go to sleep, my mind jumps into gear.”

  “Mmm,” Luke agreed. “It seems kind of unfair, doesn’t it? That the puppies, kitties and little kids have all the energy, while we have to slug around and make the most of it?”

  Ashley didn’t think Luke looked like the kind of man who slugged around, as he’d termed it. Her mind flashed to him barefoot in sweatpants and a ratty T-shirt with a cup of coffee and his hair mussed from his pillow—slugging around.

  Okay, so he probably did slugged well.

  Way better than her, anyway.

  She smiled sheepishly at where her thoughts had strayed and brushed back a stray hair that had dropped onto Gwenny’s forehead. The little girl’s eyes sparkled and her whole countenance glowed with delight as she murmured sweet nothings to the sleeping pup.

  “You’re my baby, aren’t you?” Gwenny whispered. “We’re perfect together.

  Luke gestured for Ashley to step to the side with him. Up close, he was considerably taller than she was and he had to tip his head down to speak close to her ear.

  “What do you think?” he whispered, his deep voice surprisingly serious.

  Ashley nearly tittered with laughter but managed to press her lips together before a giggle could escape.

  What did she think about what? The weather? The state of the economy? World peace?

  “About?” she prompted.

  “I’m sure you can see your little girl obviously wants to take that puppy home with her.”

  “Absolutely not.” Ashley’s instinctive reply came out quite a bit louder than she’d intended.

  “Not what?” Ruth asked, joining them. “I see Gwenny and Green are bonding.”

  “Exactly,” Luke said, sounding a little bit smug. “That’s just what I was telling Ashley. Maybe you can convince her, since she’s evidently not going to listen to me.”

  “Captain Obvious here just informed me Gwenny wants to take Pudgy home,” she explained to Ruth. “I can see that. Of course, every little girl wants a puppy, especially when it quite literally lands in her lap the way this one did. And yes, before you ask, I can see the puppy likes Gwenny, as well.”

  “But…?” Ruth prompted.

  “That is absolutely not happening. We cannot take Pudgy home with us today.”

  This was getting out of hand--and fast. Ashley felt pressured to put an immediate stop to what was beginning to feel like a runaway train—before Gwenny accidentally overheard the conversation. Talk about magnifying a bad situation.

  “Pudgy?” Luke asked, one side of his lips creeping up in a sexy half-smile.

  Ashley bristled when he looked at her that way. He had an unfair advantage. Maybe he did know about the charms he possessed and was using lady-killer against her.

  “Wasn’t that what you called him just a minute ago?” she asked defensively.

  “I said he was pudgy, not that his name was Pudgy. But if the spots fit…”

  “See?” Ruth said, linking her arm through Ashley’s. “You’ve already named him. That’s a good sign if I’ve ever heard one. I am in charge of Luke’s practice and have been around dogs all my life. Take a good look at Gwenny and Pudgy and tell me they don’t belong together.”

  Ruth nodded in Gwenny’s direction. The little girl was completely enraptured by the tiny puppy she cradled in her arms and wasn’t even aware she was the topic of the adults’ conversation.

  Ashley wasn’t an idiot. Of course, she could see that Gwenny and Pudgy belonged together. The problem wasn’t with Gwenny and Pudgy. It was with her.

  “You’re a veterinarian?” Ashley asked Luke. Somehow, the career seemed to fit the gentle man’s personality perfectly.

  “You can trust Luke to keep your puppy at his very best,” Ruth assured her. “From routine to specialty surgery, Luke’s your man. He’s the best of the best.”

  “Mom,” Luke groaned, the skin visible on his cheeks over his beard reddening.

  “Well, you are,” Ruth insisted. “And I’m not just
saying that because I’m your mother.”

  Luke squirmed and pulled at his shirt collar as if it were choking him. Ashley did think he looked kind of uncomfortable, now that she was observing him more closely. Maybe he needed to unbutton a couple of buttons and breathe.

  Clearly the man didn’t like being in the spotlight—which was the exact opposite of her dearly departed Chase, who’d always loved attention and had perpetually sought the thrill of adrenaline rushes.

