She didn’t think she’d be able to get a bite of her breakfast down if she didn’t tell OJ her news, and she folded her arms on the table in front of her. “I have something exciting to tell you.”
His eyes brightened, and he leaned forward too. “Did you get a new sheep in?”
She shook her head, fondness for this boy filling her and filling her. “No, but it’s better than that.”
“Better than a new sheep?” His eyes went round, and Bailey giggled.
“OJ, I’m moving here. To Coral Canyon.” It felt good to say the words, and she knew once she told OJ, the word would get out quickly. Heck, all she had to do was tell Bryce to put it on his family’s group text, and half the town would know by evening.
“I bought a house here, and I’m signing papers for my new veterinary clinic later today, after I drop you off.”
“You are?”
She wasn’t sure if OJ was happy or just stunned, and then he thrust both hands into the air, his fingers curling into fists, and yelled, “Yeah!”
Bailey looked around, because she didn’t like too many eyes on her. Yes, people were looking, and she simply smiled at them.
“When are you moving here?” he asked.
“In the New Year,” she said. “I’m selling my practice up in Montana, and that’s taken some time.”
She’d have to re-establish everything she’d built there here, and tremors of fear moved through her. She had no idea if she could be as successful here as she’d been in Butte, but she really wanted to try.
There had to be families, farmers, and ranchers here who needed her veterinary skills. She was smart, and she’d built one clinic from the ground up already. The clientele in Butte was the same as here, and while there were other clinics, her market research had shown that there was room for another veterinary office here.
She’d have to hire staff, get the facilities cleaned up and operational the way she liked, and so much more.
Bailey fought overwhelm on a daily basis, and she calmed herself by taking a deep breath and painting a smile on her face. “We can go by the house I bought after lunch, if you want.”
“Yeah!” OJ said. “Is it very far from my house?”
Bailey’s heartbeat shook at her, because she did not want to be a distraction for OJ. He had a loving mother, and it wasn’t her. “Yeah, buddy, it’s a little further north. It’s up on the same highway as the K-9 facility. Do you know where that is?”
“Of course I know where that is,” OJ said. “My daddy lets me go there sometimes when I beg him to play with the dogs.”
She grinned at him. “I knew you’d know where it was. My house is a little bit down the road from there, and it’s old. I’m going to have some people work on it before I get here, and we can go by the vet clinic too.”
“Where’s that?” he asked.
“It’s on the Southern Highway,” she said. No, she hadn’t bought a house too terribly close to the clinic, because Bailey had learned she actually liked the downtime a commute gave her. “It needs a lot of work too, but once I get it fixed up, I think it’s going to go great.”
She spoke with as much positivity as she could, because Bailey wanted to put good things out into the world to attract more good things to her. She’d borrowed the money for her house and clinic from her billionaire step-father who’d been her father since she was eight years old.
“Buckwheat pancakes,” the waitress said as she returned. “Side of sausage, side of bacon.” She set down two plates in front of Bailey. “And oatmeal, buttermilk syrup, and chocolate chip pancakes.”
She surveyed the food after she’d served it all. “Anything else I can get you two? Chocolate milk? Orange juice?”
“Ooh, can I have hot chocolate?” OJ asked.
Bailey grinned at him while the waitress confirmed the hot chocolate.
“I thought we were getting frozen hot chocolate later,” she said, lifting her fork to spear a sausage link.
OJ looked at her with round eyes. “We are. Hot hot chocolate now and frozen hot chocolate later. That’s okay, right?”
“Of course.” She ate her sausage, what she really wanted to tell OJ brimming just beneath her vocal cords. After swallowing, she looked at OJ with seriousness running rampant through her. “OJ, listen to me for a minute, okay?”
He looked up from his buttermilk-syrup-drenched pancakes, a smear of chocolate in the corner of his mouth. Bailey loved his innocence, and she wanted him to freeze in time right here, right now.
