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Once it was finished, we stood there staring at the grave until Mitch broke the eerie silence.
“I’m not going back to school.”
I snapped my head toward him. “You’ve only got a semester left. And what about vet school?”
“I panicked, Jules. I couldn’t get my head in the game, and that foal is dead because of me. Doc Issac pretty much said so.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away as if he couldn’t bear to look at the grave a second longer.
“It’s not easy to lose an animal, but what happened tonight isn’t your fault.”
“I got Blue’s foal killed because I thought I knew what I was doing. If I’d called the vet earlier—”
“No. Blue doesn’t blame you. Nobody does.”
“You weren’t in there. You don’t know what happened.”
“Yeah, I do.” He wheeled around. “I was right outside the whole time.”
“You should’ve been at the house.”
Even in the dark I could make out the crimson stain on his cheeks as his temper rose.
“I wanted to be around. In case you needed me.” His laugh was a hollow sound as it floated toward the night sky. “You’re not quitting school.” I didn’t want to argue about us. Neither one of us was in the right frame of mind to tackle that.
“I am.”
“What about the football game? You going to that?”
He yanked on the brim of his ball cap. “I don’t know.”
“You’re going. Or are you going to let the team down?”
A bitter noise escaped him. “I’m good at that.”
“When y’all lost to Notre Dame this year, did you quit?”
He glared at me. “No.”
“Did you want to?”
“No.”
“Then why are you giving up on everything you’ve ever wanted now?”
“I know you aren’t comparing a football game to that foal’s life,” he said on a low growl.
“I’m not saying they’re of equal value, but there’s a parallel here.”
“If we lose a football game, nobody dies.”
I recoiled. “So all the injured animals you’ve helped over the years mean nothing?”
He kicked at a root of the tree. “Right now, this is the one that counts.”
I stepped in front of him. “It’s fine if being a vet isn’t what you want to do, but don’t make a rash decision in the heat of the moment. At least sleep on it.”
“I don’t need to.”
“Just because you’re angry with me doesn’t mean you should ignore my advice.”
