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Tess wasn't afraid of that option; she was used to moving around. Sometimes she wondered if it wasn 't easier for her to start over than to really dig in somewhere. She was still searching for that soft place to fall. Maybe she would never find it.
"Look, Tess, I've, um, been meaning to talk to you about something. My classes are getting pretty intense this last semester, and I really need to buckle down." She hesitated, lifting her shoulder. "You know I love working here, but I'm going to have to scale back my hours."
Tess nodded, accepting. "Okay."
"It's just that between the clinic and studying, I hardly have time to breathe anymore, you know? My dad's getting remarried in a few weeks, so I also have to think about moving out of his place. Anyway, my mom really wants me to come back to California after I graduate in the spring... "
"It's okay. Really, I understand," Tess said, relieved in a small way.
She'd shared with Nora some of the business's financial struggles, and while Nora had insisted on riding it out with her, Tess still felt responsible. In fact, there were times she felt as though she was keeping the clinic afloat more for her clients and Nora than for herself. She was good at her work--she knew that--but she couldn't help feeling that this new life she had made was just another form of hiding. From her past, certainly, but also from the here and now. From something that she was afraid to examine too closely.
You're always running away, Tess.
Dante's words from last night replayed in her mind. She'd been reflecting on what he said, knowing that his observation of her was right. Like him, she often felt that if she just kept moving, kept running, she might--just might--be able to survive. She didn't fear eventual death, though. Her demon was always close by her side.
Deep down, she knew that what she was really running from was herself.
Tess straightened a stack of papers on her desk, pulling herself back to the conversation. "When were you thinking of cutting back your hours?"
"Well, as soon as you can let me, I guess. It kills me that you've been bankrolling my paycheck from your personal funds, anyway."
"You let me worry about that," Tess said, her words interrupted by the jangle of bells on the clinic's front entrance. Nora glanced over her shoulder. "That must be UPS with our supply order. I'll run out and grab it before I go."
She jogged away and Tess heard muffled conversation in the reception area. Then Nora was back again, a flush of pink in her cheeks.
"It's definitely not UPS in the lobby," she said, keeping her voice low as if she didn't want to be overheard. "It's an absolute god."
Tess laughed. "What?"
"Are you up for a walk-in? Because this amazing-looking guy is waiting out there with a pitiful little dog."
"Is it an emergency?"
Nora shrugged. "I don't think so. No obvious blood or trauma, but the guy is pretty insistent. He asked for you. And did I mention he's drop-dead gorgeous?"
"You did," Tess said, standing up from her desk and coming around to put on her white lab coat. A tingle kicked up below her ear, an odd prickling sensation like the one she'd felt at the museum exhibit and again last night, when she was standing next to Dante at the coffee shop. "Tell him I'll be right out, please."
"No problem." Nora hooked her hair behind her ear, smoothed her low-cut sweater, and trotted off.
It was him. Tess knew it was Dante, even before she heard his voice rumble in the lobby. She found herself smiling into her hand, weathering a wild current of excitement to think that he had sought her out after the embarrassing way she'd left things with him last night in the park.
Oh, God. This jolt of hormones was bad, bad news. She wasn't the type to go all giddy over a man, but Dante did something to her that she'd never felt before.
"Get a grip," she whispered to herself as she headed out of her office and into the hallway that opened onto the lobby area.
Dante stood at the tall reception station, holding a small bundle in his arms. Nora was leaning across the countertop to pet the little dog, cooing adoringly and flashing Dante a nice shot of her cleavage. Tess couldn't blame Nora for flirting. Dante just had that effect on a woman; not even Tess was immune to his dark allure.
His eyes had locked on to her the instant she entered the room, and if Tess wanted to act cool and unaffected, she was probably failing miserably. Her smile wouldn't dim, and her fingers trembled a bit as she brought her hand up to the side of her neck, where the queer tingling seemed to gather the strongest.
"This must be Harvard," she said, glancing to the rather emaciated-looking terrier mix in Dante's arms. "When I said I wanted to meet him, I guess I didn't expect it would be so soon."
Dante frowned. "Is this a bad time?"
"No. No, it's fine. I'm just... surprised, that's all. You keep surprising me."
"You guys know each other?" Nora was gaping at Tess like she wanted to high-five her.
"We, uh... we met a couple of nights ago," Tess stammered. "At the museum reception. Last night we ran into each other again in the North End."
