Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“Why did I think I could do this?” Cassie sat in a spindly chair behind the reception desk. Documents littered every surface, and her phone was propped up on a business card holder.
Boxes with new computers and exam tables were stacked haphazardly in the reception area.
She had barely slept in the week since she impulsively bought a house and rented an office space. There was so much more to the administrative side than she had ever imagined.
“Breathe, honey. You can do this.” Jesse, the practice manager at the last clinic where Cassie had worked, yawned and shook a protein drink.
It was still dark in San Diego. “Was it insane to open your own clinic when you have no experience running one? Yes, but we’re in it now.
I’ve seen you get through much worse. You can do this. What’s next?”
She took a deep breath. “The business plan is done. My brother-in-law helped me set up the LLC. We have the financing from the bank, an accountant who will handle payroll and taxes. I need to figure out our services, pricing, software, liability insurance… This is insane.”
Anxiety clawed its way up her throat. She was bleeding money, and the place couldn’t even open until after the Fourth of July. At least she had some appointments set up with Tina and her horses.
“It’s a lot all at once,” he conceded. “Frontload as many surgeries or procedures as you can. Once you’re turning a good profit, you can hire a practice manager to take this stuff off your plate. Which reminds me, you’re going to need a staff.”
“I do have some applicants. I’m going to be the worst boss,” she muttered. “I can treat animals all day. But how am I supposed to yell at someone for taking a thirty-one-minute lunch instead of an even half hour?”
“Ignore all your people-pleasing instincts. And you need to institute a probationary period,” he said firmly. “I don’t want to see anyone take advantage of my girl.”
“Who’s our girl?” Another voice came from the phone, and Andre, Jesse’s husband, appeared over his shoulder. “Oh, Alex. How are you doing, honey?” His voice instantly dripped with sympathy.
Her cheeks grew warm, and she decided not to correct the name. Everyone from her old life spoke to her like she had been disfigured in a terrible accident. “I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks for letting me borrow Jesse. He’s been so helpful in getting the new clinic set up.”
“My Jesse is your Jesse. You hear from Dave lately?”
“No. Thank god.”
“Good. If he ever dares to come into my restaurant again, know that I will spit on his ceviche.”
Cassie smiled for the first time all day. She could do this. Mostly for her, but also to spite Dave.
“Thank you. Love you guys.” She glanced at her watch. “I have to take care of some things before my inspection. Closing in three days,” she said with feigned enthusiasm.
“We’ll come visit sometime. I could eat my weight in crab cakes.”
“Same. Talk soon.”
She ended the video call and took a deep breath. What if she went through all this rigmarole only to learn that the people of eastern Maryland don’t want a tiger-sedating outsider to look after their chocolate Labs and Maine coons?
But Gloria and Tina seemed to be the matriarchs of this town, so if they trusted her, hopefully everyone else would too.
Cassie stood and slashed through the tape on one of the cardboard boxes crowding her reception area.
The new exam tables were here. Now, how the hell was she going to get them out?
She stood and dusted her hands. Sweat clung to the back of her neck, and she squinted in the morning sunlight filtering in through grimy windows.
She tipped the box onto its side, shaking the entire building with an almighty thump.
There was a knock at the front door of the clinic, and she jumped and picked up the box cutter, holding it in front of her.
Noah pushed the door open, then stopped when he saw her weapon. “Morning.”
Shit. She had almost forgotten about her new landlord-slash-neighbor. She dropped her arm to her side and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “Hi. Sorry. Probably shouldn’t threaten the landlord with a blade. How’s Huck?”
She had totally forgotten Noah’s heads-up text from last night. And here she was, covered in sweat and dust. Not that she cared what she looked like in front of Noah.
“Good. It’s hard to tell, but I think he’s starting to pack on some weight.”
“That’s great. I’ll stop by tomorrow and have a look at him.”
“One of the lemurs is limping a little bit too. If you have time.”
“Sure, I’ll add it to the list.”
They both glanced at the pile of papers on her desk.
“I’m just here to install the hook you asked about,” Noah said.
“Great. Thanks.”
Why did it always feel awkward between her and Noah? Probably because he’d never really apologized for what he’d said. But she hadn’t exactly apologized for her harsh words, either. The urge to smooth things over weighed on her.
“Hey, Noah?”
He grunted.
“I just wanted to apologize for our…earlier interactions. I feel like we got off on the wrong foot because I was a real Judgy Jillian without fully understanding the situation.”
Several seconds of silence stretched between them while Noah pulled out a drill and knelt on the floor. Tattoos crawled up both his arms, moving as he positioned a hook. She couldn’t stop looking at them. Patchwork geometric designs intermingled with different wild animals.
“You didn’t know me,” he finally said. “I did look like a reckless jackass.”
Oh, an almost apology. That was something.
“You were just trying to save Huck.”
He nodded but didn’t make eye contact.
Her therapist wouldn’t be satisfied with this conversation. Her heart rate ticked up. Just say it.
“You were a little mean about my ideas to help the sanctuary though,” she added. “Just because I came from somewhere else doesn’t mean my ideas aren’t valid. And I’m from Maryland, you know. Old Bay is my blood type.”
“I didn’t realize,” he said.
