A Perfect Homecoming

by Lisa Dyson

  “I’ll let his wife know he’s stable and that she can come sit with him.”

  Chuck nodded and made a notation on Stan’s chart.

  As Kyle walked back to the waiting room, a thought occurred to him. Ashleigh would have to deal with Stan’s health issues and necessary absence since she still owned the practice.

  Kyle wasn’t sure why she hadn’t sold it. Beyond family, it was her last tie to the town.

  Now he needed to figure out how to get someone else to make the call to Ashleigh to let her know Stan’s condition.

  He dialed her pediatric practice from memory and the office manager answered. Cammie was the perfect choice to pass on the news about Stan to Ashleigh.

  * * *

  AFTER LEAVING HER pediatric office, Ashleigh spent the morning stopping at a few of her favorite places in town. There were some things she couldn’t get in Richmond that she’d grown accustomed to in Grand Oaks. Like the homemade bread from Mama’s Bakery on Market Street and a fresh supply of dry red wine from Mossy Oak Vineyard.

  She’d barely pulled into the parking lot of the vineyard, located about two miles out of town, when her cell phone rang.

  Why would someone from her pediatric practice be calling? “Hello?”

  “Dr. Wilson?”

  “Yes?” Ashleigh answered.

  “This is Cammie, um, Cammie Varrone, the office manager at Dr. Mitchell’s—I mean your— pediatric office.”

  “Yes, Cammie, what is it?”

  “Well, I’m afraid Dr. Mitchell is in the hospital—”

  “Oh, no! What happened? Is he all right?” Ashleigh’s heart was in her throat as she waited for details. She’d barely left him a few hours ago.

  “He apparently had a heart attack,” she said with a trembling voice.

  A heart attack? He was too young for that, she thought, even though the doctor in her knew he wasn’t. “How bad?”

  “They’re not sure how much damage his heart sustained.”

  “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll call the hospital and see if they have an update.”

  “Um, Dr. Wilson?”

  “Yes?” Was there more?

  “We have no one to take over Dr. Mitchell’s caseload.”

  Cammie didn’t know about Ashleigh and Stan’s schedule, so Ashleigh filled her in. “What about Dr. Charles?” Livvy Charles had a pediatric office in the next town over and served as Stan Mitchell’s backup. Ashleigh couldn’t handle the practice full-time and take care of her sister and nephews, too.

  Silence. “She’s on maternity leave,” Cammie finally said. “Her baby was born a few days ago and Dr. Mitchell has been seeing her patients.”

  Of course he was.

  “Okay.” Ashleigh sighed. “Let me figure out what to do and I’ll get back to you.”

  “I’ve canceled all the well-baby and physical appointments for today, but I don’t know what to do about the rest.”

  Ashleigh considered her options. The pediatric practice was still her responsibility—she should have sold it before moving to Richmond.

  “You did good, Cammie. Give me half an hour and I’ll be over to figure out how to handle this.”

  They disconnected and Ashleigh remained in the vineyard parking lot to make some phone calls. Unfortunately, no one was available to step in and no one knew anyone they could recommend.

  After nearly fifteen minutes, she finally hit upon Samantha Collins—an old medical school colleague who could fill in temporarily. The only problem was that Samantha couldn’t come for a few days due to teaching obligations. But Ashleigh could deal with that.

  Ashleigh let out a relieved sigh. “Thanks so much, Sam.”

  “This will be fun,” she told Ashleigh. “I don’t get to practice nearly as much since I took this teaching job at the medical school.”

  They spoke for a few more minutes before Ashleigh ended the call. There was no way around it. She would have to take over the practice until Sam got here.

  Now she—and Paula—had no other choice. Ashleigh would have to find someone to help out at her sister’s, at least part-time.

  Ashleigh made a few more phone calls and ended her search for household help successfully.

  She called Paula. “How’s it going?”

  “Fine.” Paula’s lack of enthusiasm wasn’t a surprise.

