Page 89 of Call it Fate

Oh, god. How could I leave her? Leave the one person who believed in me and didn’t care if I’d gotten it or not, she’d loved me the same either way.

“There’s more.”

She stilled at the melancholy that worked its way from my heart into my voice. “What?”

“He’s foregoing the usual transition time since I already work there. I report next week.”

“Next week.”

I nodded. “I have to leave in a few days.”

“A few days,” she parroted.

“Come with me.”

“Zach.”

“We’ll make it work, Em. I can’t not have you and Iain. I can enroll him in school or hire a tutor or—”

“Zach—”

I stood and paced across the room, unwilling to listen to anything she had to say unless it involved the wordyes.

She followed me across the room, her cheeks already stained with a trail of tears.

“Don’t say it, Em. Don’t even say you can’t.”

“I’m sorry. I’m not saying never, I’m saying not right now. I still have too many responsibilities here at the moment. I can’t promise when we can come. But I’ll keep working on it. I promise.”

“I’ll pay whatever it takes to get someone good, someone that you trust.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t work like that, Zach. This is my family’s legacy. I need to be available to train them, to finish all of the projects that have been started.” She dashed her hand across her cheeks. “I can’t give that up. Not yet.”

“And haven’t I given up enough already?” She flinched as I allowed my frustration to lash out at her. “Isn’t seven years enough of a sacrifice?”

She paled. “That’s a low blow.”

I bowed his head. “It was. I apologize.”

I looked at her, the agony we both felt reflected in her expression. I blew out a long breath, willing to bring this conversation back into control. After all, we weren’t talking about a permanent separation.

“We’ll make it work, Em. I’ll do all the traveling if I have to. But I’m not losing you. I’ll come back every weekend. And you and Iain can come whenever you want. Summer isn’t far away. In fact, it’s the perfect time to move. It will give us time to enroll Iain in school.”

She smiled sadly. “It sounds like a plan.”

It had to be. Fate would be a cruel bitch if she separated us after bringing us together.

CHAPTER39

Zach

Party blowers sounded as I entered Valley Animal Hospital the following Monday.

“Doctor Abbott, we’re so glad to have you back.”

I smiled at theWelcome BackandCongratulationssigns that were strung up in the lobby. I was greeted with hugs and handshakes, the most boisterous from Doctor Anders. “I can’t tell you how happy I was to see this happen for you. Ready to get started?”

I was. Anything to help soak up the time until I could be with Emalee and Iain again.

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