Page 69 of The Grumpiest Elf

As hard as it was, it was also thrilling. Exhilarating. And when I climb back into Dr. Vonager’s truck, I can’t keep the smile from my face.

He gives me a rare smile of his own. “Feeling pretty good about your day’s work?” he asks.

I nod. “I feel bad for the calf, of course. Poor thing. But it feels good to know that we helped him, and he’ll be okay because of us.” I tilt my head from side to side. “Well, because of you.”

“Hey,” he grouses. “Don’t sell yourself short. My job would’ve been much harder if you hadn’t been there. That calf is basically Sean’s pet at this point.” Sean is the Johnson’s ten-year-old son. “Normally Dan could’ve helped hold the animal, but he’s at work, and Amanda and Sean were too distraught to help. Sure, one or both of them could’ve helped hold the calf, but their anxiety would’ve made it more distressed. You have a soothing presence. Animals respond well to that. And you helped with the smaller wounds. That’s important too.”

“How did you become a vet?” I ask.

He glances at me out of the corner of his eye as he takes us back to the state highway that leads to Arcadian Falls, his mouth hitching up in a tiny smile, and he tells me about growing up on a farm and deciding to become a vet.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SEVEN

Dylan

School provesto be my salvation from the agony of missing Lydia. Of course, school is also the reason I can’t be in Arcadian Falls with her. And peripherally the reason she can’t come to Seattle with me.

But it gives me something to focus on so I’m not a blithering, whimpering wreck, and talking about my classes and work gives me something to tell her about each night. And I enjoy hearing about her job too. It’s clear she likes it, though I’m not sure if that’s her usual sunny disposition, or if she genuinely likes working at the vet’s office more than she’d like to work anywhere.

I also hear regular updates about my older sister. I’m still uncertain how I feel about her befriending Lydia—mostly because I know Sarah loves nothing more than to tell embarrassing childhood stories about me—but I’m glad Lydia has a friend, even if that does mean yet another tie to Arcadian Falls. The more firmly embedded she becomes, the less likely it is that she’ll ever leave. I grew up there. I understand the hold that place can have on people.

I’m sitting at my desk finishing up some homework before dinner when my phone rings. I smile when I see it’s Lydia calling, even though it’s earlier than our usual phone calls.

“I’ve figured it out,” she says as soon as I answer.

My heart rate picks up at the certainty in her voice, but I tamp down my budding excitement. Maybe she’s talking about … today’s Wordle puzzle or the way to make Mom’s secret apple pie recipe and not her plans for school. “Oh yeah?” I keep my tone light and inviting.

“Yeah. I’m gonna be a vet.”

I pause, blinking into the silence of that declaration. “A veterinarian?”

“Yes!” She excitedly tells me about the emergency call she went on today and how amazing it felt to help the injured calf and how she talked to Dr. Vonager about becoming a vet and what it would take. “Then I came home, researched schools, and looked at what I’d need to study. I’m going to change my major to biology and come back to school in the fall.”

“Wait. Here? You’re coming back here? In the fall?” While that’s still ages away, it’s a definite time period.

“Yes!” she squeals. “And actually, I might come back sooner. Since I took a semester off and my original major was business, I’ll need to catch up on a few things, and taking summer classes would help a lot. Dr. Vonager says he has some friends in Seattle, that I’d mostly be helping with pampered pets and not livestock there, but he’s sure he could get me a job with one of them.”

“Oh my god, Lydia, that’s amazing,” I breathe, hope and relief and happiness for her, for us, filling my chest. “You’re sure this is whatyouwant?” I ask after a beat. “To come back sooner and take summer classes?”

“God, I love you for asking that,” she breathes, and my own breath freezes in my chest. “Yes,” she assures me, “this is exactly what I want. I know it’s taken me a bit to figure it out, but now that I have, I have no doubts at all. I want to be a vet. And I want to be withyou.”

“I love you too,” I blurt out, so happy to finally be able to say those words. She laughs, and I join in, so full of happiness and joy that we can’t help it.

“I wish I could kiss you right now,” she says.

Pulling my phone away from my face, I look at the time. It’s just after six thirty. “I can be there in about three hours,” I tell her.

“What?” she squeaks. “But what about school?”

“It’ll still be here when I get back. We need to celebrate.”

* * *

On my way to Arcadian Falls, I call and book a hotel room. I’m spending the night with my girlfriend, and I don’t care what anyone has to say about it.

I text her when I pull into her parking lot, not wanting to scare her mom if she’s still awake or wake her up by knocking if she’s in bed already, and Lydia tells me to come on up.

She’s waiting for me in the open door when I get up to her floor, her face glowing with happiness, and I wrap her up in my arms, pick her up and spin her around before setting her on her feet and kissing her.

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