I stared down at Milly, wishing she’d push back, argue—hell, wishing she were Erika so I could justify the rage boiling me from the inside out.Instead, she looked up at me with unshed tears, and guilt hit me square in the gut.I felt like an ass for putting that look on her face.
Still, I thought I deserved a little sympathy.This was the funeral reception for my mentor, my business partner, and the man I admired most.I was only days away from falling apart, with no idea how I was supposed to keep the clinic running without him.
“Excuse me.”I untangled myself from Milly.“I’m not good company right now.”
Murray Gibson, senior deacon at the Baptist church and self-appointed morality police, intercepted me as I tried to disappear into the back of the clinic.He treated fun like a communicable disease and believed society peaked when dancing was sinful and alcohol was the devil’s mouthwash.
He leaned in like we were sharing town gossip.“Good thing that Chomping girl is leaving.I hear she’s trouble.I think she’s bad for your business.”
Of course he did.Murray collected rumors the way other people collected stamps.
“Who told you that—Timothy?”My brother had shown up for the funeral but skipped the reception, either out of cowardice or indifference.Hard to say which annoyed me more.
“I just heard it around,” he said, his gray hair still clipped into a military flat top from some long-ago war.
“Dr.Chomping surgically removed an arrow from a dog’s chest the other day,” I said.“Missed the heart by a hair.We’d be lucky if she stayed.”
“Bad seed,” Murray said, waving it off.“Too bad she didn’t stay away for good after that baseball-field mess.”
I glanced at Erika—still trapped in hugs—then smiled tightly.“Excuse me,” I said, before I decked the senior deacon.“I need the commode.”
I speed walked to the back of the clinic, away from everyone, with the excuse to check on our two boarding dogs.The dogs stared at me with a mixture of boredom and hope.
I knelt and petted them through the bars.The beagle was so big he could barely stand, his brown eyes hopeful for food.His shaggy poodle-mix housemate spun in tight circles, bangs hiding his eyes.“It’s not time to go out or eat,” I said.“You’re just jealous Petey went home yesterday.She does incredible work, doesn’t she?Think we can convince her to come back?”
Someone pushed through the door.
It was Erika.
Embarrassed she might have overheard me, I held my breath.When she said nothing after several awkward seconds, I snapped, “What are you doing back here?”
Her eyes narrowed.“Am I interrupting a soon-to-be rendezvous with one of your girlfriends?”
“What?Come with me.”I dragged her into the office, turning on the lights as I went in.I stepped away from her once I shut the door.“I really need you to stay.To work here.”
“I have a life up north to sort out.”The sternness of her lips said she’d made up her mind to leave.Panic socked me straight through the skull.
“Why are you leading on Drew, then?”
“Drew?”Her head jerked back as if confused by the conversational detour.Wrinkles formed between her eyebrows.“He was sweet to stand with me through people offering sympathy and telling me stories about my dad.”
“Don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“Not anymore.He…” She started to say something.I could tell whatever it was would upset her.But then she just shook her head.“Forget about it.He’s history.”
Her words brought me up cold, exactly as she meant them to.“What did the fucker do to you?”
She tilted her head, studying me like she was dissecting every flaw I’d tried to hide.“I forgot how deep your hero complex runs.Newsflash: you don’t get to swoop in and save me.I don’t need rescuing.I’m perfectly capable of handling mooching, control-obsessed losers who cheat on me.”
“He cheated on you?Was there…more than that?”I watched her expression closely, catching the tiny flinch she probably hoped I wouldn’t see.My voice dropped to a whisper.“Did he hurt you?Did he ever lay a hand on you?”Despite trying to keep steady, my voice broke.
She didn’t answer with a quickno.And she wouldn’t look at me, which from her was a screamingyes.
My stomach turned to ice.“Jesus—” I sucked in a breath, so I didn’t break.I forced myself to step back, to give her space when every cell in my body screamed to demand his name, to track him down, and to lay him out until he understood what pain felt like.“What exactly did he do to you?”
“I got myself into it,” she whispered, arms wrapping around herself.“I’m ending it.It’s my fault.”
“Bullshit.”