“Yeah. Baltimore. Well, technically—”
Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she stopped. Her mother. Who hadn’t checked in since her phone call a week ago. Great.
“Sorry. Hi, Mom.”
“Alexandra, I’m glad you picked up. We have a pending offer, but they want to have the inspection today. The inspector is coming at noon. You’ll be there, right?”
“Uh, no. I’m not in Baltimore, Mom.”
“What do you mean, you’re not in Baltimore? Why aren’t you at the house?”
“I never went to the house. Because you’re moving. Why would I move all my stuff up there just to have to move again weeks later?”
Noah turned slightly in her direction.
“Well, we said you could stay,” her mother said. “I don’t know why that makes me the bad guy.”
Cassie turned toward the far wall and lowered her voice. “I never said you were the bad guy. I was just explaining—”
“Can you make it to the house, Alexandra?” her mother interrupted. “I really don’t want a stranger walking around the house alone. You know that’s how we lost that Jade Gardner painting.”
“Mom, I have my own inspection—”
“We wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”
Cassie sighed and pocketed the box cutter. “Okay. I’ll be there.”
“Thank you, Alexandra. I’ll send you the listing of the house we’re buying. You must come stay with us when the baby’s born.”
“Sounds fun.”
It didn’t.
“I have to go if I’m going to be in Baltimore in…an hour.” Cassie hung up, squeezed her eyes shut, and took a deep breath. Then another one.
This was so fucking annoying. She couldn’t be everything for everyone. But saying no to her parents would set off a catastrophic series of events that would make her life even harder.
It wasn’t worth it.
“The house is fine,” Noah reported unprompted.
She opened her eyes. “What?”
“The house you’re buying. Tina let me poke around when she was ready to put it on the market.
I’m not an official inspector, but I know what I’m looking at.
Foundation’s solid. No obvious roof damage.
Needs new gutters, maybe. That’s about it.
No big deal if you miss being there for your inspection. ”
“Oh.” The unexpected olive branch snapped her out of her stress spiral. She dropped her shoulders back to their natural latitude. “That’s good to know. Thanks. Could you lock up when you leave?”
He nodded.
“I really appreciate it.” She laid a hand on his shoulder without thinking about it.
The contact hit her like a shot of tequila. His muscles tensed beneath her touch. What was she doing? She just couldn’t go around touching people. She withdrew her hand and grabbed her purse.
“Thanks again,” she said as she darted outside.
She hustled to her car and slammed the door. With the help of a YouTube video, she had thankfully gotten it disconnected from the U-Haul.
“What the hell was that, weirdo?” she asked herself as she put her phone in its clip and started directions to her childhood home.
She called the inspector to say she wouldn’t be at the inspection, and he offered to send the report to her email. One thing done.
She cranked up some Taylor Swift and turned in the direction of Baltimore. Great, back over the terrifying Bay Bridge.
To-do list items swirled in her brain as she drove, and she dictated them into her phone.
There was so much—buying a house, setting up a new clinic.
And then there was Andi—she hadn’t made any progress there, either.
She had left a box of muffins outside the farmhouse earlier in the week when there was no answer to her knock.
Why was Andi so adamantly against meeting her? It wasn’t like she wanted something from her. Lyra hadn’t offered up much information, only that Andi wasn’t talking to her, either.
She couldn’t force a relationship. But it hurt knowing that her own flesh and blood wanted nothing to do with her.
Kind of like her birth parents.
She arrived at her childhood home seconds before someone in a van pulled up behind her.
She got out of her car and tried to shelve her resentment over missing her own inspection.
“Mrs. Thompson?” the inspector asked.
“I’m the daughter.”
“Cool. I’m Rich. This should take…” He paused, studying the outside of the house. “About four hours, if I had to guess.”
She blinked. Four hours? What the hell was she supposed to do for four hours? That was time she could have spent setting up at the clinic. At least she’d brought her laptop.
Cassie unlocked the door and let him inside. “I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”
He disappeared, toting an iPad and a backpack. It looked too small to hide much art in.
Cassie moved through the overly lavish foyer to the back of the house, where the kitchen waited. It still smelled like home—her mom’s homemade potpourri and a touch of the Fabuloso the cleaners always used on the floors.
But being here felt strange. Sammy wasn’t sitting upside down on the couch in the living room. There was no telltale scent of her father’s Cuban cigars. No exasperated sighs from her mother. The silence was deafening.
She put her bag on the island, then pulled out her laptop. She started to glance through her emails, but stopped when she realized it wasn’t refreshing. The Wi-Fi wasn’t connected. Great, they had even changed that.
She slammed the lid and buried her face in her hands. What was she doing here?
She should be in Aster Hollow, putting down roots and piecing her life back together. Not bending over backward for people who didn’t even know what city she lived in. A surge of anger rose, and she snatched her keys.
She was halfway to the foyer when a family portrait in the living room brought her to a halt.
Young Cassie and Sammy wore ridiculous frilly dresses, flanking their seated parents, who looked like they were about to be crowned King and Queen of Baltimore.
She could practically feel her mother’s disappointment emanating from the portrait.
If she left now, she would never hear the end of it.
This was going to be the last favor.