Page 32 of Older Cowboy

Step one: Schedule the final exams for the practitioner program.

Step two: Ace those exams.

Step three: Create a new updated resume.

Step four: Research potential job openings.

Step five: Tell Callie of my plans to leave.

Step six: Request a formal meeting with Tim to inform him of my career goals.

Step seven: Text Cody.

That last one was a doozy, but since it had been outlined on the list, the item must not only be addressed but completed. That had always been nonnegotiable for Erika. It was how she managed to get so much done despite her full schedule. The system worked for her, and she wouldn’t alter those parameters now. Otherwise, she would never accomplish anything.

The wrench came when as she was in the midst of doing step one, Cody textedher.

Cody:I know you may not even be interested in hearing from me anymore, but I’d like to throw my hat in the ring one more time for my own conscience’s sake. Will you give me another chance? Even if it’s just over these texts?

Okay, messing up her order of operations wasn’t something she’d been prepared for. But since he’d already done what she’d been trying to gather up the courage to do, she didn’t think it’d be right to ignore him.

Erika: I’d prefer to meet in person, if that’s okay. Not this Saturday, but next Saturday if you’re available.

His response came back immediately.

Cody: I’m available. When and where?

Erika: How do you feel about Three Sisters Barbecue Excellence?

She figured neutral territory would be somewhere they’d never been, which turned out to be most places since they’d never gotten their feet off the ground, so to speak.

Cody: I love BBQ.

Erika: How about six that evening?

Cody: I’ll be there.

Despite not expecting it, she felt a remarkable amount of relief that Cody had reached out to her first. It boded well for them figuring out what to do in the future. But first, she must laser in all her efforts on the steps that came before that.

So, Erika did.

She scheduled her exams for that Saturday morning and after the four-hour time period allotted to her, she wrapped them up. It’d been somewhat tiring to have all the knowledge she’d been studying for so long summarized on a screen in front of her like that, but she’d departed the testing center feeling fairly confident.

Nothing had tripped her up or caused her to freak out because she hadn’t known the answer. No. She’d recognized every question they’d thrown at her. She could be wrong about that, of course, but for that particular moment, she felt like she’d held her own.

Also, it felt incredibly rewarding to check that item off her list.

Since she didn’t know if she’d aced her exams or not, she continued to build her resume. That didn’t prove hard since she already had the template she’d used to get hired on at the pediatric office a year and a half ago.

With a few tweaks, she had an updated page of all her qualifications noting the date she’d taken the exam. She was thinking positively and had her plan set up to include sending her resume to every organization that might have an opening. She wasn’t letting not having the official test results yet slow her down.

It was an admittedly new outlook for her, but since she was all about embracing change at the moment, it felt good to try it out.

Sending those resumes came with the ease of hitting a button as she emailed them to the various positions looking to hire someone with her expertise. One of them was the main clinic here in town. She loved the idea of such a short commute, especially since she was applying for an open position in their endocrinology department. With luck, she’d soon be doing her part to cure type one diabetes.

Yet as earthshattering as taking those steps had felt, the next two scared her even more. Still, she bit the bullet.

“Callie, can I take you to lunch today?” she asked her friend, placing her trembling hands behind her back.

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