I will need one there. Or hadn’t that crossed your mind?”
All sorts of things had been rolling through her mind these past few minutes, she thought. But nothing like this!
She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “It’s been less than five minutes since you’ve sprung this news on me. I haven’t had time to think about anything!”
He deliberately swung his attention to the clock on his desk. Once the second hand made a complete sweep of the numbers, he said, “Okay. You’ve had five minutes now. What do you think?”
Her insides were suddenly trembling, and she quickly clasped her hands together to keep them from outwardly shaking.
“First of all, the Cantrells offered you a job. Not me. And secondly, the ranch is several miles west of Ruidoso, and part of the trip is over rough, graveled road. The commute there would take at least forty-five minutes one way. That’s—”
“The Cantrells have already agreed to hire you—if you want the job,” he quickly interrupted. “And you wouldn’t be commuting. You’d be living there—on the ranch. Just like I will be.”
He was leaving his large home in the suburbs and moving to the ranch? And the Cantrells were offering her a job and a place to stay, too? Something was wrong with this picture. She’d not spoken to Alexa in several weeks, but that didn’t mean her old friend might not be pulling strings. As grateful as Laurel was for the offer, she’d been independent since—well, since she was a little girl. She didn’t want handouts from anyone. And she especially didn’t want to be hired because Russ had made stipulations to include her.
“I find all of this hard to believe. I mean, I believe the part about you—I’m sure the Cantrells were willing to offer you the moon to get you to work for them. But me—the ranch hardly needs my services.”
Leaning forward, he pulled a card from a Rolodex and tossed it on the desk in front of her. “If you don’t believe me, call Quint and talk with him. I’m sure he can answer any questions you might have.”
Quint Cantrell was Alexa’s younger brother. And since their father, Lewis, had died several years ago, he was now the man in charge of the ranch. Through her friendship with Alexa, she knew him quite well. But she didn’t want to talk with him tonight. She needed time to calm herself, to think about what all of this was going to do to her life.
“I’m not sure I have any questions for Quint,” she said after a moment. “Because I’m not at all sure I want to take the job.”
Surprise flickered in his eyes, but he couldn’t be any more surprised than she was at herself. The words had popped out of her mouth with a will of their own, as though something inside her had plucked the remark straight out of the chaos going on in her head.
Long seconds stretched in the quiet room before he finally asked, “You aren’t interested in the job?”
“I didn’t say that. I said I wasn’t sure about it,” she corrected.
“You were just bemoaning the fact that jobs weren’t hanging from tree limbs. You have something else in mind that you’d rather do?”
She resisted the urge to squirm upon the seat. There had been times in the past when she’d thought of moving on to work for another vet or changing to a different job that still involved caring for animals. Anything to get her away from the hopeless attachment she felt toward Russ. But she’d never been strong enough to take such a step.
“Not exactly,” she answered vaguely. “But moving to the Chaparral—that would be a major move for me.”
“I’m well aware of that,” he said bluntly. “It’s a major move for me, too.”
“That’s true,” she reluctantly agreed. “But it’s different for you.”
“How so?”
Groaning wearily, she scrubbed her face with both hands. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore tonight, Russ. I’ll think about it and give you my decision tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow is Sunday. You don’t work on Sundays, remember?”
Only because she’d demanded that he give her that one day off. Otherwise, she’d be working nonstop for seven days a week. As for Russ, he had to come to the clinic no matter what day of the week it was. There were always small animals to be cared for and fed, and then there were the horses and cattle penned in the shelters behind the building that needed the same attention. Sometimes she took pity on him and showed up on Sunday afternoons to help him. And though he’d never said he appreciated her gesture, he always added overtime pay to her weekly check.
But money or salary from Russ had never been an issue with Laurel. All she’d ever really wanted from him was his appreciation, along with a little thoughtfulness. And his companionship throughout the workday. Unfortunately, the latter had become the thing she wanted from him most of all.
“All right then, I’ll phone you.”
“No. You won’t phone me,” he said flatly. “You’re going to give me your decision directly to my face.”
It was just like him to make something as difficult as possible for her, she thought crossly. “Okay. Monday morning. I’ll give you my answer then.”
She started out of the small room, but before she could slip out the door, he called out her name.
Pausing, Laurel looked back at him and for one brief moment she wanted to burst into tears. She wanted to beat her fist against his chest and ask him why he was doing this to her. She’d never been good with changes. She’d been through too many tough ones to ever dream a good change could come into her life.
“Don’t bother about cleaning up the operating room. I’ll deal with that and anything else that we left undone. Go on home.”
He’d never given her a break like this before and she wondered why he was making such a gesture tonight. Because their time in this clinic was nearly over? Because their days of working together were almost at an end?
They didn’t have to end, she thought. She had a choice. She could follow the man to the Chaparral. But would that be the right and healthy thing for her to do?
Suddenly her throat was burning, and when she spoke her voice was unusually hoarse. “Thanks, Russ,” she said simply. “I’ll see you Monday morning.”
It was nearing midnight when Russ maneuvered his four-wheel-drive truck over the snow-packed driveway leading up to the house he’d called home for the past twelve years. The large split-level brick structure was situated on the eastern edge of Ruidoso Downs and had a beautiful view of Sierra Blanca. Though it was far from being a mansion, it was a comfortable, spacious house with more amenities than Russ wanted or needed.
He was basically a simple man and had only purchased the property because his ex-wife, Brooke, had insisted it was a fitting home for a doctor.
Doctor, hell, he mentally snorted. He wasn’t a doctor. He was a vet. But she’d never wanted or tried to see the difference. She’d had huge ambitions for him and herself. And in the end, he supposed those ambitions were the very things that had split them apart. As for the house they’d once shared, he’d remained in it simply because it was much
