Boone poured himself into his marathon training. With only a month to go until the marathon, he couldn’t afford to slack on his diet and exercise regimen. Which was just fine, because he didn’t have anything else motivating him anymore.

He ignored Nicole at work as much as possible. A week after he’d stopped by her house and they’d broken up, he entered the clinic a few minutes late.

“There you are.” Nicole stormed from her office, her anger like a scent on the wind.

“Here I am.” He tried to edge to the right and get down the hall to his office, and fast, because her anger floated on the air the way the scent of maple syrup and butter did down by the pancake house.

“Your paperwork from last night is incomplete.” She slapped it against his chest.

Joanne stood. “Nicole.”

Nicole silenced her with a glare. Theo and Jack, who both helped with the animals in the clinic, entered the reception area. Theo stopped talking to Jack and they watched the scene before them.

“I’ll finish it.” Boone took the paperwork, unsure of what he’d missed. Whatever it was, he’d figure it out behind the closed door of his office. He turned and started toward the hall Theo and Jack were currently blocking.

“Do you need help reading it?” Nicole asked.

Time slowed as Boone turned, as Nicole said, “What with your dyslexia and all.”

The knife of her words went straight into his heart, twisted, and got pulled out. He struggled for air as a blazing pain shot through his chest and into his head.

Joanne gasped and stared at Boone, and Theo and Jack scuffled their feet behind him.

He had no idea what he’d done to Nicole that was so horrible. All he knew was she was not the same person he’d fallen in love with. She wasn’t even the same, awful person he’d encountered when he first moved here.

No, this version of the blonde-haired beauty he loved was vindictive and vicious. Way more than annoyance wound through him. Hurt. Humiliation. He glanced at Joanne and then back to Nicole.

“I can handle it,” he said, ducking his head. He turned to find Theo’s and Jack’s eyes on him too, wide and wondering. He squeezed past them and went into his office, his already broken heart completely crushed.

He dialed Cash as soon as he locked the door behind him. “Hey, Doctor Drew,” he started. “Is that job still available in Amarillo?” Boone twisted in his chair, sure it was time to move on. He couldn’t stay here in Three Rivers and keep working with Nicole. The pain was too real, too immediate, never-ending.

Especially now that she’d been downright cruel to him. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what he’d done to deserve such treatment. He wondered if her siblings had done something recently, if her mama had digressed further, or if her embarrassment over the Christmas program was really that upsetting to her.

If it was, she’d never forgive him for pushing her to sing in the choir, for coming up on the stand as if he could assist her.

Something she’d said about his father’s questions over Thanksgiving popped into his mind. He wanted to know if you’d interfered in my life yet.

The air left Boone’s lungs. He had. He had interfered in her life, and that was why she hated him now.

Definitely time to move on, he thought as Cash said, “I haven’t found a partner yet.”

“I’m already on my way,” Boone said. He made arrangements to meet with Cash in a couple of weeks, just before the marathon, and hung up. He made it through the day without encountering Nicole again, even when he’d corrected his paperwork and stopped by her office to drop it off. He tossed it on her desk and made a hasty escape.

At home, he started a moving checklist, with items like “reserve a Dumpster” and “order boxes.” He spent an hour on the Internet looking for somewhere to live in Amarillo. Through it all, a sense of discomfort threaded through him. He’d never felt like this before, like what he was doing wasn’t right.

He’d left home with a bounce in his step and bright eyes for the future despite his father’s warnings and his mother’s sad countenance. He’d sacrificed sleep so he could study when his roommates wouldn’t be able to see his struggle to read and been nothing but happy in college. He’d come to Three Rivers though the town was a bit too small for his tastes, his extended family a bit too close for comfort, and the possibilities endless and his opportunities wide open.

And he’d fallen in love with the town. Nicole. Riding horses out at Three Rivers. The ranch. His cousin and the community Squire had built.

The people of Three Rivers—and their pets. Even the pastor. He chuckled at the irony of it and let his thoughts linger on his family. They’d always been faithful, and though Boone had deviated from that for a short time, he’d enjoyed his return to church, to God.

What should I be doing? he pleaded. I can’t stay here. But is Amarillo where I’m supposed to go?

He half-hoped the house would shake and a voice of thunder would detail exactly what he should do. Of course it didn’t. God often spoke in a quiet way. So quiet, Boone had to really be listening to hear Him.

