New Happiness, Begins
The Part 37

David's mouth felt dry. The woman actually had a great physical attraction with golden hair and hazel eyes, but David's stomach was still wrapped around having left Kendall. Loud barking filled the sense of hearing, drawing Hailey's attention.

The woman looked at her dog. "You want to take a walk?" He looked back at David and shook his head. "Even in this forest he must be tied up, otherwise he cannot defecate." Hailey grabbed the dog leash and stood up, cleaned her mini-shorts, then called her limping dog over to get on the leash. "I won't be long" Hailey said with a smile full of promise.

David nodded, then exhaled a sigh of relief as the awkward situation was cut off. He had to think of something to get out of this situation without hurting Hailey's feelings. He wanted to check on the condition of the injured fawn. Come to think of it, he shouldn't have left the doctor with a wild animal. If he was conscious, the fawn could have hurt him because it might have tried to escape.

David began to clean up the remnants of their picnic food. He has already put together a reason for work or urgent business, something that needs his attention. He stopped to rub his stomach, which began to feel nauseous. Eager to return, he stood up and folded back their picnic blanket clumsily. He looked up and saw Hailey back with her dog.

"It was a false warning" said the woman cheerfully, "but she was acting strangely. I've never seen him try to eat grass." When he saw that their picnic items had been cleared, the look on his face turned sour. "Would we go home?"

"Sadly so" said David. "Harry asked me to check on the job."

"alright. I don't think Oscar is feeling well either. Probably because of the heat."

As agreed with his master's statement, the dog let out strange noises, then vomited near their feet.

David frowned and retreated with crutches. "I'm not feeling too well either. Did you leave the chicken salad sandwich before you packed it? It might be stale."

Hailey was offended. "Only as long as I wait for you. But Oscar doesn't eat."

"Yes, he ate" David said in a sorry tone.

"I'm squealing my sandwich."

Hailey looked sad, then squatted down to hug her dog. "Oh, no."

The nausea that attacked David her mammoth leaned against the crutches in order to stay standing. "Let's go home, right now."

"Kendall must know what to do" Hailey said, holding her pet.

David was overcome with fear that overcame the nausea that stirred the stomach.

He believes Kendall will do whatever she can to help Hailey's dog, but this time the doctor will probably let her die.

David darted back into the city in an instant, gulping down his saliva with great difficulty to withstand the nausea in the stomach every time the ATV hit the mound. Stopping in front of the dormitory, he urges Hailey to go in first and not wait for her to take crutches. But Hailey could see David himself was already weak and insisted on helping him in.

"Kendall!" hailey shouted startlingly, before they arrived at the practice site.

Kendall came out into the front room, her expression alert. "What's wrong?"

"Oscar and David may have been food-poisoned."

"Sandwich chicken salad."

"Bring the Oscars in there," Kendall said, pointing to the practice room. "Write all the ingredients in your chicken salad. I'll take David to the next room."

When Kendall replaced Hailey's place under the shoulder, David was relieved and sorry and embarrassed. "I'm sorry, Little Doctor's Mom."

But Kendall's body language was only a response to that situation. "Keep your strength" he said, then sent David into the empty bedroom next to the practice room and told the man to lie down on the bed.

"I feel bad" murmured David, happy to be lying on cool sheets.

"You're going to feel better after you throw up" Kendall said, then put David's crutches nearby and put the trash can near the bed.

"I mean about that incident."

"For such a thing I can't help" said Kendall cheerfully, still not making eye contact. "But if you're food poisoning, the poison should come out of your body in a day or two."

Disappointment squeezed David's chest because he was unable to convey how much guilt he had felt because it had swayed Kendall. "You're gonna stay here that long?"

Finally Kendall looked at David, crushing the man with a sharp look from her beautiful brown eyes. "Who else will take care of your body?" He fixed the pillow. "Wait a minute."

David watches over the woman's departure and something that feels like admiration envelops him. David's chest ached with emotions he had never felt before. But he had not had time to interpret that feeling, his stomach was cramping.

Good, he thought as he leaned over to spit out the stomach contents into the trash. That strange feeling must have been just this symptom of pain.

It will disappear in a day or two.

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"I feel well enough to drive you to the tower" David insisted from the dorm's side doorway.

Kendall looked at David's pale face and how strongly the man was leaning on crutches while testing the ATV steering wheel. After forty hours of being close to David Booker, treating him for food poisoning, he was ready to stay away from the man. And that reason has nothing to do with disease, he's been trained to be objective. What worries him is his rapidly growing heart thump when he touches David's hot forehead, his clutches of worry as the man's body jolts with severe nausea and his fantasies when he watches David sleep. The closeness he felt with this man felt familiar and dangerous. Not after what almost happened between them and how it ended.

"You have to rest at least one more day" Kendall said. "And there must be someone watching the animals as I go."

"I'll help," Hailey's teammate who appears and stands next to David. He put one hand on David's arm in the style of having. "I'll look at my sweet Oscar. I'll make sure David stays in bed."

Kendall was satisfied to see David clumsy. At least the man had enough shame to feel awkward by moving from his arms into Hailey's arms the day he carried the injured deer. Imagining what they might do during a "picnic" before Hailey accidentally poisons the man makes it easier for Kendall to keep her distance. He threw a cheerful smile at the couple. "It seems like everything is in order. I won't be long." He put a helmet on and tightened the rope under his chin.

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