by Leslie North
Hunter felt a flush of shame wash over him. If his mentor only knew what he’d started with Kit and how badly it had all ended, he’d never be giving him this particular pep talk. No, the man would probably be hauling Hunter up before the state board. He didn’t deserve praise. Especially not from Dr. Marshall.
“I really didn’t do anything special,” he muttered, busying himself with gathering all the papers he needed to file with the board to record Kit’s residency. “Like I said, she was a great student. She’ll make a very good vet.”
Dr. Marshall chuckled. “Well, I have to tell you the truth about something. When I found out Kit would be doing her residency with you, I had a little thought of sorts—call it an old man’s foolishness—I had hoped you two might hit it off…romantically.” He grinned, and Hunter’s heart raced in panic.
“Wh—what?
“I just thought that the two of you seemed like a good match. My Tilly said the same, since she’s had many dinners with each of you. We thought maybe Kit would be the one to grab that heart of yours. Or we hoped, anyway.”
“The state board would never allow a supervisor to date his resident. I mean that’s—”
“Pshh.” Dr. Marshall flapped his hand around. “I know the rules. And they exist for a good reason, but I also know you’d never take advantage of a student, and Kit’s plenty outspoken. She can take care of herself.”
Outside, the sun was shining, and Hunter could hear people on the sidewalks chatting, cars rolling by on Main Street, and the hum of the mini-refrigerator they kept in the conference room. All the ordinary things he’d been listening to for years, that now sounded as foreign and outrageous as his mentor saying he should have dated his resident.
“I’m not sure what to say,” Hunter finally answered.
“Eh, it was probably a silly idea of ours. We just think so highly of the both of you, we thought you’d think highly of each other, too.”
Hunter cleared his throat and released the breath he’d inadvertently been holding. “Well, shall we head to lunch?” he asked, gesturing toward the door.
“Yes, we shall. I’m dying to see this Nadine’s Diner you always talked about.”
Dr. Marshall and his wife had been right. Hunter had thought highly of Kit. In fact, he’d thought she was the best thing to ever walk into Gopher Springs. And now she was gone. Not only had his mentor not been concerned Hunter would take advantage of Kit, he’d actually wanted him to get close to her. Dr. Marshall didn’t care about the state board and their rules. Hunter felt as if the entire world had gone mad. A woman he’d never asked for had made him fall in love with her and then walked out of his life. A mentor he’d tried to impress by perfect behavior was disappointed that he hadn’t misbehaved. It was all too much.
So Hunter did what Hunter always did. He stayed the course, walked the line, and fulfilled his obligations. He got the job done. First feeding Dr. Marshall, then finishing up his appointments for the afternoon, then ignoring the pain that had lodged itself so deep in his chest, he wasn’t sure it would ever go away.
16
“You’re late,” Bran said as Hunter scooted into the booth at Nadine’s on a Thursday morning three weeks after Kit had left town.
“I have appointments running out my ears, I’m going to have to hire a new vet tech and…” His voice faded away as Scout approached the table and, without a word, slid in next to Bran.
“What are you doing here?” Hunter asked, feeling as though he’d arrived in the middle of a play.
Scout reached out and snagged the glass of orange juice sitting in front of Hunter, taking a gulp that consumed half the serving.
“I’m about to have breakfast,” Scout answered as he set the glass down. “How about you?”
Bran looked at the tabletop and chuckled.
“No, seriously.” Hunter gestured between his brothers. “What’s going on?”
Scout shrugged as he flagged down a waitress, and Bran just gazed steadily at Hunter.
“Scout’s schedule has changed some. He hates eating breakfast alone. I told him he should join us on Thursdays, and so he has,” Bran replied as if the last seven years of their lives had vanished in a heartbeat.
“Oh-kayy…”
“You payin’?” Scout asked Bran with a devilish grin.
Bran sighed but agreed, and Scout proceeded to order enough food to feed a platoon of hungry soldiers.
