for her tetanus shot, just to be on the safe side. Did you get the name of the owner, in case we need to contact him?” Zoe looked blank for a minute and then embarrassed.
“I never thought of it. That was stupid of me, but all I wanted to do was rescue Jaime and get her out of there. The owner called off the dog pretty quickly when I was screaming at him.”
“He pulled him back on the leash,” Jaime added, and she seemed listless to Cathy.
“He wasn’t on a leash,” Zoe said forcefully again. “He pulled on his collar when I shouted at him.” Zoe was determined to be the hero of the piece, and Cathy felt a chill run up her spine. Her behavior matched what Austin had described, and suddenly she felt sick. Maybe she and Austin had both misjudged Zoe, and the ghosts of her past tragedies had wounded her more deeply than either of them had thought. It was the only explanation Cathy could think of for what Austin had proposed. And more than anything, she wanted none of it to be true. Could they have misjudged Zoe so severely? But what if they had? It couldn’t be.
“At least we know he had an owner, and he wasn’t a stray dog,” Cathy said as she took the tetanus booster out of a drawer, and Jaime cringed when she saw the shot. Zoe held her and it was quick, and afterward Cathy smiled at Jaime and told her how brave she was. “I’m going to send you to a very nice doctor, and I think you’re going to like her. She’s from Hawaii. I went to medical school with her, and she’s only a few blocks away.” She turned to Zoe then. “She needs a plastic surgeon. I don’t want to stitch her up and have it leave a scar. Since it’s on her face, I think it’s better. She can take the stitches out of Jaime’s chin while you’re there. One stop shopping.” She wrote down the address of Jane Yamaguchi in SoHo, and handed it to Zoe. “I’ll call her and tell her you’re on your way.” She kissed the top of Jaime’s head and hugged Zoe, and they left a few minutes later as all of Cathy’s nurses waved at them.
Cathy walked back to her office to call the plastic surgeon, told her what she knew about the dog bite, and said she’d given her a tetanus booster, to be on the safe side. But the dog appeared to be a pet, presumably was licensed, so hopefully rabies wasn’t a concern. And then she asked her to take some stitches out of Jaime’s chin.
“What is this kid, a prizefighter? She’s got stitches in her chin, and just got a dog bite on her cheek?”
“A run of bad luck,” Cathy explained to her. “She had a swimming pool accident in Florida ten days ago, and got bitten by a dog today.”
“Poor kid. How bad is it?”
“I think it looks worse than it is. But I’d rather have you do it, instead of me, since it’s on her face.”
“Happy to be of service. How’ve you been by the way? We should have dinner together one of these days.”
“I’d love it, call me.”
“I will. And thanks for the referral. I’m going to throw some business your way shortly too. I’m adopting a baby in Hawaii, using a surrogate. It’s due in two months. A little boy.” She sounded happy and excited and Cathy was pleased for her. She had always wanted kids, even in medical school.
“Congratulations! That’s terrific!”
“Yes, it is. I decided to stop waiting for Mr. Right, and when the right guy comes along, he’ll love us both.”
“Good for you, Jane.”
“My parents are a little upset about it, traditional Hawaiians and very conservative, but they’ll get used to it. The sperm donor is Hawaiian, he’s an old friend, so they’ll relax about it eventually. I’m flying out to Honolulu for the birth. I’ll bring the baby in to see you as soon as we get back. It’ll be a big change in my life.” She sounded thrilled. They were all coming to their own conclusions about turning forty, but Cathy wasn’t ready for any major decisions yet.
She called Austin after she spoke to Jane, to tell him about Jaime. She wasn’t sure if Zoe had called him yet, and he sounded tense when he answered.