Page 56 of The Next Of Us
Time to get back to us.
He nodded.“But it’s going to be a six-to-twelve-month phase-out plan, followed by an amortized buy-out.”
I gave my head a shake.“A buy-out?Buying what out?”
His brow furrowed.“The practice.”
My heart sank clear down to my toes.“Buying the business from Max?”
He looked at me quizzically.“And me.”
“I don’t,” I stammered.“I don’t understand.”
“Nadine, Dini-baby, we’re hiring two therapists to replace Max and me.We’re going to phase them in with our patients over six to twelve months.We don’t want to force change on the people who entrusted their care to us.We need to move slowly since we can afford to do so.”
“Aaron,” I whispered.
Six to twelve months.It might take that long to sell the house.We could afford to take the time.
I attempted to quash my excitement.Would he be okay to stay there another year?Did he still want to take this leap?I reminded myself of my promise to support him and stand by him as he wrestled through this.It had little to do with us, though it affected us.It was about him, his view of himself, his career, his life’s work.
“How do you feel about that?”
“Good.”He nodded.“Really good.I don’t want to leave my clients high and dry, but I need an exit plan.Now that I have one, I no longer feel trapped.”
“I can’t believe it,” I whispered.
He laughed and leaned forward to place his mug on the coffee table before taking mine from my hands and placing it beside his.Pulling me into his arms, he laid back on the couch with me on top of him.“Believe it.”
Pressing my head down to rest on his chest, he lazily scratched his fingers through my hair.
We were really doing it!
My eyes skittered back and forth as my fingers fisted in his shirt.“I found a condo,” I blurted.
He stiffened beneath me.
Could he feel my heart pounding in my chest?
Was I pushing too hard?
“I really like it, and I think maybe you might too.”
“You found acondo?”he stressed, laughing.“What about all my—"
I pushed up on my elbows and smiled at the look of shock in his eyes.“I was thinking it would be fun to return to the roots of us.”
“The roots of us,” he mused, then his eyes bore into mine.“You love our house.Would you be happy in a condo?”
I raised my eyebrows.“Will you be there?”
“Well, yes…”
“Then, yes.Wasn’t I happy in our tiny apartment when we first started out?”
Holding my eyes, he tilted his chin down and raised his eyebrows.“You cried like a baby when we left.”
“And I’ll cry like a baby when we leave this house, too,” I conceded quietly, my voice quivering with emotions too wild and free to corral.“But you’re my home, Aaron.And us following our dreams?That’s what we’ve always been about.”
