The One Real Thing (Hart's Boardwalk) (21 page)

Less than fifteen minutes before, I’d been exhausted, splashing cold water on my face and downing coffee to feel just awake enough to see Archie’s partner, Anita.

The previous night had been worth the lack of sleep, though.

The last time I’d sat all night and talked with someone had been with my college roommate, who I lost touch with when we went to separate graduate schools.

Life just got in the way sometimes.

Anyhow, I’d never spent all night talking with a man about everything and nothing. It felt as though my finding those letters from Sarah had been kismet.

Bailey had led Anita up to my room, and within only a few moments I was wide awake . . . and my happy mood had taken a turn.

“I didn’t want to worry Archie because I knew it was probably nothing. I’m a bank teller and have been my whole life so I sit in that seat bent over a computer half the time,” Anita said.

She was a tall woman with tired brown eyes and a pale complexion. I could see from her high cheekbones and still-full lips that she’d once been a beauty.

“So you haven’t told Archie about the back pain?”

“No.” She scrunched up her face.

When I’d examined her neck I found her lymph nodes were swollen. And when I’d examined her lower back she cried out from the pain of my touch.

“Anita, have you experienced any other symptoms?”

She nodded cautiously. “Yeah . . . my legs feel funny sometimes. Kind of weak, even numb sometimes, but I’ve been fighting off this flu for a while so I’m guessing it’s just part of that . . .”

“Flu?” My unease increased by the bucketload, and I suddenly remembered Archie had mentioned it the night before.

“Yeah.”

“Your symptoms?”

She made a face. “The usual. I’ve been throwing up, got a fever, chills, and can’t eat much so I’ve lost some weight, which is a plus.” She gave me a shaky grin.

I hoped she’d take me absolutely seriously when I said, “Anita, I’d like you to visit your own doctor. And I’d like you to make that appointment today.”

Anita’s eyes held worry. “You don’t think I’ve got the flu?”

I didn’t want to scare her in case I was wrong. “I’m concerned that there is a chance something else other than a flu is going on here. I’d like you to make an appointment with your doctor so he can take a look.”

She nodded, seeming dazed. “Okay.”

“Anita?”

She looked up at me. “Yeah?”

“You will make the appointment?”

“Sure.” She didn’t meet my eyes.

Hmm. “Why not make it now while you’re here?”

“Seriously?”

I gave her my most serious face as an answer.

She huffed but opened her purse and pulled out her cell. Her eyes on me, she pressed a button and held it up to her ear. “Hey, Liv,” she said and had to clear her throat when her words came out in a croak. “It’s Anita. Has Doc Duggan got time to see me today? . . . Oh . . . No . . .”

I made a face.

She understood what that face meant. She took a deep breath.
“It’s kind of important, Liv . . . I got . . . I got some symptoms that’re worrying the new doc . . . Yeah, that’s her . . . Yeah, I’m guessing that’s true . . . You can? Okay . . . No, I’ll be there right away . . . See you in ten.” She hung up. “She’s squeezing me in now.” Anita stood up and gave me a shaky smile. “Thanks for looking at me. Apparently your reputation precedes you. Liv knows who you are.”

“Liv is the receptionist?”

“Yeah, at Dr. Paul Duggan’s practice on Main Street.”

I nodded. I remembered Bailey had mentioned talking to Dr. Duggan about me. I guessed that was a good reminder that staying in a small town meant having to put up with people being in your business. I felt a moment of panic at the thought.

“Thanks again for looking at me. I don’t like the doctor’s office . . . I was hoping you’d tell me it was nothing so I didn’t have to go.” She laughed humorlessly.

“I just want a second opinion,” I assured her.

“Yeah.” She nodded, but her eyes filled with the fear I dreaded seeing in a patient’s eyes.

I walked her out of the inn and wished her well, knowing that Hartwell was a small enough place that if she didn’t keep me in the loop herself, I’d find out anyway.

“You look worried,” Bailey said as I stepped into the dining room, where she had breakfast waiting for me. Morning breakfast was in full swing and the room was noisy with guests.

Patient-doctor confidentiality stopped me from telling her just how worried I was that Anita’s symptoms were a sign of something serious. “It’s just . . . Anita might be my last patient for a while. Maybe ever.”

Bailey’s eyes widened. “Okay, after you eat, you explain.” Her expression told me I had no other choice and I chuckled to myself as she reluctantly moved away to see to one of the guests.

Breakfast helped wake me up a little, although it took me a while to eat because not only did I have that weird, nauseous, empty
feeling you get when you haven’t slept much, but I also had pangs of concern for Anita and Archie.

Two hours later I was up in my room trying to figure out where to start first. I had my job to quit, my apartment to give up, a job to find here, and a new place to find to live.

Just as I heard a knock at the door I got a text.

From Cooper.

How are you feeling this morning, Doc?

I smiled and quickly texted back as I wandered over to open my door.

Tired. But last night was worth it.

“Explain,” Bailey said, striding into my room upon my opening the door.

My phone binged.

Glad you think so. I plan to give you more sleepless nights in the future.

I grinned, feeling a surge of tingles between my legs.

My phone binged again.

Believe me. It’ll be more than worth it.

I felt a little breathless just thinking about it.

I have no doubt. Can’t wait
,
I texted back.

“Would you stop flirting with Cooper and explain what you said,” Bailey said, crossing her arms over her chest in a huff.

“How did you know I was flirting with Cooper?”

“The goofy grin on your face.”

Damn. I blushed. “He is making me act like a teenager.”

“Good.” She grinned and flopped down on her bed. “Feeling like a teenager is good.”

I laughed and sat down next to her. “I feel all light-headed around him.”

“I’ll bet you feel more than light-headed around him. You know, in high school his classmates called him the Panty Melter.”