After the waitress left, Bran raised an eyebrow at his youngest brother. “Three different kinds of pancakes? Really?”
Scout shrugged. “I never eat breakfast out. It’s going to take a few weeks for me to hone it down to my favorites.”
“Next time, you’re buying,” Bran pointed at Hunter.
“Fine,” Hunter answered listlessly.
Scout drank the remainder of Hunter’s orange juice, then asked, “So, why’s business so…busy?”
Hunter didn’t want to talk about business. Truth be told, he didn’t even want to eat breakfast with his brothers. Especially not when there was some strange sort of reconciliation going on that he didn’t understand and hadn’t been included in.
“Just busy,” he grunted.
“Why now?” Bran asked. “Seems like, if anything, you had less work the last few months.”
Yeah, thought Hunter, but that was then, and this was…well, this was after. After Kit. After everything.
“I guess Kit was picking up more slack than I realized.”
The waitress stopped back by with the first round of food and coffee refills. Hunter dug in and hoped his brothers would leave him alone now.
“Yeah, I liked that Kit,” Scout said around a mouthful of coconut cream pancakes. “She was smart as a whip.”
“Real pretty, too,” Bran added.
Hunter’s blood began to boil.
“Pssh, she was a babe,” Scout concurred. “If she’d stuck around, I would have asked her out.”
“Like hell, you would,” Hunter snapped.
Bran’s eyebrow rose.
“Why do you care?” Scout asked. “You obviously weren’t interested anymore. It’s a small town, bro, and I’m the youngest of three. If I put a do not date sign on every woman one of you had already dated, I’d never have any fun.”
Hunter was partway out of his seat before he registered Bran’s hand on his arm.
“Settle down there, Romeo,” Bran said with all the authority of the head of the family. “He’s pushing your buttons, and you played right into it.”
Hunter took a deep breath and sat back down, muttering something about revenge being when younger brothers least expected it.
“Touchy,” Scout said. Bran nodded in agreement.
Hunter ate silently for a few minutes, knowing his brothers were exchanging looks while he had his focus trained on the eggs and bacon. Finally, he sat back, tossed his napkin on the table, and said, “I miss her, okay? I fucking miss her, and there’s nothing I can do about it so I’m just going to have to get used to it, but it’s going to take a while.”
Bran pushed his plate aside and picked up his coffee cup. The aroma of the strong brew reminded Hunter of sitting at breakfast in Shreveport with Kit. But then, everything now reminded Hunter of Kit.
“So why’d you let her leave?” Bran asked quietly. “Ava’s been asking me for three weeks what went wrong, and I don’t have an answer for her.”
“It’s what she wanted,” Hunter replied. “She made it real clear that what we had was temporary, and she had obligations at home.”
“Did you even ask her to stay?” Scout asked.
“I didn’t have to. I knew how she felt.”
“Really?” Scout said, disapproval lacing his words. “You could read her mind like that? You knew her so well after three months that you didn’t even have to talk to her to find out what she’d like to do with her own future?”
“Well,” said Bran, “from what Ava’s told me, that’s what Kit’s parents have been doing her whole l
ife—reading her mind for her, telling her how her future should play out. It must be a Kit thing—everyone knows what she wants without even asking her.”
Hunter stared at his brothers as a deep and painful sense of foreboding crept over him.
“Oh, shit.”
Both brothers nodded in unison.
“I did, didn’t I?”
Both brothers nodded in unison again.
“I did the exact same thing her parents have been doing. I didn’t once ask her what she wanted. I didn’t tell her what I feel. I just let her do her duty and walk out that door.”
“You’re an idiot,” Scout murmured into his coffee cup.
“Fuck, I’m an idiot,” Hunter parodied as he put his head in his hands.
“Maybe it’s time to figure out how to fix it?” Bran asked.
Hunter closed his eyes and moaned in despair. How the hell would he ever fix this? And what if it was already too late?
