by Grace Palmer
Colin runs a hand through his hair, chuckling. It sticks up a little at the front, which gives a boyish edge to his otherwise manly demeanor. “Sorry. I guess I was panicking a little.”
“It was sweet.” Melanie starts gathering materials from the cabinets, setting them up on the countertop. “If everyone cared that much about animals, the world would be a much better place.”
“Is that why you became a vet?”
“Do you always barge into people’s offices late at night and grill them on their career choices?”
He blanches. “Sorry. I have a bad habit of prying when I’m nervous.”
Melanie feels a tide of guilt surge through her. She meant to sound teasing, but it came off as harsh and grating, like it always does. This is why she keeps to herself most of the time. One more bungled interaction—add it to the list.
“No, I’m the one who should apologize. I didn’t mean to be off-putting. To answer your question: sort of.” She smiles wistfully. “When I was a little girl, I found a baby bird that had fallen from its nest on the side of the road when I was on my way home from school. I ran the entire way home and begged my mom to save it. My dad said it was pointless, that it was time for me to learn the ways of nature. But my mom, bless her, she saw how important it was to me. She made a nest in a shoebox and we fed it some water through an eyedropper. I dug up worms from the yard and everything.” Melanie runs her finger down the little dog’s snout. “Mom was practical, though. We didn’t know the first thing about taking care of baby birds, so she said we should take it to a vet. She drove so slowly the whole way to avoid jostling the bird, and I remember looking down and whispering to the bird that it was going to be okay. When we got there, a woman with a soothing voice took him in and promised she would take good care of him.”
“Did the bird make it?”
Melanie looks down at the dog and shakes her head sadly. “No. He was too young.”
“And that made you want to be a vet?” Colin asks.
Melanie chuckles and glances back up at him. “I know it sounds ridiculous, but yes. Because when I called to check in on the bird and the vet told me he’d died, she said that at least in his last few hours someone had cared about him. Had wanted to help.” She shrugs. “And I guess from that point on, I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to help all the animals I could, even if that meant I couldn’t always save them.”
“That’s …” Colin whistles through his teeth. “Wow. That’s beautiful.”
She grins. “Also, it means I get to pet dogs all day.”
“Ah, and the real truth emerges!” Colin chuckles and strokes one of the dog’s front paws. “I’m really glad you did,” he says with a bashful smile. “Become a vet, that is.”
Melanie’s cheeks heat and she looks away. “I’m going to take him to the back for some x-rays,” she says. “I just want to confirm the site of the break, but I think he’s okay.”
“I’ll wait,” Colin says at once.
Melanie shakes her head, guiding Colin back into the waiting room. “Like I said, he will be running around in no time. You can go home with a guilt-free conscience.”
Colin sits on one of the plastic chairs. “No, really. I’ll wait.”
“It’s going to take some time to fix him up,” Melanie warns. “Just go home, get some sleep. I can call you in the morning and let you know how it went.”
He shakes his head. “I won’t be able to sleep anyway. I’d rather just stay here, as long as that’s okay with you.”
Melanie is touched by his concern and finally relents with a small nod. “Okay, you can stay. I don’t know how long I’ll be, though, so if you want to go, you should just go.”
He smiles gently. “I’ll see you in a little while.”
Melanie leaves Colin in the waiting room and throws herself into the task at hand, doing her level best to forget about the handsome, thoughtful man sitting anxiously in her waiting room.
A little while later, Melanie sets the dog into one of the kennels at the back of the practice and lets out a contented sigh. There was no major damage to the dog’s organs and she was able to set the bone so that once healed, it’ll be good as new. She heads back into the waiting room, expecting to see nothing but empty chairs, and is surprised to find Colin still sitting exactly where she left him.
“You waited,” she remarks.
He grins. “I told you I would. How is the patient?”
“All patched up and sleeping in the back,” she says. “It was an easy fix and he’s going to be totally fine.”
Colin stands. “Can I see him?”
Melanie obliges, taking Colin to the back kennels. She gestures to the snoozing pooch. “See? He’ll be right as rain soon enough.”
He lets out a sigh and nods. “I’m glad. I don’t know what I would have done if—well, you know.”
“I know,” Melanie says, ushering him back into the waiting room and toward the front door. “But he’s going to be fine. You can rest easy.”
Colin seems torn, mouth pressed into a line. “I know that this is probably a big ask, but do you mind if I stick around for a little while? I’m still a bit shaken and I want to make sure he doesn’t die the second I take my eyes off him.”
Melanie is surprised by his forwardness but not necessarily unhappy. She is fully awake now and wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep anytime soon anyway. It could be nice to have a little company.
“Sure. Just hang tight for a second.”
Melanie returns to her apartment, grabs the half-full bottle of wine and two fresh glasses, and comes back down.
“We may as well finish the bottle,” she says, by way of explanation. “It’s my birthday today. Or, I guess, it was yesterday.”
Colin looks mortified as he takes a glass from her and sits down again. “Oh jeez, I really did ruin your night. Well, happy birthday! I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.”
“You did not.” Melanie gestures to her sweatpants and T-shirt before sitting next to him.
