by Taylor Hart
“Thank you,” Jewel said.
The server nodded and left.
They stared at the lit candle.
McKay handed them each a fork. “Make your wish, and don’t forget to slip in an extra wish for us.”
“I always do,” Jewel said. It was part of their birthday tradition—a wish for all of them.
“Don’t do your beauty pageant wish of world peace,” said McKay.
Jewel closed her eyes and made her wish, blowing the candle out.
“Yay!” Molly cheered. “Well, happy birthday, and I hope you wished for true love, because you deserve it.” She pushed her scarf up into the air. “Hula Girls forever!”
Jewel and McKay followed along, holding their scarves up. “Hula Girls forever!”
McKay nudged her. “Take the first bite before I do.”
Jewel took a bite of the cake and thought about her wish. It hadn’t been a beauty pageant wish for world peace. Her wish had been for a man she’d loved a long time ago.
Chapter 6
Kent and Hoppy finished unloading the supplies. It was almost eleven o’clock at night, and he was impressed with how the boy always held up working so late.
“Are we done, boss?” Hoppy asked.
Kent nodded, handing him a twenty-dollar bill. There weren’t funds to hire an assistant, and truthfully, it was hard to find assistants that he could count on not to steal all the medications his clinic stocked. “Yes, we are. Go on home to your grandma.”
Hoppy grinned at him, his white teeth bright. “She will be waiting on me. I will go.” He moved to the front door. “Thank you, Doctor.”
“You did good work.” Kent locked the door behind him and then turned back. He had a small room in the back office. He preferred it to staying with a family.
Kent worked his way through the rows of medications to the back of the clinic, where the office opened up into his small living area. He took his shirt off and went to the sink, taking the time to wash his face and hands and brush his teeth. He was about to lie down on his cot and let himself fall into sleep when he noticed his phone. Most of the time he didn’t check it for days, but Beau had been so worried that he’d reached out to Ty, of all people, so Kent could be hearing from anyone.
He was surprised to see a message from Jewel’s father, Frank. Kent, so sorry to hear about your loss. From one man to another who has lost his wife—it hurts. Please call me on FaceBook. I want to talk to you about Africa.
Kent frowned in confusion. Jewel Jackson’s father wouldn’t be a person he would expect to hear from. He considered whether he should make the call or not. What could Frank want to know about Africa?
As Kent lay back, he couldn’t stop all the memories from flowing into his mind. What in tarnation could her father want? He had wondered many times if Jewel had ever told her parents about their engagement.
He sighed and went to the call button on Facebook. He’d liked the man. He smiled, remembering how chapped he’d been about losing to him in charades. Why not call him?
Chapter 7
Jewel shoved her key in the lock and pushed the front door open with her hip. No Jeopardy on. She looked around and put her things down.
Where was her father? She’d been working a lot lately, like fourteen to sixteen hour days, and that didn’t leave a lot of time for chitchat. Yesterday, he’d left her a note on the plate of food he’d made for her that had said, “I miss you.”
She still had to finish up a brief tonight for Mr. Warren, the partner at the firm who was driving her crazy. Of course, he knew he had her fate in his hands, in deciding if she would make junior partner and he was exploiting that fact.
“Dad!” Jewel called out. Worry replaced the guilt. “Dad!” she called again, bending to quickly pick up the letters that looked like they’d fallen to the floor by the counter. She moved through the house and down the hallway to her parents’ room, where she could hear her father’s voice through the door. He was laughing really loudly. He must be on the phone.
A pang of sadness hit her. He hadn’t laughed that loud in a long time.
“Okay, I’ll let you go. Thanks for calling. Bye.”
Quickly, she walked back down to the kitchen, feeling like she’d been spying on him. Who had he been talking to?
“Jewel!” her father called out as he walked down the hallway.
She picked up the plate of food he’d left her on the stove and flipped on the kitchen light. “In here, Dad.” She put her plate of drumsticks and rice and broccoli into the microwave.
“Cupid girl, good to see you.” He rushed in and quickly kissed her cheek.
“H-hey.” Why did she feel nervous all of a sudden? Probably because he looked way too happy.
“How was your day?”
“Dad, who were you talking to?”
His grin widened. “Why?”
“’Cause you seem really happy.”
“Can’t I be happy?” he asked with mock exasperation.
She crossed her arms.
He wagged his finger at her. “Don’t give me that judgy attorney look. I’m not a child or someone you have to intimidate.”
She changed her expression to an overly nice one. “Dad?”
“I was actually talking with your old friend, Kent Hardman.”
Even though she shouldn’t have been shocked, her mouth still fell open. “What?” She’d been thinking about Kent so much lately, dreaming about him, and then forcing those thoughts from her mind. She threw her hands up. “You told me you weren’t going to call him.”
Her father let out a soft chuckle. “See? You know there’s part of you that still thinks about the man. You know it.”
It unsettled her to know that he could read her so well. “Dad, why were you talking to Kent?”
