Seaside Heartbeats_A Sweet Romance

by Stacy Claflin

  After everything was cleaned up, she announced that she was going to explore the town.

  "Do you need someone to come with you?" asked her dad.

  "No. I'm twenty-seven. I don't need a babysitter."

  Her mom looked at her. "But your heart—"

  "Is just fine. I'm following doctor's orders and survived a day at the beach running after these two." She rubbed each boy's head as they ran by chasing each other with toy dinosaurs.

  Neither of her parents looked convinced.

  "I have my phone if I need anything. The doctor even gave me his personal line, and he lives here in Kittle Falls."

  "Well, he must be worried," said her dad. "One of us should go with you."

  "Wait," Marcus said. "Why did he give you his personal number?"

  Lana's face burned. "In case I had any questions."

  "Why are you blushing?" Cora asked, sliding her hand into Marcus'.

  "Bye, guys." Lana turned around.

  "Oh, no you don't," Cora said. "Is he cute?"

  "Is he?" asked their mom. "Did someone finally catch your attention?"

  "I said goodbye." Lana opened the door, and escaped before they could question her further. She loved her family, but sometimes they could be too much.

  She didn't pay any attention to where she was heading, but before long found herself in front of the Hunter Family Store. Had that been on purpose?

  Lana went inside and saw a different cashier. He was busy with a long line, so she wandered the store, not sure what she wanted. Okay, she knew what she wanted. To run into Dr. Hunter and find out his first name.

  As she scanned the shelves, she tried to guess what his name might be, but nothing really fit. She found herself in front of a rack of magazines. Lana picked up a magazine to check out the latest celebrity gossip. She put it back. What was the point? She didn't even recognize half the names. Lana had been so buried in studies for so long the world had moved on without her. She was pitiful.

  She wandered some more until she ended up back near the counter. The new cashier smiled at her. "Welcome. Can I help you find anything?"

  "Are you another Hunter brother?"

  "I'm Jake. If you've already met Cruz, my apologies."

  She smiled, and then walked over to the counter. "How many of you are there?"

  "Five brothers."

  Lana thought of her two nephews. "You guys must have exhausted your parents as kids."

  He laughed. "Sometimes."

  "So, uh…." She wanted to ask about Dr. Hunter, but didn't know where to begin.

  The bell sounded over the door. Lana looked over to see Cruz coming in.

  "You're back," he said. "Looking for Brayden?"

  Lana's heart sped up. His name was Brayden? That was perfect. It fit him—gorgeous and confident.

  "I know you can't need more tea." Cruz laughed, making Lana feel more at ease.

  "Definitely not. Well, if you see Brayden, tell him I said hi."

  She hurried for the door. Just before it closed behind her, she heard Jake ask, "Does Brayden have a crush?"

  Butterflies danced in her stomach. Did that mean the handsome doctor was available? She should have asked where he was, but at least she had his number. If her heart sped up even the tiniest bit, she had her reason for calling.

  Lana headed down the sidewalk away from the crowds. Before long, she hit a part of town that was nearly vacant. It wasn't as kept up, and some of the buildings were even abandoned. She could still hear noise from the beach, but it grew quieter. She liked the calmness of this side of town.

  She turned a corner, and then froze. There stood Dr. Hunter—Brayden—in front of an abandoned building. It had once been a hardware store, although the sign read "Hrdware" because the A had turned upside down.

  He looked deep in thought, and Lana wondered why. Was his family looking for a larger building for their shop? Though they would have more room, the location left a lot to be desired, with no tourists wandering around. Except Lana, of course.

  For a moment, she was tempted to run before he saw her, but she really wanted to talk to him. And talking about the building would be a better topic than her heart condition.

  She took a deep breath, stood taller, and then walked over to him. "Got plans for this building?"

  He jumped, and then turned toward her, looking first surprised, and then relieved. "Lana. How are you?"

  "Good. Just the right amount of caffeinated."

