He answered with an encouraging meow.
Chapter 42
Release
Cerise
Istood in front of the vacant building with Emberly and Rosamund flanking me. Everything had moved much faster than I was prepared for.
As promised, Emberly walked with me to turn in my resignation. It had gone smoother than anticipated, my boss, kind and understanding, wishing me well in my new venture and promising to bring his pets to see me.
When I walked out, Emberly had yanked me into a hug. “I’m so proud of you, CeCe. This has been a long time coming.”
The semester would be ending next week. And then…I’d be done.
Oh my gods, I’d be done. I quit my job.I actually did it.
“CeCe,” Emberly broke me out of my stupor. “Don’t freak out. This is the right thing.”
“I’m not ‘freaking out.’ I was just thinking.”
“About?”
“About the fact that I still can’t believe this is happening. And I actually quit my job. And…oh goodness, what if I made a terrible mistake?”
Rosamund moved to stand before me. “I think that’s thedefinition of freaking out. But there’s no turning back now, so let’s move forward.”
Steeling myself, I nodded. I didn’t think I had ever felt this excited and scared at the same time. After I gave my notice, Emberly had immediately contacted the owner of the building and set up a meeting with their assistant. A week later, we had the paperwork signed and ready to go. Three days after that, I’d gotten a business loan approved by the bank.
And now we were here.
“Well…open the door,” Rosamund urged. “We can’t just stand here and stare at it all day.”
My eyes scanned the outside. It was old and needed work, but it had character. The windows were framed with dark hand-carved wood, looking out onto the busy street where carriages and people passed by. There was a cracked pane in one of them, but the rest seemed to be intact.
“We’ll hang a sign right here above the door,” Emberly said. “I’ll get it painted for you.”
“That would be perfect,” I said.
“Do you have a name for the clinic yet?” Rosamund asked.
“Sunshine Animal Healing.”
Emberly raised her brows, knowing exactly why the word ‘sunshine’ was in the name, but didn’t say anything. I gave her a small smile, then turned to the door and inserted the key, unlocking it and stepping over the threshold into my new life.
“Wow.” I surveyed the open space, the perfect size for a waiting room and a desk.
There was a door leading to the back where I had already decided I would take patients for their exams and treatment.
“I thought it would be dustier in here,” I said. “I could have sworn it was dirtier. When I used to peek through the windows it was never this clean…”
Emberly strode around the space, inspecting the walls and floors. “I heard the owner cleaned it up, hoping to get a tenant quicker.”
“Makes it easier for us, doesn’t it?” I replied.
“Well…where do you want to start?” Rosamund asked, spinning around with her arms out.
I thought for a moment, visualizing the image I had pictured in my head for so long.
