Chapter 31
Annie
The days are flying by faster than I can keep track. One minute, Luke was eating me out in the passenger side of his car dressed as Harley Quinn—the next, it’s the first Movie Night of November, and it’s all a blur of how we got here.
There have been at least ten separate occasions over the several weeks where I’ve literally had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. Rotations are as stressful as everyone warns, and you never feel like you have your feet solid on the ground.
Right when I start to feel stable, it’s time to switch and start all over again somewhere else—learning the layout of the hospital, meeting the new staff, and feeling like a fish out of water. Again.
But, they have also been exhilarating and exciting because every day brings new challenges and new things to learn.
Luke and I are also almost too good to be true. We fell into such a natural rhythm, even for as busy as we are, and we have such a good time together. Even if it’s just dinner on the couch and watching TV, any time I have with him feels like a dream.
I thought there would be more growing pains, especially as we learn to balance our past and the present, but I think our history made it all that much easier.
Drew, Mia, and I have plans to watch Iron Man , the second movie in our mission to watch all the Marvel movies in chronological order—Drew’s idea because it’s something she did with Emmett when they first started dating.
And because it started getting harder and harder for us to pick a movie that wasn’t from the Twilight franchise.
We’re cuddled up on the couch in my living room, Daisy and Rosie asleep at our feet.
While we queue up the movie, I give Mia and Drew the update on the whole Devin situation, seeing as Luke reached out to Grant and took him up on his offer to get together. Luke asked if we could all double-date, so we’re meeting both Grant and Devin at Lenny’s tomorrow night.
“I’m glad you guys are confronting her. You both deserve to finally move on from that night,” Drew says as she crosses her legs, sitting between Mia and me.
“I don’t see it going well though,” I reply. “Devin has never been the kind of person to admit when she was wrong.”
“Maybe you should hit her truck with a baseball bat,” Drew scoffs.
“Maybe you should hit her with one,” Mia adds, and we all laugh much harder than we should.
With the popcorn popped, the candy nearby, and the movie starting, we drift into comfortable silence up until the montage of Tony Stark building his first suit while he’s being held hostage.
“How are rotations going, Ann?” Mia asks as she opens up a Kit Kat, handing one stick to me, one to Drew, and keeping two for herself because it’s her favorite candy.
“Good,” I answer, breaking the stick of chocolate and bringing one half to my mouth. “I’m doing my small animal dentistry and oral surgery rotation, which is a big difference compared to my time at the zoo.”
“Did you hear back about that program?” Drew asks in between eating all the chocolate off the Kit Kat like a psychopath, her eyes still glued on what she calls her favorite Marvel movie.
During my rotation at the zoo, I found that I could really picture myself there, working with the staff and all the different exotic animals.
I know it is early in the rotation year, and this year is all about getting as much experience as we can before we figure out what we want to focus on. Plus, I always thought I’d end up back at the animal shelter or someplace like it, working with the dogs, cats, bunnies, and birds.
But when the practicing veterinarian at the zoo told me more about the Animal Health Center program and the externship that they have for fourth-year vet students, I couldn’t get it out of my head, even after I started my next rotation.
After talking with my advisor, I decided to apply. If I get in, my last month of my rotation year would be the externship, followed by a 3-year Zoological Medicine Residency, which trains veterinarians in the zoo and exotic animal medicine field.
“I’m supposed to hear by Monday,” I tell Drew.
“And how are things going with Luke and all the renovations?” Mia asks both Drew and I. Since Drew and Emmett asked Luke to handle the coffee shop, Luke has dived into renovating the old warehouse .
Now that Emmett is back at Lenny’s full-time, Luke went back to his bartending shifts. When he’s not at Lenny’s, he’s next door at the warehouse, meeting with all kinds of construction companies, electricians, plumbers, and distributors for all the equipment he’ll need.
“Pretty sure he’s going to start sleeping there one of these days.” I laugh, then reach into Drew’s lap where she’d holding the popcorn. Luke wants to open by the beginning of December, so he has just about a month to get it ready.
Safe to say, he’s working around the clock, and there are so many moving pieces that all his open time is spent there. He’s using money from his trust, putting his whole heart and soul into it.
“There’s people over there 24/7,” Drew adds. “He’s always directing people on what he needs and where to go. He’s not messing around.”
I let out a little laugh to cover up the emotion beginning to clog my throat. The idea of running a coffee shop might be silly to some, but for Luke this is important. It's something his name is attached to, something he can build from the ground up, something for him to call his own. “Luke has never been capable of putting in anything less than 100%, especially when it’s something he wants.”
Drew and Mia share a look before they look back at me. “We know,” they say at the same time, and I resist the urge to throw my popcorn at them, opting to turn back to the movie instead.
When the movie ends, Drew and Mia help me clean up the living room, and I box up some cookies and brownies I made last night after another stressful week for them .
The three of us group hug at the door and say our goodbyes, them making me promise to text them when I find out about the AHC program on Monday, and me agreeing.
I was surprised they didn’t make me promise the same about our night with Devin and Grant tomorrow—until I hear them talking as they walk down the hall about meeting each other at Lenny’s at six tomorrow night which happens to be the same time Luke and I will be there.
I laugh to myself, shutting the door as I watch the two walk down the hallway, Daisy on her leash walking between them.
Luke told me he’d be at the warehouse late—him, Eddie, and a few of Luke’s law school buddies that he still plays hockey with helping him paint the warehouse now that the drywall is up—so I head to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
I’m almost asleep when I hear the front door quietly open and close. There’s some fumbling around, a sink turning on and off, and the sound of clothes hitting the floor before I feel the bed dip behind me and a strong arm loop around my waist, pulling me in close.
“Goodnight, Annie girl,” I hear in my ear as I drift off to sleep.