Vetted: An Everyday Heroes World Novel (The Everyday Heroes World)

by A. M. Williams

  I nodded. That jived with my memory.

  “You were pretty serious about her.”

  I shrugged. “It’s in the past.”

  “It was in the past. But she’s apparently from here? You want to tell me anything, little brother?”

  I shot him a look that told him to fuck off, but he either didn’t get the message or he ignored it.

  “Seems a little coincidental that you’d just move to the town she’s from and here she comes years later.”

  “I came for a job,” I said, glaring at him.

  He nodded. “Oh, sure. Yeah. Of course. And your lost girl.”

  “Rich.” I rolled my eyes. “Be serious.”

  “I am. You came here for her.”

  “I did not,” I said, shaking my head. “I came for the job and you know this. I needed a change, and this place offered a great opportunity.”

  Rich studied me for several moments before nodding. “Okay, I’ll let you win that argument. Anything else I need to know about this girl so I’m not surprised when I head into town later?”

  I shook my head, then winced.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  I rolled my lips and my eyes flicked to the front window that looked over the front yard and into the yard across the street. The yard that was attached to Britain’s parent’s house.

  “Uh… you know that older couple across the street?” I asked, bringing my gaze back to my brother.

  He nodded. “Yeah. The one that just got diagnosed with cancer.”

  “Yep, them. Those are her parents.”

  Rich blinked at me before tilting his head to the side. “You mean the couple you go visit a few times a week and help in the yard are the parents of the girl you’ve been pining after for years?”

  “I’ve not been pining.”

  “You have been, but that’s beside the point,” Rich said. “You’ve been making nice with them. Do they know who you are?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t actually know. I never met them before. We broke up before they came to visit. But I think they know who I am. It would be weird for them to not, right?”

  Rich said nothing but continued to study me. He finally snorted and shook his head. “Oh, little brother, I have a feeling life is about to get really interesting here.”

  My brow furrowed. “What’s that mean?”

  Rich just chuckled and turned to walk back into the living room. “You’ll see what I mean,” he called over his shoulder.

  Why did that sound so ominous?

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  BRITAIN

  “YOU CAN HIDE the pill in a bit of peanut butter and he shouldn’t even notice,” I told Kim, the nervous new owner of an older dog named Petals that had some ongoing health issues.

  She nibbled on her bottom lip as she read over the instruction sheet I’d given her for care for the dog, including a list of her medications.

  “It’ll be fine. You’ll figure out what works and you can always call with questions,” I assured her, pulling my gloves off and rubbing sanitizer over my hands.

  “Right. You’re right, I know it. Thank you so much, Dr. Campbell,” she said, folding the paper and sticking it into her purse.

  I smiled. “No thanks needed. And, please, call me Britain.”

  Kim smiled wanly again and stood, clipping the leash onto the collar of Petals.

  “Come on, girl,” she said, walking toward the door.

  Though she was slow, Petals lumbered to her feet and followed Kim out with me close behind. When we reached the front, Kim went right to head to the reception area and settle her bill while I went left toward the offices and break room.

  “Did you see what was in the paper today?” I heard whispered as I walked by the break room.

  I couldn’t stop myself from slowing down when I heard those words, curious to know what was in the paper. I’d need to grab a copy of it later so I could read what else was in there.

  “I did. I can’t say I’m surprised that made the paper considering the history between the two of them.”

  “I know. College sweethearts? A messy break up and then finding themselves over a decade later in the same town?”

  Those words froze me in place. They sounded eerily similar to my story. But, surely? Why would my history with August be in the paper?

  The two women kept talking, and I briefly considered telling them they shouldn’t be gossiping, but I didn’t feel like it was my place just yet. Besides, gossip was bound to happen no matter where you were. I’d taken part in my fair share.

  This was only my third day working, my second at the regular clinic, and I didn’t want to ruffle too many feathers.

  I hurried to my small office and slipped inside, softly shutting the door behind me before going to my desk and shaking the mouse to wake it up.

  I needed to see what they were talking about.

  I quickly opened a web browser and typed in the web address for the Gazette. Once on the home page, I quickly skimmed, noticing articles about the fundraiser and how much money they raised plus a few other small plugs to other events in the area.

  Very little else was there besides advertisements, announcements, and obituaries.

  I was about to click out of the page when I saw a hot alert for the gossip column.

  My body went stiff as I remembered the column. It came out once a week, on Tuesday, and included random bits of information. Most of the time what was printed wasn’t remotely true, and they had to print a retraction. But every so often, they’d get something right.

  I had a feeling what those women had been talking about dealt with the column. And the column had gotten it right this time. I didn’t want to click the link to take me there, but I did.

  The page was slow to load, and I wished I could force it to load quicker so it would put me out of my misery.

  Once it loaded, my mouth dropped open at the photo that was at the very top of the page underneath the headline, “A decade later, still resentful?”

  It was a photo of August and me. I was thankful that it was a semi-decent photo of us. But considering it was a part of an article about me and him, I wasn’t thankful for much else that I read.