  Dr. Hunter smiled.

  "And how are you, Dr. Hunter?" She hoped he would take the bait to tell her to call him Brayden.

  "I'm good." He held her eye contact. Normally, that might have been awkward, but with him it was comfortable.

  "What should I call you? Dr. Hunter seems so formal for someone I keep running into in town."

  "Sorry. You can all me Brayden."

  "Brayden. I like it. What's so special about this hardware store?"

  He laughed. "Obviously nothing now. I'm looking at different buildings for a business venture."

  "Oh?" Lana asked. "And what would that be? I thought you were already quite busy."

  Brayden ran his hands through his hair. Such a simple movement, but it gave Lana the chills. "My busy schedule is what I'm trying to resolve, actually."

  "So, you're going to open a hardware store?" She stepped closer to him.

  He laughed. It was such a beautiful sound. "No. I want to build a clinic here in town. People shouldn't have to travel a half an hour for medical care. Just think if you would have been able to come here instead of the hospital the other night."

  "Yeah, but that was after hours. I woke up in the middle of the night."

  "I want to build a twenty-four hour urgent care clinic."

  "Now that's a great idea. Do you think this building is large enough?"

  "We'd have to add on to it. I also want to have some offices for some of the different medical specialties, as well as a pediatrician or maybe a general family practitioner."

  Lana studied the building. "If you built a second level, I think that would work perfectly. This is a decent sized building—it looks like it's pretty deep. If you kept a general waiting room on the second floor, and didn't separate the different practices with their own waiting rooms, you could fit in a lot of offices and exam rooms."

  Brayden looked over at her, appearing impressed. "I like the way you think."

  She shrugged. "Architecture is kind of my life."

  His eyes widened. "It is?"

  "My dad practically runs his firm, and he's been teaching me the trade my whole life. I breezed through my studies in only nine years, earning my advanced degree faster than most of my colleagues."

  "That's almost as bad as becoming a cardiologist. It took me twelve years, and I was lucky. If I wanted to be a cardiac surgeon, it would have taken me a lot longer."

  "I don't think I could have taken that many years of schooling. Scratch that. I know I couldn't."

  "The last six years was interning and then my fellowship, and I was able to take over the practice. It started out somewhat small, but I grew it into the most popular cardiology clinic in all of Dallas. Not to brag." He looked away.

  "That's awesome. Why come here to work such long hours at the hospital? Not to be nosy, but you mentioned being tired from on-call duties."

  "I wanted to be near my family again. My dad's health isn't the greatest, and I couldn't stand being away."

  Lana's heart swelled. Maybe he really was perfect.

  Five

  Brayden tried to pay attention to the lively conversation around the dinner table. It was a typical Sunday evening at his parents' house. Cruz talked about a tattoo he'd done at the parlor the previous night, Jake and Tiffany shared excitedly about the additions being made to the house they'd purchased, and his parents talked about the shop.

  Their mom turned to Brayden. "You're being especially quiet tonight. Is everything okay?"

  "He's got a girlfriend," Cruz te
ased.

  "You're dating her already?" Jake asked.

  "A girlfriend?" asked his parents in unison.

  Brayden glared at Cruz. "Thanks. No, I don't have a girlfriend. There's just a patient I keep running into in town. It's nothing more than that."

  "Is it serious?" his mom asked.

  "She's a patient, Mom. There are rules about that."

  "You should try it," Cruz said. "I don't know what you have against it."

  "Says you." Brayden felt heat creeping into his face. "You don't have a girlfriend."

  "Doesn't mean I don't mix business with pleasure. I just don't want anything serious."

  "Cruz," said their mom, "we raised you better than that."

  Brayden turned to Jake. "Tell us more about the additions to your house."

  "Yeah, Jake," said his dad. "Let's leave Brayden alone."

  "We shouldn't tease," agreed their mom, "but at the same time, you should think about settling down. You're not getting any younger, you know. You're thirty-five, and counting."

