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wife.” He looked suspiciously at Savannah. “You tricked me?”
    Savannah reached out and slapped playfully at Michael.
    “Ouch, that hurt. Be careful, I was injured fighting for your honor, you know.” He pretended to sulk.
    “I’m sorry, honey. Kiss kiss,” she said as everyone laughed.
    Michael grinned. “Finally, I get some sympathy.”
    ***
    The Monday evening headlines of the small-town Hammond Daily screamed, “Veterinarian Brutally Beaten by Dead Dog’s Owner.”
    Savannah heard the front door open and close. “Where are you?” Michael called out.
    “Kitchen!”
    “Did you see the paper tonight, hon?” he asked as he approached her. He slapped it down on the kitchen table. “It looks like Gamble’s out on bail.”
    “Yeah, I saw it,” Savannah said somberly, turning away from the counter to face her husband. “My cell phone has been ringing like crazy all afternoon.”
    He lowered his brow. “Why? Who’s been calling?”
    “Well-wishers mostly. You know, our friends.”
    With a sigh of relief he said, “Oh, I thought maybe it was clients concerned about their pets.”
    “Noooo, Michael.” She walked over and put her arms around his neck in a hug. Pulling back a little so she could look at him, she asked, “You don’t think this is going to scare people away, do you? No one’s going to believe you were negligent. You have a great reputation in this town, honey.”
    “Savannah,” he said taking a deep breath, “it can take years to build a good reputation and a few minutes to ruin it.” He released her hands from around his neck, squeezed them, and turned away.
    “But you did nothing wrong.”
    “I hope I didn’t make a mistake with that dog.” He stood leaning with his hands on the back of a kitchen chair, his head down.
    “Of course, you didn’t.”
    He turned toward her. “It doesn’t really matter what did or didn’t happen; an accusation like this can be damaging.” He paused and then began to tear up. “I’m worried about our practice.”
    “This really does have you shook up. I’m so sorry it happened. But I don’t think we should go through life with such heavy regret that it interferes with living.”
    Michael lowered himself into the chair and put his head in his hands. Savannah looked down at him with sadness in her heart. How can I help this man? she wondered. I just hate to see him so beaten down. Finally, she said, “Michael, don’t let one unreasonable jerk spoil even one minute of your life. Sure, you feel badly about losing the dog. This is every veterinarian’s nightmare and one that we all must live through more times than we care to think about. Losing Brute is something you will need to come to terms with. And you will. You’ve had situations like this before. You grieve, you try to figure out what happened so it never happens again, and you move on. The equation that’s in the way for you now is that horrible, unbalanced man. His opinion is wrong! His opinion doesn’t count. You can’t take it seriously. You can’t take him seriously.”
    Savannah moved around and stood in front of her husband. “Michael, look at me. You didn’t do anything wrong. The guy’s off his rocker. No one’s going to believe what he says against you—you have loyal clients who have trusted you for a long time.”
    “Yeah, I know. I guess I’m overwrought and overreacting.” He put his arms around her and pulled her onto his lap. “What would I do without you?” he asked into her hair.
    She chuckled. “Sure wouldn’t want to find that out.”
    “Neither would I.”
    They held each other for a while and then Savannah pulled back and said, “Now, I have good news.”
    He took a deep breath…coughed a little. “I could use a dose of that. What is it?”
    She smiled. Using her most enticing tone, she said, “Adam’s coming this weekend.”
    Michael perked up immediately, his eyes bright; a smile on his face. “Really?” And then he cocked his head and