LITMIR.BIZ

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can I help you, Ms. King?”

      “Kate,” she corrected. “One of my horses turned up lame this morning. Dr. McGee is out sick today, as I’m sure you know by now. I really need someone to come out to the ranch and x-ray Visa’s leg. Would you be able to fit me into your schedule? I know it’s short notice, but I’d really appreciate it.”

      Liam already knew that he had back-to-back appointments—it was foaling season, so he was typically booked dawn until dusk.

      “I do know about Dr. McGee—I’ve been getting calls all day from his clients. I’m double booked.”

      “Dr. Brand.” Liam could hear the stress in her voice. “I know you’re swamped, but any help you can give me would really be appreciated. It doesn’t matter how late you get here.” She paused before she added, “Visa is Callie’s favorite horse.”

      The minute Kate mentioned her daughter, Callie, Liam felt that familiar tug on his heartstrings. He’d watched Callie grow over the years; for a while there, before the divorce, his son had attended the same school. She was a special little girl—always smiling, always laughing. If Kate was trying to sway him by mentioning her daughter, it had worked.

      After taking a couple of moments to make a decision, Dr. Brand finally said, “Here—let me pull over so I can figure this out.”

      “Okay. Thank you.”

      Liam pulled his mobile-vet truck onto the side of the road so he could take a closer look at his schedule. All of his clients were so far apart that driving time made his logjammed schedule even more complicated.

      “Let’s do this,” he finally offered. “I’ll come to the Triple K after my last appointment. I’ll warn you now—it’s gonna be late. After dark, for sure.”

      “That’s not a problem! Whenever you can get here!” Kate exclaimed in a way that made him smile a bit. “I can’t thank you enough, Dr. Brand. Truly. Thank you.”

      * * *

      As he had predicted, Dr. Liam Brand arrived at the Triple K Ranch after dark. For Kate and Callie, it had been a long day of waiting. When they heard Dr. Brand’s truck wheels making a crunching noise on their gravel driveway, both Kate and her daughter abandoned their mucking and jogged to the entrance of the barn to greet Dr. Brand.

      “I’m sorry I couldn’t get here any sooner,” the large-animal vet told her.

      “We’re just so grateful that you could come.” Kate offered her hand. “I know you’ve already had a long day.”

      Liam Brand was over six feet tall with a slender physique of a man who took care of his health. His hair, cut short, had turned a dark honey color over the years, which offset, in a very appealing way, the sky blue of his eyes and the golden color of his skin. He was wearing jeans, stained from a day on the job, with the logo of his vet clinic embroidered on the left chest of a light-blue cotton top.

      “Hello, Calico.” Dr. Brand took the time to acknowledge her daughter.

      Liam knew that her daughter’s nickname was Callie, but he had always used her formal, given name “Calico” whenever he spoke to her.

      Callie smiled shyly at Liam; Kate knew that look in her daughter’s large, brown eyes. The young woman developed crushes in the blink of an eye and Liam Brand, Kate observed, was Callie’s official new crush.

      “Hi,” Callie said, ducking her head to the side and gave an embarrassed laugh.

      “Let’s go see what’s going on with Visa,” Dr. Brand said after he lifted his rolling mobile-vet kit out of the back of his truck, which had been outfitted with everything a traveling large-animal vet would need to do his or her job.

      Dr. Brand wanted to see Visa walk on the concrete; the horse had taken only a few steps before the vet nodded. He asked that they put Visa in cross ties, and then, silently, methodically, with the seriousness Kate appreciated, the vet began his physical exam of the Hanoverian mix. After a thorough exam, Dr. Brand offered some possible diagnoses. The possible culprits for Visa’s lameness had all occurred to Kate as well—it could be laminitis, it could be a soft tissue injury, there was a possibility of an abscess in the hoof. But the last possibility that Dr. Brand mentioned, a fracture of the short pastern bone, the bone right above the hoof, was the diagnosis Kate feared the most. Most equine ailments could be healed with the right care and the right perseverance. A fracture? That was a whole different ball of wax. Kate didn’t hesitate to agree to get Visa x-rayed.

      Kate and Callie stood by Visa’s head, offering him encouraging words as the vet set up the portable X-ray machine. If she had wondered about Liam’s ability as a veterinarian, watching him now dispelled all of those notions. No, he wasn’t as experienced as Dr. McGee, but he was thorough, deliberate and spoke as if he had memorized every textbook he read. While he worked, Liam discussed the recent literature and findings from current research. There wasn’t a question she asked him that he didn’t answer with the breadth and depth of a man who knew his business. When Liam had as many years of practice under his belt as Dr. McGee, he was going to be a top-notch veterinarian.

      Dr. Brand released Visa back to his stall, and by the time Kate returned, the vet was ready to discuss the results of the X-ray. With her arm around Callie’s shoulders, as much for her own support as to comfort her daughter, Kate stood close to Dr. Brand so she could see the X-ray of Visa’s hind leg projected on the screen. The news wasn’t good—she could see that before he even began to point to the hairline fracture in the short pastern bone.

      “I-is he going to b-be okay?” Callie already had tears in her eyes; yes, her daughter had a serious intellectual disability, but she understood much more about life than most people would give her credit for.

      Kate tightened her arm to hold her daughter to comfort her.

      “Well.” Dr. Brand’s words were measured as he addressed them both. “If Visa was going to have a fracture on his leg, this is the best place to do it.”

      She had been holding her breath again; Kate told herself to keep on breathing. She was fully expecting Liam to tell her that Visa, only five and so young, would have to be put down.

      “If you keep him on stall rest for two months, I can come back and take another X-ray to see if he’s done some healing,” Dr. Brand said. “Of course, Dr. McGee would be able to help you with that, as well.”

      Kate took a second to process the information before she replied, “You’ve started with him. I’d feel better if you just stayed with this case.”

      “I’d be happy to do it.”

      All three of them turned to walk in the direction of the vet’s truck; Kate already had her checkbook in her back pocket to pay.

      “How much do we owe you?”

      “I don’t really handle that part of the deal. Go ahead and call the office tomorrow. Ask for Irene—she handles all the billing.” He pulled a card out of the console of his truck and handed it to her. “She’ll take care of you.”

      “Okay,” Kate said, surprised that Liam didn’t take payment on the spot. “Are you sure?”

      “Yep.” Liam opened one of the storage lockers built onto the back of his truck.

      “Do you like chili?” Callie asked the vet.

      “Sure do.” Dr. Brand loaded his mobile kit into the locker.

      Kate liked that Liam didn’t disregard her daughter—he included her, he looked at her directly and spoke to her like she had value.

      “Do you want to have chili with us? That’s what we’re having for dinner.”

      Kate hadn’t expected her daughter to extend a dinner invitation to Liam; even more unexpected was her own follow-up to Callie’s invitation.

      “We have plenty,” she told Liam. “It’s the least we could do. I’m sure you skipped

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