Page 52 of Auctioned to Dr. Daddy

All the air rushes out of my lungs in an audible exhale. “What?”

“I’m sorry. I know how much this place means to you, but I just can’t run it and take care of my mother. And family is important, Demi. We both know that,” says Mindy. “I wanted to tell you in person.”

“I could watch it, while you’re gone,” I tell her. “You have the workers here already.”

“I don’t plan on coming back to Seattle,” says Mindy, with a shake of her head. “My mother’s going to need long-term care, and it’s going to be easier if I just move in with her. I don’t like the idea of giving up Apple Green, but it’s the best option. I’ve already had the realtors out.”

Those fancy cars. The ones that I had seen while Nathan was over.

They must have been the people coming out to help put the listing together.

“Oh,” I tell her. It feels like my tongue is too heavy. First Emma, and now this? It feels like my whole life is being uprooted. “Okay.”

“I know that you’re going to need to find somewhere else to stay, so I wanted to tell you now, before anyone bought the place,” says Mindy. “That way you have plenty of time to get a good house somewhere. You aren’t in college anymore, so I think that you’ll be able to do it.”

She leans forward and gives me a one-armed sideways hug about the shoulders, pulling me up against her. I lick at my teeth and tell her, haltingly, “Yeah, okay. You’re right. I’ll start… I’ll start looking for somewhere now.”

“I knew you would understand,” says Mindy. She nods toward Chester. “I’ll have to get most of these boys homed elsewhere, so if you see people coming and going—”

“But he’s old,” I say, heartbroken. “He’s never lived anywhere else.”

“And no one is going to want to buy a farm that has senior horses as a package deal,” says Mindy. “They’ll get good homes. Someone will love to have him as a pasture pet, I’m sure.”

I doubt that. No one buys senior horses. They certainly don’t buy seniors like Chester, who are so terribly unspecial and borderline bland. But I don’t argue with Mindy. It’s not my place to try and talk her into a different decision.

All I can do is sit there and watch as she steps back out of the barn, leaving me alone with the buzzing fluorescent lights, the gentle stamp of horse hooves in the stalls, and my own rolling, angry, awful thoughts.

And Chester, still waiting for me to give him a good curry out.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Nathan

Theentireeastwinghas been shut down for repairs, which is severely limiting the amount of funds that the hospital brings in and has resulted in patient overcrowding.

The fact that the Director still won’t take our checks is enough to drive me up a wall.

Kurt, too. He complains, over coffee in the doctors’ lounge, “There’s just no point in it. I’ve spoken to him. Jackson’s spoken to him. Hell, I think that Costas went up and tried to get him to take our checks. The man doesn’t want to be out of a job.”

“No one’s going to be out of a job,” I say, with a roll of my eyes. I finish fixing up my coffee, turning to press a hip against the edge of the counter. “I know that things seem dark right now but trust me. Mercy is going to be fine.”

Kurt narrows his eyes at me. “What do you know that you haven’t told us?”

“Nothing,” I say.

We haven’t totally finalized the paperwork for the sale of the hospital yet. My father’s rule of thumb is don’t tell anyone but family until the dotted line is signed, even if there are rumors about it.

You don’t want to jinx yourself, and you don’t want there to be any unexpected problems coming up.

“I don't believe you,” says Kurt.

“That sounds like a personal problem,” I quip back.

The door to the lounge clicks open. I glance over my shoulder and smile at the sight of Demi coming in. It must be two then, and her shift is starting. But she doesn’t look happy.

I give Kurt a pat on the shoulder. “I’ll talk with you later.”

“You’ll have to tell me what you have planned eventually,” says Kurt.

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