Page 62 of Sit, Stay

"Your left eye is twitching."

My hand flies to my face. Dammit.

Carla makes another note in her textbook, not even pretending she's not listening to every word.

"What am I supposed to do?" The question comes out smaller than I intend. "He wants me to leave everything. My practice, my house, my friends---"

"Does he though?" Sophie interrupts. "Or does he want to build something with you and just sucks at asking?"

"Those are the same thing."

"Are they?" She leans forward. "There's a difference between 'come with me' and 'let's build something together.' He just went about it all wrong."

"In Texas. With his family. In a business I'd have no ownership of."

"Did he say that?"

I open my mouth. Close it. Try to remember exactly what Dean said.

Come with me. To Iron Creek. Jake said they need a vet.

You'd have challenging work, resources you don't have here, a whole operation to build from the ground up.

We'd be together.

"He said I'd have resources," I mutter. "Better than what I have here."

"Which is insulting," Sophie agrees. "Also maybe true?"

"Excuse me?"

"Cal, you're amazing at what you do. But you're also working out of a clinic you can barely afford to upgrade, with equipment that's older than some of your patients, and you've been talking about wanting to expand into behavioral work for two years but you don't have the space or the funding." She says it gently, but it still stings. "What if he's offering you a chance to do the work you've always wanted to do? Just in a different place?"

"It's not my place, though. It's his family's business. I'd be an employee."

"Would you?" Carla interjects without looking up. "Or would you be a partner building something new with someone who loves you enough to completely rethink his life plans?"

I stare at her. "How do you even know he loves me?"

"Everyone knows he loves you. He told half the bar at the Rusty Spur last week." She turns another page. "Javi has a very big mouth."

Of course he does. This town. This impossible, gossipy, well-meaning town.

"I built everything here from nothing," I say, and my voice cracks. "After Denver. After Tyler. I came back and I built this. By myself. It's mine."

"It is," Sophie says. "And it's incredible. You should be proud."

"But?"

"But you can build again." She reaches across the table, takes my hand. "Can you rebuild what you're walking away from with him?"

I can't finish my coffee. Can't look at either of them.

Three days of telling myself I made the right choice. That I was justified. That Dean was wrong to assume.

Three days of missing him so badly I can barely breathe.

"I don't know how to do this," I whisper. "Trust someone that much. Bet everything on someone staying."