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She already knew what she needed to do, and the choice had been clear.
Troy. He may not want her back, and between his aversion to commitment and long distance—not to mention the dating app situation—Megan wasn’t getting her hopes up. Regardless, she had an overwhelming urge to come here today. Even if she never saw him again, Megan knew she needed to be here. To see him. To help him since he wouldn’t help himself.
She couldn’t have lived with herself any other way. She was meant to help people. That’s why she was here.
Last night, when she had looked at her packed bags and new suit for her interview at the veterinary school, everything about it felt wrong.
Even though she couldn’t get to his attorney until the next day, she had itched to take action. Do something.
Her cats had sat on the edge of the bed and watched as she scoured her phone again, wrote down all of the information with time stamps, and took screenshots.
Not satisfied, Megan paced while she thought through her next move. It needed to be convincing. She fired off a few ideas to Ash and smiled when she got the response in the affirmative.
The cats continued to watch from their perch on the bed. It probably was entertaining to watch her dig out the old printer from the bottom of the closet, throwing shoes in her wake and swearing as she dug somewhere in the back to shake the dust bunnies off the cords. When plugged in, it produced sounds of mashing gears and a screeching that rivaled the sounds of the damned. The cats darted away to find shelter.
To make space for the printer, she cleared off her desk, taking care to relocate her family artifacts to the windowsill before returning to the desk and propping up her laptop and connecting it to the tangle of cords.
While the computer reconnected with its old friend, Megan checked the ink, and finding it bone dry, she muttered another curse and dug around in her desk drawers looking through pens and old Post-It notes, hoping to God there was a lone ink cartridge in the back. She shouldn’t have been surprised when none magically appeared. There was enough dust on the printer to grow potatoes. Clearly ink hadn’t been a priority in the past.
But priorities changed.
Megan set her mouth in a line, grabbed her coat, wallet, and keys, and headed out to grab one in the pouring rain, despite her cats’ obvious side-eye. Clearly, they weren’t used to this new pattern of late night activity.
The drive was quick and silent except for the sprinkling of rain and the thump of the windshield wipers beating back the rain. The big store was almost deserted and as a result felt somewhere between eerie and peaceful. With no trouble at all, she marched right back to her target, snagged the ink, hit the self-checkout, and was driving back in record time. It hadn’t even crossed her mind to look for cat food or anything for herself until she was pulling back into her spot.
All she could think about was Troy. Thoughts of him sitting somewhere in that jail consumed her. Was he having another nightmare? Did those other women mean something to him? Did he have them enable location services on their phone? Was that even normal or was it just creepy?
Megan turned over the thought in her head while messing with the printer back in the apartment. Given what he was clearly struggling with, probably not. Laura and Carter had location services enabled on each other. Maybe that was the new version of going steady?
He had been planning to leave, which might explain the dating apps, but now that she had some distance from it, they hadn’t been messages of any substance. Did he stay late with them? Did other women console him after a nightmare?
Megan frowned at the thought, a new feeling growing stronger inside. She hadn’t been able to put her finger on it before, but now identified it as protectiveness.
The idea of someone else getting him water and holding him made her shoulders tense up toward her ears, not to mention her blood boil.
Which was precisely why, instead of using her ancient, temperamental printer to print off her resume and cover letter, she printed off the screenshots she emailed herself from her phone.
She didn’t know exactly how he felt about her, but that didn’t matter. He needed help, and she was compelled to go to him. Maybe this was what true love was. She might be mad, annoyed, and hurt by him, but she loved him and knew she had to go to him when he needed her. She couldn’t sleep any other way.
That was how Megan ended up here on this bench instead of driving to her interview. Today was Troy’s arraignment, and any minute, the lawyer would arrive to the courthouse where Megan could present the evidence that would get him off the hook and out of here.
Megan checked the time again on her phone and saw the email reply from the admissions office about rescheduling her interview.
A bubble of disappointment popped in her chest as she read what she already knew. There was no way to reschedule. She would need to wait until next year and try again.
Megan tucked her phone back in her bag and rested her hands on the folder. She was at peace with her decision. Nothing would really change, and that was okay. She would be okay.
Troy would leave and head back to the base. He had made it clear he was not interested in long-distance relationships, or anything serious for that matter. Wasn’t it funny how he responded to loss with being afraid of commitment, and she took the other path? As a result, there was no future for either of them, but she would know she had helped in his time of need and that would have to be enough for her.
After that, they wouldn’t talk much unless he came home. He hadn’t left yet, and she was already looking forward to that first visit. He didn’t like commitment, so he would probably be single, and maybe they could meet up.
That would mean her still being here, and still working at Station Three with Buzz, Jordan, and the rest of the crew. Buzz hadn’t fired her after all, but had pulled out that yellow legal pad and given her the name of his counselor, a recommendation for yoga class, and a coveted week off to get some rest and sort out her feelings, which was very needed.
So it was settled.
Twenty-five years ago, Megan had been given a gift and now would continue to give back, just like how Troy had given her a gift, and now she was helping him. Everything was in balance. She was where she was meant to be, and all would be well.
Megan let out a long breath through her mouth and steadied herself for the lawyer in the blue suit coming down the hall.
