at her. “Dr. Anders fixed Brownie’s sister so I’m hoping she can fix Sprinkles, too. Do you think she can?”
He looked into the earnest face with the hopeful eyes, the sweet freckles conflicting with the myriad of silver hoops up one ear. “I think your hamster is safe with Dr. Anders.”
“Yeah. She’s new, but she’s the best. Rose says so. She’s my ballet teacher.”
Jason thought about Rose’s plea. She was desperate to get to know the daughter she’d given up, and yet afraid, too. He knew that Rose could fully understand, and even justify Melissa’s standoffish attitude toward her. That, however, didn’t stop Rose from yearning to set things right between them.
Jason had no idea if Melissa was open to giving Rose a second chance. Right now he just wanted to fulfill his favor. “Ouch!” Jason grabbed his ear and turned his head to glare at the parrot. “If I liked the taste of feathers, I’d bite you back.”
He’d have sworn the bird smirked.
The old man woke up with a snort. “A bird makes a bad pet, son. You need something that naps a lot.”
They both looked at the dog on the floor at his feet who was snoring. Loudly.
“Maybe Dr. Anders can take a look at your face while you’re here,” the teenager said softly, eyeing his scar again. “Does it hurt?”
He got that question most. “No—”
The door to the middle patient room opened, and Melissa appeared in the doorway. She saw Jason sitting in her waiting room, and then she saw the parrot and lifted a brow. “Problem?”
Yep, I like looking at you. “I have a bird that needs your attention—ouch!”
He slapped a hand to his poor, abused ear in tune to the parrot’s happy screech, and also something else. He looked at the teenage girl next to him. “Did you just laugh at me?”
She laughed again. “You scream like a girl.”
Melissa put a hand to her mouth, her eyes twinkling, and shook her head. “Don’t tell me, another pet problem?”
“Yes. I’m afraid of this parrot.”
“Uh-huh.” Melissa turned to the man next to him. “Mr. Tyson, I can see you now.”
The old man got up and patted Melissa on the back. The dog, woken by the tug on his leash, licked her.
Melissa appeared to be a little flustered by the pat, but accepted the dog’s licking with a genuine smile.
After a few minutes all three reappeared, and then it was the teen’s turn. “Rose says to tell you hello.”
Melissa’s smile faltered, but the girl never noticed as she walked toward the patient room.
And then it was his turn. Melissa led him inside a patient room and stood close to him. Just when he was about to make a flirtatious comment, he realized her proximity had nothing to do with him and everything to do with the carnivorous bird perched on his shoulder. She made a kissing noise.
The parrot made it back.
She nodded her head.
The parrot nodded back.
Smiling now, Melissa reached out.
“I wouldn’t,” Jason warned. “She likes the taste of flesh.”
“No, she likes the taste of your flesh.” She coaxed the parrot onto her finger. “What seems to be the trouble?”
“Um…” He looked at the parrot and tried to remember what Rose had said to him this morning. I know it seems obvious using my pets as bait, but I’m at a loss here. Nothing else has worked. Get Melissa to trust you. Get her to talk. “Well—”
“Rose,” said the parrot from her new perch on Melissa’s finger.
Melissa went still and stared at the bird. “What? What did she just say?”
Ah, hell. “She said she wants a rose. She likes to eat them. We’re here because she…” He’d forgotten what he was supposed to use as an excuse. Maybe it was Melissa’s fathomless green eyes, or maybe it was the heartbreakingly endearing way she’d tried to keep her patient’s owners at arm’s length…or maybe because he’d been half-asleep when Rose had dropped off the damn parrot.
“I think she ate a twig,” he said brilliantly. “And I’m not sure that’s good for her. I just wanted to have her checked out before I start work for the day.”
“Ten o’clock in the morning is pretty late to be starting the chores a farm requires.”
Farm. He lived in an old farmhouse, yes, but he was a writer, not a farmer. Then he remembered the form he’d filled out yesterday. She’d seen his address and assumed he farmed for a living.
Wouldn’t she be surprised to know that for years he’d been a misplaced