Barking Up the Wrong Tree by Juliette Poe (26)

Jake

It’s completely dark by the time I pull into Laken’s driveway, but the windows are shining brightly from the lights on within. When I’d dropped her off less than forty-five minutes ago, it was with a curt, “I’m going to go get a beer. I’ll be back later.”

She didn’t say a word. Just remained silent, which was exactly how we spent the entire ride back from the beach. Laken just got out of the car, quietly shut the door, and walked into her house without looking back at me.

I was torn between spanking some sense into her and just getting on a plane to leave it all behind.

Instead, I decided to seek out Pap because if anything, I knew he’d be brutally honest with me. And I needed to know if I was the one who was being stubborn.

I turn the car off and think about how easily Pap put things into perspective. Turns out, my life isn’t in Chicago. Just my business is, and at least a part of my business could be run from anywhere. I mean… I knew that. I’d worked from Whynot before. But what I hadn’t considered was that Chicago was no more of a home to me than California was when I played at USC. It was just a place I lived.

Baltimore was where I was born and raised, but I can’t even really consider that my home. My siblings are there with a multitude of spouses, nieces, and nephews and while I’d always visit a few times a year, I don’t really miss the area. I enjoyed Chicago much more as a hip and cool place to live. But it wasn’t my life.

What Pap made me do was realize that the destination isn’t necessarily what’s important. Cities are just cities. My couch in Chicago is far more comfortable than Laken’s, but I’d rather be laying on whatever couch held Laken, and that would be the one here in Whynot.

Pap made me realize that perhaps I was the one who actually needed to be more malleable in the art of compromise, because let’s face it… Laken has far more to lose than I do.

Whynot is her home. It’s where her family lives. It’s a place she identifies with on an extremely deep level. She has history here, and I can suddenly picture my kids—our kids—running through the backyard catching fireflies at night with Herman jumping all around and barking.

That’s what is important.

I get out of the car and walk to her door with some trepidation. I’m prepared for Laken to have my bag waiting there for me, but I’m sure as hell not going to let her run me off without her at least hearing me out.

To my surprise when I knock on the door, I hear her call out in what sounds like a fairly amicable voice, “Door’s open.”

She’s sitting at the table when I step inside, Herman lying beside her. He doesn’t wag his tail at me or approach in welcome. In fact, his stare is baleful and filled with reproach. I’d hurt his mom and he wasn’t happy about it.

My eyes go to a notebook Laken has opened on the kitchen table in front of her. She’s got a small calculator sitting beside it, and she’s scribbling some notes.

“What are you doing?” I ask as I walk toward her.

She doesn’t look up at me but continues to jot stuff down. When I reach her chair, she finally sets the pen down and gives me her attention.

Nodding toward the chair opposite her, she says, “I’ve got a solution.”

My entire body jolts with excitement, not just from her words but from the positive smile she beams at me. But I don’t move. As much as I wanted Laken to give me an ounce of compromise, I need her to know I don’t need it now.

“I’ve already got the solution,” I tell her, loving the way her mouth drops open and she blinks in surprise. But not loving the way her expression turns wary, so I hurry up and tell her, “I’m going to move here permanently.”

I’m not sure what I expect from her, but I’m a little discombobulated when she waves a hand at me dismissively and looks back down to the notebook. “It’s not necessary. I think we can—”

Reaching out, I jerk the notebook away from her, so she looks back up at me completely stunned. I toss it on the counter and squat down by her chair. Putting a hand on her thigh, the other on her shoulder, I tell her the thing I should have told her when I first walked in her house last night.

“I love you, Laken. And I want to be with you, and because Whynot is so important to you, we’re going to be together here… where you want to live.”

“But—” she starts to say, but I move my hand from her shoulder to her mouth where I cover it.

“Hear me out,” I say quickly. “I can do a lot of my work from here, but I’m going to have to still travel to Chicago. I’ll keep the condo there, and if you can sneak away from work, maybe you can come with me for a few days to lessen the time we’re apart. But I promise, I’ll try to keep the travel down as much as possible so we’re not doing a long-distance relationship. Whynot will be my home. You will be my home.”

“You love me?” she blurts out after batting my hand from her mouth, and for the first time ever, I see a softness start to shine from within Laken’s eyes that I didn’t know existed. It’s coated in a thin sheet of emotional tears, but the tremor and awe in her voice lets me know that my declaration of love for her may be the most important thing she’s ever heard in her life.

“Yes, I love you,” I say as my hand goes to her neck. I pull her to me, looking her directly in the eye. “And I don’t want to be away from you anymore. So let’s sit down and start planning how to get me moved here as soon as possible. Granted, I’ll need to spend some time in Chicago setting things up to manage remotely. I’ll need to make some management changes, transfer some board authorities, but it won’t be too difficult with—”

This time, I’m the one who’s silenced by Laken throwing her arms around my neck and plastering her mouth to mine. Instantly, it turns hot and deep and all thoughts of moving and love and how to transfer business authorities vanishes from my brain.

All I can think about is Laken and the pure happiness she’s transferring into me with that kiss.

When she finally pulls away, her eyes are sparkling with amusement. “I need to show you what I was working on.”

