Page 72 of Call it Fate

As we drove through the streets of Charlotte on the way to Zach’s place, I had a sudden sense of déjà vu. The same small thrill of excitement lit something inside of me, the same as it did when I’d first arrived to go to school. Mostly, I thought, because it was different. Not only the size, but the pulse of the city was elevated, not so much as to be overwhelmed like I was sure I would be in a city like Chicago or New York but enough to know that something different could greet me every day, unlike in Sterling Mill.

Iain appeared to feel the same. He strained his seatbelt staring out the window, amazed by the tall, shiny chrome and silver buildings that reflected the afternoon sun in the business district. He gaped at the sight of people riding Segways while dressed in business attire.

Zach pointed to a very modern, white brick and steel building on the corner of an intersection. “That’s where I work.”

Iain bounced in his seat as he strained to see through the tinted windows. “Can we go inside?”

“Sure. Maybe tomorrow,” his dad told him.

“It’s so big,” I commented.

“It’s a state-of-the-art facility. We can do almost any kind of surgery and are taking a leading role in trying out alternative medicines and therapies for animals. Doctor Anders is considered one of the best vets in the country. I was incredibly lucky to get an internship there while I studied and even luckier to be hired by him as an associate vet.”

“I think he was lucky to get you, too,” I said, earning a dazzling smile from him.

I froze as I saw the Johnson and Wales cooking school in the distance. I tried to shove the past from my mind, but Zach caught it.

“Do you miss it?”

I pretended not to know what he meant. “What? The city? Sometimes. Obviously, it’s very different from where we live.”

He threw me a look from the side of his eyes. “No, I meant cooking school. Actually, I mean more than that. You used to have dreams of being a chef in a restaurant. I know why you gave it up back then, but have you ever thought about going back and finishing your degree and doing something different?”

That was a loaded question. “Sometimes what we want and what we need to do are two different things.”

“But if circumstances were different, would you?”

“I don’t know. I actually love what I do now.” It was true. But Zach’s question, in addition to seeing my old cooking school, made me think. Was it because I’d settled for doing it when there’d been no other option? If I hadn’t come home, where would I be now? Working in a hot kitchen while someone else was the boss? Working countless hours to make a dream come true with no time for a family? In the end, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t afford to go back to school, either financially or practically.

I swiveled in my seat. “Would you leave this? This fancy state-of-the-art facility and go somewhere else?”

He was silent for a few minutes. “It would be hard. I’ve worked hard to get here. I guess it would depend on if I got the internship or not.”

We both fell into silence. They were tough questions but important ones. I knew Zach brought me here to show me the opportunities we’dallhave if we moved here. There were more pluses for moving to Charlotte than there were to stay in Sterling Mill.

I reached over and massaged the back of his neck. “I do have a lot of good memories here,” I said softly.

He smiled and grabbed my hand and brought it around to his mouth and kissed the back of my hand. “Me, too.” He rested my hand on this thigh, covering it with his own as he navigated the streets, highlighting a few areas of interest to us both.

We continued another block, and then Zach turned into a large complex filled with three-story, robin’s-egg blue buildings with white trim. He pulled around to the back, hit a button on his visor, and a garage door opened.

“This is so cool,” Iain exclaimed. “It’s like pulling into the bat cave.”

“Well, it might not be that cool,” Zach replied, “But I like it.” He glanced at me. “It’s close to work but also to some great restaurants and parks.”

Iain didn’t wait to unstrap and hurry out of the car. “Come on, Milo!”

“Woof!”

Zach and I gathered our suitcases, and he led us into an elevator that brought us up to the third floor. Zach opened the door and guided us into a huge, bright room. There were floor-to-ceiling windows on two walls plus an eating cove. The walls were white, and the floors were a grayish wood. The kitchen was next to the eating cove, with white cabinets and light gray granite countertops and stainless-steel appliances. It was quite the contrast to the white of my home. Everything here was deliberate, sleek, and modern—and reeked of money. Mine was white because no one had taken time to update it.

“It’s so big.” Iain stood in the center of the room and spun in a slow circle. “Where’s my room?”

“Down here.” Zach headed down a long hallway with Iain right on his heels. Before I could catch up, I already heard Iain’s excited, “Wow! Is this mine?”

I peered over Zach’s shoulder, where he stood beaming. “I called someone to create this room just for you. We can change something if you don’t like it.”

“I love it. Thanks!”

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