  “Stan Mitchell had a heart attack.” Ashleigh hadn’t meant to blurt it out, but she’d lost the ability to converse normally with her sister.

  Paula gasped. “Is he okay?” Ashleigh related what she knew about Stan and then told her about the young woman who would be helping out.

  “Mrs. Baxter, next door to you, has a twenty-two-year-old granddaughter who’s looking for work. She says the two of you met last Christmas. Emma graduated from college in December and is willing to help out until she finds a full-time teaching job. Her degree is in elementary education.” Ashleigh paused a second. “She can get the boys off to school, do laundry and grocery shop. Then I can take over when I get home.”

  Paula was quiet for an uncomfortably long time. Ashleigh was about to speak when Paula finally said, “I guess that will work.”

  “Then I’ll see you after I get things straightened out in the office. Emma will come over right away.”

  Ashleigh put the car into Reverse and backed out of the space.

  So much for the wine.

  Not long after that, Ashleigh pulled up in front of Paula’s. “I’m here,” she called out cheerfully when she entered the house.

  “I’m still in bed,” Paula groused, her tone of voice cool.

  Her sister was sitting up in bed, paperwork spread out around her that appeared to be bills. Her hair was damp and secured with combs away from her face. Her creamy complexion was flushed. She looked at Ashleigh, apparently waiting for her to speak first.

  “Did it work out with Emma?” Ashleigh asked.

  Paula shrugged unenthusiastically. “I guess so.” She wasn’t about to make this easy, was she? “She just left.”

  “What did she make you for lunch?” Ashleigh asked.

  “I told her I wasn’t hungry.”

  Unacceptable. Lunchtime had come and gone a few hours ago. Keeping her censure to herself, she went to fix Paula some lunch, whether she wanted it or not.

  * * *

  LESS THAN AN hour later, Ashleigh was entrenched in her former office at the pediatric practice her father opened in the late sixties. She drummed her fingers on the desk as she waited to see her first patient in two years.

  She took in the strangely unfamiliar surroundings. This was Stan’s domain now, with his diplomas and awards displayed on the walls. Pictures of his wife and two grown daughters were arranged on the credenza, along with a photo of a black lab with a stick in its mouth.

  Stan initially told her he wanted to work part-time after putting in so many grueling hours at his last job. Ashleigh expected to have her work cut out convincing him to return to his hometown, but it hadn’t taken much coaxing after he realized he’d be able to play golf and tennis at the refurbished country club. As soon as they’d settled into their newly renovated farmhouse on ten acres outside of town, his wife had jumped right into the Grand Oaks Garden Club.

  How was Linda doing now? Ashleigh could only imagine how worried she must be.

  She was reaching for the phone on the desk to call her when a knock sounded at the door. Cammie must be coming to tell her that her first patient was in exam room one. “Come in,” she called out. “I’ll be right—”

  It wasn’t Cammie at the door, but Kyle. Her mouth stopped functioning.

  He yanked at the collar of his button-down shirt. His sleeves were rolled up to the elbows, and her gaze was drawn to his forearms. The instantaneous memory of run
ning her hands down his arms to entwine her fingers with his had her blood heating to a rapid boil.

  “I saw your car parked outside and figured you’d heard about Stan.” His voice was both solemn and sexy.

  She nodded hesitantly and recovered her voice. “How is he?”

  Kyle filled her in on Stan’s condition, ending with, “He’s scheduled for a triple bypass tomorrow.”

  Ashleigh did the recovery calculation in her head. “So he won’t be able to come back to work anytime soon.”

  “That’s if everything goes smoothly.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence until Kyle finally spoke. “Stan put his own stamp on this office, didn’t he?” He gestured to the mementos spread around the space.

  “I remember coming here as a little girl when it was my dad’s office.” Her throat thickened with emotion. “He had that huge oak desk that had been passed down from his grandfather. The one I used to use.” She’d put it in storage when she moved away from Grand Oaks.