  It outlined our relationship—how the hell had they figured that out?—and what we’d said to each other that day.

  They even had quotes from people that had been standing close by, all anonymous, of course. Because heaven forbid anyone just ask me about it.

  What in the fresh hell was this shit?

  After I finished reading the article, I couldn’t help but read it again, trying to figure out if I was really reading what I thought I was.

  There was no doubt about it. There was an article in Sunnyville’s little newspaper that outlined my history with August.

  This was absolutely not what I needed as I came back to town.

  It seemed like the cherry on top of the shit sundae my life had become recently. I ran my hands through my hair and leaned over my desk, my gaze on my keyboard.

  Finding out my dad was sick and my parents needed help to having to separate from the military to come home and help to finding out the guy I’d dated seriously in college was living in my hometown and had been for years. It was just one thing after another, and I honestly didn’t know if I could take much more.

  What the fuck?

  “Knock, knock,” Kenneth said from my doorway.

  I looked up and saw him standing there, a large grin on his face. It quickly dropped when he looked at me. I could only imagine what I looked like right then.

  “I take it from your face you’ve seen the paper,” he said, stepping into the office and closing the door behind him before sinking into the chair across from me.

  “You got that right,” I said, my eyes sliding back to the screen. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. It was like a train wreck. I wanted to get away from it, but I couldn’t help as my gaze kept pinging back to it.

  “It’s not all that bad. It’ll
blow over soon. You know this.”

  I made a noise low in my throat. Yeah, I knew it would blow over. But it wouldn’t be soon.

  “All it’ll take is someone doing something at Hooligans or creating mischief for all this to go away.”

  I shook my head. “I’m not sure I believe that.” I looked at him again. “I already get a lot of attention because of coming back into town after being gone for so long. This is just going to make it worse.”

  I was practically moaning by the end. I dropped my head into my hands again. I longed for anonymity that the military sometimes offered me. Yeah, it was a small clinic, but I didn’t have to deal with small-town busybodies trying to get all up in my business either.

  “It’s not all that bad, Britain,” Kenneth said. “Yes, you’ll have a few people sniffing around, wanting to find out what’s going on, but it’ll pass quickly. Just wait. Don’t give them anything and they’ll move on.”

  “Or they won’t because I haven’t given them anything,” I said, lifting my head so I could look at Kenneth again.

  He sighed. “I can’t say you’re wrong there.”

  His words didn’t make me feel much better.

  “I was coming to let you know that you can head out if you’d like. We only have a few more patients and they won’t take long.”

  “You sure?” I asked, eyeing him. I wouldn’t say no to heading out. I needed to hit the grocery store for items for lunches throughout the week, and I wanted wine after this gossip column shit.

  “Positive. See you tomorrow.” Kenneth smiled as he stood and rapped on my desk. He left my office, leaving the door cracked behind him, and I stared at the space.

  I sat there for several minutes, listening to the sound of the dogs in the kennels just down the hall and squeaking of shoes on the tile in the hallway.

  Everything was so similar, yet so different.

  I’d stayed late most days as a military veterinarian because of the official paperwork I had to complete. I rarely got to go home early.

  I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth though.

  I quickly shed my lab coat and grabbed my things, slipping out the back door and into the bright spring sunshine.

  I popped the trunk on my car, stashed my things in the back, snagged a reusable bag I had in there, and slammed it closed before starting my walk.

  The grocery store was only a few blocks away, so I walked there instead of driving the two minutes it would take to get there.

  I enjoyed the walk at first, reveling in the warm sun on my face and the light breeze that was blowing down the street.

  That didn’t last long, however, as I realized whispers followed me. It took me several minutes, and I was almost to the grocery store before I realized why people were staring at me and whispering.

  The gossip column. How could I have been so stupid as to not consider that when making my decision to come to the store?

  I licked my dry lips as my steps faltered. I could turn around and walk right back to the clinic, but I would show these people I wasn’t a shrinking violet.

  With that in mind, I threw my shoulders back and walked into the store with my head held high.

  CHAPTER NINE

  BRITAIN

  MY HEAD STAYED high for only a few moments before I ducked a little lower and started walking toward the produce with a handbasket.

  This place was packed. It was Tuesday. Why the hell were all these people in the grocery store? Didn’t they have lives or something?

  I tried to ignore the people I was seeing out of the corner of my eye, but it was hard when it seemed like some of them went out of their way to come up to me, almost like they expected me to say something and give them an excuse to talk to me.

  Nope. Not happening today, buddy. I had years of avoiding eye contact with people down pat. And it was coming in handy today.

  If I didn’t want that wine so badly, I would just abandon this idea all together, but I was committed.

  I quickly threw some fruits and vegetables into my basket before roaming a few of the aisles, throwing a random selection of things into my basket, ignoring how heavy it was growing in my hand and wishing I’d grabbed a small cart instead.

