Neighbors Pt. 02

"So the point of all this is that we believe it would be mutually beneficial, and would would really appreciate it if you would join in on the fundraisers and awareness events for the South African rain forest, Mr. Davis. With a blossoming business like yours that promotes organic components and all-natural materials, it would achieve a lot for rainforest preservation if you spoke up about the horrible, heinous things being done to our forests."

Jackson had his ear to his cellphone as the activist woman droned on and on, repeating herself for the third time. He barely heard any of it. His heart had jumped up into his throat and he felt sick to his stomach as Marie, the SmartPaws receptionist, disclosed the information about Max's accident. How some younger woman had brought him in all swaddled up in a blanket and they'd taken him back for emergency surgery, and that he was going under anesthesia as they spoke. Jack swallowed sharply and looked over at the activist woman, still talking, and held up a hand to her. His hand was trembling.

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to cut this short. Ted can reschedule this meeting for another time, I have to go."

"But-"

Jackson had already turned his back and was heading out of the meeting room and down the hall to his office. He swallowed and spoke up to Marie finally, his voice wavering a bit.

"How severe are the injuries? Broken bones?"

"The woman that brought him in said that his legs looked...erm...'messed up', but that's all the information I have thus far, Mr. Davis. We'll know more once he's in surgery."

Jack swore under his breath. "All right, thank you. I'll be there as quick as I can."

"Mr. Davis?" Marie spoke up once more, sounding a bit more timid.

"What is it?" he barked back, pulling on his blazer.

"The woman that brought him in is still here. She's in the waiting area and...refused to leave. I just thought you should be aware."

Jackson rolled his eyes. Now he had to contend with an injured dog and a hysterical woman in the emergency vet? Fucking perfect. He hung up the phone without another word to the receptionist, grabbed his keys out of his mahogany desk drawer, and bolted for the office door.

Regrettably, Ted was there to meet him. "What the hell was that, Jack?" He sounded less than happy.

Jackson pushed past him and rounded the corner towards the front door. "Not now, Ted, I have to go."

Ted followed him. "Jack, we've been trying to get a meeting with this woman for the last four months. She's not an easy person to get in contact with and her time is very valuable! What the hell is more important than an appraisal from a rainforest activist, talking about our product?"

Jack whipped around and looked Ted in the face, fuming. "The fact that my eleven year old dog, who I've had since he was six weeks old, just got hit by a car and is in emergency surgery. Handle it, Ted. Get the woman to reschedule. I don't care what you have to promise her, but make it happen."

That shut Ted right up. He stood there, stunned, and opened his mouth as if to offer apology or concern, but Jackson had already turned back around and was out the front door of the building. He unlocked his Mercedes and dove into it, starting it and peeling out of the parking lot faster than he should have.

A million thoughts and unrealistic worries ran through his head as he sped down the road towards SmartPaws vet clinic. It wasn't far, but it was far enough for him to go into a near anxiety attack. He must have left the door cracked his morning in his rush to get to the office on time. He's usually so careful about ensuring that Max is safe, that he's locked up in the house and can't get out except into the back yard. But who had found him in the street? If it was Mrs. Baker, he'd just about lose his shit. That woman was a crackpot and if he had to deal with her hysterics along with his own, it wouldn't be pretty.

The drive to SmartPaws took about fifteen minutes and Jack pulled into the parking lot and whipped into a spot, parking crookedly, and jumped out of his car towards the front door. He headed immediately to the front desk, where Marie lifted her eyes up from her paperwork to greet him.

"Can I hel-Oh! Mr. Davis. Excellent, you made it faster than I expected."

"How is he?" Jackson asked, running a hand through his hair.

"By all accounts it could have been a lot worse. He's got two dislocated hip joints and a clean break on his left tibia. The tarsal bones on the right leg have been shattered, and the calcaneus of the right leg has been broken off as well."

Jack blinked. "English, Marie."

Marie shot a look over to the waiting area, then back at Jack. "His legs are jacked up, Jackson. But they are repairable, and the doctors informed me that most of the breaks were clean and should be easy to repair. The tarsal bones are going to be the tricky ones."

Jackson looked over towards the waiting area once Marie finished speaking, to find Aymie Ann all but cowering in her seat with no less than seven crinkled up tissues on the seat next to her. She looked over at him with puffy eyes and rose to her feet.

"Mr. Davis, I'm sorry. I got him here as fast as I could. I wish I would have seen the car, I could have gotten the plate numbers and you could report the guy to the police."

Jack closed the distance between the two of them in three strides and pulled the girl into a tight, crushing hug. She shivered in his arms and he squeezed her tighter.

"Thank you, Aymie Ann. Thank you so much."

He felt her arms wrap hesitantly around his waist and he held her there for a long few moments. Christ, Aymie had found Max? Poor girl must have been terrified. He felt a pang of guilt in his chest for her worry, but also a swell of respect and affection for the girl for her quick thinking. If it hadn't been for her, Max might have died. He squeezed her again and then released, holding her by the shoulders at arm's length.