  “He would set me right here.” She motioned to the area on the desk in front of her. “And he would point his finger at me and say, ‘You can be anything you want to be. Just because I chose medicine doesn’t mean you have to.’ Then he’d wink and say, ‘But it sure would be nice to work next to you.’” Then he would pull a lollipop from the desk drawer and hand it to her.

  “He was a great guy,” Kyle said with a sad smile. “It’s too bad the two of you didn’t get to live out his dream for longer than that one year.”

  A cloud of melancholy blanketed her as the memories of her now-deceased father bombarded her. “He used to tell me how, back when he first opened the practice, people would pay him in chickens and vegetables or even cigarettes when money was scarce. Especially the families who had someone serving in Vietnam, leaving the women to deal with everyday life at home, including their sick children.”

  “Those must have been tough times,” Kyle said.

  Ashleigh nodded. “My dad would make house calls back then. Not only to those with sick children, but he regularly visited homes where food was scarce. He’d bring them the food other patients had paid him in, saying he couldn’t use all of it before it would spoil.”

  Kyle spoke gently. “I always considered him as much a mentor as a father-in-law.”

  Ashleigh missed her father so much, but he would have been extremely disappointed in her. He wouldn’t have liked knowing she’d left town when her marriage failed, abandoning the practice he’d built.

  Kyle walked over to the credenza under the window to look at Stan’s framed photos. He finally broke the silence with a change of subject. “Stan won’t be able to work for a while. Do you have anyone to help out with the practice?”

  Ashleigh related her plan to fill in until Samantha arrived.

  “What about Paula? You can’t be two places at once.”

  “I’ve got someone coming in to help while I’m here. Paula’s not happy about it, but I’ve given her no choice.” Paula’s compassion for Stan was the only reason she gave in about hiring help.

  “She understands, though, right?”

  Ashleigh met his dark blue questioning gaze. “I guess so. Not that she’s pleased about it.” She stood and shoved the wheeled desk chair back into the bookshelves. Blood rushed in her ears. “Can’t blame her, though. First, she didn’t want me here, and I tell her that I’m here whether she likes it or not. Then I say I’m sorry but I have to help out somewhere else and, oh, by the way, here’s a stranger I hired to take care of you.”

  She knew her voice was getting louder and louder, but she couldn’t help herself.

  “It’s not like you’re responsible for Stan’s heart attack.”

  Ashleigh turned away, crossing her arms over her chest. “I’m not sure that’s a true statement.”

  “Ashleigh?”

  She didn’t say anything. The guilt was eating her up. Stan wasn’t well this morning. Why hadn’t she suggested he see a doctor right then and there?

  She spun in Kyle’s direction, changing the subject before she blurted out the truth.

  “Anyway, Kyle, I’m not sure why you care so much about what’s happening with me and this practice. You’re the one who told me to go home last night!” Ashleigh came around the desk until she was a few feet from him. She lowered her voice to an angry whisper. “‘You’re not needed here,’ you said. Well, if I took your advice, then I’d never have a chance of repairing my relationship with my sister. Or maybe that’s what you’re hoping. As long as Paula and I are estranged, then I won’t be back to visit and you won’t have to risk running into me.”

  His jaw dropped open and he quickly snapped it shut.

  A knock sounded on the door and Cammie stuck her head in. “Your first patient is waiting in exam room one.” She was gone as quickly as she’d appeared.

  Kyle didn’t say a word. Said nothing to contradict Ashleigh’s statement. He merely left the office and never looked back to see the hurt that had to have been apparent on Ashleigh’s face.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  PAULA GLOWERED AT KYLE as he removed the blood pressure cuff from her arm a little while later. She waited until after the distinctive ripping sound of Velcro to hiss, “Of course my blood pressure is going to be high. It’s not like I’m living a stress-free life here.”