Laken jumps up from the chair, snags the notebook, and points at me to sit where she’d just vacated. I do and it feels so damn good when she comes to sit on my lap, laying the notebook out before us. I wrap my arms around her waist, put my chin on her shoulder, and look down at her handwriting, which is surprisingly neat and compact for someone in the medical field.

At the top are the words “Mobile Veterinary Services”.

Below it, she has listed out various medical services that seem fairly normal in a veterinary practice. Underneath is a column of items entitled “Referred Services,” that include things such as surgery, x-rays, and emergency services.

And below that… numbers. Equations. Additions and subtractions.

I lean to the side so I can look at Laken’s face as she smiles down at the notebook. “What is this?”

“My new veterinary business model,” she says with her chest puffed out in pride.

“Your what?” I ask, partly in confusion, partly in alarm. She’s talking about major changes here, and I don’t know what that means.

Laken hops off my lap and turns to face me for a moment before she starts pacing the kitchen. Herman raises his head from the floor and watches her intently.

“After you left to go get a beer with Pap, I started thinking about what was truly holding me back from committing to spending time in Chicago, and I realized it was the fact I had a business here. And while you have a business, too, I have to be at mine. I have to be available for my patients, where as you can work remotely.”

I nodded.

“So I called a friend of mine I went to vet school with as she operates a mobile veterinary service. She doesn’t have an actual office building, but operates out of a custom van. She goes to her patients, not the other way around. It’s how I do it for some of the farm animals I treat, but she does this for domestic animals, too.”

“I don’t understand,” I say neutrally, so I don’t ding her enthusiasm. But I truly don’t understand. “How is this different? You’d still be leaving a business unattended.”

“No, you don’t get it,” she says with some exasperation. “I would change how I operated my business. I’d cut out the brick-and-mortar clinic, and I’d change the expectations of my patients. I’d save a huge amount of money on rent and equipment, and I could expand my reach to other counties. I could also set my schedule to my whims rather than having to keep open office hours for walk-ins and emergencies. Although, if there’s an emergency and I’m in town, I could go to that person, but if I’m in Chicago with you, I’ll have a list of vets in nearby towns who could step in.”

“So you want to do this to…” I ask, letting my words trail off because I’m still not sure what she’s doing.

“I’m changing my business model so I’m not tied to a traditional vet clinic. I’m cutting my expenses greatly so I don’t have to work as hard. I’ll condense my appointments into geographical locations, and that will free up my time. I can use that time to travel with you.”

And then I get it. She’s tweaking her business so she can be as mobile as I can be.

“We can have two homes,” she says with excitement, but then just as quickly frowns. “I’ll have to get someone to watch Herman when we’re gone. Maybe Darby can.”

“Babe,” I say as I push from the chair and reach out for her shoulders. I give her a squeeze so she focuses on me. “We won’t be in Chicago a lot. I promise. And if you can come with me to lessen our time apart, that would be awesome. But you don’t have to change everything about your practice to do this.”

Laken shakes her head. “No, you don’t get it. I want to. It’s finally clicking for me. I don’t want to be tied to my practice the way Cam was. I thought that was the height of success, but I know it’s not now. What I want is to be here in Whynot, and I also want to be with you. I want a career I love, but that also suits my needs. This is it, Jake. This is how we do it.”

I shake my head in wonder at this amazingly brilliant creature standing before me. How easy this solution was once we both got our heads out of our butts and started figuring out innovative ways that would work to keep us together. Kelly would be so proud of both of us.

“Whatever you need to get the mobile practice set up,” I tell her with another squeeze to her shoulders, “I’ll front you the setup.”

“You’re cute and I love you.” She smirks at me. “But I’ve got this. I can finance the mobile van setup. My friend gave me all the info.”

I don’t argue with Laken about this, because frankly, I don’t have any right to step on her toes. If we were married, that would be another thing.

And damn… just the thought of marriage to this woman, and her having my kids, and us chasing fireflies in the backyard together with Herman running around and barking…

I just know. This is where my life is supposed to be.

Pulling Laken in close, I ask her, “So you admit you love me?”

“It’s not a hardship to do so,” she returns impishly. “You’re moderately handsome and successful and Herman seems to like you.”

I respond by dropping a hand to smack her butt. She yelps and I pick her up, turning toward the bedroom. Herman starts to follow, but I give him a stern, “Stay.”

His butt hits the linoleum, and I carry Laken off to her bedroom.

Correction… our bedroom.

I love the way that sounds.

♦

The end of this story…

My mom is happy.

I’m happy.

*tail thumping continuously on the floor as Jake carries my mom into the bedroom*

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Juliette Poe is the sweet and swoony alter ego of New York Times Best Selling author, Sawyer Bennett.

A fun-loving southern girl, Juliette knows the allure of sweet tea, small towns, and long summer nights, that some of the best dates end sitting on the front porch swing, and that family is top priority. She brings love in the south to life in her debut series, Sex & Sweet Tea.

When Juliette isn’t delivering the sweetest kind of romance, she’s teaching her southern belle daughter the fine art of fishing, the importance of wearing Chucks, and the endless possibilities of a vivid imagination.