Until an outgoing girl with frizzy brown hair and big green glasses noticed my scores on science tests and invited me to join the Science Club. The club members figured out I was uncannily good at all things chemical and biological, plus numbers and data as well, and they recruited me. For experiments. For projects. For general geeking out.
At last, I had found my people.
Fellow animal lovers, science geeks, and book nerds.
Some of them are still here in Lucky Falls, one town over from Duck Falls, but some have scattered to San Francisco. Others are farther afield across the United States. Some of them I’ll no doubt see in the coming weeks and months. Others I may never see again.
But even so, meeting them, realizing my strengths, started me down the path I’m on today—the glass-half-full one, the optimistic one, the found-what-I-want-to-do-in-life path.
The one where I followed in my father’s footsteps.
That’s what I’m doing now, only it’s a little bit harder this time because everything is harder for him, and it’s becoming more so by the day. He can no longer run his practice, and he’s kept that fact under wraps. That’s why the realtor kept my name confidential. If it got out that I was the one who had nabbed the house—Liam Harris, DVM, son of Edward Harris, DVM—word would spread around both towns that my father was no longer able to tend to their furry friends.
That truth will come out in a few more days, but on our terms, when we can formally announce the takeover and I can answer any client questions and assuage their fears and concerns.
Now, my mother rushes out the front door, chased by her two border collie mutts, black-and-white blurs of bounding paws and thumping tails. Ethan jumps out of the car, drops to the ground, and offers his face for kissing.
Being dogs, Elphaba and Galinda seize the chance to lick his cheeks, lips, and eyes.
“Make sure they clean your teeth too,” I say as he laughs and falls to the grass, letting the dogs conduct a thorough tongue-lashing, like I bet Katrina did to him back in Florida.
“Girls, come now,” my mum calls. “Off!”
“Too late.” I shut the car door and head toward her. “He slathered himself with steak this morning.”
“Well, he’s won their allegiance for the rest of time, then,” Mum says. Seconds later, Ethan pops up and gives her a hug. “Why, if it isn’t my fifth-favorite grandson!” she declares, and he cracks up.
“Why can’t I be first?” he asks.
She parks a hand on her hip, taps her chin, and seems to seriously consider his question. “Maybe you can, but you’ll have to prove why you should be my favorite.”
As the dogs circle his feet, he stares at her weatherworn face, her blonde hair gone silver, her blue eyes still bright and knowing. He has her genes, her fair complexion.
“What do I have to do to become your favorite?”
She peers around the yard. “You could start by mowing the lawn, then perhaps by weeding it.”
I join them, thoroughly approving of her tough tactics. “You drive a hard bargain, Mum.”
“Of course I do,” she says, ruffling my hair.
I bend to pet the dogs, paying homage to their adorableness, then I point a finger at each one, and instantly they drop into proper sits.
“You’re the dog wizard.” Ethan sounds a little awed.
“And if I’m not, they should take away my license.”
Mum flashes me a smile. “It’s good to see you again, Liam.”
“You saw us the other night,” I point out.
“And I still like seeing you. Didn’t anyone ever tell you to be nice to your mum?”
I roll my eyes. “I am nice. I’ll show you how nice.” I head to the back seat of the car, open the door, and reach inside to grab the bouquet of daisies.
I offer them to her, and she clasps her hand to her chest in delight and then takes the flowers. “I love them.”
“They’re from the woman next door,” Ethan chimes in. He drops the mic after that and scampers into the house, the girls behind him, nipping at his feet.
“You’ve already met someone.” My mother arches a tell me all the details brow.
“I’ve met my next-door neighbor.”
“A woman?”
I stare off into the sky, bright and blue. “Yes, that does seem to be her gender, it’s true.”
“And you have your eye on her already?”
I chuckle, shaking my head—a lie, a big lie, a big, fat lie. “She’s just my next-door neighbor. I don’t know why you would say I have my eye on her.”
“Because you’ve always had your eye on pretty women,” she says.
Busted.
Her eyes shoot laser beams my way. “I’d like more grandchildren. So please get moving on that.”
“Be grateful for what you have. I didn’t even plan on giving you this one, but it worked out quite well, didn’t it? Stop being so difficult,” I tease, planting a quick kiss on her forehead. “Would you take a grand-dog instead?”
