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She shook her head. “No, you don’t understand. This wasn’t his fault. It was mine.”

His brows creased and his eyes narrowed. “Would you care to elaborate?”

Heat exploded in her face, making her feel like she’d been shoved into a sauna. She dropped her gaze to avoid his scrutiny. “I lost my temper.”

Shane lifted a brow and his lips quirked upward. “Youlost your temper.” He said it like he didn’t believe it was possible, which only made the heat in her face intensify.

“Yes. I did. I got short with Mr. Scott and there’s no excuse for it. I have the education and the training to know better. I shouldn’t have—”

“And you want to quit because…”

She threw her hands in the air as she stood up and paced in front of his desk. “Because he’s going to come through that door any moment and tell you that I’m not capable of working here. I’d rather quit than get fired.”

Shane chuckled. “What if he doesn’t? Come through that door and ask that you get fired, I mean?”

“Oh, he’ll come. I know it. He doesn’t want to be here, and he definitely doesn’t want me to be the one to help him if he stays. I’d be happy to stay if you still want me to, but you’ll have to assign me to do something else. Maybe I can exercise or train the horses with Sean.”

Shane slowly rose from his chair and moved around the desk. He placed his hands on her shoulders and offered her a smile. “I think you’re right where you need to be.IfRiley comes to see me to request a new therapist, we’ll figure things out at that time. Until then, you make sure you come back tomorrow for your next session.”

Her heart still pounded with all the sensations that continued to battle for attention. The anger, irritation, anxiety, worry, and disbelief were sucking up all the oxygen in her lungs. She fought the dizziness that tried to flood her mind and closed her eyes.

“Grace,” he said quietly.

She opened her eyes, hating the way Shane could make her concerns slowly melt away when she felt like she needed to hold onto them, despite the way they made her sick to her stomach.

“I’m not going to force you to stay if you don’t want to. I can find another therapist to work with Riley if pressed. But if we can make this work, I’d prefer that he sticks with someone he’s already gotten to know.”

“That’s just it, though. He doesn’t know me.”

“He knows you more than anyone else here.”

Shane was right. Riley hadn’t really interacted with anyone else that she was aware of. The steps the vets went through before seeing a therapist followed a pattern. She took in a deep, calming breath, then let it out. “Okay. But if he comes in here to ask for someone new, I think you need to give him what he asks for. Don’t try to convince him he’s wrong. He won’t like that.”

He chuckled. “I think I can manage that.”

5

Riley

Riley pacedin front of Dolly’s stall and pulled out his phone to check the time. Callahan was supposed to be here for their appointment in two minutes.

Unless she quit. That was a possibility.

Though, if that were the case, he would have thought that someone would have told him. It seemed like bad business for him to just be sitting there, waiting when his therapist wasn’t going to arrive.

He checked the time again. One more minute and he’d be heading over to that office to demand an explanation.

Was he too harsh the other day?

No.

He’d gone over the conversation again and again. He’d definitely hit a sore spot with her, but he was well within his right to have such opinions.

Riley muttered an expletive just as the numbers on the clock shifted. He would have left yesterday and never looked back if he had known this was what would end up happening. He knew better than to believe a bunch of people who insisted they could take care of his court-ordered therapy.

Glancing once more at Dolly, he murmured, “Sorry, girl. Looks like we’re going to have to wait on our session.” He turned toward the door and a shadow filled it. The person was a good several yards away, but he would have recognized that silhouette anywhere.

His heart hammered a little harder but shifted from the fury he had felt before to something else entirely.