Love's Taming(65)
The silence stretched out between the two partners. “And my shit? Better. It was a little rough the first time…well, after that night when…you know.”
“She loves you, man. She’ll deal.”
Shane swore, “That’s the problem. She shouldn’t have to fuckin’ deal.” Blowing out his breath, he rubbed his hand over his face in frustration. “I mean, we got over that hump, but I feel like I’ve been walking on eggshells ever since. I hesitate to initiate anything ‘cause I’m worried that she’s worried.”
“Annie’s smart, Shane. Give her more time and you keep gettin’ help. It’ll sort itself out. How’s the apartment hunting going?”
At this Shane grinned for the first time. Matt looked at him curiously.
“I’m startin’ to look at buyin’ a house, not an apartment.”
“No shit?”
“Matt, I’m wanting to take this to forever. She’s the one and it doesn’t make any goddamn sense to beat around the bush. I’ve got a big-ass dog that needs a yard to run in. She’s got three cats that need their space too. I didn’t spend hardly any of my money for two years, plus the danger-pay I got. I banked it all and have more than enough for a down payment.”
“What does Annie think of this?”
“Well…”
“You haven’t told her? Don’t fuck this up, man.”
“I wanted to see what was out there first, then bring her on board.”
Matt smiled at his friend, nodding. “Good luck, man.”
Shane looked at his friend for a moment, his mind sliding back to what Annie had said. “Matt is such a great guy, I hope he finds his happily ever after too.” His sunshine was right.
* * *
Annie and Suzanne were in the back doing surgery while Leon was handling the patients up front. Annie stretched her aching back, trying to get the kinks out of it.
Suzanne looked over at her with concern in her eyes. “You okay, doc?”
“Yeah, just tired of leaning over this table. These damn dogs will eat anything.”
She had started her day with a neuter, then they were on their third foreign body surgery of the day. “One ball of ribbon, a golf ball and the winner now is…a sock!” she said as she pulled the sock from the stomach of the puppy.
Suzanne had to laugh at the mangled, wet sock dangling from Annie’s fingers.
“Lordy, it makes me glad I have cats,” Annie said as she began stitching up the dog.
“Do you and Shane have plans for the holidays? Are you going to split your time between your folks and his family?”
“Honestly, we haven’t gotten that far in our planning. I know he needs to spend it with his family since they lost the last couple of holidays with him, but my mom will have a fit if I don’t get into Jefferstown. I don’t know. It’s one of those things every couple has to figure out, but we’ve had so much other stuff to deal with, it just hasn’t come up.”
“What other stuff, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“I’m working all the time, he’s working late on cases and says for me not to worry, but I see him constantly checking to make sure the security system is on. He’s been seeing a police counselor to help with some flashbacks, but due to the nature of them he can’t really talk about it.” Annie sighed deeply. “My apartment is too small for all of us.”
“This is the hard part, isn’t it?” Suzanne asked quietly.
Looking over at her as she finished the puppy, she asked, “What do you mean?”
Shrugging her shoulders, she replied, “The hard part of a relationship. The easy part is falling in love. The hard part is keeping that love.”
In the time that Annie had been around Suzanne she had noticed that Suzanne never talked about dating or a boyfriend at all. In fact, she always seem to shy away from personal questions.
“So you know about the hard part?” Annie asked softly.
Suzanne turned her brilliant blue eyes on her boss and friend. “Yeah. I know. I was in love. I thought it would be forever.”
“What happened?” Annie found herself asking, even though she was afraid of the answer.
“We just didn’t have enough in us to make it last through the hard part. He needed … to become himself, and I needed…well, I didn’t get to keep what I needed.”
Annie knew that Suzanne had shared all that she was going to share and so she picked up the still sleeping puppy and followed her out of the operating room. Once the dog was settled in recovery and they had cleaned up, Annie turned to Suzanne and hugged her.
“What was that for?” Suzanne asked with a smile on her beautiful face.