Dr. Sells’s eyes pinched shut for a brief second, but she continued, “I know that’s hard to hear, but thankfully June caught this early. Had she not found Roxy for another hour or two, we’d be having a much more difficult conversation.”
Without turning my attention away from Dr. Sells, I reached down and fished around for June’s hand, squeezing it gently.
“Roxy is stable for now, and once I get the test results back, I’ll have a better idea how to treat her, but plan on her staying in the ICU tonight for sure.”
Roxy wasn’t out of the woods, but it definitely sounded like Dr. Sells had a handle on whatever was going on, and the fact that she was out here talking to me instead of in the back working on Roxy was good enough news for me. “Can I see her?”
She pressed her lips together and tilted her head to the side. “She’s pretty exhausted and medicated, so only for a quick minute, okay?”
I nodded, desperate for any time she was willing to give me.
“Come on back.” She waved.
Dr. Sells pushed the door open, holding it for me to follow her. A couple of nurses in brightly colored scrubs with various animals on them smiled as I passed through the room. They were pity smiles. The smiles you give someone when you know they’re about to see something that they don’t want to see and you feel bad. I hated pity smiles. I returned their smiles politely as we walked to a room off by itself to the right. On a huge metal table in the middle of the room lay my tiny best friend. Her eyes were mostly closed, and her tongue hung out of her mouth.
I frowned when I noticed the white bandage wrapped around her back leg.
“That’s from her blood draw,” Dr. Sells said before I even had a chance to ask what it was.
I nodded, trying to take in everything I was seeing. When she’d said that Roxy had been poisoned, part of me expected her to be hooked up to all kinds of machines and tubes, but that wasn’t the case at all. Other than her new bandage, she just looked like she was sleeping.
I knelt down next to the table and studied her tiny face. “Can I touch her?”
Dr. Sells nodded. “Gently.”
With one finger, I smoothed down the hair on her front paw. Tears welled up in my eyes when I thought about that psycho walking around my kitchen, coaxing my sweet baby into drinking poison. Those same tears spilled down my cheeks when I thought about what would have happened if June hadn’t been one of the most organized people in the world who had the same schedule every day.
“She’ll stay here tonight and get a good night’s sleep,” Dr. Sells said, “but like I said, if I’m right about the antifreeze, you’re very lucky. It was caught early and is treatable. She’s a strong girl.”
I stood up and sniffed, gladly taking the tissue that Dr. Sells was offering. “Thanks for taking such great care of her.”
“Of course,” she replied as she pulled her dark hair into a low ponytail. “I’ll call you when we get the test results back. You have our number, so if you want to call before that just to check in, feel free.”
“You might be sorry you said that,” I responded with an awkward laugh as we walked back to the waiting room.
I waved at the receptionist as I passed by her desk and walked toward Andy and June. They jumped up in unison when they noticed me heading their way.
“How is she?” June asked in a shaky voice.
“She actually looks okay,” I answered, putting my hand on her shoulder. “She’s only here because of you, June. I don’t know what I would do without you . . .” The room started spinning, and I reached out, grabbing Andy’s arm for stability.
“Whoa, whoa . . . you okay?” He hooked one arm under mine and the other around my waist, literally holding me up.
“Yeah, I think I’m fine. It’s just . . . a lot.”
June drew her brows in tight as her eyes traveled up and down my body before sliding over to Andy. “Get her home. She needs to rest.”
Andy nodded and led me carefully to his car. He waved good-bye to June and slid into the driver’s seat as I buckled my seat belt.
“I talked to Detective Larson while you were in the back room—”
My face whipped to his. “You did?”
“Yeah. They took the bowl to fingerprint and analyze it, but it sounds like the doc was right. That’s what he thought it was, too.” He stared straight ahead with his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.
“I never thought he would do something like this,” I murmured, letting my head fall back against the seat.
“Me either.” He turned toward me but didn’t start the car. “He’s unpredictable, and he’s only getting crazier. I mean . . . he was in your house.”