Chapter 10: The Complaint

The Tri-State welcome luncheon was held in a gym that smelled of floor wax.

Round tables stood under paper banners, and every chair held a nervous student.

Clinic owners from three counties sat at the front in clean boots and good jackets.

I took a seat between two classmates and a plate of cold chicken salad.

Maxwell sat at the clinic partners' table across the room, in a tie he plainly hated.

When our eyes met, he lifted his water glass half an inch.

I felt myself blush clear to my hairline.

We had not been alone since the barn.

We had not needed to be, because the memory of his mouth had followed me through every kennel, every chart, and every shift.

The program director stepped up to the microphone.

"Welcome, everyone, to a new class of what I think will be our best cohort yet..."

A chair scraped at the back of the room.

"Excuse me," said a soft, clear voice. "I'm so sorry to interrupt."

I knew who it was before I turned.

Norma Reeve walked up the center aisle in her good navy cardigan, holding a manila folder against her chest.

Calvin was not with her.

The director frowned. "Ma'am, are you with a clinic?"

"I'm with a family," Norma said, and her voice trembled beautifully. "A family that's been hurt by one of your students."

A hum swept the room.

She stopped beside my table and looked down at me with enormous, wet, forgiving eyes.

"Leah Ellinghaus took five thousand dollars from my son."

My plastic fork hit the plate.

"That's not true," I said.

"Please, dear, let me finish."

Keep reading free with an account. Start His Final Wish Said He Settled for Me, So Reborn, I Left from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.