“Give me the number. Do you have it there?”
Liam rattled off the digits.
“Thanks. I’ll talk to you soon.”
“What are you going to—”
He disconnected the call and dialed the number for the warehouse, adrenaline spiking.
“Hello, this is Lindsey at Wholesale Medical. How can I—”
“Hey, Lindsey. I think you just talked to my brother, Liam. At least, I hope it was you. My name’s Tucker Wells. I’m calling about an X-ray machine and portable machine you have there.”
She laughed. “You’re right. That was me. We’re looking to offload the equipment as soon as possible, so if you wanted some more details—”
“Is it good quality, Lindsey?”
“Oh, yeah.” Tucker had spent a lot of time in life making snap decisions about people, and as Lindsey went through the feature lists, he made another one. “It’s all top-of-the-line. We just don’t feel right selling it at full price because it was already delivered and installed once.”
“I’ll take it.”
Tucker tugged his wallet out of his back pocket, pulled out a bank card, and read her the numbers. The decision he had to make was an easy one. He had the money in his bank account. A combination of his inheritance money and photo sales over the years had built up to a tidy nest egg, and he couldn’t think of any better way to spend it than on Avery and Shanna’s future. She needed the X-ray machine. And he couldn’t risk losing her again.
He made arrangements with Lindsey to have the equipment delivered to the clinic and ended the call, heart racing with what he’d just done. Twenty thousand dollars was a lot of money to spend in one go, but he’d done it—he’d saved Avery from any more worry about the machine. It would mean he’d need to get that room pretty well squared away before it arrived. Tucker attacked the repairs with a new urgency. The equipment would be a centerpiece of the clinic, and it was coming soon.
Five days later, a truck rolled up in the driveway. Three guys piled out to move the machine into the big room in the back of the clinic, which Tucker had made over in record time. Fresh paint on the walls, new trim, new flooring—everything. It was ready to go, and once the X-ray equipment had been installed, it looked perfect. And with all his extra work, she could technically open for business as early as next week.
Tucker headed out to the supply closet to get a broom. There were still a few pieces of plastic and foam to get swept up. He was on his way back to the new machine when a flash of sunlight on metal caught his eye. Avery’s truck pulled into the driveway.
A flash of doubt made his stomach do a slow turn, and Tucker’s hand was suddenly slick on the broom handle. The X-ray equipment was done—it had been set up, and it wasn’t going anywhere. But had he done the right thing?
11
Avery sat in the front seat of her truck, looking at the sprawling building that made up the farmhouse and attached vet clinic. The old doctor had had a good idea—a clinic, right at his house, where he could live and work. Only he’d never quite got it to fruition. He’d spent most of his time doing house calls. Now, with Tucker’s help, she could realize that dream…if everything fell into place. And it might not, now that the X-ray machine was dead.
She leaned her head back and took a deep breath. The house call had been to check on the newborn puppies at the Hansons’, and she’d taken Shanna along with her. Shanna had talked nonstop on the way back home about wanting a puppy, and Avery had agreed to check out the local shelter—she didn’t need a working dog to herd sheep, which was what the Hanson puppies had been born to do. The discussion had ended because she’d dropped off Shanna at Cade and Becca’s house for a sleepover with Joey. It had warmed her heart to see Shanna running off with Joey, laughing in the winter sun, without a backward glance.
She’d been a little worried about getting so close to Tucker’s family, but watching those two girls together made it clear that the worry had been unfounded. If Joey and Shanna had met at school, Avery wouldn’t have thought twice about it. It was time to let that go, too. And focus on the bigger issues at hand. Like the fact that she couldn’t stop thinking about Tucker. And her pressing need to get the business up and running in a way that would actually sustain them.
It was time to go in and give Tucker his mail.
Cade had handed it to her when he came up to the truck to say hello, and there was one piece that had stuck out more than all the others. It was a thick cream-colored envelope embossed with Tucker’s name and address and closed with a wax seal that had been pried open.
“It was like that when it arrived,” Cade had told her. “I’m guessing the seal got stuck in the sorting machine at the post office. The whole thing came apart when I picked it up—it’s an invitation to a photography exhibit in New York City.” He’d given a little shrug. “Don’t forget the Post-it note.”
The note, stuck to the invitation, poked a curled edge out of the envelope. It read Tuck, hope to see you there.
It made Avery’s stomach turn.
Tucker’s old life was reaching out to claim him—to take him away from her just as she was staring to fall for him again. It was almost inevitable, wasn’t it? He’d leave, the way he
