Page 60 of The Grumpy Vet
"Yeah," I reply, processing his words. "Scarily so."
I guess Quade cheating on me and ripping me off has left me with a wound. An insecurity. That I'm not enough. That there was something wrong with me that made him do what he did. I know that's wrong and fucked-up thinking, but what you know and what you feel aren't always the same thing.
Just like Iknowthat I fit in with Linus and Ryde, but a small part of me still feels a little like I'm late to the party. The third wheel. They're the OGs, and I'm the last-minute add-on. I realise that's not the case, but I guess having them ask me to stay would quell that last remaining niggling doubt.
A thought occurs. "Please don't say anything to them."
"I won't. Believe it or not, I do know when to keep my mouth shut. It doesn't happen very often, but this is one of those moments." He gives me a solid clap on my leg then gets up. "Youguys are going to make it, but you have to find your way on your own."
"Thank you. I appreciate that."
I really do.
Now the question remains,howexactly do we make it?
16
Linus
"It feels weird working out without Dario," Ryde says, standing over me, keeping a watchful eye on the barbell I'm lifting and lowering.
"First of all," I grit out, my muscles trembling since this is the final set. "We'renot working out. I am. Secondly, just because he's not here doesn't mean you can double your torture on me."
I lower the bar to my chest, holding it there as I look up to see him tapping his chin, his lips wide in a mischievous grin. A mischievous grin that would normally make me sweat, but since I'm drenched already, it sends an icy shiver racing up my spine instead.
"That's an awful lot of words coming out of your mouth. Maybe I'm not working you hard enough."
I make some grunting sounds—no more words, lesson learned—as I complete the final two reps, then he helps me guide the bar to the rack. I sit up, down some water, then wipe myself off a bit.
"Come on. Cool down on the elliptical, and then we're done for the day."
"Thank god," I say, following him to the machine.
He sets the program to cooldown mode, and I try to bring my heartrate back to within a normal range, my arms and legs swinging. I look over, and the sadness on Ryde's face makes my chest ache.
"You're thinking about what it's going to be like without him, aren't you?" I hazard a guess.
He nods, sagging against the wall. "Yeah. It's gonna really suck."
"Does he really have to go? I mean, we have more than enough work if he wants to stay. I could offer him an extension?"
A permanent one.
I don't say that, though, since it's probably not a good idea to be thinking about forever when we don't know what the future holds beyond the next ten days.
A deep frown settles on Ryde's forehead. "It has to be his decision to stay. We can't make him."
"Who said anything about making him? Offering a contract extension isn't forcing him to do anything."
"Butheneeds to decide that," Ryde says. "Dario is a great guy, but he's had severely bad luck when it comes to relationships. He's been with some real douchebags. People mistake his easygoing nature for him being a pushover. He's been controlled and manipulated and cheated on. He almost had his savings stolen. I don't want to push him, Linus. I don't want to pressure him to stay only for it to blow up in my, or our, faces when he ends up hating it here and then resenting me, or us, for it."
I get what he's saying, but personally, I think he's overthinking this. It sucks that Dario has been treated badly before, but that's not what's occurring here. Yes, I want him to stay for some, in part, selfish reasons, but first and foremost, I want Dario to be happy. And I'm ninety-nine percent sure staying here would make him just that.
What the three of us have is rare. It doesn't come along very often. Certainly I haven't experienced it once in my forty-odd years. Isn't it worth bringing up the option of staying with Dario and giving him the choice of whether he accepts it or not?
But Ryde knows him better than I do, and my legs are fucking killing me, so I keep quiet and stare at the timer as it ticks down the seconds to the end of this torture session.
Thankfully, it does.