  “I was just telling Ashley that Green—Pudgy—would be good for Gwenny.”

  “Which I realize.” The train was moving faster now.

  “Is it that you can’t have a pet where you live?” Ruth asked compassionately.

  “Well, no,” Ashley admitted. “I own my house.”

  “Then what?” Luke asked.

  “For one thing, I can’t afford to buy a dog right now.” It was the truth. Ashley’s freelance website-building business kept the lights on and food on the table and allowed her to be available for Gwenny. But whatever money was left over after the monthly bills and the hospital bills in which she was drowning went toward investing and building for Gwenny’s future.

  She didn’t know what a Dalmatian puppy went for these days, but whatever it cost wasn’t in her budget, no matter how happy it appeared to make Gwenny.

  “You misunderstand me,” Luke said gently. “I really like your daughter, and if you’ll allow me, I’d like to gift Pudgy to her free of charge. I’ll even throw in food and all the puppy paraphernalia you’ll need to get started.”

  “And free vet services,” Ruth added. Luke glanced at her, surprise clearly written on his face, but then he immediately smiled and nodded.

  “Absolutely. Please—we want to do this for you. For Gwenny.”

  What was she supposed to say? They’d literally taken away all of her arguments to the contrary. Talk about being trapped between a rock and a hard place. Ashley’s fight or flight instinct kicked in and adrenaline shot through her.

  But then she took another look at Gwenny and Pudgy who were already closely-bonded friends. The little pup really did make her happy.

  Ashley concentrated on slowing her breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

  At length, she nodded. “Thank you for your generosity. You’ll never know how much this means to Gwenny.”

  Ruth smiled and patted her shoulder. “Oh, I think we do, dear. I think we do.”

  Luke nodded toward Gwenny. “Why don’t you go tell your daughter the good news?”

  Right.

  Another deep breath. In through the nose, out through the mouth.

  “Gwenny, sweetheart, we have to leave now,” she said as excitement spread throughout her chest. Her daughter was going to be unbelievably stoked to find out she was the brand-new owner of a wiggly puppy. That they were taking Pudgy home with them.

  Gwenny’s face fell as she looked down at Pudgy, who was still sleeping in her arms.

  Ashley hadn’t meant to make her daughter sad with her words. She didn’t want Gwenny to get worked up over having to leave Pudgy behind, so she jumped in quickly to reverse the emotional process before Gwenny’s tears returned.

  “As it happens, Gwenny, Dr. Luke told me Pudgy needs to find a good home. He said it would be especially nice if it was a home with a little girl.”

  Gwenny’s eyes widened and sparked with excitement, but Ashley could see she was holding herself back. Gwenny probably realized what her mother’s answer would typically have been.

  And still was, if she were being honest.

  “What do you think about having Pudgy join our family?”

  “Really?” Gwenny burst into tears, but this time they were happy tears.

  Luke crouched in front of her. “I can tell you two are going to be best friends.”

  “We already are,” Gwenny exclaimed, waking Pudgy, who rolled over and yipped at being suddenly jerked out of his nap.

  Everyone laughed, but Gwenny became suddenly serious. “Do you mean it, Mommy? Pudgy can come home with us and live with us forever?”

  No one on God’s green earth could have resisted Gwenny’s sweet smile and the spark of hopefulness in her blue eyes, which were so much like her father’s—least of all her mommy.

  “Well, Pudgy,” she said, scratching the roly-poly puppy behind the ears. “It looks like you’re an Alvine now.”

  Pudgy Alvine must have especially enjoyed where she was scratching, for he stretched out his neck and his left hind leg bounced in glee.

  Or maybe he was just happy that he’d found his forever home.

  Chapter Three

  Luke had been booked nonstop all morning with patient after patient—some canine, some feline, a guinea pig, a rat and a sick salamander that had stopped eating.

  It was a typical morning--but then again, not so much, because this afternoon Ashley Alvine and Gwenny had booked Pudgy for his first vet visit.

  His mother had only reminded him of that fact four times today, but even if she hadn’t, it wasn’t as if he would have forgotten.

