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Jada

My knee see quickly up and down to the beat of its ownThe person next toer

I wanted to stop, wished I could stop, butat breakneck speed and it was a lot to process Of course, all the change was , but that didn’t make it any easier to deal with

Being a bad flier didn’t help the situation either I tried to watch Golden Girls, a show ether when I was a kid, but ht I should have just closed the shade, but I felt weirdly calround It was less like I was venturing into the unknown even though it was exactly what I was doing

I thought back on as Because of the location, I ood, but the boredom was unbearable There were only so many times that I could treat broken bones and help reassure pet-owners hairballs were normal before I lost my mind

When I went to school, I’d envisionedto save their lives after they were hit by cars or were sick I wanted to make a difference in not only animals’ lives, but also in the lives of their owners I wanted to be able to bring co one of their best or worst days

But after graduating froas, it made sense to stay in the city I was sure I’d easily find a fulfilling job in the city After all, Vegas was home to the Circus Circus Hotel & Casino, SeaQuest, and the white tigers at the Mirage I thought I’d surely find a job with one of them

Except I hadn’t After each intervieas told they were looking for someone more experienced, someone with different credentials, or that they’d already hired so some interviews, I saw the surprise on the interviewer’s face when a woman named Jada Hartville turned out to be a Black woreith an African-American mother and a Canadian white-creole father To be honest, it was hard not to wonder if my race played a part in their decision too, even subconsciously

So I eventually had to settle, settle for a job I hated and coworkers I disliked in a city I loathed I hated how the dry heat made my skin and natural curly hair dry out and I hated howmonsoon season

I hated having to wear tank tops and shorts or skirts every day to stay as cool as possible and I hated the way creepy men then stared at me because of it I hated the cockroaches everywhere in Las Vegas and the roof rats that liked to chew through your wires Look, I spent my childhood in the Louisiana bayous and New Orleans before er Louisiana was filled with bloodthirsty mosquitoes and rats that could squeeze under the crack under your door and humidity that made my corkscrew curls even curlier But I was used to them They werein Las Vegas, I’d never grown used to the pests I hadn’t allowed myself to

Las Vegas never felt like home and I desperately wanted to find one

Finally, it all just becaht and scoured the country for veterinary jobs I’d looked for jobs back ho if the familiarity of it would be helpful to my mood I still had soot there But it hadn’t worked out that way Just three weeks after an, I was on my way to Montana where I would be the veterinarian for a ranch on the outskirts of Seeley Lake

My mind drifted back to the Skype interview I had with the ranch’s owner With a name like Hank Brekker and the fact that he was the CEO of a ranch, I’d expected him to be a lot older, in his fifties at least

But instead, Hank was in his late twenties or early thirties He was an incredibly handsoreen eyes, sandy blonde hair, and one of those adorable chin dimples A small white scar was visible on his left teuy orked outside a lot with his tanned skin, broad shoulders, anddown during our interview, I ihs were just as muscular as his arms