“No,” he said. He didn’t need to explain what he meant.

She gave him another look, the one that used to make him tear her clothes off. She glanced at the door to the bedroom, then back again. She raised an eyebrow in question.

Again, he said, “No.”

Her face changed. It was the look of what he’d come to call “the real Rilla.” The calculating one. The one who’d do anything to survive in the manner to which she believed she was entitled.

She looked around the trailer. “What is this place?”

“Free housing while I try to rebuild my finances from the bottom.” He’d meant to sting her but she just smiled. Rilla liked to win and her tears and threats had won big in the divorce.

“I thought you had a job here.”

He sighed. “I’ve told you a thousand times that I don’t earn what a doctor for humans does.”

“I always said that you should have gone back to school.”

He didn’t fall into her trap of defending himself by saying that veterinarian school didn’t transfer to a medical degree. And how was he to support her if he was in school? She had a knack for making him feel less than he was.

“What about the big house you bought? You could sell it and we could go away together.”

“House?” For a moment, he was puzzled. Then he laughed. “I don’t own any house.”

“But that girl said you—” She broke off and looked at him in speculation. “She was defending you. I saw this hideous trailer and she started bragging about your wealth. So is she your newest piece?”

Coop went to the door and put his hand on the handle. “It’s time for you to leave.”

She didn’t move. “Who is she?”

“Rilla!” He opened the door a few inches.

She still didn’t move. “Oh, my. Have you fallen in love?”

“Caitlyn is the daughter of the man who owns this place. I’m not going to do anything to piss him off.”

She opened her bag, pulled out a tube of lipstick and reapplied it. “You never could hide your feelings. That night when I first met you, I saw everything. You were quiet and shy. You don’t go after women, so you get ignored. Leo was beside you and he was the opposite. His eyes were flashing fire, but so was the shiny new wedding ring.”

“And he told you we were doctors.”

She grimaced. “Yes, he did. I thought I’d hit the jackpot.”

Coop moved away from the door. “I guess the joke was on you when you found out I wasn’t the rich kind of doctor.”

“You had a lot.”

Coop looked away for a moment. It was true. He’d had a house, clinic, good salary, a best friend. All gone now. “But it wasn’t enough for you.”