She looked like hell. Her eyes were bloodshot and teary, mascara smudging at the corners, her whole face looked blotchy, and her nose was raw and red. He shot a look of thanks over his shoulder at Marie and then ushered Aymie back to the chairs. She gathered up her used tissues and stuffed them into her pocket.

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Davis. I wish I could have seen what happ-"

"Stop, honey. Just stop." He sat down beside her. "I don't even know why you're apologizing. You did everything you could. Thank you so much for bringing him here. You probably saved his life."

Aymie blew her nose into a tissue and then pulled another. "I'm so fucking pissed."

Jack's eyes widened at that and he laughed once. "Why?"

"Because of that dick-wad that just left him in the street! He didn't even slow down. I heard the hit from inside my house and ran out to see him driving away."

Now he was fucking pissed too. "Are you serious? Did anyone see, do you know?"

"I don't think so," she replied, shaking her head. "But I didn't look around the street. I wanted to get him here as fast as I could."

Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He leaned back in his chair and ran his hands over his face, rubbing at his eyes. Aymie blew her nose again.

"Well the good news is that apparently, most of the breaks will be easy to repair. They'll have to put his hips back into place but apparently his...tarsal bones, whatever those are, are going to be a bit tricky."

"Tarsals are the bones in the feet," Aymie blurted, pulling off her sandal and pointing to the top of her foot, close to the ankle. "There are a lot of them. It makes sense that they would be complicated."

Jackson looked at her feet and then nodded. Smart girl. He didn't know that. She slipped her sandal back on and tugged her feet up underneath herself, sitting cross-legged in the chair. Jack crossed his own legs and pulled out his phone, pulling up a web page about the canine skeletal system, educating himself. They chit-chatted off and on over the next hour, but then Jackson got a phone call from work and had to step outside to take it.

Once he came back in, maybe fifteen minutes later, he found Aymie curled up on her chair, legs tucked up tight to her chest, asleep. Poor girl must be exhausted, having to deal with all of this. He pulled off his blazer and threw it around her, which she grasped and pulled tighter in her sleep. He smiled at that, then stopped at the front desk to inform Marie that he was going to step out and grab a bite to eat and coffee, and that he would be back soon.

Aymie's eyes peeled open slowly, blinking to the bright, fluorescent light of SmartPaws' waiting room. Her neck ached and her shoulders felt like they were locked into place, but she slowly unfurled from around herself and lifted Jackson's blazer off of her shoulders, putting it on like a coat instead. It smelled like him; earthy and masculine with a hint of head and shoulders shampoo. She liked it, and took an inhale of it before she approached the front desk.

Marie was there to greet her, considerably softer now that she knew who Aymie was. "How is Max? Is he still in surgery?"

Marie nodded. "Yes, but I've been told it won't be much longer. Clean breaks are easier to take care of, and most of Max's were clean."

"Where is Mr. Davis?" she asked, rubbing her eyes.

"He stepped out to grab coffee, he said, but he'll be back."

The front door's chime went off and in he walked, backed by the early sunshine with a tray of two coffees in one hand, and a cinnamon scone in the other. He smiled at Aymie as he walked in and she smiled back shyly.

"Hey," she said, rubbing her eyes again.

"I brought you something. I didn't know if you had had time to eat."

He held out the coffee and scone to her and she accepted them with a warm, kind smile. He ushered her back over to the waiting area where they sat together. She removed his blazer from her shoulders and handed it back to him, still clad in her paint stained apron. She looked down at it with a grimace and felt her cheeks go hot as she lifted the coffee to her lips and took a sip. It was exactly how she liked it. She caught Jackson's gaze a second later, and watched him look over her ratty apron.

"Painting?" he asked, nodding at it.

"Yea, I do some painting at home. I was about to start when I heard the hit."

He nodded and crossed a leg over his knee, regarding her. "What kinds of things do you paint?"

She blinked. He was really asking about her at a time like this? "Um...abstract paintings, mostly. Occasionally I'll do some surrealism pieces or an impressionist piece...it just depends on my mood. Typically I use acrylic but I also like oil paints and watercolor."

He paid close attention while she spoke, holding her eye contact in a way that made her want to look away. There was an off putting intensity to him, and Aymie wondered if he was always so bold when speaking with someone. She took a bite of her scone and chewed it slowly before swallowing. She didn't look back over right away, hoping it may dissuade him from continuing their conversation much further. She didn't feel much like talking.

He didn't take the hint. "How long have you been doing that for?"

She swallowed and licked her lips before speaking. "Probably the last ten years or so."

"How old are you?" he asked, sounding surprised.

"I'm twenty six."

"So you started in your teens, then."

She nodded. "Yeah, I had a few art classes in school that really inspired me, and an incredible instructor once I got into high school. He encouraged all forms of art, whether it be conventional or not. I still talk to him sometimes, but not as much anymore."

Jackson nodded and took a sip of his own cup before he cradled it in his hands. "That's good, to find a focus like that. I bet you're very talented."