  Brayden put his fork on the table, groaning. "I'm not really in the mood for teasing right now. Excuse me." He pushed the chair out and wandered to the hallway where the bedrooms were, pacing a few times before stopping in front of Sophia's room.

  How had it already been three years? The anger dissipated, and he opened the door and went in, closing it quietly behind himself. Looking around, he would have thought she'd only stepped away. It was exactly as she'd left it—when she'd been well enough to live in it. That was before the long hospital stays and then hospice.

  Once sent home, she'd lived longer than any of the doctors had predicted.

  Brayden wandered the room. It really did look like she'd just left. A lump formed in his throat as he touched her desk. His mom had to have been dusting it and airing it out. He sniffed. And spraying Sophia's favorite perfume. The room still smelled like her.

  He sat on the bed, careful not to disturb anything. As he looked around the room, Brayden swore he heard her beautiful laughter. Tears blurred his vision and he loosened his collar.

  "Sophia, I'm so sorry I didn't spend much time with you when you were sick. It haunts me every day." He knew they were never close, and thought it was his fault. There was the nearly-thirteen year age gap which didn't help, but he could have done more—he felt he should have.

  Tears escaped and fell on his face. She had been in diapers when he had been chasing after grades and girls. It wasn't as though they didn't like each other. They had always gotten along fine, and Brayden thought she knew how he adored her…it's just that they didn't have anything in common. They might have now, as adults. But by the time she got older, he was already in Dallas.

  He put his face in his hands and allowed himself to sob. Would he ever forgive himself for not being there for his baby sister when she needed him most? Sure, he'd sought out as much medical advice as he could. He'd been on the phone nearly every day with his parents or Jake, who had been the ones primarily taking care of her. But why hadn't he asked to speak with Sophia more? Probably because he'd had it in his mind that she would pull through.

  "I'm so sorry, Sophia." Brayden cried a little longer before standing up. He went over to the mirror on her desk and looked at his face. His eyes were red and the skin around them splotchy.

  Brayden's gaze moved from his face to the pictures attached to the mirror. Sophia had managed to attach almost thirty pictures of herself with friends. He studied each one. Sophia was so happy in each one—and without a doubt the prettiest. Brayden tried to name any of her friends, but couldn't think of a single one.

  He frowned. Some big brother he had been. Was he as distant to his brothers now? He had a meal or two every week with his parents, Jake, and Cruz. They talked and laughed, but they weren't particularly close. That was why Brayden had gotten so upset about everyone discussing his love life. He thought about Rafael and Zachary, who were closer in age to him.

  Rafael was in LA working as a fashion designer, every bit as successful with that as Brayden had been with his cardiology clinic back in Dallas. Brayden knew next to nothing about fashion. He always had the girls who worked at the mall pick out his clothes so he would be as professional as possible.

  Zachary lived in New York City trying to get the attention of a big publisher. He was writing a novel, hoping to hit it big. But while he waited, he worked as a journalist. Did he like his job? Brayden couldn't answer. Sure, Zachary always had his nose in a laptop or tablet, but Brayden had never done anything much to try to engage him to talk when they were home.

  He wasn't any closer to any of his brothers than he had been with Sophia. Brayden was the oldest of the Hunter clan. It was his responsibility to reach out to his younger siblings, and so far he'd failed miserably. He looked over the pictures of Sophia and her friends before looking himself in the eyes.

  As he stared, he promised to be a better brother. He should have learned from Sophia's passing almost three years earlier, but it was better late than never. Just moving back to Kittle Falls wasn't enough. He needed to actually engage his family. Besides, if he did that, maybe they would leave him alone about settling down to have a family.

  Brayden rubbed his eyes and then went out into the hall.

  His mom stood there, looking surprised. "There you are. We weren't sure where you had disappeared to."

  Brayden wrapped his arms around her. "I love you, Mom."

  She stiffened, obviously surprised by his show of affection. His heart ached. What had he become? She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. "And I love you, too."