Unconcerned, her father went to the cupboard and pulled out a couple bottles of his pills. “I’ve actually had a couple of conversations with him. Tonight, we were talking extensively about Africa. He’s in Sierra Leone. Apparently, all of the Americans who work there kind of know each other. He said he would check with the lady who is over the ESL program and see if she would be available to FaceBook message me later this week.”
Jewel stumbled back and held to the edge of the counter. Though her father had told her he was going to go to Africa, she hadn’t taken him one hundred percent seriously.
The microwave beeped at her, but she ignored it.
Her father systematically pulled pills out of his bottles. “Kent said if I stay on my meds and get approval from my doctor, and all the required vaccinations, he doesn’t see why it would be a problem for me to go to Africa.”
Her hand actually started trembling. “Oh.” She tried to sound calm.
“He said that I could be there by the end of August.”
“What?” That was less than eight weeks away.
“Kent said he would help me make sure all my medication stayed on automatic refill, and if we stayed ahead of it so I always have extra, then it would be fine.”
Fine? Her temper flared as she remembered going to the hospital to be with her father after his heart attack. The man was not fine.
“He said he could give me regular checkups. It’s amazing, right? I think God is working his miracles on this one.”
Jewel sucked in a breath, she didn’t want to talk about God and miracles. She leveled her father with her “in court” face. She often practiced that face in the mirror, preparing herself to conceal any freak-outs she might have. Most of the time, it worked. “Look, Dad—”
He paused, giving her a once-over. “Tarnation, girl, you look plumb worn out.” With a shake of his head, he filled up his water glass and guzzled back the handful of pills. He waggled his eyebrows at her, proudly sticking his chest out. “I really think it would be a great idea to be located near Kent. Then he can help me if I need it. It’s perfect, isn’t it?”
Her heart pounded like a caged bird against her ribs. She didn’t even know where to beg
in.
“You’ll be interested to hear that Kent’s doing well. I mean, it’s been a little over a year since his wife passed, but he’s pushing ahead.” He sighed. “A good man, that Kent Hardman.”
Unable to believe it, she couldn’t stop herself from asking, “So he’s happy in Africa?”
Her father nodded. “Sure, he said it’s a bit rough, but he loves the people.” Her father smiled, looking like the Cheshire Cat. “Ya know, he asked about you.”
“Dad?” Part of her wanted to demand what he’d asked, but she couldn’t admit that she was interested.
Her father cocked an eyebrow. “He said he knew that losing your mother must have been hard on you, and I told him he was right.”
Jewel was speechless. Kent would certainly be compassionate about the loss of her mother. She squeezed her eyes shut.
“Ya know, he was in the car when it crashed. He wasn’t driving, mind you, but he was there. When the diesel truck hit her side of the car, it was running a red light. No one could have anticipated the accident.”
“That’s terrible.” Empathy coursed through her.
“Their car rolled twice. Kent was okay and got out. He tried to save Addy, but she was already dead. Even still, he did CPR until medics showed up.”
Jewel blinked away tears.
Her father put his hand on her shoulder. “I know, cupid girl. We all have pain. So much pain.”
Suddenly, she didn’t care about all of her pride and her awkwardness about her father calling Kent. She started to cry.
Her father wrapped his arms around her. “Shh, I know. It’s okay.”
Jewel wasn’t sure what time it was when she awoke, but it was early. The room was still dark, and the sudden image of Kent holding Addy in the middle of the street made her sit upright. She’d been dreaming about it.
The neon clock said four-thirty. There was sweat all over her, and she realized she was all twisted up in the sheets. She got up and wandered to the window, where she could see the faint outline of the sunrise on the mountains. She was tempted to put on her running shoes and go burn off some energy. Instead, she started up her laptop and went to Facebook.
She wasn’t one of Kent’s friends, but she found his profile easily. He hadn’t posted since Addy’s death. She studied his profile picture. He and Addy beamed back at her from what looked like the ranch at Hidden Falls.
A jolt of pain filled her. She’d gone to Hidden Falls with Kent one time. It was the same spring break they’d come to Denver. They’d gone there first for three days, and she’d met his brothers: Beau, Sean, and Ryan. It was before Ryan had left to join the military, so she’d gotten to meet them all.
Trying not to think too hard about what she was doing, she opened a message and started writing. Hi. I am so sorry to hear about Addy. I—
She paused, then started over. She didn’t want to sound trite. Hi there. My father told me you’ve been communicating, and I wanted to reach out and tell you how so sorry I am for your loss. And I’m sorry for so much. She’d made a lot of mistakes in her life.
Nervous angst wove through her as soon as she hit send.
Crap. What had she done? What would he think? Would he be mad at her? Ignore her? Ugh.
She stared at his Facebook profile some more, stewing in her thoughts. Her father was so excited to go to Africa. It terrified her that he actually might go. Without overthinking it, she quickly typed another message to Kent. Sorry to bug you, again. Kent, I would ask you to please not talk to him about Africa. As you know, he has some health concerns that make it a bad idea.
Her hand hovered over the mouse for a second; then she pushed send.
