I barely get the words out before Cara also starts talking. "Hey, Angie. I have great news."
"Wait, what?" Cara drawls at me, her attitude way too perky for this time of the morning. I wonder what kind of coffee high-powered marketing specialists order.
"Nothing," I answer quickly. "I'm pretty sure I was breaking up anyway. What was your thing?" Something about good news. Hopefully, she didn't call the wrong number. "You mean good news for me, right?" Thank goodness I didn’t go with the wombat thing.
"Hey, why do you sound so surprised?" Cara objects.
Obviously, she wasn't one of the eighteen local citizens watching the Puppy-Thon disaster on public access television.
And why would she? Or anybody else for that matter in the age of Netflix and chill? "No reason, so what's the news?" I ask again while I turn into the strip mall where I work and pull up into my parking spot.
A quick glance around the rest of the parking lot confirms that there's my car, Gwen’s car, and Mia’s car.
Oh, and Sally’s here too. She’s one of our volunteers. There are no other cars. That means there are zero customers inside.
Unless they walked their sick animals here on foot through three miles of stop and go city traffic. Unlikely. The disappointment of it almost makes me forget I’m still on the phone with Cara.
"Oh yeah, great news. I found a big celebrity for the new marketing push. This could be just the boost you need to compete with Animal Universe Incorporated."
I have to admit, I did not see that coming. It’s wonderful news. "Hey, that's great, Cara! Who's the celebrity?"
Wow, I'll be working with a celebrity? This might really be fun. I take a sip of my delicious coffee. Maybe it's the coffee that brought me luck.
"You'll never guess. None other than home grown hero, super stud muffin, and sports sensation Jake Mann."
I spit the coffee out onto my khaki pants. Then I proceed to cough for approximately thirteen seconds while Cara makes noises on the phone alternately voicing her displeasure and her concern. "You okay?" she asks after I stop inhaling my coffee and get a couple gulps of real air down my lungs.
"No," I answer.
There's another pause and I can feel Cara's growing irritation. "No, you're not okay? Should I call 9-1-1 for you or something?"
"I mean no to Jake Mann, Cara. You tell him no. You frog march his ass the fuck out of your office right now and never speak with him again."
This time the pause feels like a standoff. And I feel good about it. I'm going to stand on principal and go down with the ship and everything before I'll see Jake again. It was bad enough seeing him last night looking so sexy and irritating.
It brought back too many memories and emotions. I want my best friend back. But the way he left it? Well, that bridge had burned to the ground, fallen over a cliff, and then got eaten by termites.
"Um, I already signed him, Angie. It's done."
"What do you mean it's done? I don't want him, or any part of him. I don't want to see him or talk to him or have him ever walk into my clinic again."
Her voice perks up and loses its edge. Now it's more curious and gossipy. "Again? Shit, Angie. Do you two have a history or something?"
"You could say that."
"I'm sorry, Angie. I didn't know.”
She doesn’t sound sorry. Not one bit. She sounds like a gossip columnist on a trail of drama. I eyeroll at the turn the conversation has taken.
Cara sniffs. “What kind of history are we talking about? Nothing criminal, hopefully?"
I sigh. "No, nothing like that."
"Good," she says triumphantly, "because that would have voided the contract. You have a photo shoot with him after lunch, I'll send you the details, don't be late."
I open my mouth to argue, but the phone call ends. Click. Once again, my head is swimming with thoughts about Jake Mann, and none of them are good. My final thought as I head into work is at least she didn’t bring up the payment thing again.
As soon as I get inside, I can see that Gwen and Mia and Sally are all huddled around the check-in desk looking at something on the computer. The lascivious expressions on their faces give me pause.
“Are you guys looking at porn again? Because I’m in this time, seeing as we don’t have any patients right now.”
I mean it as a joke. I thought it was funny. The group barely acknowledge my presence, though, and the joke goes right over their heads. Whoa, maybe they are looking at porn.
“Angie, come look,” Gwen gestures to me excitedly.
I cross the room so that I can join in whatever the hell it is that they’re doing. “Okay, what are we looking at?”
“The rumor is, you used to know him,” Mia says, her eyes wide with surprise.
I should have known. There on the screen is a half-naked picture of Jake with his shirt off after a football practice. Showoff. He might as well be using that water bottle to hose himself off while shaking his ass while he’s at it.
And the photo is working as intended because Mia and Gwen and Sally are all practically drooling on the screen. I stare at the photo. Fine, he’s sexy as sin. I hate him, but I still have eyes.
“How do you know I used to know him?” I ask defensively.
Gwen raises an eyebrow at me. “Kaylee and Fi swarming in like a SWAT team? You going all Angie sassy-pants on him when he brought that puppy in? And something about telling him to go to hell? Any of that ringing a bell?”
“Pretty sure I didn’t say that last part.”
“What’s that?” Sally points on the screen at a small tattoo on the left side of Jake’s abdomen.
“It’s obviously a tattoo,” Gwen
