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The cake slowly disappeared as everyone said their goodbyes. By five, the party wrapped up, and I stood in an empty house, cleaning up the remnants of the party.
I stacked dishes in the sink, working my way through the pile before wiping off the counters and putting away the leftover food, mulling over how I’d replace Whitney.
Not just as a vet. Impossible on its own. But Whitney had been a part of my team since the day the rescue opened its doors. We were a small team, but a close one, and one by one, I’d watched them all date, get married, have kids, and, in Whitney’s case, move away.
But not me.
I picked up a broom but set it back down again. I’d sweep in the morning. For now, I wanted to lie down and forget about the rescue and Whitney and the pile of work slowly growing larger the longer her position stayed open.
I checked my phone, surprised to find I didn’t have any text messages. I opened the text thread with Thea’s name at the top.
Everything good? How’d it go with lover boy?
She’d left for Concord the night before on her date with Chase. I hadn’t expected to hear from her until this morning, but the day had flown by without so much as a word.
Three dots appeared under my text.
Horrible. Drove back home last night. Lying on the couch and watching home improvement shows.
That didn’t bode well for the date or her romantic gesture.
He broke up with me. Or we broke up, rather. He’s moving to New Jersey.
Well, obviously. Who in their right mind wants to move to New Jersey? Want me to come over?
The dots appeared and disappeared.
I have cake.
Throw in a pizza and please.
* * *
I showed up at Thea’s house an hour later with a giant piece of sheet cake, a supreme pizza, and a bottle of wine tucked into my backpack.
I gave a quick knock before opening up the front door with my key.
“I’m here!” I called, kicking off my shoes and walking toward the living room.
Thea lay on the couch in sweatpants and a t-shirt, hair in a messy bun.
“You’re taking this hard, aren’t you? Pulled out the sweatpants and everything.” I set the pizza on the coffee table and brushed a kiss over Thea’s forehead.
“He said I didn’t really want to date him,” she moaned, pulling an afghan blanket her grandma had crocheted her up over the shoulders.
“Didn’t you specifically ask him to date you?” I pulled the bottle of wine out of my backpack and set it beside the pizza.
“I was going to, and then he told me he was moving to New Jersey.”
“Not New Jersey.”
“He thought I was asking him to move in with me.”
“That would have made him stay?” I asked, my attempt at keeping the surprise from my voice failing.
I couldn’t think of any scenario where Chase and Thea lived in Franklin Notch. Despite dating for over a year, I’d only seen him in town once. The handful of other times we’d hung out, it’d been in Boston or Concord or Montreal. Hell, he hadn’t even come to town for her birthday.
She shrugged. “Maybe, but I didn’t ask him to move in with me. I asked him to move to Franklin Notch.”
