Chapter 17 – Teagan
Five years later...
“Hey, Benson, I need you to run a full blood panel to assess Penny the python’s health.”
“A full panel?” he asks.
I nod. “This is a good learning experience for you. Exotic animals often hide their symptoms so well that it’s crucial to get a comprehensive view of their internal health to figure out what’s going on with her. Right now, it isn’t apparent based on the physical examination we’ve given her.”
My vet tech nods as we place the python back into the glass storage container that her owner brought her in this morning.
Together, we lift her onto the rolling cart we use for large animal transportation before making sure she’s secured tight.
He guides the cart down the hallway to the lab to complete the draw while I head to the sink to wash my hands.
Once clean, I walk back out to the waiting area to meet with Penny’s owner and give him an update.
“Hi, Mr. Becker?” I ask as I approach a small man wearing black wire glasses and a cowboy hat. I’ve been working as a veterinarian full time for over a year now and I’ve started to be able to easily identify pets and their owners and this guy somehow manages to look just like Penny.
He nods. “That’s me.”
“We’re taking Penny to the lab to run a full blood panel.
Exotic animals often hide their symptoms well, so I’m unsure just how sick she is.
I’m concerned she might be suffering from an undetected parasitic infection.
The blood panel will help us determine the exact issue and the best course of treatment to get her better. ”
He nods nervously. “You think she’s going to be alright?”
“We’ll do everything we can to get to the bottom of what’s causing her to be sick and then work on a protocol together to get her well.”
He nods again. “Okay, thanks, Doc.”
I head towards the back of the facility, checking in with Benson to ensure the lab order is correct, then walk to the office I share with the two other doctors currently working at the Houston Exotic Animal Veterinary Clinic.
“That python was gnarly,” my coworker Anna says as soon as I enter the room.
She tosses me a sandwich that one of the vendors dropped off this morning as I slump into my chair to type up my notes.
Companies are constantly dropping by with free goodies in exchange for allowing them to promote their products at our clinic and though I rarely have a say in what brands we use on the pets, the owners of the facility never say no to a free hand out, and I never say no to free food.
“I wish I’d gotten the python. I just saw a blue-tongued skink,” Chadwick, one of the other doctors on shift today, says, closing the door behind him and swiping one of the sandwiches from the tray, joining Anna and me.
“Hey, skinks are cool,” I shoot back.
“Not really, at least, not like a python,” Anna says with a chuckle, dabbing her lips with a napkin and then standing up to stretch.
“Okay, I guess one of us has to work around here. I’m heading back out.
Catch you two later!” She opens the office door, heading back out into the clinic while Chadwick takes her empty seat.
His smile is easy as he pulls himself closer to me and I can tell whatever he’s going to say, I’m not going to like.
“So... are you busy tonight?”
I conceal the sigh that I want to unload at his question. Ever since Chadwick and I hooked up four weeks ago, sort of accidentally, it was the same question he asked me every time our shifts crossed.
“Not going to happen again, Chadwick.”
He rolls his eyes in response. “It wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“It was terrible,” I laugh.
Two weeks ago, one of the vendors we partner with for wound care supplies had taken the seven veterinarians who rotate through the clinic for drinks.
A few too many gins and tonics later, Chadwick and I had stumbled back to my apartment and had very sloppy, short and disappointing sex.
He claimed it was 'whiskey dick' but the guy lasted less than thirty seconds before busting and I was left without any sort of satisfaction and a very drunk, asleep coworker in my bed.
It was mortifying and uncomfortable. Frankly, I was better off going home with my vibrator alone than ever making the mistake of hooking up with him or any other coworker ever again.
Thankfully, before I can respond with another explanation on why we should have never slept together in the first place, my phone rings on the cluttered desk. My sister’s name flashes across the screen as I swipe up to answer. “Hey sis, what’s up?”
“Teagan, you won’t believe it...I’m pregnant!” she squeals so loudly that I have to hold the phone away from my ear. “I never thought it’d happen, but it did! We’re having a baby!”
It’s been five years since my sister married Ryder Davenport back on our family’s farm in Pennsylvania.
Five years of marriage, and just as many years of trying to have a baby.
Shawna has dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom for as long as I can remember.
She was the kid who’d line up our Barbies to play house, complete with a plastic kitchen and a make-believe husband.
Meanwhile, my Barbies were always off galloping around on colorful ponies or rushing to save lives in their tiny doctor scrubs.
Thankfully, it seems Ryder had stayed true to his promises he’d made—faithful to Shawna and steady as a husband—which means this news is exactly what their little family needs to complete it.
“I’m happy for you, sis. That’s amazing news. I can’t wait to be an aunt.”
