“I think I made a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“I shouldn’t have let her go.”
A smile spread slowly across Evan’s lips. He looked like a child who just caught on that his mother had bought him that candy bar after all. “So what I hear you saying is you want to make a big romantic gesture to win back Lauren’s heart, and you would like my help to do it.”
Evan’s enthusiasm was startling. “Yes. But if you’re contractually obligated to hate me, why are you being so nice?”
Evan waved his hand dismissively. “You and Lauren are meant to be. I could tell all along. I would be happy to help you. Do you have time right now?”
“Well…I am a little early for work. I can give you maybe twenty minutes.”
“That’s not much time. Hmm.” Evan looked up and down the block. “Obviously, we can’t do our plotting in the Cat Café. But there’s an evil chain coffee place on Bergen, a few blocks south of here, if you don’t mind walking a little.”
“Lead the way.”
***
After he had a rough plan, Caleb walked back to work, swinging by the big chain pharmacy on the corner down the block from the vet clinic. He was full of caffeine, but he wanted some candy or something, a high-calorie way to calm his nerves.
He mulled over his choices and thought about what Evan had said. The trick would be for Caleb to demonstrate he’d been an idiot, and that he cared for Lauren and wanted to be with her and was willing to see where this led.
There’d been a moment early in his relationship with Kara, back in vet school. They’d had to spend the day at a horse farm, tending to a horse whose owner was convinced the horse had colic and would need to be put down. Caleb was quickly able to determine it was just indigestion because the owner’s kids had been feeding the poor horse all manner of junk when the owner wasn’t looking. And once that puzzle was solved and Caleb had saved the day, he and Kara had waited in the stall for the bad food to pass to make sure he was right.
Sitting around a stall waiting for a horse to poop was not exactly the most romantic of settings, but they’d gotten to talking.
“What do you see yourself doing after graduation?” Caleb had asked.
“Not sure. What do you see yourself doing?”
“I figured I’d open a practice somewhere. Maybe in Boston, or in the suburbs. Or I could go back to Maine. Lots of retirees are moving into the area outside Portland where my parents live, I bet a lot of them have pets.”
Kara had given him a scathing look. “Really? Taking care of the pets of the elderly? Gee, that sounds exciting.”
“What would you do?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I could see myself opening a practice in Manhattan and taking care of the purse dogs of the rich and famous. Or I’d travel. I don’t want kids, just so you know, but I would like to see the world.”
It was an odd thing to think about. Kara had been right on the phone the other day. Part of him hadn’t heard her when she’d said she didn’t want kids. Or he’d told himself he didn’t need them even though he’d always pictured himself as a father. As long as he and Kara were happy, he could revise his life plan, because he knew as well as anyone that plans were not predictions.
Did Lauren want kids? Did she have plans? Caleb wanted to know. And he’d listen this time. He’d learn from his mistakes instead of letting his mistakes rule him.
Now, as Caleb stared at a display of chocolate from around the world, he realized there had been a fundamental incompatibility from the beginning. Caleb liked to travel…on vacation. He’d rather have stability. He’d rather have family nearby. Instead, following Kara around like a lovesick puppy had stranded him in Brooklyn, three hundred miles from his family, working at an urban practice. It wasn’t how he saw his life going. He wasn’t upset about it per se; he did really like the Whitman Street Clinic and the other vets who worked there. And Brooklyn was charming in a way he hadn’t expected. He could see himself potentially having a life like the one he’d once envisioned here in Brooklyn.
But he’d been too jaded to see that, too upset at Kara for ending everything, too angry to see Lauren was perhaps willing to give him the family he’d wanted once upon a time.
He hadn’t thought about that conversation in years. A family and a practice taking care of the pets in a community. If he was willing to get over himself and trust in the potential for something great with Lauren on Whitman Street, he could have that.
He grabbed a bag of gummy bears and headed back toward the counter, cutting through an aisle of travel size products. Then something colorful caught his attention.
It was a display of luggage tags and keychains with tags cut into unusual shapes. The luggage tags were shaped like dresses or sunglasses or flip-flops. The keychains were mostly shaped like New York landmarks. But there was one keychain that had a tag shaped like a suitcase.
And he heard Lauren’s voice in his head, yelling at him about his baggage.
He took the keychain from its hook and headed for the register.
Chapter 27