Colin laughs, taking a sip of wine. “Hey, I’m not from around here. I don’t know what passes as formal attire.”
“Not from around here,” Melanie repeats thoughtfully. “Where is home?”
“Here, now. I just arrived today. Or, I guess, yesterday.” He grins, and he is so devastatingly handsome that Melanie looks into her glass to avoid blushing. “I’m an architect,” he continues. “I made a lot of soulless money building a lot of soulless commercial buildings in Houston, and then I saw this gorgeous old colonial for sale not far from here. It’s in need of a complete remodel, a total gutting. Something about it just called to me, so here I am.”
When Melanie looks back up, Colin’s mouth is lifted at the corners, his expression contemplative. “What made it soulless?” she asks. “Surely there’s something satisfying about taking a blueprint and bringing it to life.”
“There is,” he admits. “And for many years that was enough for me. But then I would pass buildings I’d designed and they just—I don’t know, they just lacked something. I would watch people shuffle in and out with blank expressions and I knew that what I had created didn’t mean anything to anyone except me. I’ve always wanted to make something special and I ended up making glorified cardboard boxes. Those buildings perform a function, but they don’t speak to anyone.”
“I see. So this house you bought. What do you want it to say?”
Colin smiles. “That’s a great question. I guess I want people to look at it and know that a lot of care and attention went into the details. I want to honor its bones, preserve its history. I want the house to say that it was loved and that it is loved still.”
Melanie nods. “And when you’re done, are you going to sell it?” The real question she wants to ask is, Are you going to be gone soon?
Colin shakes his head. “No, not a chance. I’ve always dreamed of living up here on the coast, somewhere wet and windy. So I’m going to make it my dream home.”
“That is pretty impressive,” Melanie says. She takes a swig of her wine, thinking about the tiny apartment upstairs and how her life revolves entirely around this building that contains her life and livelihood.
“Not as impressive as a woman who can save lives,” Colin responds.
“I’m not performing heart surgery or anything,” she points out. “And it involves a lot more suppositories than you realize.”
Colin’s easy smile warms Melanie’s heart. Or maybe it’s the wine. “Maybe so, but I bet if I ever needed it, you could sew me up and set me on my feet just as well as any other doc.”
She shrugs. “Same basic principle.”
“Exactly. And that’s impressive.” He winks. “Maybe just keep the suppositories for the cats and dogs, though.”
She laughs. “I know a Dachshund who shares your feelings.”
“Oh yeah?”
She nods. “I had a client who was worried because his Dachshund, Tim, hadn’t pooped in a few days. I thought, easy—I’ll pop a suppository in and we’ll be off to the races. Only, when I got the little troublemaker on the table, he refused to take it.” Melanie laughs. “I didn’t want to force the issue of course, but after fifteen minutes of trying to coax a pill into him, I looked like a complete idiot in front of a paying client. And the whole time, Tim is just giving me this wicked glare, like after he gets off the table he’s going to do his business right in my shoes.”
“You’re joking!” Colin says, laughing hysterically.
Melanie shakes her head gravely. “I wish I was. Tim wasn’t having any of it. We took a break and tried again twenty minutes later, but still no dice. In the end, I had to have his owner distract him with some treats while I snuck up from behind.”
Colin doubles over with laughter. “I can just picture it!” he wheezes.
Melanie grins. She is not used to people finding her so funny. In high school, her sister Tasha was always known as the funny one. This is a refreshing change of pace. “What about you?” Melanie asks. “I’m sure you’ve got some tales to tell.”
Colin takes a sip of his wine and shakes his head. “Not really.”
“Oh come on. You’re telling me that nothing interesting happens to architects? I find that hard to believe.”
He rocks his head back and forth, as though searching his mind. Finally, he straightens. “Actually, I suppose I’ve got one good story,” he says. “We were nearly finished on one of my buildings and I wanted to go check it out when nobody would be there, so I headed over late one evening. I was going through floor by floor when I heard a commotion on the floor above me. When I went up, one of the windows was open and it looked like somebody had climbed up the scaffolding and come in.” His expression grows serious. “The builders always have to be really careful about what gets left on a site overnight because people will break in to construction sites to steal tools and materials, so my first thought was that it was a thief.”
“So you called the police and vacated the building safely?” Melanie asks with a wry smile.
Colin chuckles. “Of course not. I went to dispense the people’s justice. I grabbed a hunk of wood and snuck around really quietly. I went up and up through the floors and couldn’t find anyone. Just as I started to think I was going crazy, I heard something coming from the roof.”
Melanie leans closer, completely gripped.
“I crept through the door to the roof, holding up this piece of wood like a club,” Colin continues, eyes twinkling. “And I yelled at the top of my lungs, ‘Whoever is up here has five seconds to get the heck out of this building or I’m calling the police!’”
“Oh my. What happened?”
Colin’s lips melt into a smile. “Two teenagers came running out from behind the air- conditioning unit, pale as a sheet. The guy started blubbering apologies, saying that they thought it would be a fun place to make-out, while his girlfriend tugged on his arm and hissed for him to shut up.” He shakes his head. “I had to walk them down to the bottom floor and let them out and I could tell that the girl was so unimpressed that I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the last time they made out.”
