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“If you don’t clear out of here I’m kicking your enhanced booty so hard those butt implants will end up dangling behind your ears. And that’s not a threat—that’s a promise!”

Scarlett rose and jutted out her butt.“For your information, this booty is all-natural, just like my boobies,” she said, a noticeable purr in her voice. “Unlike your bony butt and your flat chest, Vesta dear.” She even had the gall to flash her eyebrows at her!

“That’s it,” Vesta snapped. “I’m coming for you, Scarlett.”

And she would have mounted that desk, sciatica or no sciatica, and given Scarlett a piece of her mind, when Tex’s door opened and the doctor himself came walking in.

“What’s going on here?” he demanded.

With his shock of white hair and his kind face Tex Poole reminded some people of Dick Van Dyke when he was solving murders as Dr. Mark Sloan onDiagnosis: Murder. Now, though, he looked more like a masked avenger, without the mask, as he stepped up to his mother-in-law, and took her arm in a firm grip, then took Scarlett’s arm in an equally firm grip, and dragged the two women apart.

“What the cuss do you think you’re doing, Vesta?” he said. “Barging in here and threatening my receptionist with bodily harm?”

“She took my place!” Vesta croaked. “And on top of that she insulted me!”

“All I said was that you are very slim, Vesta,” said Scarlett coyly. “I was paying you a compliment. I really was, Dr. Tex.”

Tex was looking grim.“I don’t get it, Vesta. First you quit on me and now you attack the woman who was so kind to step up and offer her help when she saw I was struggling?”

“Oh, she was offering to help, all right,” said Vesta. “Though I’m not sure my daughter would appreciate the kind of help Scarlett has to offer!”

Tex had the decency to blush.“Now, Vesta, you know that’s nonsense talk.”

“Filthy gossip, that’s what it is,” said Scarlett. “And mean-spirited, too.”

“I’ll give you mean-spirited,” Vesta growled, and tried to poke her nemesis in the fake nose. She never got close, for Tex was still acting like a buffer between the two women.

“Now, now, Vesta,” he was saying in that horribly soothing doctor’s voice of his. “Calm down.”

“Oh, all right,” said Vesta, shaking off Tex’s hand. “I’m going already. But I’m warning you,” she spat in Scarlett’s direction. “This is not the end.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t expect it to be, Vesta, dear,” said Scarlett sweetly.

And as Vesta stalked huffily to the door, Scarlett even blew her a kiss. In return, Vesta blew her nemesis a raspberry, made a very rude gesture with one of the fingers of her right hand, and slammed the door shut behind her.

No, this was not the end. In fact this had only just begun.

Chapter 11

Dooley sat on the wooden garden bench, feeling miserable. He didn’t understand why Max had suddenly decided to give him the cold shoulder. In spite of Gran’s assurances that Dooley was loved, he was starting to think that Milo was right after all, and that Max didn’t give a hoot about him. Or anyone else, for that matter.

And just when he was thinking of maybe sneaking after Max and asking his old friend what was going on, Milo jumped up onto the bench and made himself comfortable.

“Hey, buddy,” said Milo. “You don’t look so good. Are you sure you’re not sick?”

Dooley blinked a few times.“Sick? Do you think I’m sick?”

Milo held up his paws.“Hey, I’m not a doctor, buddy, but you look kinda pale. Max just told me the same thing, so I figured I’d do the square thing by you and check it out.”

“Max told you I looked sick?”

“Sure. Then again, he said you were born sickly. Been weak and prone to disease ever since Grandma brought you home from the pound.”

Dooley’s heart was beating fast now, a sickening sense of doom extending its icy tentacles into his soul. “The pound? Grandma brought me home from the pound? But she always said she got me from a very dear friend of hers. From a litter of eight little Dooleys.”

“A little white lie, Dooley. Humans are big on little white lies. They think it’s for the best, but they often end up doing a lot of damage. Anyhoo, I think maybe it’s time for you to head on down to the vet, don’t you think? You’re coming down with something. And it wouldn’t surprise me if isn’t some parasite wreaking havoc inside your digestion system.”

“A parasite!”

“Yup. Worms, probably.”

“Worms! Inside me?!”

“Sure. You’ve got your tapeworm, your hookworm, your whipworm, your roundworm… Have you lost weight recently?”

“I-I think so,” said Dooley, touching his shrinking belly. “Haven’t been hungry.”

“That’s the worms for you,” said Milo with a knowing nod. “Make you lose your appetite. You’re probably full of them, crawling all over your insides. What about vomiting? Diarrhea? Coughing? Feeling bloated?”

Dooley felt sick, and suddenly retched.“How-how big are these worms, Milo?”

“Oh, the smallest ones are at least five inches long. The big ones?” He gave Dooley a worried look that spoke volumes.