“We need to talk,” I hissed to Erika.
She stared up in surprise.“Why are you here?”
“Outside.Now.Or I’ll drag you out of here.”I walked away, hoping for her sake she followed.I wasn’t beneath slinging her over a shoulder.
Outside the building I said, “What the hell is Jim Tadlock bankrolling you to build?”
“Stop yelling.”
“I am not yelling!”Okay, maybe I was.
“I have an idea to expand our practice and build something new for the area.”Not for an instant did she look contrite about proceeding behind my back.
“You didn’t think to askmeabout this first?”My voice came out sharper than I intended, but I didn’t rein it in.“The business is half mine.Technically, seventy-five percent mine.I’ve poured a hell of a lot more sweat into building it than you.”
“Maybe you should take a few deep breaths.”She lifted her hands and started doing these slow, exaggerated movements—some kind of yoga breathing nonsense—like I was a toddler mid-tantrum instead of her business partner.
“I consulted Jim,” she said, chin tilting up.“He’s a financial guy.If he thought it wasn’t doable, I’d have scrapped it.I just wanted my ducks in a row before bringing it to you, because I figured you’d flip out.”Her eyes hardened.“Like you are right now.”
And there it was—thatlook.The superior, judgmental one I’d come to despise.The one that told me, without a single word, that I’d just confirmed every low expectation she’d ever had of me.It landed like a slap.
“In a row for what?”I asked in as even a tone as I could manage, but it still came out terse.
“Are you sure you can handle big news?”She watched me closely.
“Are you purposefully being vague and annoying?”My breaths were coming fast.I didn’t want to lose her.If she moved to another clinic with Dr.Hanagan or whatever his name was, I might never see her, especially if she was working mostly overnights.Hadn’t she said working primarily nights was killing her?I couldn’t let her go back to them.
She stared at me as if weighing her words.“This is why we’re always so hot and cold.You act calm and unbothered around everyone else—like you’re doing right now—but underneath, you’re burning.I feel it.I do the same thing; I hide it.”Her lip kicked up in that half smile that was mischievous enough to distract me.“It’s hot.Makes me know no matter how cool you seem, if I push you, you’ll spin off into something explosive.It’s all about making sure that explosion hits when you’re deep inside me.”
Sure, I was turned on, maybe even stunned for a second.But I was also furious.“Distracting me won’t work.What’s going on?”
She waved at me to follow her to her car.She pointed at the passenger seat.“Get in.”
She drove us away from the school.We rode in tense silence until she pulled off onto the shoulder at an empty stretch of highway beside an overgrown field I’d driven past a hundred times.She put her Pathfinder in park and stared out the windshield for a moment before speaking.
“My dad bought all this land.”She gestured toward the weeds and broken fence line, barely visible from the dim light of a streetlamp.“I found a letter he wrote me.I think he meant to give this to me for my birthday next month.”
I didn’t comment.Didn’t trust myself to.My arms crossed tighter.
She pushed on.“When I was younger, I researched this farm.It’s been for sale forever.I even drew a rough sketch of a veterinary hospital complex and showed it to my dad.He said he couldn’t afford something that big, so I dropped it.I thought that was the end.”Her voice wavered.“He kept the drawing.And he bought the land.”
The weight in my chest twisted.“He’s right,” I finally said, the words coming out clipped.“Wecan’tafford to build some fancy hospital complex.”I let out a humorless breath.“I’ve got a stack of unpaid bills on my desk to prove it.”
“Dad sucked at finances, it seems.Apparently, he didn’t pay the house’s bills either.We didn’t have power the other day.”
“What?Shit, Erika.You’ve got to call me about stuff like that.It’s cold outside.You could’ve stayed at my place.”
“I’ve got it handled.Don’t worry.”She clasped her hands, like she was bracing herself.“I need this, Josh.I need my own emergency clinic, or at least one I can run.This close to the highway, with towns spread so far apart, it’s perfect.We can pull clients from the suburbs of the big cities.Jim Tadlock will cover half the cost outright and loan us the rest.I want a small-animal ER, an equine referral and surgical center, and to move the mixed practice out here.Two or three buildings.”
“That’s a lot of construction.A lot of money.What does he want in return for gifting us that much money?”
“The soul of our first child.”
“What?”
She giggled.“Lighten up.He was more of a father to me than my own dad.I spent more time out at that farm that I did at home.More nights at their dinner table than at home.And more weekends on the road with them going to shows.”
“I repeat.What do you think he wants?”
