Saving You (Love in June Springs Book 1)

Saving You -9-

           

Chapter 9

                God, Katelyn could not wait until Jason came back from paternity leave. The level of stress Mark was experiencing trying to balance the two schedules, along with the fact that Hannah had called in again feeling sick, meant Katelyn was overwhelmed yet again. The positive, at least, was people were understanding.

                "You know, for a town with less than a thousand people, you'd think a vet's office would be a tiny bit more laid back," Katelyn commented as the door shut behind their last scheduled patient before lunch.

                Mark scoffed. "You'd think. What really happens is everyone knows you so they only trust you with the pets they consider kids and won't even consider going anywhere else. Hell, half the patients who come here have moved away at this point and still choose me over someone closer."

                "Wow. Talk about loyalty. Guess I can't complain since it means I'll be employed for the foreseeable future."

                "That remind me, you have a degree in accounting, right?" Mark asked, grabbing a refrigerated sandwich and handing Katelyn one. She took it and nodded, vaguely remembering she'd mentioned it her first day on the job, he continued, "Two things. First, why did you want to work for me when you could be using your degree somewhere else? And second, do I need to worry that you'll be doing that later?"

                Katelyn took a bite of her sandwich, deciding there was no point in hiding the details of this. She may not feel comfortable with providing her full life story to her boss, despite what he said about being friend, but this was pretty safe territory. "I got a full ride scholarship but had no idea what I wanted to do with it, so I just picked the first degree on the list and went with it. Never really cared for it but didn't want to not take advantage of the free education. I'll probably never use it, honestly. I love working for you here." She straightened up, turning to face Mark. "Why, want to get rid of me?"

                Mark laughed. "Oh, god, no. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to lose you to some big city job that pays better."

                Katelyn felt a small burst of pride, liking the praise. "Nah, you couldn't pay me enough to move back to a city." She didn't mention why, and luckily Mark didn't push.

                "I heard you're moving this weekend, you found a place?" He asked instead.

                She grinned. Yeah, she was moving. She'd been lucky enough to not only like the duplex, but to also be told the current renter had moved out already. The fact that Mark already knew didn't surprise Katelyn; Declan must have told him. "Yeah, feels like it took forever."

                "Right, it's a good area. I'd offer to help but honestly, I really don't want to be moving heavy furniture around after working here all morning."

                Something about that sentence made Katelyn pause. When she realized what it was, she cursed. "Shit, furniture."

                Mark frowned. "What about it?"

                "I don't have any. All I have is my clothes and some books. That's about it. I didn't even think about the fact I didn't own anything else."

                "Relax, there's a store just outside of town, first exit off the highway going north. Some second-hand stuff, some brand-new stuff. It's not Ikea but it's something."

                Katelyn let out a sigh, sudden relief flooding through her. "Okay, I can do that. Thank you so much. Any chance you know someone with a truck so I don't have to deal with the extra fees?"