After a minute, she bent and pulled on her running shoes. Just as she was leaving, her eyes went to the computer screen, where she could see a red notification pop up. Her gut filled with butterflies, and she rushed to her laptop and pressed the red dot.
A return message from Kent appeared already. Thank you for your words of condolence. As for your father, I’ll talk to him about Africa whenever he wants me to talk to me about it.
Chapter 8
Kent was in the middle of what would be a long day. The clinic had been broken into this morning when he’d been eating breakfast with Hoppy’s family. Now a line of expectant patients stretched past his door, and another bus full of villagers was pulling in.
After receiving Jewel’s message last night and responding to her, he’d been unable to focus. Even though he’d been having chats with her father, it hadn’t been her. The fact they were communicating now felt strange.
Memories of all those years ago in Santa Monica had floated in and out of his brain all morning. But he kept coming back to what she’d asked him not to do—talk to her father about Africa. Of course, as a doctor, he’d had to learn to read between the lines of what people were saying to understand what they were feeling. He definitely sensed that she was afraid for her father. He got that.
But, he also couldn’t help but wonder so many things about her. Like—what had happened between her and Ty.
He shifted his thoughts to more pressing matters as he finished sewing up a little girl’s leg. She’d fallen on a spike and gashed her thigh. The wound had been riddled with infection and he’d had to cut parts of it out, but he was confident that she’d recover between the new stitches and the bottle of antibiotics he’d given her mother. He handed her a sucker, something he considered one of the most valuable of medical supplies for children. “Here you go. You’ll be fine.”
The mother nodded, tears in her eyes. “Thank you, Doctor.”
The little girl threw her arms around him. “Thank you.”
Kent returned the hug. It was moments like this he knew he’d made the right decision in coming here.
“Kent.” His boss staggered into the clinic—Charles, the director of Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone. He was out of breath but smiling.
Kent told the next patient to wait. It wasn’t every day that Charles showed up at his clinic.
They shook hands and exchanged quick pleasantries.
Kent nodded to the line. “Do you want to help?”
Charles laughed. “You know that the lines fluctuate depending on which doctor we have manning this clinic, don’t you?”
“Of course. You need more doctors.”
“Exactly. Look, I want to raise awareness about the need here. Do you want to go to Denver in two weeks and speak at the medical conference to explain why spending time in Africa could be so critical to our doctors back home?”
“Denver?” His heart raced. Jewel’s face flashed into his mind. “In two weeks?”
Charles nodded. “You can share from your personal experience, since you’ve been here close to a year.”
“Surely there are others more qualified,” Kent hedged. He hated public speaking.
“You’re passionate about all this, and I like passion.”
Kent paused. “This program has helped me in so many ways.”
Charles nodded. “I’m glad.”
Uncertainty pulsed through him. What were the odds that after reconnecting with Jewels, he’d be asked to go to a work conference in the same city she lived in?
Charles’ face softened. “Go to the conference and enjoy yourself. You haven’t taken time off since you started.”
Kent tried to wrap his mind around what was being asked of him. “Maybe.”
“So you’ll go?”
“Can I think about it?” He could see that his next patient was waiting.
Charles moved toward the door but looked back. “Okay, but let me know by tomorrow if I should book your flights.”
Chapter 9
Jewel closed up a file and decided to call it quits for the day. She’d been irritated all day, stewing on the memory of Kent’s flippant statement that her father could talk to whoever he wanted. Did he not understand health problems? He was a doctor, after all.
Ack! Normally, she didn’t spend that much time on so
cial media, but all she could think about today was what she would say in response to Kent—if she should respond at all.
She reread their message thread. She couldn’t be rude to him; he’d just lost his wife.
Why was she spending so much mental energy on this? With a curse, she snapped her laptop shut, stuffed it into her bag, and rushed out of her office.
“Hold up there, turbo!” Darrin, her assistant, called out from his desk.
She paused, her mind whirling. “Yeah?”
He squinted at her. “What are you so upset about?”
“Nothing.”
“Did you hear something about the case?” He walked around his desk. “Let me walk you out.”
“No, I just—”
“If you know something, tell me. What do we need to do?”
It was way past time for Darrin to leave. He wanted her promotion to junior partner almost as much as she did. “Just go home.”
They got to the bottom of the stairs, and Darrin opened the front door for her. “I will, but is there anything else I need to do before I leave?”
“Darrin, you’re amazing. It’s all good. We’ll win this case tomorrow; I know it.”
Darrin nodded. “But you seem annoyed and worried, and when you’re like that, I worry.”
They reached her car, and she pushed the unlock button.
Darrin opened the door for her. “Please just tell me what’s happening.”
She rolled her eyes, giving in only because she didn’t want him to be up worrying about the case all night. “Listen, I-I just … My father wants to go to Africa, and I don’t want him to, but I have an old friend who is there, and they’ve been talking.”
“What?” Darrin pulled back, his expression changing from worried to shocked. “To Africa?”
“My father has this harebrained idea that he can go to Africa by himself. He thinks if he manages all of his meds, everything will be okay.”
