Page 115 of The Flirty Vet

"Seembeing the key word. I've got Bridge and Kolby to think about. I have to be strong for them."

"Put them aside for a minute, how areyoureally feeling?"

He thinks about it. "Mainly just sad. I miss her so fucking much. She was super close to all three of us, but she was my idol. Maybe because I'm the youngest, I don't know. I just think she was so rad. You think I'm fearless, you should've seen her. She was a fighter. She lived life on her terms. And she didn't give a flying fuck what anyone thought."

"She sounds amazing."

"She was so amazing." He slides down the bed and props himself on his elbow. "Can I tell you something?"

I slide down, too, so that our faces are at the same level. "Sure."

"I respect you for not scattering your mum's ashes. I don't think it's a bad thing the way maybe you do."

"Oh. Okay. Thank you?"

He forces a small smile. "What I mean is, I sometimes feel guilty that I'm not thinking about Mum as often as I should be. I'm so busy with work, the kids, the farm, that even though she's only been gone for a year and a half, I feel like I'm already losing her. You holding on to your mum shows me that it's possible. That no matter how much time passes, she's still with you. On your mind. In your heart. And look, maybe you're right and it's not thehealthiest thing…" He rolls his eyes as he says that. "But who fucking cares? When I die, I don't want people to forget about me. Sure, I want them to continue living their lives, but I want them to think of me from time to time. Does that make me a selfish prick?"

"No. You eating the last slice of pizza earlier makes you a selfish prick, but not this."

He smiles. "It was my third slice. You'd eaten the rest of it, I thought you'd be full."

"Wilby." I play with a lock of his hair. "I never get full. If you want to be with me, you're going to have to accept that."

He blinks, tilts his head. "What… What did you just say?"

"I have a big appetite. I'm not the best at sharing food, so I'm saying that if you want to live in a world where you get to be with me and not have the threat of me murdering you in your sleep because you ate the last of the— Holy fuck!" I scramble to sit up. "WhatdidI just say?"

He sits up next to me, and I turn to him in slow motion, my eyes wide with terror. "Fuck."

He places his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, mate. Personally, I would have preferred to see you get down on bended knee and ask me to be your boyfriend in a more traditional way. Wait, actually, another scenario has popped into my head, now that I'm picturing you on your knees in front of me. But, look, neither of those things happened. Instead, you just casually inserted it into the convo. And I'm cool with that."

"Cool with what?"

My already scrambled mind is even more scrambled after what Wilby just said.

He barks out a laugh. "Are you asking me to be your boyfriend?"

I nod. "No."

Wilby's laugh intensifies. "You realise you just said no, but your head did this?" He bobs his head exaggeratedly.

Shit. "Did I?"

"You did."

"I need a minute."

I launch myself off the bed, race to the window, and press my forehead against the cool surface. I honestly hadn't meant to ask Wilby to date me…but also, I did say that without thinking, so maybe my subconscious knows something I don't?

Do I want to be with him?

I absolutely fucking do…ifwe didn't have about ten thousand miles between our zip codes. That's a ginormous, ten-thousand-mile problem.

He pads up behind me, sliding his hands delicately around my waist. "It's okay if you take it back. I was half teasing you anyway."

Wilby is many things, but a liar isn't one of them, and I can hear he doesn't mean that last part. He wasn't half teasing me.

He wants to be with me.