Page 5 of Revival

“After you.” I sweep my hand in a gesture for him to leave the room.

Girl, what are you doing!?

I worry my lip between my teeth as Spencer pushes the walker out the door, using the time with his back to me to let my guard drop. My hands twist together, pulling on the rubber gloves in a nervous gesture.

I should have sought out my backbone and told Spencer where to shove his crappy attitude. Lord knows I don’t usually tolerate letting anyone walk all over me.

But something about Spencer is different. He always has been. It’s why he was able to sweet-talk me into bed when I’d been holding out for so long. The truth is I was madly, deeply in love with him, and I thought I had enough reassurance that he was serious about that next step with me to let my guard down.

Clearly, I was a fool.

But like I’ve done many, many nights since that day, I remind myself that if Spencer hadn’t left, I wouldn’t have met Oliver’s dad, which means I wouldn’t have Ollie.

And not one damn thing in the world could make me regret having my son.

Especially not SpencerfuckingStone.

I fix my face, plastering on a more neutral expression and follow him out the door. The nurse fitted him with a belt around his waist to help me catch him if he were to fall. As if he’d even want my help. That man would take a broken nose from the linoleum over me putting my hands on him to assist. I’d bet my next paycheck on it.

“Are you training for a marathon?” I run four days a week, yet my thighs burn with the quick pace. Spencer cruises around the burn unit like he’s going for gold.

“Faster I get my laps, faster you can leave.”

“Unless you slip and fall. That’ll sure show me.”

He stops abruptly. I get three paces ahead before I’m able to pump my own brakes.

“Your sarcasm isn’t required.”

“Isn’t it? I thought it was your love language.”

Spencer moves onward, shaking his head. The dark locks are too long on top, shifting with movement. “You must be spending time around Silas.”

I laugh at the accusation. “Only about once a week for the past fifteen or so years.”

He cocks his head. “That much, huh?”

“Minimum. Either he’s bringing me a stray or helping my brothers catch a stray or saving some poor stuck kitty from a tree or we’re meeting up for drinks at The Rocks.”

“I thought it was the fire department that takes care of that?”

I shrug. “Fairview Valley is a small town. Everyone helps where they can.”

Spencer’s pace slows the more we talk. “Wait, why is my brother bringing you strays? I thought your brothers owned the dog sanctuary.”

“They do.” I tuck a loose lock of hair behind my ear, ignoring the way Spencer’s eyes track the movement. “I’m a veterinarian. My practice is the only one in town, and I partner with the Sanctuary to offer health checks and vaccinations to their dogs. It keeps me busy on the slow days.”

Spencer’s walker rolling along fills the silence between us.

He clears his throat. “Do, uh, do you like it?”

“I love it,” I murmur without pause. I peer at him curiously from the corner of my eye. He studies the ground beneath his feet as we walk.

Is he thinking about the same thing I am? Does he remember lying in that bed together, an hour, no, two, three, four hours after we finished exploring our bare skin, just two crazy kids staring at the ceiling and talking about life? Does he remember the way I laughed and covered my face as I admitted out loud that I wanted to become a vet?

Does he remember the way he gently pried my arm away from my face and rolled me to my back so that he could lean over me? How he kissed me once to shut me up before pulling back to gaze down at me?

Does he remember that he was the first person I told and the first person to believe in me, even before I believed in myself?

---