Aymie felt her cheeks grow hot again and she quickly took a bite of her scone again and averted her gaze.

"Mr. Davis?" Marie called from the front desk. Jackson rose up, offering Aymie a small smile, and strode over to speak with her.

Aymie watched him while they conversed. There was a cool confidence about him, like he had no fear of what was being said, of being caught off guard by conversation, or of saying the wrong thing. She was envious of that - rare was the day when Aymie Ann didn't feel like she'd said something foolish or offensive in some way. She was surprised that he pushed to maintain conversation with her, assuming he would have opted for awkward silence over her paltry words.

Jackson pulled out his credit card and swiped it through the machine, paying for Max's surgery and medication and Aymie found herself wondering how much money he made, that he could just foot the bill outright like that. She knew he was a business owner, but even still. Vet bills were expensive, and he must have been very successful to be able to pay it all out of pocket without any type of financing at all.

She averted her eyes again once Jack came back over and sat next to her. "Thank you for covering me up, by the way. That was nice of you."

Jackson laughed once. "You looked cozy, or else I would have woken you to join me for brunch. But I figured I'd let you sleep. You had a rough morning."

Aymie found herself blushing once again and laughed once. "Yeah...definitely not my first choice of how to start off a day."

Jackson laughed as well and, after another minute or two, one of the doctors pushed out of the swinging double doors that headed back into the surgery area and beckoned him back. He rose to his feet and offered Aymie his hand to bring her with him, which she reluctantly took.

"Am I allowed to come back with you?" she asked.

He held onto her hand while they walked for a step or two before releasing. "I don't see why not. You're the one who brought him in. I'm sure he'd be happy to see you."

Aymie tucked her hair behind her ear and followed behind Jackson and the doctor, who led them down a few turns and hallways to where the room was where Max was waiting. He was just managing to come out of anesthesia and his tail thumped irregularly against the kennel he was in. It was lined with blankets and towels, had a water bowl in the corner, and was tucked away in the corner of the room, to keep it nice and quiet for him.

He looked doped up, that much was certain. Max's blinks were slow and forced, his tongue lolled out to the side and drool was soaking the towel he laid on. He looked with recognition at Jackson immediately, and tried to lift up his head to greet him. Jackson hunkered down beside him and ran a delicate hand over his face, coaxing him to lay back down.

"For an eleven year old golden, he's got some spunk in him," the doctor said admiringly. "I didn't expect him to wake up for another hour or two."

Mr. Davis laughed. "Yea, that's Maxy. He likes being home, probably knows that that's where we'll be headed. How long till I can take him?" he asked, looking up at the doctor.

"I'd like him to eat and drink something before he goes, just to ensure that all his cognitive function is back how it should be after being under. After that, he's all yours."

Aymie stood in the corner, arms crossed around herself. She didn't want to intrude. Max wasn't her dog, she didn't have to pay his medical bills or take care of him, and she barely even knew Mr. Davis. She felt out of place. Jackson must have noticed this because he held out a hand to beckon her over.

"Come here, Aymie, come see him. He won't bite. Probably couldn't even if he wanted to."

She approached cautiously, calculated in her movements so to not startle the half-dazed dog. She bent low and hunkered next to Jackson, and Max's tail thumped against the kennel once he saw her approach. In fact, he seemed to perk up more seeing her than he did seeing Jackson himself, and lifted up his head to give her hand a few affectionate licks.

Aymie smiled at that, and scratched under his chin. "You scared me, Maxy. Don't do that again. Who else am I going to hang out with in the mornings?" she asked him, running her thumb down his nose. His tail continued to awkwardly wag, in strange rhythms and patterns before he went limp in the kennel again, watching everyone closely. He seemed relatively alert, for having just come out of surgery.

Jackson smiled at the two of them and lay his hand on Aymie's shoulder. "He likes you very much, I think." He rose up to his feet and reached out to shake the doctor's hand.

Aymie stayed down with Max, sitting cross-legged next to his kennel and moved his water bowl up closer to his face. Max lapped up the water a few times and swallowed with effort, before his eyes rolled back and he started drifting off back to sleep. Aymie eyed up the casts on his legs and hips and inwardly winced. He was going to have a long recovery time with all those bandages, especially since he was so old. She ran her hand over his muzzle a few times and sat quietly with him, hoping to soothe him the best that she could.

She felt Jackson's presence from behind her and shot up to her feet, dusting off her backside. "I'm sorry, I should go. You probably want to be alone with him and get him home to start his recovery." She fiddled with the straps on her apron. "But I hope he bounces back quickly and that everything works out well."

Jackson smiled at her. "Actually I was about to ask if you'd like to come with me to bring him home. He seems to have really taken to you. Plus I need to wash your blanket," he said, pointing to the afghan she brought Max in, which was blood soaked in a few places.

"It'll only be a bit, I have a fast washer. I can make some tea and we can talk. It's the very least I can do for helping him."

Aymie swallowed, but found herself nodding in agreement before she could even think. "Okay. That sounds nice."