The 12-year-old, silver Toyota Corolla turned into the car park at Pets R Us. The driver’s angle wasn’t quite right; it only just missed the end of the low, brick wall by the entrance. The person in the passenger seat squawked “stop!”, causing the car to brake hard. Slowly and tentatively, it crawled forward until it was fully inside its space. It took an extra five minutes for the driver to manoeuvre the car until it was actually within the lines, even though there were no other cars either side of the chosen space.

  Ever put the car in "P", glancing across to the side. “How did I do?”

  Zoe was doing her best to smile, but it came out more as a strained grimace. “Good,” she paused. “Might have been a bit much to drive from your place to the clinic so soon. Anyway.” She opened her door, hopped out and closed it. The glove compartment popped open with a heavy thunk, a couple of palm-sized white boxes falling out. She threw open the door, put the boxes back and slammed the glove compartment shut. “Ugh, I told them to fix that last service. Let's get inside."

  He came out, fumbled with the keys for a moment before locking the door. Zoe then hooked her arm around his as they walked into the clinic together. Ever leered at the sliding automatic doors as they approached; thankfully they opened; at least they seemed to respect one of them.

  “Good morning, love birds!” Carol said, shimmying her hands as if casting a woo woo spell on them. “Or should I say, love budgies?”

  “Did you watch Mr. Stathopoulos’ video as well?” Zoe asked.

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  “Oh of course!” Carol said. She fanned herself, as if putting out a small fire on her face. “Yes he was a bit of a grump, but we all know how much he loved that gorgeous budgie of his.”

  “I think it’s fake,” Roman said. His discerning eyes bounced between Ever and Zoe, not revealing anything. “It’s so easy to fake these videos now in this day and age.”

  “It’s not fake,” Ever blurted. “I– ow!”

  Zoe pinched a flap of skin on his waist with spare arm. “We watched it together,” she said looking at him with such a sweet look it was almost cloying. “It looked super real.”

  “His tears looked real to me,” Jin said quietly. She had just walked into Zoe’s room, carrying a bunch of folders. “I don’t think he’s pretending.”

  “He also doesn’t have any more appointments,” Carol said, having a quick scroll through the timetable. “Though it is our last week of the year, to be fair.”

  “Anyway,” Zoe said, “There are a couple things I want to say before the first appointments come in.” All eyes were on Zoe. “First, Ever’s going to be consulting with us on a casual basis.” She looked up at him, eyes gleaming with appreciation and sparkling with mischief. “He’s something of an animal whisperer.”

  “The second thing,” Zoe said, cutting in before anyone could ask any questions, “is that I’ve invited him to our little end of year snow trip.”

  “Oh fun!” Carol said, clapping her hands like an excited seal. “Someone new to put into compromising positions.”

  “Please,” Roman said, raising his eyebrow, “we all know you’re the one who ends up in compromising positions.”

  “And that’s why I said now there’s someone else who can join me!” She retorted.

  “No one’s getting put into compromising positions if we don’t look after these animals,” Zoe barked. “Let’s get to work.”