“So, when are you moving to Lonestar Junction?” she demands in the next breath without hesitation.
“Um...never?”
“I need you,” she whines. “I want this baby to know their Aunt Teagan. Imagine if you lived next door. Wouldn’t that be cool?”
I snort because that idea feels out of reach. “They will know me. I’ll come to visit. It’s only a three-hour drive from here.”
“That’s not good enough.” I can tell she's pouting on the other end of the phone despite not being able to see her face.
I laugh. “I have a whole life here in Houston. What would I even do in Lonestar Junction?” Except wonder about how life’s treated Wilder Cameron and if I’m going to run into him…
“Just think about it. Would it be the worst thing to live here and watch your niece or nephew grow up? They won’t be the only ones, you know. I want to have at least five kids, and Ryder keeps saying he wants twins.”
“You know, you can’t really plan that.”
“There’s tricks you can try online.”
“Please don’t tell me.”
She laughs, “And you can always go back to Houston to visit if that’s what you want...” her voice trails off as she begins rambling about babies, and a home that’s for rent in town where I can stay until I find a job and a place to live.
It sounds like she’s planned this whole thing out already meanwhile I’m off reminiscing about the summer five years ago when I thought that I’d fallen in love with a cowboy with green eyes, a quiet soul and a broken past. My eyes catch on the doorway where I see my intern signaling to me that the results are back from Penny’s blood work.
“Sure, I’ll think about it, sis,” I say though I have no idea what she just said to me. She squeals and I tell her goodbye before turning to Benson who’s hanging in the doorway holding up a clipboard with her blood work.
“What’s the verdict on Penny?” I ask, standing to follow him down the hallway back towards where our python friend is currently waiting.
“Roundworms in the gut.”
“Good work. Pull the antiparasitic medicine immediately and administer it to her as instructed. I’ll give her owner an update shortly.
” We head our separate ways and after another four very busy hours of work, my shift at the clinic is finally ending.
I strip out of my scrubs and into a pair of jeans and a tank top, prepared to head back to the apartment that I share with Anna a few blocks down the road but first, I reach for my phone to check it for the first time in hours and notice a text message from Shawna sent shortly after we hung up.
Shawna: Look! Lonestar Junction’s oldest veterinarian is looking to sell his practice just five miles away from my house. It’s a SIGN for you to move down here, sis! Imagine owning your own practice!
I click on the link embedded in the message, my curiosity outweighing my hesitation.
It takes me to a page about Dr. Louis Montgomery’s clinic.
At sixty-five-years-old and nearing retirement, he’s the city’s longest-standing veterinarian specializing in food animals and equine care and he’s ready to retire.
I know the field well—I’d done my fair share of internships with vets who focused on livestock and horses. Ultimately, though, I’d veered into exotic animals. The higher pay helped chip away at my mountain of student loan debt I’ve accumulated, and at the time, it felt like the right move.
Still, owning my own practice had always been the dream—something I figured wouldn’t happen for years down the road. But here it is, staring me in the face like some golden opportunity wrapped in cowboy boots, small town feels, dust, and hay.
I skim through the stipulations he’s listed in the ad: If you’re interested in purchasing my practice, come work with me at the clinic for 30 days. I’ll evaluate if you’re the right fit to take over my business for the city. After that, we can discuss a price that works for the both of us.
Who the hell sells a business like this? No listed price, just work for me for a month and I’ll decide if I like you enough to sell it to you.
On one hand, it annoys the hell out of me. Uproot my life? Gamble on his approval? Walk away from a steady income here in Houston? Hard pass.
On the other hand, I respect it. The guy’s got guts, and I like gutsy. I’m a damn good vet—hardworking, passionate about animals, and I know how to connect with new people whose trust I need to earn. I could win him over.
But the bigger question isn’t about the clinic—it’s about Lonestar Junction. Could I see myself back there? Permanently? I haven’t set foot in that town in over five years. Not since… Wilder.
And just like that, his face floods my mind, uninvited but all too familiar.
I wonder what he’s doing these days. How Willow is doing.
Are they still in town? Of course they would be.
His family’s ranch is there, and he was all set to take it over someday.
Plus, Willow must be around seven years old now, likely in school with a whole life built around her the way it should be.
I wonder if he’s married, had any more kids, and if he’s happy.
I sigh and lean back, letting the questions hang in the air. I came to Houston almost ten years ago, chasing a dream—or maybe running from one, I’m no longer sure. A decade later, nothing’s changed except I’ve become the vet I always dreamed I’d be. Yet, I don’t feel any different inside.
Maybe it’s time to stop chasing. Maybe it’s time to move on—literally, to a new place.