I take a breath. The admission feels good. Heavy, but good.
“I’m running thin,” I confess. “I can’t be in two places at once anymore. And the truth is, my place is there now. On the ranch. In the clinic.”
He nods slowly. He understands. Maybe not the specifics—the pack, the heat, the bond that ties me to the brothers—but he understands the human element. The need for roots.
“Home,” he murmurs. “It is a powerful pull.”
“It is.”
“Well,” he says. He puts his glasses back on. “We will miss your sharp mind here, Sedona. You have a gift for research. Don’t let it go to waste entirely.”
“I won’t. I’ll still be publishing the paper with you.”
“Good.” He stands up and extends his hand across the desk. “I wish you the best of luck. I hope the move goes smoothly.”
I shake his hand. His grip is dry and firm.
“Thank you, Dr. Alistair.”
“Oh, one more thing,” he says as I turn to leave. “There’s talk of a farewell gathering? Clara mentioned it?”
“A going-away party,” I confirm. “Tonight. At O’Malley’s. Seven p.m.”
“I will do my best to make an appearance,” he says. “But no promises. Grant paperwork waits for no man.”
“I understand.”
I walk out of his office and close the door softly behind me.
I head down the hall toward the lab. My lab. Or, the lab that used to feel like mine.
I push through the double doors. The benches are clean, and the microscopes are covered. My station is empty.
I stand there for a moment and think about the first time I walked into this room.
I was twenty-three, running from a proposal, from a life that terrified me. I thought this place would save me.
I thought if I immersed myself in science, in data, in the concrete reality of cells and blood, I wouldn’t have to feel the ache in my chest.
And it worked. For a while.
But data doesn’t hug you when you’re cold. Science doesn’t smell like pine smoke and rain. Research doesn’t love you back.
I’m done.
I'm done with the long flights. I’m done with the layovers in Dallas. I’m done with the solo dinners in cramped apartments. I’m done with the sterility.
I check my watch. 4:30 p.m.
I have a few hours before the party. I need to go back to the apartment. I need to finish packing the last box. I need to say goodbye to the view from the fire escape.
I turn to leave the lab, and my phone buzzes in my pocket.
I pull it out.
The screen lights up with a name.Clara.
I swipe to answer.