  How could he? The sweet, joyful little girl in the wheelchair had grabbed his heart in a way which completely surprised him. He didn’t consider himself an emotional man. Granted, he’d been called compassionate on occasion because he worked with animals, but what those people might not have realized was being a veterinarian wasn’t always the easiest of professions. Sometimes it was the most difficult thing ever.

  To keep himself from an emotional edge, he had to maintain a certain level of distance from his clients—the human variety as well as the animals—because it was unbearably hard to watch them say goodbye to their cherished pets, especially when he was helping them through the process.

  Luke had been in business long enough that most of his human clients had been with him for many years, through the whole life cycles of beloved family pets.

  Putting down a pet that’d been with a family its entire life was the hardest part of Luke’s practice, bar none.

  And it never got any easier.

  But adding a new member to the family in whatever form it came—a puppy, a kitten, a snake or a rat, more than made up for the pain Luke felt helping his clients work through the deaths of their pets.

  His personal favorite was when a family brought in their new puppy. Watching the joy on the humans’ faces and seeing the wagging tail of a doggy that knew beyond a shadow of a doubt where he belonged was the absolute best.

  For the first time in years, Luke had personally connected to his human clients—Gwenny, because of the unique little girl she was, and Ashley because—he wasn’t even remotely prepared to go there, even in his mind. But the spark he’d felt in his chest when he’d met Ashley’s gaze for the first time—the undeniable, irrefutable chemistry—

  Trouble.

  He’d once been in a serious relationship with a woman named Charlene who’d had a five-year-old son named Ben. He’d been a father-figure to the boy and had thought they’d eventually be a family. He’d fully intended to adopt the child when he had proposed to his girlfriend at midnight on a New Year’s Eve four years ago.

  The shock of her refusal had thoroughly gutted him, not only because of his feelings for Charlene, but because she no longer allowed him to see Ben. One second he’d been prepared to become both a husband and father. The next, he was all alone, and there wasn’t a single, solitary thing he could do about it.

  He couldn’t go through that again.

  So, he would focus on Gwenny and Pudgy and making the human/dog relationship successful. Luke had a special surprise for Gwenny, one he couldn’t wait to share with her.

  His mother popped her head into his office, and he jerked in surprise. Instead of doing paperwork, she’d caught him daydreaming.

  “Only fifteen more minutes,” she reminded him in a singsong voice, flitting around like a fairy.

  He didn’t bother asking, “Until what?”

  His mother was a character and always had been.
Her own unique brand of her. But she had suffered just as deeply as Luke had when she’d suddenly been barred from little Ben’s life. Luke knew how badly she wanted to be a granny, though she never pressured him about it.

  Suggested, perhaps, but never pressured.

  So, she’d seen his relationship with Charlene and Ben as the very best kind of two-for-one.

  But unlike Luke, she had quickly recovered after the big breakup. His mom’s glass was perpetually and often annoyingly all-the-way-full. She fell and popped right back up again. Nothing could keep her down.

  Even so, Luke still deeply felt his obligation to protect his mother’s heart from anything like that ever happening again. She might put a glossy coating on everything, but he didn’t want to put her in the position of hurting again.

  She, on the other hand, was ready for Luke to take the jump again. There was no question she saw a possibility with Ashley and Gwenny which Luke refused to acknowledge.

  Ever since his mom had met Ashley and Gwenny, she’d been talking about them non-stop. How wonderful they were. How different—in a good way. How glad she was that she and Luke had been able to help them.

  “Ten minutes,” she sing-songed.

  He narrowed his eyes on his meddling mother.

  She just grinned. She truly couldn’t help herself.

  Luke rolled his eyes.

  “You are not going to do anything to embarrass me, are you?” It was half a question, half a threat.

  “Who me?” His mom flashed back her most innocent expression, widening her brown eyes and blinking her eyelashes. “I can’t even begin to imagine what you’re talking about.”

  Luke grunted. “Sure, you can’t.” He patted his mom’s shoulder affectionately. “Just please spare me the theatricals. I’m going to have a hard enough, time as it is.”

  “Five minutes,” was his mother’s only answer.

  Luke walked into the examination room to make sure it was fully-prepped. Everything was in order. He rubbed his hands together and took a deep breath.