  When I reached the wine aisle, I sighed in relief. They had a small refrigerated section with some wine and beer in it. I hit that first. Whatever wine I was drinking tonight needed to be pre-chilled.

  I quickly grabbed a pink Moscato and then turned to the shelves of wine behind me.

  This was one thing I’d missed about Sunnyville: their wine selection. I was too young to enjoy it fully when I left, but my parents would bring me wine when they could.

  And Sunnyville has some great wine. It was award-winning. Being so close to wine country meant we got a wide variety of wines from the area to choose from. Check in the positive column for living in Sunnyville.

  And I could get as much of it as I wanted.

  Well. I glanced down at my bursting basket. As much as I could carry, at least.

  I sauntered up and down the aisle, looking at different wines and trying to narrow it down to two bottles.

  After promising myself another trip where I’d buy just wine and a ton of it, I grabbed a red blend and a dry white before making my way to the front of the store.

  When I hit the main aisle that ran between the registers and the shopping aisles, I tried not to blanch at the amount of people standing there.

  It was like they’d been waiting for me.

  Chances were, they probably had.

  I sighed. I wasn’t getting out of this place without talking to someone. I was sure of it. The only question was who it would be.

  I shuffled to the lane that was closest to me and tried to ignore the stares I could feel trained on my back.

  I heard a squeak behind me and glanced over my shoulder to see Mrs. Smith, my old teacher, standing there smiling at me.

  I smiled back.

  “Fancy meeting you here,” she said with a small laugh. “Stocking up?” she asked, eyeing the wine I was cradling in my arms.

  “Something like that,” I agreed with a small laugh. “Today just seems like a wine day.”

  Mrs. Smith nodded. “I totally understand what you mean,” she said. She glanced around and leaned closer, causing me to do the same. In a low voice, she said, “Don’t let these people get you down. It’ll blow over.”

  She winked at me and unlike when Kenneth said something to me, I actually took Mrs. Smith’s words to heart. I wasn’t sure why they made me feel better, but I wouldn’t question it, that was for sure.

  I glanced at the conveyor belt and quickly started laying my things out on it when I realized there was open space.

  As I loaded my groceries, I noticed the woman in front of me glancing back several times. I smiled tightly at her, which made her jump before quickly turning around.

  The cashier also glanced at me, but she didn’t seem bothered when I caught her.

  I tried to nonchalantly look around and noticed that there were eyes everywhere. What the hell? It was like I was in a fishbowl and I just couldn’t take it.

  The woman in front of me finished paying and started walking away, but not before looking back at me again. I debated making a face, but with my luck, it would end up in the gossip column next week.

  “Good afternoon. How you doin’ today?” the cashier—Reese, according to her name tag—said with a smile.

  “Good. You?”

  She made a noncommittal noise in her throat as she started scanning my items. I grabbed my reusable bag and started placing items into it as they shot toward me. Once I finished bagging, I pulled my credit card out and swiped it, taking the receipt from Reese as I hefted my bag onto my shoulder.

  Neither of us said anything to the other as I turned to leave.

  “It was good seeing you again, Mrs. Smith,” I said with a smile.

  “You too, dear,” she said.

  I turned toward the automatic doors leadi
ng outside and couldn’t get out of that store quick enough.

  I was barely through the doors when I heard the whispers start behind me.

  I just barely stopped myself from rolling my eyes at their predictability.

  I started the walk back, walking a little quicker this time because I knew people were looking at me now and I wanted to escape their scrutiny.

  In no time, I was at my car, my bag in the floorboard of my front seat, and I was on my way home, already mentally pouring myself that glass of wine.

  Once home, I quickly put my things away, changing into some sweats and a t-shirt before pouring as much wine into a glass as I could fit.

  “You need another glass for all that wine?” my mom asked from the door to outside.

  I sighed. “Probably.”

  I knew my mom was joking, but this wasn’t a joking matter for me.

  “Pour me some and bring it out here,” she said, disappearing from view.

  I grabbed another glass and poured the rest of the wine into it before carefully walking to the back door and pushing the storm door open.

  Once on the porch, I carefully maneuvered myself to where I was standing behind my mom handing her a glass. I took a sip of my wine and then sat next to her on the wicker couch.

  “When I said pour me some, I didn’t think you’d give me quite this much,” my mom said. I glanced at her and noted her arched brow and shrugged.

  “Sorry, I didn’t want to have to go back in for more later.”

  She shook her head and sipped the wine, relaxing back next to me.

  “Where’s Dad?” I asked.

  “He’s laying down. He’s tired today.”

  I nodded. I’d noticed he seemed more tired than usual, but they both assured me it was expected and that he needed to let his body rest.

  That was easier said than done.

  “You want to talk about it?” my mom asked, breaking into my thoughts.

  “Talk about what?” I asked, playing dumb.

  She laughed. “The gossip column that has you drinking half a bottle of wine in one go.”

  I wasn’t even surprised that she knew about the column. The whole of Sunnyville would know about it by the time the day was through.