Like You Do

The Way You Hold Me

"We'd have to run some tests. Some blood work, maybe an MRI, some x-rays for sure."

Finn swallowed as the vet spoke, his chest feeling heavy with guilt and worry. Maybe they were better off just hoping Moody would lose some weight. His mother's words kept ringing in his head though; what if she really was in pain or seriously hurting?

"The good thing is, she isn't in any external pain so that rules out a few things. The blood work and x-rays should show us what we need to know and we can diagnose her and start whatever kind of treatment she may need."

"And how quickly can we get that done?" Finn asked with the thought of Millie in the back of his head.

He still hadn't mentioned anything about the appointment to her and he wasn't planning to anytime soon. She was at work until six today and he had scheduled the appointment so that they would be done by five. That made sure he had time to drive Moody back home before he went to pick Millie up.

"Blood tests and x-rays will be around an hour and your results will be here in about a week or two," the vet replied with a nod.

Finn sighed and nodded as he glanced at the clock on the wall. That would spare him an extra thirty minutes before he picked up Millie.

"Okay that's fine, let's do that."

"Alright. I'll have Moody taken to get bloodwork done and we'll head to the front to discuss payment with Ronnie," the vet gestured to the door and Finn started towards it.

"Right, payment," Finn mumbled under his breath. He scratched Moody behind the ear before following the vet as he walked out to the front reception desk.

He knew payment was a factor, obviously. He already felt so stressed at the thought of money though; he knew that he had to dip into the savings he had on the side just in case, at least Millie wouldn't find out about that.

"Okay so with bloodwork and the x-rays we're doing today, your total is going to come out to five hundred and fifty-three dollars and forty-two cents."

Finn's eyes widened and his eyebrows furrowed, "Five hundred?"

The receptionist nodded, "...fifty-three dollars and forty-two cents."

Finn opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He had expected a pricey bill but not five hundred dollars. He knew the vet was expensive but this was going to be a lot more than he originally thought.

"Do you have pet insurance?" The man asked.

"Pet insur-no, I don't even have people insurance," Finn shook his head. Pet insurance was a thing?

The receptionist raised his eyebrows, "Well we can put you on a payment plan that would run over a six month time period."

"How much would that be a month?" Finn asked.

The other man typed on the computer for a couple seconds, "You're looking at roughly ninety-two dollars a month."

Finn sighed but nodded anyway, "Okay, let's do that."

"Great your first payment can be paid now, will that be cash or card?"

Finn started to pull his wallet out, "Cash."

He grabbed the money that he had pulled from the bank earlier in the day and handed it over, his eyes watching as the receptionist typed some more. He would've paid in card but Millie could see every transaction if he did and he wasn't ready to tell her about this whole visit yet.

"Moody will be done in a bit, you may take a seat in the waiting area and we'll call you up when she's done, okay?"

He gave a quick nod and then walked over to the seats. He pulled his phone out and immediately called his mom; his nerves were high and he needed to talk to somebody about it.