  He kissed the top of her head. "Should we get dessert?"

  "Dessert?" she asked, appearing surprised. "Isn't that bad for our hearts?"

  "But it's good for our spirits."

  They made their way into the kitchen, and Brayden ignored the exclamations of surprise as he pulled the three cartons of ice cream from the freezer. His family wasn't used to him eating, much less making, dessert. He opened the fridge and pulled out chocolate syrup.

  His mom dropped bags of candy next to the ice cream. "Who wants bananas in their sundaes?"

  Tiffany came over. "Let me help you guys. That's a lot of ice cream to scoop."

  In a matter of minutes, everyone had gathered back around the table, happily eating piles of ice cream and candy. Brayden tried not to think about what was in all of it, and simply enjoyed being with his family. He promised himself to make time for each of them individually.

  It seemed like a tall order, given that there were five others around the table, but it would be worth it. No more regrets. Tiffany now was every bit his sister as any other sibling, and he knew almost nothing about her except that she'd somehow pulled his youngest brother out of a major funk. Jake had possibly even been clinically depressed before she came along. Guilt stabbed at Brayden. That was the type of thing he should have known about his own family.

  Everyone else laughed, and Brayden joined in, not caring what it was about. No more guilt, and no more regrets.

  The plates emptied, but no one got up. Usually, Brayden would get up and get back home as soon as dinner was over. He kept his butt planted in the chair and joined in on the conversation. He noticed his parents seemed happier.

  Had he managed to be just as absent the last year since moving back as he'd been in Dallas? It was really time for change.

  Brayden cleared his throat. "I've started looking at buildings for the urgent care clinic."

  "You have?" His mother beamed. "Have you found anything?"

  "Not yet. It's hard to imagine turning any of these buildings into a medical center. I just don't have enough creativity for it. Though I'm considering construction. I think the old hardware store has potential."

  "You would turn that into a hospital?" his dad asked, looking disappointed.

  Brayden squirmed. "It's one possibility. There are others. Why?"

  His dad looked thoughtful. "When I was a boy, your grandpa and I would go int
o the Anderson's hardware store every week. Every time I pass it, I remember those days."

  "Well, there's always the old elementary school or the theater. There are other buildings I haven't even considered yet."

  "You know what, Son?" His dad looked Brayden square in the eyes. "Now that I think about it, I'd rather have you rebuild the hardware store than someone else."

  Brayden smiled. "And you know what, Dad? If I do decide on the hardware store, I'll let you take anything you want from it so you can always have a piece of it. Perhaps a memento to hang on a wall in the shop or maybe out in your shed."

  "Or the garage."

  "Heck, Dad," Cruz said, "You could probably take a piece for each place."

  "I like the way you boys think."

  Cruz winked at Brayden.

  They all discussed the potential of turning the hardware store into an urgent care clinic for a while. Then Tiffany turned to Brayden. "Do you have any investors or partners? You said it would take more than you had in savings, right?"

  Brayden nodded. "I've been able to add to my savings a little, but not nearly enough. I'm working on a few doctors at the hospital. There are a few forward-thinkers that I think would really do great at leading this up with me."

  Six

  Lana kissed Nolan's forehead followed by Ryder's, and then left the bedroom, closing the door quietly so as not to wake either of them. She gave Cora an exasperated expression. "I don't know how you do that every night."

  "They sure hate going to sleep." Cora laughed. "But once they do, they're sound sleepers. Thank God for that. Want to hit the beach? I heard there's a concert tonight."

  "Isn't there one every night?" Lana asked.

  "Seems like it. What do you say?"

  Lana turned to her parents who lounged on the couch watching a comedy. "Mind if we take off? Cora promises the boys will stay asleep."

  Laughing, Cora shoved Lana. "Thanks."

  "How are you feeling?" Their father asked, staring at Lana.

  "Great. My heart hasn't given me a bit of trouble, even chasing after those two crazy kids."