“I think I’d also be a little scared if I came across you wielding a two-by-four,” Melanie comments with a chuckle.
“It wasn’t nearly that intimidating,” he replies, blushing. “More of a stick, really.”
“You’re a big guy. You could make a wooden spoon look scary.”
“Thank you.” Colin grins. “I think.”
“You’re welcome. I think.” Melanie’s tiredness and the wine begin to creep into her bones. She puts the glass on a side table and yawns.
Colin frowns. “I’m sorry, I’ve overstayed my welcome.”
“No, you haven’t,” Melanie rushes to say. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want.”
He shakes his head, setting the glass down before rising to his feet. “No, I really should be going. It’s late, and I don’t want you to be too sleepy for your patients tomorrow.” He smiles. “Mind if I go check on our friend before I go?”
“Of course not.”
They walk to the kennels, where the little black dog is still sleeping soundly. “Alive and well,” Melanie says.
“So it would seem.” Colin smiles, and offers Melanie his hand to shake. She takes it. “Thank you for your help, Dr. Baldwin.”
“Melanie, please.”
“Thank you for your help, Dr. Melanie.” Colin winks. “I’ll get out of your hair now. Oh, and …” He turns to face her once more and finishes, “Happy birthday.”
Then, just like that, he sweeps out of the practice and into the night. Melanie locks the door behind him reluctantly and drinks the last mouthful of her wine, staring out into the dark.
A cute architect. A dog in need. A dark, empty office.
In her woozy state, she wonders if perhaps she dreamed up this whole encounter. She makes a note to check on the dog first thing in the morning. She would not be surprised to find an empty kennel.
9
Georgia
The alarm buzzes, and Georgia smacks the snooze button before turning on her side and reaching out for her husband, eyes still closed. It is raining, and the sound of the droplets hitting the window makes her wish she never had to get out of bed. She wants to cuddle with Richard a little and enjoy the perfect stillness of the morning for a moment, before it’s back to work-work-work.
Only, Richard isn’t there.
Georgia cracks one eye open to confirm it. He’s gone.
But where?
Richard rarely ever wakes up before her, and she would think he’d want to sleep in even more than usual today after how late he got into bed last night. Then again, does she actually remember him getting into bed?
She remembers dozing off on the couch, and waking to the smell of burning from the kitchen. She’d left the stew on too high for too long; the potatoes and carrots had burned to the bottom of the pan. In her frustration, Georgia just turned off the stove and left the pot on the side to deal with the next day. Still exhausted, she staggered up to bed and fell asleep straight away.
She remembers being annoyed that Richard hadn’t come in to wake her from her nap. She remembers wondering what time he got back from the shops, and if he’d bothered coming into their area of the inn at all or went straight to the computer to play poker.
But she doesn’t remember him coming to bed.
The rain continues to patter against the window. A gust of wind shakes the frame. Georgia opens the other eye, running her hand over the top of the sheets. Odd—Richard’s side doesn’t even look as though it’s been slept in. The edges are still taut and tucked in, the pillows plump, the robin’s-egg sheets uncrumpled.
“Richard?” Georgia croakily asks the empty room.
No answer.
Georgia sits up, looking around her as though he’s going to pop out of the closet any second. She fumbles for her phone on the side table and is about to call him when she spies someth
ing out of the corner of her eye.
There is something on top of Richard’s pillow. She’s not sure how she didn’t see or feel it before, but the red envelope stands out clearly now. It has her name on it in Richard’s messy scrawl.
Georgia drops her phone in her lap and reaches for the letter, hand shaking. Why would he leave her a letter? Why wouldn’t Richard just text her if he wasn’t going to be there when she woke up?
She opens the envelope, unfolds the paper tucked inside, and the bottom falls out of her world.
Dear Georgia, it reads, we have spent a lot of years together, and I know this is going to come as a shock. I wish I didn’t have to tell you like this, but I can’t face the thought of telling you in person. The decision I have made was unbelievably difficult, but it was a decision that needed to be made for my future happiness.
This life, this inn, is not what I want. It feels like I have missed out on the life I was meant to have, and if I want to have any chance of happiness, I need to leave this all behind and start fresh. There is no easy way to say this, but I have met someone who understands this. Who understands me. I want you to know that I did not intend to fall in love with Annika, but I have and there’s no going back.
I have poured everything I have into this inn for the last fifteen years, so I do not feel guilty taking the money I need to start my new life. There are divorce papers in the bureau downstairs as well.
You may not understand now, but I hope that you will someday.
Tell the kids I love them. I am taking some time for myself and will get in touch with them when I am ready.
With love,
Richard
None of the words sink in initially. Georgia has to read the letter again, and then again, before she starts to understand.
Her husband has left with their maid and he has taken God knows how much of their money with him. But why?
Georgia reads through the letter for a fourth time, hoping that an answer will reveal itself and she will suddenly understand what caused her husband to abandon her.
