Chapter 25
Full Circle
Sam caught the first flight out, touching down at Denver International fifteen hours later. His eyes were gritty from lack of sleep, but his body buzzed with anticipation. He was on the most important mission of his life. He hadn’t reached Angie, and he hadn’t texted her to tell her he was coming.
Pulling up his rideshare app, he punched in her address. He was heading straight to her place. It was Monday, and she usually had a late start at work, so he counted on catching her there. All of him couldn’t wait to gather her up in his arms and pull in her familiar fragrance.
She didn’t answer his knock, so he let himself inside with a key she’d loaned him and never asked him to return.
She was nowhere in sight, and the garage was empty.
Maybe she’d headed into work after all. Disappointed but undeterred, he hoisted his backpack—his only luggage—and sprinted to the sidewalk where the rideshare driver idled, checking his phone.
Moments later, Sam sat in the guy’s back seat as they sped toward the arena.
The building he’d called home for over a year loomed, and a mix of unexpected emotions welled inside him. He swallowed a lump that had formed out of nowhere. This was no longer his workplace, but it was still hers.
“Need me to stick around?” the driver asked.
“Thanks, but I think I’m good.”
Minutes later, Sam stared at the slow-moving digital display telling him which floors were slowing the elevator car’s descent. Finally, it opened, letting out a flood of people.
Minutes later, Sam stared at the slow-moving digital display telling him which floors were slowing the elevator car’s descent. Finally, it opened, letting out a flood of people.
“Hey, Durby! Good to see you. What are you doing here?” Toby chirped from behind him.
Sam stepped into the car and turned, cold fury rising inside him. “Taking care of business.”
Toby braced his arm against the elevator doors to keep them from closing. “Yeah? I’ll ride with you. Haven’t talked to you since your trade. I want to hear all about it.”
Sam squared his shoulders. “I know the truth about the vote, Toby. You stood in that clinic with me and went upstairs right after and told Grims you couldn’t find me. And guess what? Grims knows the truth too.”
Toby’s eyes went puck-wide. “But I—”
“Save it, asshole. Enjoy my share of the bonus. I hope it was worth the lie.” Sam stabbed at the basement button.
Recoiling, Toby jerked his arm back. His mouth was opening and closing like a gutted fish’s as the elevator doors snapped closed.
Even as satisfaction flooded Sam, he grew impatient with the elevator.
It seemed to stutter its way downward. Had it always been this slow?
When the doors finally opened, he raced down the hallway and burst through the PT door.
He was greeted by Attila the Bun, shock clearly etched in her dour features. “Mr. Durbin?”
“I’m here to see Angelina Rossi.” He darted to the side and peered into the clinic’s interior, where several therapists blinked back at him. Angie’s table and workstation were empty. Clean. As if she’d never been there.
Attila rounded the reception counter. “Mr. Durbin,” she repeated sharply.
“Where’s Angie?” His voice took on a sharpness of its own.
“Perhaps we’d better sit down.” She led him to a corner where chairs sat perpendicular to one another.
Sirens began to screech inside his head. “What’s going on?”
“Sit, please,” she hissed.
He did so reluctantly, perching on the edge of the seat. His leg vibrated as he waited.
“Ms. Rossi was let go on Friday.”
“Like laid off?”
“No. She was terminated.”
What the hell? “Why?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. You’ll need to speak to her about that.”
“I can’t find her!” Now his voice was coated with panic.
Attila’s eyes widened in surprise, making her look almost human. “Oh no! Did you check for her at home?”
“That’s the first place I went!” Where else could Angie be? His place? No, she didn’t really treat that like her own home. Where else—
He sprang from his seat. The office manager rose with him. “You have an idea?”
“I think so.” He sped from the clinic, Attila—Celia—calling after him to let her know as soon as he located Angie. The woman struck him as genuinely—and surprisingly—concerned.
Another endless elevator ride brought him to the main floor, and he dashed outside, relieved to see his rideshare guy sitting in his car, window down, grinning at him. Sam threw open the back door and hurled himself inside. The dude nodded at him in the rearview. “Had a feeling you’d be back.”
“You’re way ahead of me.” Sam glanced at his app for the guy’s name. “Thanks for sticking around, Arif.”
“I’m a sap for happy endings.”
The comment caught Sam off guard. “What makes you think this is about a happy ending?”
“I may not know your story, but I see the signs. A man jumping through hoops like you are is chasing a happy ending.”