“They did not.” I guffawed.

Bailey chuckled. “Nope. But if I’d been in his class they would
have. When he was a junior I was a lowly freshman. I called him the Panty Melter, but it only caught on with me and my friends.”

“Did you have a crush on him?” I could just imagine Bailey crushing on the older, popular Cooper.

“He was the senior high school quarterback, he had those eyes, and on top of that he’s always been a good guy. Jack Devlin was the same. Every girl I knew, and a few guys, too, had a crush on Cooper and Jack.”

“Does Cooper know this?”

She made a face. “What do you think?”

I laughed, knowing how open she was. “He knows.”

“It was probably the love letter I sent him at the beginning of freshman year. And the flowers and invitation to homecoming in sophomore year. Or the time I got shit-faced at the fun park in my senior year and declared my love for him in front of everyone at the Ferris wheel. He was twenty years old and on a date with Brandi Sommers from New York. Her parents owned a house on the south boardwalk and they visited every summer. She was beautiful and classy, and there was no way I stood a chance with her around.”

I frowned. “What happened?”

“He was worried about me because I was so drunk. He and Brandi took me home.”

“God!” I threw my hands up. “Is he perfect?”

Bailey laughed. “No. He’s just a really good guy.”

“Two questions: when did you get over your crush and what happened to Brandi?”

She gave me a knowing look. “No need to worry. Cooper is more like a brother to me now. I just grew up, I started falling in actual love instead of lust, and over time he became a friend. A good friend. As for Brandi . . . she was Cooper’s summer girl for four years. Until Dana came along.”

“He stopped seeing Brandi for Dana?”

Bailey’s mouth twisted. “Hmm.” Her expression suddenly turned careful when she studied me. “Look, back then I could see it.
Dana . . . she was a year younger than me so Cooper didn’t take much notice of her. Also she’d been dating this kid from Dover all through high school. She went to college, dropped out, and came back to Hartwell and she caught Cooper’s attention . . . because . . .” She winced. “As much as I hate to admit this . . . Dana Kellerman is outrageously gorgeous.”

Now it was my turn to wince. “Gorgeous?”

She nodded. “Like, could have been a model.”

“Ouch.”

“Hey, but she’s a bitch,” Bailey hurried to assure me. “Cooper knows that now. I’m just saying, when they were young, I get it . . . he probably got caught up in how beautiful she was and that’s how she managed to tie him down.”

None of that made me feel any better.

I had my insecurities about my physical appearance, like most women, but in general I didn’t have any big complaints. I felt confident I was attractive. But I wasn’t “outrageously gorgeous.”

“Huh.”

“I shouldn’t have said anything. I was just . . . You’re staying now and I wanted to prepare you for meeting Dana. Because that’s inevitable. And I didn’t want you to see her and feel threatened, because you shouldn’t. All that beauty is hiding something ugly. You . . . you’re beautiful all the way through, Jessica. Cooper sees that.”

I heaved a sigh. “You’re sweet. And thanks for the heads-up.” Now, though, I wished I knew what Dana looked like, because she’d turned into Kate Upton in my mind.

“So back to the matter at hand . . . explain what you meant by ‘Anita might be my last patient for a while. Maybe ever.’”

I told her about my decision to take a break from medicine.

Unlike Cooper, who’d wanted all the details behind my decision, Bailey just accepted it. That surprised me, considering how little she accepted Vaughn Tremaine’s “mysterious” decision to stay in Hartwell.

“Okay, so you can of course say no, but how would you feel
about working for me while you try to figure out what it is you want in life?” She grinned and nodded excitedly at the idea.

I was surprised by the offer. “Work for you how?”

“Tom is on me about getting someone to help out—to split my responsibilities with. You’d pretty much be doing most of what I do. The pay won’t be what you’re used to, though.” Then she told me how much I’d be making and it was considerably less than my pay at the prison.

“You do realize that I’ve never worked in hospitality before?”

“You’ve been a doctor, Jess, which I’m guessing means you’re hella smart. I’m pretty sure you can handle running an inn.”

I felt a little bubble of excitement at the thought. After all, Bailey loved her work here at the inn. And I did love the inn. Maybe this was what I was looking for. “Okay.” I grinned. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

“Yay!” Bailey bounced on the bed. “Right. Your vacation ends in a few days, so we’ll start then.”

“Brilliant. Thank you.”

“What are friends for?”

“I’ve got so much to do. I need to quit my job for a start.”

Bailey frowned. “What if they don’t give you a reference for quitting without notice?”

“They probably won’t give me a reference.” I knew I should be worried about that, considering there was a chance I might need to return to medicine, but I was suddenly terrified of the prospect of returning to Wilmington. If I went back to work out my two weeks’ notice, I knew there was a chance I’d convince myself all over again that my life there was all I deserved. I’d chicken out and I wouldn’t come back to Hartwell.

“Maybe you should go back for a few weeks. I’ll hold your job here.”

I shook my head, adamant. “I can’t go back.”

My friend suddenly took on this fierce expression. “Is something going on that I don’t know about? Are you
afraid
to go back there?”

Yes. But not for the possible reasons she was conjuring in her head. So I gave her a little truth. “If I go back, I know I might
chicken out. If I go back, I might not do it. Quit, I mean. There’s a possibility I’d stay.”

Bailey relaxed. “I get it. I know I’ve been all blasé and excited about you staying, but I realize what a huge decision this is. It’s only natural that there is a part of you questioning if this is a crazy move. So I get it. And I wouldn’t go back, either.”

“Thanks. I feel terrible letting them down at the prison, but I’m not the only doctor working there . . .”

“Sometimes you have to be a little selfish in life.”

Guilt swirled in my belly. “Right.”