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“And you’re okay with this?” Ellyn lobbed from her other side.
Molly blew on her coffee, more as a stalling technique than any real need to cool it off. Of course she wasn’t okay with it. Her person, the one she wanted to be with more than anyone in the world, was leaving in a handful of days. But what other choice did she have than to let him go when their expectation of where this thing was heading was in totally different directions? “I’ll be leaving soon too. It’s the season for new adventures.”
They both continued to stare at her, wide-eyed and expectant, quietly not allowing her to get away with her vague non-answer and careful sidesteps of their questions.
After three long seconds of waiting them out, Molly lowered her cup to her lap and let out a defeated sigh. “This assignment was meant to be temporary. Goodbye was always part of this story.”
The ache that had started in her chest the moment she’d climbed down that ladder on Saturday night now radiated throughout her entire body. It wasn’t as much of a question of if she was okay with it as it was about doing the right thing.
And she was doing the right thing, wasn’t she?
“It’s for the best.” Molly nodded once to confirm the truth of her statement. She just hadn’t expected this decision to cause her heart to hurt the way it did.
Molly spent the rest of the day trying to push aside the aching heart and focus on enjoying what was left of her time in Emerald Cove. There was still a lot to enjoy, wasn’t there? Three more weeks of getting to hang out with her neighbors. Lots of cuddles and snuggles as she treated Emerald Cove’s cutest furry friends. And extra time with the turtles, including at least two of her favorite kind of appointments—the final exam.
Of course, the thought of today’s final exam caused her stomach to do a strange sort of flip-flop. Grant would be there. Grant was part of all the final exams. And while she was quite clear on how she felt about him—she loved him but had to walk away—she wasn’t at all clear on how she felt aboutseeinghim.
Awkwardness was a guarantee. While technically she hadn’t broken up with him, shutting down any sort of future between them might as well have been the same thing. And nothing was more awkward than seeing your ex for the first time after a split.
There was also a better-than-decent chance that the encounter would be hard. Her heart was still tender from letting him go. The squeeze of staring into the eyes of what could’ve been would only intensify the ache.
But, buried deep under all the other emotions, there was a tiny part of her that was looking forward to seeing him because, even after how everything had gone down, there was no one in the world she’d rather spend time with than Grant Torres.
She pulled into the ECTRR parking lot after a long day at the clinic trying to come up with a game plan of how to tackle the encounter with her kind-of ex. So far, the best thing she’d come up with was to act like nothing had ever happened, which seemed like a sorely lacking plan.
“Good afternoon.” Kya had her normal cheerful smile when Molly walked into the giftshop. “I’ve been told to tell you to head to the vet suite when you get here. They’re about to bring Taylor Swifty in.”
“Perfect.” A flurry of nerves skittered through her, but she did her best to keep them under control.
“I hear she’s being released next week,” Kya said.
“That’s the plan.” Molly took the opportunity to shift her focus, letting her happiness for the turtle knock down any lingering hesitation. “Today’s her final exam. I wore my turtle scrubs to celebrate the occasion.” She struck a pose to show off her blue-and-green scrubs covered with tiny sea turtles.
“I love it! Fingers crossed the exam goes well.” She crossed the fingers on both hands. “But a heads up, a tour just went through those doors. You might have to weave through the crowd to get to the vet suite.”
“Thanks for the warning.” Molly cautiously opened the door to the hallway, peeking through to make sure she didn’t hit anyone.
Like Kya said, a group on a guided tour of the facility crowded the hall as the volunteer guide told them the specifics about the turtle hospital and how it worked.
“And here is one of our fearless vets now. Everyone give a big hello to Dr. Lawrence,” Joslyn, the tour guide, announced.
All eyes turned to look at her. Molly gave a smile and a wave before she ducked into the quiet of the vet suite to start getting set up for the exam.
She had finished washing her hands and was drying them with a paper towel when she heard the cart being wheeled down the hall. Her heart lurched, which was unexpected but not necessarily unpleasant. Being excited to see Grant was a good sign, wasn’t it? Maybe it meant they really could be friends, even after they went their separate ways. After all, it was their easy, natural friendship that had drawn her to him in the first place.
She snapped on her gloves and turned to the door as it started to open.
“Wow, that was one inquisitive group. I thought I’d never get past them.”
It was times like these when Molly wished she had a better poker face. She could actually feel her expression fall as Claire backed through the doorway with the cart.
It wasn’t that she was disappointed to see Claire. She loved Claire. Working with her was always fun. It just wasn’t who Molly was expecting.
She hurried to hold the swinging door for Claire, fixing her face on the way. She peeked out in the hall to see if Grant was following along behind, but all she saw was the tail end of the tour heading through the sliding doors.
“That was a big group,” Molly said.
“I heard it was a family reunion. And judging from the amount of questions, I’d say they all got the talkative gene. Poor Joslyn’s going to be hoarse when she’s finished.”
