Page 82 of Dr. CEO (The Doctors)

“Well, I didn’t expect you to get here so quickly, so I’m still trying to arrange it.”

“But it’s up for sale. Officially.”

“Like I said on the phone, they can’t decide the price and apparently one shareholder is stalling. Hopefully we can get in this week at some point.”

“So, it’s good I’m here. I can see it with you.”

“Right,” he replies, his tone uncertain. “I want to bring a surveyor with us. Obviously, we’ll have to have them do some ground tests. We won’t know until then how easy construction will be.”

“Great,” I say. “And then we’ll be able to move really quickly because I’ll have seen it. Did you do the analysis on the hold price compared to the development?”

“I did. I just finished it this morning, which is why I haven’t emailed it to you. I can send it now.” He pulls out his phone.

“Does it work?”

He shrugs. “It’s borderline. And you’ve got the risk of one of the big players setting up next door. Like I said, it’s not clear who’s bought that plot. But if it’s a major brand, we won’t get permits for another operation. We’d have to sell. Or change lanes completely.”

“Right,” I say. I do remember him telling me about that risk. I must have put it to the back of my mind. “Send me what you have on the owners of the next-door plot, and I’ll get my team to do some digging. What do you know about other bidders for the plot we’re interested in?”

“Not much,” he says. “I’ve started to find out, but at the same time, I don’t want to draw attention to the fact that it’s coming to market. We don’t want to end up in a bidding war before we even know the price.”

“No one likes a bidding war.”

“Honestly, Vincent, you could have saved yourself the trip. Until we get that initial site visit, there’s nothing we can do. Before then, the most important thing is to figure out who bought next door.”

I thought coming over here had been urgent. Or did I just want to believe it was? I didn’t want to miss an opportunity, which was all too possible when my head was full of Crompton…and Kate.

“I was passing,” I say. It’s a lie, but he doesn’t need to know I need to rip out some roots that had been burrowing without me noticing. “I’ll hang around a couple days, see if I can dig anything up about who owns next door. And I have a couple other things in-state to deal with as well.” I have an investment in a semi-conductor plant in Tucson. I could drop by, put in some face time with one of the partners.

“It’s always good to kill more than one bird with a stone,” he says.

Right. Except there are no birds in Arizona.

I got spooked. And I ran.

I didn’t see it until now. Crompton had gotten under my skin, and I pressed the emergency eject button before I could look too closely at why.

I’m an idiot.

I realize the silence has gone on a beat too long. Simon is looking at me like I’m wearing a full face of clown makeup. “And…uh…then there’s the golf,” I say. Simon chuckles.

As if I’d ever come to Arizona—or go anywhere—to play golf. I’m just trying to save face. I glance at my phone and see Jacob has texted back.

How’s Kate?

Just the sight of her name creates a flash of heat in my chest. Leaving was. . .maybe not easy, but familiar. I’m on the road again, and the road is where I feel comfortable. Flying city to city is when I feel most like me. I’ve been this way for a long time, and it suits me just fine. Or…it did.

When Simon goes to the restroom, I reply to Jacob.

Can you ask Sutton to check in on her? I type out.

I’m such an idiot. I expected to walk away without a scratch. We made no promises to each other. Neither of us expected a happily ever after. So why do I feel so shitty?

I get Instagram up and check out Crompton’s page. Kate hasn’t posted any more pictures since I left. The last one was a view of the lake. The same view we had when we sat down there together for our first date, and again the day after.

I want to reach out, comment and tell her I miss her, but I don’t want to make it worse. I don’t want her to think I’m capable of coming back and staying for good.

Because I’m not.

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