Total pages in book: 45
Estimated words: 42882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 42882 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 214(@200wpm)___ 172(@250wpm)___ 143(@300wpm)
My heart was a different matter.
I didn’t know if that fucker was ever gonna work properly again.
I refused to look back at the dining room as I made my way outside. I hoped Lane was listening to Chad’s business offer, if that was what he wanted. I definitely didn’t want him to turn down his dream because his ex had acted like an utter asshole to his… landlord.
I wanted Lane for myself, yes. But I wanted him happy more than anything.
When I pushed open the front door of the restaurant, I grabbed my phone and texted Ava Siegel for a ride—I’d babysat for her brood on Valentine’s Day, and she kept reminding me she owed me a favor as well as a Purple Heart—then found a seat on a bench behind a big Entwinin’ topiary and waited for her giant minivan to appear.
This meant I had a birds’-eye view when Lane and Chad exited the restaurant.
“—an utter jerk, Chadwick! Honest to God. Were you this bad when we were together? Because if you were always such a genuinely awful, absolutely heartless human being and I was… was… blind to it, then I… I don’t even know!”
Lane sounded so miserable I wanted to walk up behind him and wrap my arms around him, but I didn’t think that would be helpful.
“Lane.” Chad sighed. “You misinterpreted—”
“Misinterpreted what?” Lane demanded, sounding angrier than I’d ever heard him. “You interrupting my lunch plans? You whipping your dick out in the middle of the restaurant so you could compare it to Jay’s? You insulting him because you think he doesn’t make as much money as you?” His disgust was palpable. “You’re insufferable, and you hurt his feelings. You owe him an apology.”
Chad sighed again. “Look, I admit that I could have been nicer. But Lane, I had to be a little cruel. Think of it as an intervention.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake—”
“Seriously,” Chad continued. “Open your eyes and look around you, Lane. Lift your brain out of your dick and think. This town… this place… it’s not you. You’ve got a Bachelor’s in Animal Science from UT, a Master’s in Veterinary Pathology from Cornell, and a Doctor of Veterinary Technology from UGA.”
“I’m aware, thank you,” Lane said, voice hard.
“The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges awarded you the Gold Standard Veterinary Excellence Award seven years ago. Two and a half years ago, you won the UGA Excellence in Veterinary Education Award. Remember the reception at the dean’s house? How he said you had a bright future ahead of you?”
“I was there.” Lane sounded tired now. “Of course I remember.”
“And can you actually look me in the eye and tell me that man would turn down a job like the one I offered you so he could stay in some hick town and make calf’s eyes at Jaybird Proud?”
I shouldn’t have been listening to this conversation, and I knew it. When I was growing up, Grandma Emmaline used to tell me, “Eavesdroppers never hear nothin’ but bad news, Jaybird.” But at that moment, a crowbar couldn’t have pried me out of my hidey-hole behind the topiary.
Way deep down, beyond the pain and heartbreak, there was still a small kernel of hope inside me that Lane would pick me—and the Thicket—and tell Chad to take his stupid job and his even stupider, smarmy smile and fuck off (but politely).
I leaned forward expectantly.
I was not expecting to hear Lane’s laugh ring out—hollow, yes, but still.
And I was not expecting to hear the man I loved say the words, “God. You’re right. You’re right, Chad. I definitely would not have.”
The blood rushing in my ears meant I didn’t have to hear anything else after that.
Chapter Seven
Lane
“And can you actually look me in the eye and tell me that man would turn down a job like the one I offered you so he could stay in some hick town and make calf’s eyes at Jaybird Proud?” Chad demanded.
I’d gotten used to surprises since moving to Licking Thicket. No two days were ever the same here, and my life was the opposite of boring. Still, having my ex-boyfriend show up, crash my lunch date, offer me a job, and stage an intervention?
As Jay would say, “That wasn’t on my bingo card.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, even though the situation wasn’t funny.
“God. You’re right. You’re right, Chad. I definitely would not have,” I admitted.
The Lane he’d known, the guy I’d been before moving here nine months ago, would never. I’d been all about having an important job title and important degrees, important connections and an important boyfriend, like being surrounded by all that importance would make me important too.
Fortunately, I knew better now.
I’d moved to this weird and wonderful town. I’d made friends from all walks of life. I had a career I found truly fulfilling…