grant applications.
It was a painful lesson learned.
If Ryan Shufflebottom had helped guide her toward veterinary medicine, Ryan Sosa had dragged her to a mirror and made her take a hard look at her priorities. She would do better and have Wrong Ryan to thank for it.
“Happy Solstice, Dr. Ames,” Mrs. Quan trilled from the other side of the street. She had a wreath looped over her arm like a gigantic purse. It jingled with every step. Apparently, the festival committee had found a more reliable wreath maker.
“Hi, Mrs. Quan,” she called back with a weary wave. She turned the corner and let Blue Moon in the middle of a good time draw her back to the present. The drumming circle was working their way through holiday classics. The scents of roasted peanuts and wood smoke mingled together while thousands of Christmas lights glowed above and around the festivities.
“Sammy!” Layla, in her deputy’s uniform, waved her down.
Sammy crossed the street. “Hey,” she said, hunching her shoulders against the cold. They hadn’t talked since the lecture at Peace of Pizza and she didn’t have it in her to jump into an argument.
“So listen,” Layla began, falling into step with her. “I feel like I owe you an apology.”
Someone walked by eating a slab of lasagna out of a biodegradable container. Sammy’s stomach grumbled. She’d missed lunch and dinner and had been forced to break into her protein bar stash between animal exams.
“Apology for what?” Sammy asked.
“For the tough love routine yesterday,” Layla said, shoving her hands into the pockets of her Blue Moon Sheriff’s Department coat.
Sammy waved a dismissive hand. “Don’t worry about it. It was overdue.”
“I also wanted to say that Ryan seems like a pretty decent guy,” her friend said, keeping an eye on a toddler trying to gnaw his way through the child safety tether attaching him to his father’s parka.
Sammy wondered how long it would take before she could hear his name and not feel painfully disappointed. Or think of him without her vagina rising for a standing ovation. It had only been about twelve hours since he’d last wowed her. She’d give it some time.
“Yeah. He was pretty great,” she said lamely.
“Was?” Layla asked. There was something inappropriately smug about her smile.
“His old job called him this morning and wanted him back. He’s probably deplaning right about now,” she guessed.
Layla stopped in her tracks and peered into her face. “Well, holy shit. You slept with him didn’t you? You slept with the guy and you didn’t tell us. Not cool, Ames.”
“There wasn’t much time between the having of the sex, me getting an emergency call, and him leaving town,” Sammy said dryly.
“That sucks. I’m sorry. Do you want me to run him through the system to see if he has old arrest records? That always makes you feel better,” Layla offered.
She shook her head. Nothing short of a miracle would make her feel better.
Layla pointed to the Pierce Acres petting zoo. “Remember the great sheep escape?”
“Oh, I remember,” Sammy said. And for a moment, she could picture John Pierce grinning at her from across the path, could taste the Butterfinger hot chocolate on her tongue, could feel the excitement of a new crush.
“What are the odds of two sheep and two Ryans on two solstices?” Layla mused.
“The odds are zero. I’m the first official Beautification Committee failed match,” Sammy explained. “They got the wrong Ryan.”
“The wrong Ryan?”
She filled in her friend on the particulars while they got in the fried tofu line for old time’s sake.
“But did they actually get the wrong Ryan?” Layla asked.
“He wasn’t the one who kissed me fifteen years ago.”
“Yeah, but you liked this Ryan enough to sleep with him. And now that he’s gone, you’re mooning like a lovesick teenager.”
“Who’s mooning? I’m not mooning,” Sammy snapped, taking offense. “I’m tired. I didn’t accomplish any of the things I set out to do. And the guy I stupidly let myself fall for left town today.”
“I’m sorry, Sammy. I don’t think any of us realized how hard you were working to help everyone else and how far behind you were with your own stuff.”
“Yeah, well, I guess I didn’t either.” She took a breath and blew it out slowly, trying to dull the ache. “I really wanted him to stay,” she admitted.
Layla slung an arm around her shoulders. “If it were up to me, you’d get everything you want.”
Sammy gave her a small smile. “Thanks, friend.”
They got their tofu and continued their tour of