“There’s a bichon with a skin rash waiting in exam one, and the senior tabby who needs his nails clipped is in the waiting room,” the portly receptionist said as she poked her head into Kit’s office—which was actually Kit’s dad’s office.
She sighed as she closed the computer tab that showed Equine Journal’s latest article on treating tendonitis in race horses.
“Okay, Ramona, I’ll be right there,” she said, pasting on a smile.
The woman stepped into the room and shut the door behind her. Ramona had been with Kit’s dad’s office for as long as Kit could remember. All those afternoons Kit had spent waiting for her dad to finish up work, Ramona had been there—with lollipops and word searches, a kind ear to listen while Kit told about her day at school. Now Kit was supposed to act like Ramona’s boss, and it was…disconcerting at best.
“Can I just talk atcha’ for a sec, hon?” Ramona asked, wringing her hands in front of her generous waist.
“Of course.” Kit sat back in her dad’s chair and gestured to the seats facing his desk. “What’s going on?”
Ramona sat gingerly and gave Kit a warm smile. “I still remember the first time I ever saw you. You were about four, and your mama hadn’t been diagnosed yet, but she was feeling poorly so your daddy brought you into work with him that day. You had those little pigtails with the puffy ball rubber bands on them, and a stuffed rhino you carried around.”
“Pee Wee,” Kit said wistfully. “I loved Pee Wee.”
“Even then you were drawn to the less common animals.”
Kit looked at Ramona, who simply gazed back at her.
“I love all animals.”
“You do,” Ramona agreed. “But that doesn’t mean you want to take care of all of them.”
Kit didn’t know what to say. Luckily, like most older family members gearing up for a lecture, Ramona kept talking.
“I’ve known you almost your whole life, and I know more about the troubles your family has been through than most people ever will.”
Kit blinked as tears stung behind her eyes. She didn’t get maudlin about her mother’s health often, but lately she’d been on the verge of tears or fresh out of patience constantly.
“Your daddy’s a good man, Kit. But he’s not perfect. This plan of his, to have you take over the business and let him go home to care for your mom? It isn’t fair to you.”
“I’ve always wanted to be a vet, Ramona, you know that. And I’m so fortunate that Daddy has this successful practice for me to take over. Most vets starting out have to spend years building a practice to this point.”
Ramona held up a hand to stop Kit. “You have always wanted to be a vet, but not this kind of vet. I know that. You know that. And your daddy knows it, but he doesn’t want to admit it.”
Kit’s gut clenched in distress, and she shook her head—as if she could shake off the truth of Ramona’s words.
“Kit, hon, you’re a good daughter, one of the best I’ve ever seen. But you can’t let being a good daughter keep you from making the choices you want for your life. Someday, God bless them both, your parents will be gone—no matter what you choose or do. Being a vet is a big job, and it’s something you’ve studied for your whole life. You’re not going to be happy if you don’t do it the way you want.”
“What if this is the way I want?” Kit’s tone was mulish.
Ramona smiled sympathetically. “Is that why you look like you’re ready to bolt every time the front door opens? Or why you snapped at old Mrs. Williams the other day when she wanted you to help choose a new rhinestone collar for her Siamese?”
“I mean, sure, it’s been stressful taking on an entire practice as a brand-new vet. I’m sorry if it’s made me more grumpy than usual, but I think that’s understandable, don’t you?”
“Hon,” Ramona said as she stood. “What were you reading so intently when I walked in here?”
Kit cleared her throat before muttering, “Equine Journal.”
“I rest my case. And if you have any sense at all, you’ll present your case to your daddy soon so he can either sell the place off or hire someone to take over. He deserves his retirement with your mama, but it doesn’t have to be at the sacrifice of your happiness. You’re not happy here, Kit. You never will be.”
And with that, Ramona walked out the door, leaving Kit with more of those tears she couldn’t seem to get rid of.
