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“No, but I know it’s for the best,” I say, and she nods before walking to the door to greet her next patient.
“Hey, I’ll be done here in an hour. Let’s go grab a drink after work,” she says and I nod, dying for anything that could possibly take my mind off Hunter Brooks.
35
We close earlyand show up at Danny’s bar around six, the sun setting behind us on the horizon. Marley orders us a couple of beers and we sit and chat about the success that the clinic already has.
“We might need another vet in the future,” she says, setting her beer down and twirling it on the bartop.
“I mean, I can definitely find another tech, but if we start doing house calls, I’ll need someone at the clinic while I travel,” she sighs.
“I wish I could help you, but I definitely didn’t learn anything about animal anatomy while I studied literature,” I laugh and she swats at me, sipping our beers as we listen to the music and watch people dance.
“Speaking of which, have you thought about what you’re going to do with your degree? I know you’ve had to worry about the ranch, but Earl and the boys have all that taken care of, and my mom still does the accounting shit, so what about you?” she asks, raising an eyebrow as I shrug in response.
“What about me? I wanted to travel, maybe work in some libraries overseas. I got my teaching certificate, but we’re literally in the middle of nowhere and I can’t make the commute every day to Yellowstone or any other major town.” She spits out her beer, turning and staring at me with wide eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had your teaching certificate?” She gasps and I shrug once more.
“Not really much opportunity to bring it up I guess,” I say sheepishly, smiling at Danny as he catches my eye down the bar and winks.
He’s a really nice guy, handsome too. I always feel safe when I come here because of him.
“Ali, this may be a small town, but we have a school district obviously. One of my patients the other day is actually the elementary school secretary and was complaining about how the fourth-grade teacher just quit and they need more teachers, but nobody can make the drive.” Her words spark something in me, something I thought had died when my dad did, and I was told I was going to take over his ranch.
“Where’s the school?” I ask and she pulls out her phone, showing me the location on the GPS.
“The two old buildings right before you enter Cannon Falls. There are a few neighboring towns around here, as well as a couple of reservations for the natives that stayed years ago. The district takes kids from all of them. It’s the closest school any of us have for miles,” she says and I start to smile, feeling hopeful for once.
“Do you think they’d like me?” I ask and she scoffs as she grabs a pen from her lab coat pocket and writes down a woman's name and number on a napkin, handing it to me.
“Her name is Sherry. She was the secretary when I was a kid. I’ve known her my whole life and I can almost guarantee you that when she meets you, she’ll make the director hire you on the spot,” she says with a wide smile as I fold the napkin and shove it into the pockets of my jeans.
“Thanks, Marley. I’ll give her a call on Monday,” I say as she hugs me, flagging down Danny as we finish our beers.
“Need some more, ladies?” he asks, throwing a hand towel over his shoulder that he used to polish the glasses with.
He leans on the bartop, brown eyes glittering as he smiles at me.
“Yes, please!” Marley says, jumping when Rob appears behind us and grabs her by the hand.
“You can drink after this song,” he says with a wink, pulling a blushing Marley away from the bar and onto the dance floor.
“What about you, Ali?” Danny asks, eyes glued to mine.
“Another beer will be fine, Danny. Thank you,” I say.
“No, I mean, what do you think about dancing? With me?” he asks, a confident and kind smile stretching on his lips.
“Oh, I mean, I would love to,” I stutter, looking around the bar before I meet his eyes once more.
“But I think they’re line dancing and I have to admit, I didn’t even know that people actually did that.” I cringe, chuckling as his smile spreads.
He walks around the bar, grabs my hand and pulls me from my seat before he walks me to the dance floor.
“Well then, I guess I’ll have to teach you,” he says with a wink, and I can’t help but laugh as he starts to show me some steps alongside Marley and Rob.
I stumble and trip, falling into Danny’s arms as we both laugh. He holds onto my hips to steady me, teaching me more steps as he stands behind me and encourages me and offers me some praises. I don’t feel anything sexual when he touches me, it feels friendly and safe and the more we dance, the more I laugh.