  “Get over it,” he mumbled. He was sick of having his mettle sorely tested. His patience was growing thin. “You love the attention.” He spoke more gently, knowing Paula wasn’t to blame for either her predicament or his own. “You know we’re all concerned about you.” He returned the equipment to his medical bag. Keeping his gaze averted, he confessed, “That’s not the only reason I stopped by.”

  “Go on,” she said.

  “I wanted to apologize again for interfering last night. For asking Ashleigh to leave.”

  “I understand why you did it.”

  “You do?” He snapped his bag shut and met her eyes.

  Her smile was devious. “She scares you.”

  Kyle laughed at the idea. “That’s crazy.”

  As crazy as Paula’s mood swings. One minute she was angry, the next sweet. Treating him as if he was the enemy was quickly followed by acting like his therapist. Who knew where her hormones would lead next. Not that he was about to verbalize his thoughts.

  “Is it crazy?” She quirked an eyebrow exactly like her sister.

  “Of course it is. Why would I be afraid of Ashleigh?”

  “Maybe because you’ve never stopped loving her and now you’re afraid with her in town that she’s going to figure it out?”

  “That’s definitely crazy,” he repeated, but then he paused to consider the notion. “Maybe I still care about her, but that’s as far as it goes. We were involved for half our lives. Feelings don’t have switches, you know.”

  She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes. “Maybe you’re afraid she doesn’t feel the same way about you?”

  “That’s ridiculous.” This whole conversation was ridiculous.

  Paula’s skepticism was written all over her face. “Whatever you say.” Her eyes danced. Whether at his discomfort or her absolute confidence that she was right, he didn’t know. Possibly both.

  “No, not whatever I say,” he argued. “Ashleigh left. Period. She feels nothing for me and I’m definitely over her.”

  Paula’s eyebrows rose.

  “That’s the truth!” He didn’t know how to convince her. “Just because of that one ki—”

  He shut his mouth when her eyes widened and her lower jaw dropped. So she didn’t know about the kiss. Damn.

  Paula slowly closed her mouth and stared at him. “You two? You kissed? When? Last night? I can’t believe it. Then why did you tell her to go home?”

  He inhaled slowly, not su
re how much to admit. “Yes, last night, but it meant nothing.” At least nothing to Ashleigh.

  “You idiot!” Paula slapped her hand on the blanket next to her.

  “Hey!” He already knew he was an idiot. He didn’t need Paula reminding him. “Look, we’re divorced and we’ve both moved on. I’m even pretty sure she’s seeing someone.”

  Paula scowled at him.

  “You know you look like Mrs. Buffington when you make that face,” he told her, referring to the strictest teacher they’d all endured back in their elementary school days.

  She glared at Kyle. “Stop trying to change the subject.”

  He cleared his throat. “I need to get back to the hospital.”

  She waved a hand at him. “Go ahead. Ignore the truth.”

  “Did you ever think that maybe you’re wrong?”

  She shook her head vigorously. “Nope.” She raised a finger. “Oh! And don’t forget to come back for dinner tonight.”

  “I didn’t know I was invited.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “It’s the least you owe me for the latest trouble you’ve caused between Ashleigh and me. You’ll be our buffer.”

  Kyle considered it. “All right.” He turned to leave. “I’ll see you later then.” Over his shoulder, he added, “Behave yourself.”

  “No fun in that!” she yelled with a laugh as he went out the front door shaking his head.

  If only Paula weren’t so close to being right about so many things. Even when he and Ashleigh were in the middle of splitting up, it was Paula who kept telling him their divorce was too civil. No fighting, no screaming, no knock-down-drag-outs.

  Not until their divorce became final and Ashleigh had run away had Kyle realized how right Paula had been. Maybe if he and Ashleigh had gotten out some of their anger two years ago, they wouldn’t be as combative now.

  He started his truck and shoved the gearshift into Drive. Paula couldn’t be right. No way did he have feelings for Ashleigh after all this time. She’d practically crushed the life out of him when she left him to grieve alone for the babies they’d lost.