“It was a group effort,” Dr. Addison said.
A memory of a shirtless Joe flopping me down on my bed and kissing my neck flashed through my head. Somehow I just couldn’t imagine this guy—with his tight posture and his tie and his clicker pen in his Oxford cloth pocket—positively melting a woman in that way.
Case closed. I’d chosen well.
Time to end it.
“I’m so sorry,” I said to him then. “Do you have a minute to talk privately?”
Dr. Addison checked the clock. “I have seven,” he said.
Then, at my frown: “Minutes,” he clarified. “Before my next appointment.”
“Ah,” I said. “Great.”
He walked us out back to a little grassy yard for the animals.
I let Peanut off his leash, and he trotted off to sniff things. And then it was down to business.
I felt oddly nervous. I’d never dumped anyone before. I was generally the dumpee.
Although—can you dump someone you’re not even dating?
“I so appreciate the time we’ve spent together,” I began, busting out the monologue I’d practiced in front of the mirror, but then going off script before the end of the first sentence. “And I just wanted to clarify a little bit with you that whatever’s going on or might go on between us…”
Wow. I was terrible at this.
Dr. Addison took a step closer.
Then he reached forward and took one of my hands—quietly, but with encouragement.
I pushed ahead. “I know we’ve been moving toward spending more time together lately…” My heart surprised me by pounding against the inside of my breastbone. “But I just want to say, in the future, from this point on … I think it’s probably best for us to keep our relationship professional.”
That surprised him.
Dr. Addison let go of my hand and took a step back.
I couldn’t see his face fall, but I could definitely feel it.
“Professional?” he asked then, after a pause, sounding, really, like he had not seen that coming.
“Yeah,” I said, trying to keep things light. “You know. For us to just kind of stay in the vet and client category.”
Another pause. Dr. Addison reached back and palmed the back of his head. “You’re saying that you just want us to have a vet-client relationship?”
I nodded. “That’s right.”
“Nothing more?”
I nodded again.
A long pause. Then a tense question: “Can I ask why?”
“Sure,” I said, trying to keep things super friendly. “Well, it’s been a bit of a crazy time for me, lately. And I actually, um, you know, not on purpose of course, but just kind of by accident … I guess you could say I developed a thing for somebody else.”
Dr. Addison stood there a second. Then he said, “A thing? You developed ‘a thing’ for somebody else?”
Wasn’t that what I just said? “Yeah. You know. So…”
“When?” he asked.
“Um,” I said, my voice sliding unnaturally high. “Recently?”
“Who is it?” he asked next, sounding brittle.
“Oh, just a guy. Ya know. A guy I’ve had to spend some time with lately.”
Dr. Addison started pacing around.
That much, I could see.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “It just kind of happened. I wasn’t even really sure that you were interested, anyway.”
“You weren’t sure I was interested?”
“I mean—were you?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice sour. “I was interested.”
Wow. This was not the reaction I’d been expecting from a guy who stood me up and then never called.
Dr. Addison adjusted his tie. “So … you’re going to date this other person?”
“I think so,” I said.
“And,” he went on, studying the ground like he was trying to solve a problem, “if I told you that I really like you a lot, would that make a difference?”
I wasn’t sure what to say.
“If I told you,” he went on, “that I can’t remember the last time I met someone who woke me up like you do … That there’s something about you that I can’t get out of my head … That I keep thinking about you and wondering if we might be … really right for each other…” He looked up. “What would you say?”
I’d say, “Don’t stand me up next time?” I thought to myself.