Intro: Chance Encounter
“Take a drive,” Richard had said, when JC Chasez kept blowing the recording session. “Open yourself up.”
Okay, he’d taken a drive. He’d left the city behind. Now where the hell was he? This countryside was so different from the bustle of Chicago. He wasn’t even sure he was in Illinois anymore! It felt as if he had been going in circles.
Thump!
JC stopped his rented SUV. It had sounded like a body. He hadn’t been paying attention...
“Hey, mister, you hit my dog!” a boy of maybe twelve cried as he dropped to his knees in the middle of the gravel road.
JC climbed out of his car and squatted beside the boy and dog.
The dog was a scruffy looking terrier mix of about 30 pounds. His dirt colored fur was hard and wiry. He whimpered softly and his one leg was at an odd angle.
“I’m sorry, kid,” JC stroked the dog’s head gently.
“We need to get him to Doc Delaney,” the boy stated.
Taking off his leather jacket, JC maneuvered the dog onto it and lifted the animal into the car. “Hop in and direct me to Delaney.”
A girl of eighteen or so was at the reception desk of the Draperville Animal Clinic, her caramel hair pulled back in a loose ponytail. Her green eyes went wide when she saw JC Chasez carrying a dog into the office. When she saw the boy, she frowned.
“Tommy, what did Doc say about letting Brody run loose?” she asked the boy.
“Shut up, Riley,” the boy growled. “Where’s Doc?”
The girl sighed and waved to an exam room to the right of the U shaped desk. “She’s on her way in. The Morrissey’s mare finally dropped her foal.”
Evidently, Tommy and Riley knew the drill. JC laid Brody on the exam table. The girl checked the dog over and handed JC his jacket. She then used the wall phone to place a call.
“You’re gonna love this,” Riley announced. “What’s your ETA?” She listened for a moment. “Brody. Broken leg from what I can see. Doesn’t seem to have any tenderness elsewhere... Will do.” She rang off.
“Doc’ll be here in a couple of minutes. Mr. Chasez, there is coffee in the kitchen off the waiting room or you can go to the convenient store across the street.”
“Uh-thanks. Coffee’ll be fine.”
“Help yourself.”
What a lovely evening this was turning out to be! Cameron Delaney thought as she pulled her big Dodge 4X4 pickup behind the clinic. She wanted a shower after having to turn the foal around in Aurora’s womb. Having to stick your arms up a horse’s butt was not one of her favorite things to do! But seeing new life and the immediate bond of mother and child was...
And now Tommy and his Brody. She’d lost track of the times she’d patched the little tire-biter up.
“How’s he doing, Riley?” She asked her young cousin as she came in via the back door. She immediately stripped off her shirt and scrubbed her arms and hands at the utility sink.
“Stoic little guy.” Riley handed the vet another flannel shirt. “Seems like a simple fracture.”
Cameron jammed her arms in, rolling up the sleeves before bothering with the buttons. “Let’s have a look.”
Doc Delaney had arrived, JC surmised by the activity he heard in the back room. He sat back down in the waiting room with another cup of coffee – damn good coffee too. He vaguely wondered if Riley or ‘Doc’ was responsible. He had to give Riley credit. After her initial surprise of seeing him, she had been nothing but professional.
“Tommy,” Riley came out of the exam room. “Doc’s here. She has to set Brody’s leg. She’ll keep him overnight.”
The boy looked as if he wanted to cry. “Dad’ll kill me. Is there someway I can work off the bill?”
“Hey, don’t worry about it, Tommy,” JC told him. “I’m covering it.”
The boy brightened. “Thanks, mister!”
“The way I see it, my car, my fault.” JC got to his feet. “I’ll drop you off home, then I’ll come back to settle the bill.” He looked to Riley to see if that worked for her.
“Sure. I won't be here. I have to pick up squirt at church. Doc can help you though.”
“Can she tell me how in the hell I can get back to Chicago?”
The girl laughed. “I’m pretty sure she can handle it.”
“Be right there!” Cameron called when she heard the bell jingle on the outer office door. She still hadn’t gotten a shower, but at least it was time to go home. The night vet tech would come in almost as she left tonight. She’d barely have time to kiss her daughter goodnight before she went to bed.
There was something familiar about that voice, JC thought. That slightly husky undertone...he couldn’t place it – until he saw the face.
“Cam...”
“Josh...”
They said in unison.
It had been more than nine years...