All Chapters of Bitter Love: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Chapter Twenty-twoJosie The chair scrapes against the tiled floor as I stand, eyes locked on the drawer where the phone is. It was Aunt Kim's wishes not to have a funeral or any sort of death announcement in the local paper. Her exact words were not too “waste money” on anything of the sort. But the lack of announcements means that there are a handful of people who have no idea she's dead. Slowly, I make my way over to the drawer. The phone has stopped ringing at this point, and my heart is in my throat as I pick it up. I'm not sure why I'm nervous, but the thought of having to answer the phone and tell whoever is calling that Kim is dead makes my stomach bubble with anxiety. I pick up the phone and see there is a missed call from someone named Shirley. My fingers slightly shake as I enter the password, and right as I'm about to call Shirley back, a voicemail from her pops up. I press play and bring the phone to my ear. “Hi, Kim,” the woman named Shirley says ,voice

Chapter Twenty-fourJosie“Goodnight,” I tell the horses as I close the barn doors for the night. Using the flashlight on my phone, I go around and double-check that the chicken coop is locked and that the gates are latched closed. Bowser, the cow, and the llamas are finishing the last bit of hay in the threshold to their run-in shelter.Stars twinkle above me, and a chorus of crickets and katydids fill the night. “Riley,” I call looking out at the dark pasture. “Come on, buddy. It's time for bed.” I make a kissing noise and wait for a beat listening for the jingling of his collar. I never had a dog that I could trust enough to let loose like this, and anytime I don't see Riley, I immediately assume he's wandered off and is lost. Only a few seconds later, I hear him. I narrow my eyes as I look through the dark. He comes bounding out of the pasture, ducking under the fence and running towards me at full speed. I cast my flashlight beam down and pet him, smiling as he wags his

Chapter Twenty-sixJosie“Of course not,” I say through gritted teeth. I saw a random night out with Poppy going a million different ways, yet this is not an outcome I ever would’ve expected. Sitting here, watching Poppy shamelessly flirt with anyone is awkward enough, but it’s made ten times worse when said person is Jacob fucking Harris’s brother.And then let’s add the fact that Jacob is sitting right next to me. To be fair, he looks just as uncomfortable and annoyed with his brother as I do right now.Really, neither Poppy nor Mason are doing anything wrong. They’re both single and we’re at a bar on a Thursday night. That’s what normal adults do, right? I wouldn’t know. I haven’t attempted to date anyone since my last relationship ended in a restraining order. “You guys are welcome to stay,” I go on, trying to sound a little more convincing this time. “I feel bad eating in front of you, though.”“Don’t,” Mason tells me. “We were going to order food anyway.” “Great.” I force a sm

Chapter Twenty-eightJacobMaybe Mason was right.It’s a jarring thought, one I don’t think I’ve ever had before. And it’s definitely not something I’ll admit to him. But I’m starting to think that he might have had a point back when we went to the bar not that long ago. I just wrapped up giving my second presentation at the Michigan Horse Fair, and my Q&A session had almost as many questions about my personal life as it did questions about equine medicine. “Dr. Harris!” an attractive redheaded woman calls, hurrying from her spot in the audience. She goes around the podium, stopping just feet before me. The panel is over and everyone else is filtering out to get to the next presentation, grab food, or walk around and shop.“Hi,” I say, remembering her from her rather crass question of how my wife handled my long hours. She smiled when I told her I didn’t have a wife, and I swear she’s undone a few of the buttons on her green plaid shirt. She’s attractive, probably just a year or so y

Chapter ThirtyJacobI wake up Monday morning feeling just as exhausted as I was when I finally crashed into bed only five hours ago. I'm still drained from the weekend—Saturday felt like it was three days long instead of just one. Despite our best efforts, we were not able to save the mare. Putting down any animal is hard, and it's not something vets get used to. You just eventually learn to numb your emotions enough to survive. This mare was due to give birth in under a month, and her owner was an 11-year-old boy who stayed with her until the very end.Yesterday was another day filled with emergencies. It started with a horse who ran through a fence, getting big lacerations on her chest, and ended with another euthanasia of a cow who stepped over a low-hanging fence and got hit by a car. I’m emotionally drained and haven't yet decided if going to the clinic is going to be a good or bad thing.And, despite everything that’s happened since I left the horse fair on Saturday, I haven't