Chapter 2 #2
The woman shakes her head immediately. “No. I want to keep her. The cat distribution system found me, and I’m not about to let it down.”
Valeria smiles, something warm and relieved settling in her chest. “In that case, they also offer payment plans, which can help. This type of surgery can get expensive, and aside from that, she’ll need a full round of vaccines to get her up to date.”
The woman presses her lips together and nods, her hand gentle as it strokes the cat’s head. “Okay. If you could tell them we’re coming, I’ll take her right now.”
Valeria gives the cat one last reassuring pat as she finishes the purée stick. “I’ll call her and let her know you’re on the way.”
“Thank you,” the woman says with a sigh, reaching for Valeria’s hand.
Valeria takes it. This time, when their eyes meet, she sees her for the first time since she burst through the door.
She has shoulder-length hair cut into flowing layers that frame her face, full lips, and striking heterochromia.
One eye dark as a black hole, the other a warm, golden brown that almost glows.
It brings Maria to mind immediately. A girl Valeria knew for a single summer, back when she was a teenager at a religious camp her father had insisted she attend after he’d caught her and Celeste—the next-door neighbor—making out in a closet.
Maria never knew what she meant to Valeria then, but that summer had altered the shape of her world.
“Everything okay?” the woman asks, clearing her throat.
Valeria blinks. “Yeah, sorry. Your eyes. I’ve only ever met one other person with heterochromia. It stirred up a memory I haven’t visited in a long time.” Heat creeps into her cheeks as she realizes she was probably staring. “I’m sorry.” Valeria laughs.
The woman gives Valeria a lopsided smile. “No, you’re good,” the woman says, and gestures toward the door. “I should probably go.”
“Of course. Yeah, I’ll let her know you’re on your way.”
The woman gently picks up the cat and turns to leave, and Valeria realizes she doesn’t know her name. She needs her name for the clinic.
“Wait,” Valeria calls. The woman turns back, eyes wide. “Your name—what’s your name?”
“Camila,” she says with a smile.
Valeria lets out an amused huff but nods, her gaze following as the woman carries the cat from the exam room and through the door.
Something about her lingers in Valeria’s mind, a strange sense of recognition.
Valeria knows that wasn’t Maria, but there’s something about this woman that feels so familiar, and she can’t quite place why.
She doesn’t focus on it, though. Instead, she calls her friend to give her a heads-up on the woman and her cat on their way to her, and a few seconds after the call ends, Valeria steps back into the reception area, fully expecting to find Brooke waiting for her, but she isn’t.
The only proof that Brooke was ever there is the bouquet of birds-of-paradise resting on the front counter. Valeria’s heart sinks as she turns to Brenda. She doesn’t have to ask.
“She left about a minute after you went into the exam room,” Brenda says.
Valeria’s shoulders sag, and a wave of disappointment washes over her—not at Brooke, but at herself. She knew it might upset Brooke, and she still did it. She exhales slowly, wishing she could take it back, wishing she had chosen differently because she doesn’t know what will happen now.
Fuck.
The second Valeria walks into her apartment, she collapses onto the couch. She’s called Brooke so many times her chest feels tight with panic. Her phone is warm in her hand as she stares at the screen.
“One more time,” she whispers, hitting the call button again, hoping, desperately, that Brooke will answer.
She holds her breath as the line rings. By the sixth ring, she exhales, thumb hovering over the screen, ready to give up. Just then, Brooke picks up, and relief floods her so fast that Valeria’s shoulders sag.
“Hello,” Brooke says flatly. Void of her usual warmth, but she answered. Valeria will take it.
“Babe, I’m so sorry, I’m so, so—”
“I don’t want to hear it,” Brooke cuts in, and Valeria’s heart drops straight into her stomach. “You always do this, Val. I had the whole night figured out, and you didn’t even bother to check with me.”
“Baby, it’s my job,” Valeria says, even though she knows this is a tired argument, one she’ll never win.
“You were off, Valeria,” Brooke snaps. “Meaning whatever happens at that clinic once you clock out isn’t your problem.”
Valeria doesn’t respond. Logically, Brooke is right. Of course she is, but Valeria doesn’t work some neat, clock-out corporate job where caring can be shut off at five. Not when pain has a heartbeat. Not when terrified eyes are staring up at her, asking for help.
“I can’t just ignore it when an animal needs me,” she says quietly. “It didn’t take more than ten minutes. I didn’t think—”
“Yeah, you didn’t.” Brooke lets out a soft laugh that teeters on a scoff. “You always have a reason, don’t you? There’s always someone who needs you more than I do.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Isn’t it? I spent hours putting together something nice for you, because you texted me fifty times about how stressful your day was.
So I’m sorry if, when I show up to take you home, I expect you not to take another patient.
You didn’t talk to me about it, you just left me standing in the middle of the fucking reception area. ”
“Brooke, that’s not—”
She cuts Valeria off again. “I’m not asking for much, Valeria, but maybe I am. Maybe I care more than I should, huh?”
“Brooke,” Valeria says, voice cracking. She swallows hard, fingers twisting together. “I said I’m sorry.”
A heavy pause settles in, squeezing at her lungs.
“I know,” Brooke replies, her tone softening, and it somehow hurts more. “You always are, but tell me, when has that ever changed anything? You can’t even promise you won’t do it again because we both know that would be a lie.”
The silence stretches, tightening until it feels suffocating. Valeria pulls the phone from her ear, convinced Brooke must have hung up, but she hasn’t.
After a few more seconds of unbearable silence, Brooke lets out a sigh and speaks. “Just . . . don’t call me again tonight, okay? I need a minute. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
The line goes dead before Valeria can say another word.
She stares at her phone as Brooke’s words loop through her mind, twisting tighter and tighter until Valeria starts to believe that she shouldn’t have stayed. That she shouldn’t have cared about the tiny creature in the woman’s arms. They could have gotten help elsewhere. It didn’t have to be her.
By the end of the night, Valeria decides that Brooke is right and that she needs to learn to say no at the clinic. Something Valeria never thought she’d concede to.