Sam guffawed. “Let’s hope your hunch is right and this is a happy ending.”
Arif got them to their destination in record time. “Shall I wait again?”
“Not this time. I see her car.” Sam exited, reached his hand through the window, and shook Arif’s hand.
“Good luck, my friend.”
“Thanks. Look for a big tip coming your way.”
Arif saluted as Sam ran for the entrance to the animal shelter—Angie’s other home.
Dora greeted him with big eyes and a huge smile. “Sam! We weren’t expecting you.”
“I wasn’t expecting myself. I mean … where’s Angie?”
Dora gestured down the hall. “I last saw her in the cat house.” She held out her hand. “Let me take your backpack for you. And don’t forget to put on an apron.”
“Apron. Right.”
His sneakers squeaked as he loped down the hall.
“And Sam?” Dora called after him. He spun, walking backward. “We’re all hoping you can put a smile back on her face.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Apron on but untied, he slowed as he approached the cat house.
A large window opened onto it, and his heart bumped in his chest when he spied Angie’s form and her silky ponytail.
Her back to him, she was placing a kitten inside a cage while a few other fur balls sat at her feet.
He crept toward the door and opened it without a creak.
One kitten looked at him and mewed, exposing its pink mouth and tiny white dagger-teeth.
Just as Angie turned, Sam scooped it up and plopped it on his head.
It slid down, protesting loudly, clawing for purchase on his face.
“Ow! Shit!”
Angie gasped. “Sam!” Her bright blue eyes were the size of pucks. “What are you doing here?”
The kitten howled as he pulled it from his cheek, and Sam nearly let out a howl of his own. Angie reached up and folded the little monster in her arms. Her eyes grew even wider. “You’re bleeding!”
“No shit! He was using me as a scratching post!”
“She is a little skittish and needs a gentler hand when you’re picking her up. Why did you do that?”
He’d been going for a Mr. Claws moment, hoping Angie would find him too irresistible to kick out of her life. Epic fail.
The side of Sam’s face stung, and he patted it. “Is it bad?”
Angie seemed to fight a snicker. “No worse than getting clawed by Chewbacca.”
Now all the kittens were mewling in a high-pitched chorus that decalcified his spine. One leaped and started climbing his leg. “Ow, ow!”
Angie gave him a playful look. “Big tough hockey player. You are still a hockey player, right?”
He nodded despite the razor claws biting into his leg. Plucking the tiger-stripe from his jeans, he held it up. “Behave, and you can hang on my shoulder.” It began to purr—loudly—and he plopped it on his arm. “Okay. This’ll work too.”
When he glanced at Angie, her eyes shone with something that made his hopeful heart beat faster and warmed him all over. She broke the connection, her face flushing an attractive shade of pink, and placed the kittens into a single cage.
“Are they all from one litter?”
“Yes.” She faced him and softly said, “Sam, why did you come here?”
“I came for you, Ange.”
She blinked. Rapidly. Then she frowned.
“Babe, I have no right to ask, but I’m doing it anyway. I don’t know what kind of money I’ll pull down or for how long—it’s all still being worked out—but whatever’s coming, I don’t want to face it without you. I made that mistake once, and I’m not making it again.”
She seemed flustered and reached for the kitten on his arm.
Sam shook his head. “I’m keeping him. Her. Whatever.”
“What?”
“I’m getting a house with a backyard. It’ll be great for pets.”
“A house? Where?”
“In Raleigh. That’s in North Carolina. I’ve looked at a few and have two more to go, and I really need you to pick it out.”
Confusion swirled in her pretty blue eyes. “W-why?”
“Because I’m hoping you’re going to live there too.
” He looked to the acoustic-tiled ceiling before leveling his gaze back on her.
“I’m totally screwing this up. I had this whole speech planned about why you should come with me.
Only I was going to convince you to leave your job …
but now that you don’t have a job … I mean, that makes it easier, right?
You can find one there. I’ve already talked to a few people who say there’s a demand for physical therapists. ”
“Sam, I was fired. No one’s going to hire me.”
“Sure they will. The reason they let you go doesn’t wind up in a database, does it?”
“No, but they’ll probably ask me if I’ve been fired for cause. I’ll have to answer honestly.”
“Okay. Then look at it this way. Nothing’s tying you down.” He brightened.
Her mouth swung open, and devastation flooded her eyes. He wanted to kick himself.