17
It was a mutiny.
“What do you mean, you’re on strike?” Hunter bellowed as he stared at his entire staff—two part-time vet techs, the receptionist, the evening office cleaner, and the bookkeeper.
“You heard us,” the receptionist retorted with her nose in the air. “Until you get Dr. Cowie back, we’re not working.”
His best vet tech looked at him sympathetically. “You were happy with her here. We can’t take the grumpiness, Dr. Beckett. You’ve been in a bad mood for weeks now, and no one wants to be with you—not even the animals.”
“You think we didn’t notice all those kissy-kissy looks y’all were passing back and forth—”
Something inside of Hunter died in humiliation. “Kissy-kissy looks?”
The entire staff nodded.
“Some of us are old, Doc, none of us are blind,” Mr. Whitley, the office cleaner said.
“So,” the receptionist continued. “You have two choices. Get Dr. Cowie to come back and make you happy…or get a new staff.”
And with that, the entire group walked out.
Hunter sat down at his desk with a thump. What the ever-loving hell? He rubbed a hand over his scruffy chin. They’d known? The entire time? Dr. Marshall had hoped Hunter and Kit would break the rules. His own staff had known they were breaking the rules. Hunter felt as though his entire world had been upended. What ever happened to behaving with integrity? Doing the right thing? Following the standards of the profession?
He sighed. As if he’d done any of that himself. He sure couldn’t expect everyone else to behave any differently. And really, what the hell did any of that matter, when the end result was the same? He was in love with Kit. And he’d have been in love with her, no matter where they’d met or whether they’d ever pursued a relationship or not. He realized that now. He’d fallen in love with her that moment she’d looked at him across the auction floor and said, “I bid five hundred dollars.” Because that was the moment he’d known everything about her he needed to. She was the kind of woman who was willing to spend her own money to keep a man she barely knew from awkwardness and humiliation. She was the kind of woman who’d looked him in the eyes and understood what he was feeling. She was beautiful, and generous, and she loved her work. That was what it all boiled down to, that, and he missed her like he’d miss his own breath.
It was time. Even if his damn staff never came back, it was time.
He opened the desk drawer and pulled out his cell phone, swiping the screen, then hitting speed dial number three.
“Ava?” he said when the call connected. “I need your help.”
K
it looked over the letter one more time, reading it from top to bottom. When she was satisfied, she picked up a pen and signed her name with a flourish at the end. She took a deep breath and rolled her shoulders. “Be strong,” she said quietly.
It had taken forty-eight hours after Ramona’s pep talk for Kit to make her decision. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t design her entire future around someone else’s plan, someone else’s ideas for what would make her happy. She’d discovered more than Hunter Beckett in Gopher Springs, she’d discovered herself. And Kit Cowie was a damn good vet—a damn good large animal vet. She thrived on the challenge, and she wanted to be someplace where that would be her daily life, not some minor possibility.
And there was something else she wanted—to fall in love. Kit wasn’t ready to spend all her time managing a veterinary practice by herself. She wanted time to meet people, have friends, live life. As much as she would miss Hunter, he’d shown her what it could feel like to have that kind of a partnership, not only in work but in love. She had to believe that was possible again, somewhere, with someone. And she’d never find it spending all her time at her dad’s clinic.
As she made her way toward the lobby, balloons and streamers dangled from the ceiling and pop tunes played on the sound system that normally only had Muzak. As she reached the break room, Kit saw her dad pulling bottles of champagne out of the refrigerator. As much as she knew her timing was terrible, she had to do it now. She’d already waited too long to make the decision. She couldn’t wait any longer.
“Dad?”
“Hey, Kit Kat!” Her dad turned a big sparkling grin on her. His balding head was shiny in the sunlight, but his kind blue eyes were the same she’d been looking into her entire life. She wavered for a moment, but then stood straighter and repeated her new mantra in her head.
“Looks like the party is going to be a great one.”