He strained for the slightest whisper of direction as he accomplished a couple of items on his list and headed to bed. Lord Vader and Princess Leia jumped onto the bed with him, and he cradled one on each side.

“At least you guys still like me, right?”

Vader put his head in Boone’s lap and peered up at him with doleful dog eyes. It seemed like he was asking where Nicole was, and a knot of emotion worked its way into Boone’s throat.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d cried, but he felt like emptying all this turmoil inside him and crying seemed to be the best way to do that. But the tears didn’t come. His agony went on and on, and the fact that Nicole had thrown his biggest weakness to the wolves drove fury through him with the force of gravity.

“We can’t stay here,” he said to the dogs. Neither of them answered, but Leia snuggled in closer and he stroked her head. “I think you guys will like it in Amarillo.”

The real question was if Boone would like it in Amarillo—and if it was far enough away from Nicole to mend his broken heart.

He didn’t have to tell Nicole he was leaving Puppy Pawz or Three Rivers, so he didn’t. He could put the place up for sale without her expertise or knowledge.

Telling Squire about the move was the hardest, but he handled it well with a simple, “I’m sorry to hear that, Boone. What’s next for you?”

A pang of homesickness hit Boone square in the chest. He took an extra moment to compose himself before he said, “I’m looking to go to Amarillo for a while.”

“Amarillo’s a nice place,” he said.

“Sure is.” Boone smiled, the urge to call his mother growing stronger by the moment. His mother had grown up in Amarillo, and both of his grandparents had lived there for years and years. They’d run the seed and feed shop where his parents had met, and one of her sisters still managed the place.

“Well, I suppose we’ll just need a forwarding address. You can leave it with Garth. He’ll get you your last paycheck.” Squire looked at him, his eyes narrowed. “You sure you can’t make the drive a couple times a week? You can just stay on.”

“I don’t know what it’ll be like in Amarillo,” Boone said. “I’m meeting with him when I go for the marathon.”

“Well, the door’s always open,” Squire said.

“Thank you,” Boone said. “I’ve sure enjoyed my time here in Three Rivers.” His voice broke on the last word and he finished the conversation quickly. Back in the safety of his truck, he ran his hands over his beard and up to his head. He felt lost. Nothing more. Nothing less.

A stranger in a strange land, he thought, wondering how he’d gone from knowing exactly what he wanted—to spend the rest of his days with Nicole in Three Rivers—to feeling like someone had scooped him out with a melon baller.

On his last day at Puppy Pawz, he waited until Nicole went to lunch before gathering everyone into the lobby. He handed Joanne a piece of paper with his new address in Amarillo on it and turned to the people he’d worked with for almost twenty months.

He grinned at them while Joanne brought out the cupcakes he’d picked up at the bakery that morning. “It’s my last day though the place hasn’t sold yet,” he said. “It will. I know it will. There’s already an offer that’s supposed to be coming in.”

Boone just hadn’t been able to accept Louis Whitby’s offer quite yet, though it was fair. He’d been toying with the idea of keeping Puppy Pawz and just employing Louis as the vet. But that would require a lot of conversation with Nicole, and well, she and Boone weren’t exactly on speaking terms.

He cleared his throat, wishing his thoughts were as easily organized. “And I wanted to say goodbye.” He went around to each person and handed them a note he’d written for them. “I’ve enjoyed working with each of you.”

It felt wrong that he hadn’t told Nicole about this goodbye party, that he’d deliberately waited until she was out of the office to hand out treats and cards.

“I wrote these myself,” he said. “No computer. So if you have trouble reading them, I apologize.” He looked at Joanne and put a smile on his face that wasn’t as hard as he thought it would be. “Sometimes my dyslexia isn’t kind when I’m writing.”

“Boone,” Joanne said, tears brimming in her eyes. “We’ll miss you.” She clutched him in a tight hug. “No one cares about the dyslexia.”

“Nicole does,” he whispered, stepping back and meeting Joanne’s gaze.

A tear fell and she swiped at it. “She’ll come around. She just needs—”

“Please don’t tell her where I went,” he said, nodding to that piece of paper she’d laid casually on her desk. “If I wanted her to know, I’d tell her.”

Joanne sniffed and nodded, tucking the paper under a notebook and turning to wipe her eyes.

Boone enjoyed half a cupcake with his co-workers and friends and then took a couple of boxes from his office to his car. He turned back to Puppy Pawz and gave it one final look before ducking into his car and driving away.