“Ev—”
“Bryson, I’m serious.”
“I can tell. And it’s kinda scaring me, if I’m being honest. Face it, Evie, The Sanctuary is a lost cause.”
“You don’t know that,” Evie said. “I still think we should look into buying another place. Or—and just hear me out—we could talk to this grandson of Doc’s old friend. Maybe he has a generous bone hidden somewhere in his body and would be willing to donate the building. We should at least inquire about it.”
“This is not going to work.” Bryson set his elbows on the table and rubbed both temples. “Look, I have no idea what this grandson is like, but based on what Doc shared with us tonight, there’s a zero percent chance of that happening, Ev.The guy sounds like a selfish asshole. Even his own grandfather cut him out of his will.”
He had a point. But Evie wasn’t ready to concede hers.
“We’ll never know unless we ask,” she said.
He tilted his head to the side, a curious glint coming from his narrowed eyes.
“What’s with this one-eighty, Evie?” Bryson asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You went from needing time to think things over when Doc first asked us to work together to save The Sanctuary, to now looking to create some miracle by convincing a selfish brat to donate two million dollars’ worth of property? Where is this coming from?”
She reached for her coffee. Evie sipped slowly, her mind racing to come up with an answer that wouldn’t make her look like she was selfishly using The Sanctuary’s bad fortune as a way to make herself feel better about the state of her life. Because that’s essentially what she was doing.
“Let’s just say I had a change of heart,” she finally answered.
“Nope.” Bryson shook his head. “You don’t get to take a page from Doc’s playbook and come at me with this vague shit. It’s more than just a change of heart.” He picked up the baklava and took a bite. With his other hand he made a motion for her to continue.
“Remember when I told you I’m a bit of a black sheep when it comes to my family because I didn’t go into medicine?”
“Yeah, I remember,” he said.
He sucked the syrup the baklava had been soaked in from his fingers and Evie nearly lost it. She made a mental note to never invite Bryson Mitchell anywhere that required him toeat with his fingers ever again. She was not adult enough to handle it.
“Do you realize how accomplished a family has to be when you’re a doctor and still get labeled the black sheep?” Bryson continued. He shook his head. “Those Williamses are something else.”
“I know, right?” Evie said with exaggerated glee. “Lucky me!”
“I’m joking, Ev,” he said. “You know you’re a standout in everything you do. But what does any of this have to do with The Sanctuary?”
“Well, lately I’ve been feeling like there’s something to what my family thinks of my lack of accomplishments.”
He stopped chewing. “Nowyou’rethe one who’s joking.”
“Think about it, Bryson. What have I really accomplished on my own? I went from relying on my parents to fund my education—”
“Which is their responsibility,” he said.
“Well, it wasn’t Cameron’s responsibility to give me a job, but I never even tried to look anywhere else because I knew I would work with him.”
“As much as I hated it back then—and still to this day, if we’re being honest—why would you look elsewhere, Ev? You and Cameron were together. You were engaged, weren’t you?”
She nodded. “For the past four years.”
He held his hands out as if he’d just spelled it out for her.
“It doesn’t matter what’s true or what makes sense,” Evie said. She pressed her hand to the center of her chest. “What matters is what I feel in here, and I still feel as if I haven’t accomplished anything meaningful on my own. Saving therescue has meaning. It’s something I can be proud of. Now do you get it?”
“Hmm.” He nodded.
