What did I have in Cincinnati? Not much.
But in Goose Run, I had Kayla and the clinic. I had a box full of kittens. I had Dog. I had spaghetti night with a bunch of guys who could be my friends. And I hadCash. Cash, who eclipsed every other one of those things like he was a goddamn supernova.
I thought again about Uncle Jim’s offer to sell me the practice. I’d dismissed it out of hand because I was already buried under a mountain of debt, and who in their right mind wanted a practice in some weird little backwater town that didn’t even have a grocery store? But that was before I’d gotten to know the people here. And sure, the mayor was quirky as all hell, and his goose was a fucking menace, and the town wasn’t like anywhere else I’d ever been. But maybe that was what made it special.
“I don’t actually have an answer for you,” I murmured, unsure if he was even still awake or not. “But it’s something I’m going to think about.”
The idea of staying in Goose Run, of taking over Uncle Jim’s practice, of being with Cash… it was crazy, wasn’t it? Or was it exactly what I needed? Last night had been an absolute shitshow, the sort of thing I wouldn’t have wished on my worst enemy, and it had shattered me. But Cash had shown up, andso had Adrian, and so had Kayla, and that was three more people than would have in Cincinnati. A strange combination of optimism and disbelief rose up in me as I pondered the idea that maybe the answer to all the problems in my life was the unlikely town of Goose Run, as I slowly came to the growing realization that life here could be good. Could be better than good, if I let it.
And did I really want to walk away from this place and leave Cash behind?
And when I thought of it like that, maybe the answer was a hell of a lot more obvious than I’d guessed.
I pressed another kiss to the top of Cash’s head and then closed my eyes. I drifted off to sleep thinking of a future that was different from the one I’d imagined before. And it was still blurry around the edges, but now it was starting to take shape—and that shape looked suspiciously like a goose.
CHAPTER 18
CASH
“Beautiful morning today, Cash!” Jim Ross called out as I walked toward the front porch. He straightened up from where he was standing in the garden bed, hands on his hips, and regarded me suspiciously. “It isCash, right?”
I nodded.
Jim’s craggy face didn’t lose its suspicion. “Because yesterday I was over at Walmart in South Hill picking up some tank cleaner for the RV, and got talking to you about what you wanted for dinner tonight, and dammit if that reprobate brother of yours didn’t have me convinced I had to make shrimp cocktail and crab claws before he finally admitted it was him.” He grunted. “We’re having ribs and potato salad.”
“I like potato salad,” I said.
Jim tucked his screwdriver into the pocket of his jeans and nodded at the porch railings. “What do you think?”
The old Veterinarian sign had changed. It still said Dr. Jim Ross DVM and it would for a few more months yet, but there was a new panel fixed underneath it. It said Dr. Mason Ross DVM in curling letters.
Warmth bubbled up in my chest and I smiled. “I like it.”
Mason had been gone for three weeks. We texted every day, because I wasn’t good at talking on the phone. Mason sent me voice messages telling me about his day, though, and I listened to them over and over until the ache in my chest at his absence eased. I missed him. Dog missed him too. But Mason had needed to go back to his old job in Cincinnati and give them his notice, and cancel his lease on his apartment, and hire a moving truck for his furniture, and a whole lot of other things that you didn’t have to think about when the only time you’d left home was with your twin brother, the clothes on your back, and the devil snapping at your heels.
I followed Jim up onto the porch and through into reception.
The walls inside gleamed, and the air was heavy with the smell of fresh paint—all part of Jim’s promise to hand the practice over to Mason in good shape.
Dog burst out from somewhere at the back of the house—the kitchen, probably—his whole body wriggling so much in delight that he was going sideways as much as forward. But he made it to me eventually, jumping up so I could give him scruffs and hugs.
“If you’re walking him down Main Street,” Jim said hopefully.
“A cappuccino and an apricot Danish?” I asked.
When Jim had arrived back in town, I’d been wary at first, worried because he was someone new and worried that he might not want me coming around his practice, but my fears had been groundless. He had a warmth to him that reminded me of Mason and set me at ease, and it hadn’t been long before he’d ended up on my list of safe people to talk to. That list was slowly growing, even if I still didn’t say much.
“I knew there was a reason I liked you.” Jim handed me the money to cover the cost of his order, then patted me on the shoulder and headed upstairs.
I put Dog on his leash and we headed out for his walk and to collect Jim’s brunch. We had to stop a few times while Dog sniffed at an interesting patch of grass and peed, but I didn’t mind. It was a nice day, and it felt good to be outside in the sunlight.
There was a line when we got there and I waited my turn, shooting Chase a quick smile when he spotted me. There was a line most days at Gobble De Goose, in spite of the dumb name. People came from all around for their coffee and pastries, and Lee’s Filipino specialties were particularly popular. Chase loved to puff his chest out and tell people that the business was thriving because his boyfriend was a genius. Of course I gave him shit for acting like a fucking sap when it came to Lee—it was my duty as his twin—but in reality I was happy for him.
I was happy for both of us because after todaymyboyfriend would be living right here in Goose Run too.
When Mason had told me that he planned to buy the practice from his uncle and asked if I’d be interested in dating him properly, I’d almost been afraid to believe it at first because it seemed impossible that I might get to have this. Then, once I’d accepted he really was staying in Goose Run, I’d overthought it and panicked, worried that he felt obliged to move here on my behalf. It turned out when it came to something I really, really wanted, my optimism dissolved like the raccoon-washed cotton candy.
But I’d learned enough to know I could fight back against the panic and anxiety. I spent an entire afternoon with Mr. Conrad, assembling and disassembling rows of plastic Lego bricks and talking about my fears and feelings, and by the end of it, I’d managed to get my head around the concept that if Mason was deciding to stay, that was his choice to make. It wasn’t up to me to second-guess his motives. And if Iwaspart of the reasonhe was staying, so what? It just meant he felt some of the same things about me as I felt for him.
