“Six long weeks! You have no idea how difficult this has been for me. I haven't gone this long without sex since—well, I can't remember when."
While Ivey prayed the ground would open up and swallow her whole, Dr. Stein ignored the comment and continued to examine Lucy’s x-ray. “The bone healed nicely. You're quite lucky. We can't always expect that in a woman of your age.”
Ivey sucked in a breath. Oh no, here it comes.
“‘A woman of my age’? What is that supposed to mean?” Aunt Lucy asked.
Dr. Stein seemed oblivious to his slip. “I mean that as a woman ages, osteoporosis sets in, and bones tend to take much longer to heal.”
Aunt Lucy slipped off the examination table. “Well I don't have any of that osteo stuff. I'm in great shape.”
“I'm sure you are,” Dr. Stein said.
The poor man had no clue.
“When should we schedule her follow-up?” Ivey kept track of Aunt Lucy's appointments in her notebook, and she pulled it out of her purse, ready to make a note.
“Never! I'm done here. Good day.” Aunt Lucy gathered her Coach purse from the chair and stopped at the door. “Are you coming, Ivey?”
“I'll be right there.” She had to make her apologies to Dr. Stein and find out about follow-up care. Even if her aunt wanted to ignore follow-up, Ivey knew how important it could be to a full recovery.
After speaking with the doctor, she asked the front office receptionist to send a reminder of the six-month checkup. What on earth would Aunt Lucy do without Ivey’s help?
Next she had to go find Jeff and schedule their next meeting. They hadn’t met since last week—a good thing since she’d needed a little bit of time after the french fry incident. But he was the other half of the subcommittee, and if she couldn’t convince him to go along with her recommendation, she wouldn’t get far.
Aunt Lucy had already walked out of the reception area into the hallway of the clinic attached to St. Vincent's Hospital and now giggled into her phone. She had to be speaking to a man.
Ivey marched toward her aunt, who still made googly eyes into her cellphone. Good grief. Aunt Lucy finally got the hint and wrapped up her phone call.
“That was Antonio. He misses me. Hoo boy, that man has the sexiest accent I've ever heard.”
Ivey inwardly cringed at the mental picture of Lucy and Antonio and then felt guilty. After all, Aunt Lucy deserved to be loved.
“I have to go find Jeff—I mean, Dr. Garner, so I can schedule our next meeting. Will you be okay? It won’t take long.”
“Of course, dear. I'll call Antonio back. We've gotten pretty good at phone sex.”
Ivey whipped her head around, grateful no one had been close enough to them in the hallway to hear her aunt. “Umm, okay. I'll meet you in the car?”
Ivey handed her the keys and hoped Lucy would take the hint. If she insisted on having phone sex, at least she could spare everyone within earshot.
Ivey had only begun to get the layout of the hospital and took the elevator down to the first floor where the emergency room was located.
As she approached the reception desk, a tall and slender redhead turned towards Ivey. Her name tag read Donna—triage. “How can I help you?”
Ivey introduced herself and explained that she was looking for Dr. Garner to schedule a meeting. “Is he around?”
“I just got on shift, so I’ll need to check.” She went through the double doors leading to the restricted area.
“Pssst.”
Ivey turned, and an elderly gentleman smiled in her direction. “Did you say something?”
“I’m here to see him too. And I’ve been waiting a while. Name’s Frank Sullivan,” he said, sticking out a frail hand.
Ivey sat next to him, and then the Florence Nightingale in her took over. “Are you feeling all right? What’s wrong?”
“It would be easier to tell you what’s not wrong.” Frank tapped the side of his head. “Nothing wrong up here, that’s for sure. Everything else, the warranty has worn out.”
Endearing and cute. “I’m sure the doctors here can help you with whatever has, uh, worn out.”
“Dr. Garner can. He has the magic touch. Every time I come here, I see him.”
“Every time?” The statement implied he’d made multiple trips to the ER, and for his sake she hoped that wasn’t the case.
He nodded. “He’s always here, so it’s not a problem.”
“Yeah, that’s what I heard.”
“And what are you here to see him for, dear? You look healthy enough, but sometimes it’s hard to tell.” He cocked his head to the side.
“No, I feel fine. We kind of work together, and I need to talk to him.”
“You’re a nurse? Or a doctor?”
Ivey straightened a little taller in her seat. Frank hadn’t automatically assumed she was a nurse. “I’m a nurse midwife.”
“They certainly are turning out pretty nurses these days.” No sooner had Frank given her his compliment than Jeff and Donna both came through the double doors.
Jeff had a stethoscope around his neck and bags under his eyes. “Hey.”
Ivey couldn’t help a tiny twinge of sympathy for him. “I should have called you, but then I realized I don’t have your phone number.”
“Pssst, Doc, I would remedy that if I were you,” Frank said from his seat.
“Yeah. Thanks, Frank. So what’s up?” Jeff took a step toward Ivey, as though he’d give them a modicum of privacy.
“I want to schedule a time for us to meet with a local midwife in town. What’s a good time for you?”
“I’m here most of the time.”
“We’ll need to go to her. Why don’t I meet with her, and then I’ll report back to you. Next Monday?”
“Doc, I ‘m going to need some fluids today, I think,” Frank interrupted from behind them.
“I’ve got to run. See you then.” Jeff moved to give Frank a helping hand. “Donna, let’s get Frank checked out. Talk later, okay Ivey?”
“Nice to meet you, Ivey,” Frank said as he shuffled away. “Be sure to leave your phone number with the doctor.”
“Excuse me?” Ivey asked.
Frank stopped walking and turned toward her, then spoke loudly as though she might have a hearing problem. “I said leave your number with the doctor. Then maybe you two could go out some time.”
“Frank,” Jeff said in a warning tone.
“Well, Doc, you’re here every time I come and you don’t see a problem with that?”
Jeff didn’t reply, his quicker pace being the only indication that he’d heard anything at all. They both walked through the double doors, leaving Ivey standing alone, wondering if Jeff wanted her number and why she should care.
* * *
“Italy?” Ivey couldn’t believe her ears. Aunt Lucy’s cast had been off for four days, and she had already made plans to leave the country.
“I have to do something to celebrate the end of being cooped up for six weeks.” Now that she was mobile again, Aunt Lucy used the energy to pack her bags. “And Antonio has rented us a villa in the Italian countryside.”
“But we were going to start having fun. I was hoping you’d stay.” Ivey fought to keep the desperation out of her voice, but the last thing she wanted was to live in this extravagant condo alone.
“It’s time for me to move on. The leg slowed me down for too long. Anyway, you stay here and get that job you wanted. The women’s center has been a long time coming, and I know you’d be great for the job.” Aunt Lucy laid her minx coat gently in the suitcase. She tossed her last pair of Jimmy Choos into a suitcase dedicated only to shoes and then threw sweaters into another one.
“What if I forget about the job? I could spend every day with you. Would you stay then?” Okay that was desperation talking. Ivey wasn’t going to give up the job and stay home and have one long slumber party.
“Oh honey, you don’t have to do that. I’m still hoping you’ll come to
your senses and get back with your ex.”
Oh, sigh. Would Aunt Lucy ever give up? “That’s not going to happen.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, and stop looking at me like that. I didn’t come back here for him. I came home because you said you needed me.”
“And I thank you for that. But you might want to ask yourself why you want to stay—you could get a job anywhere else. Maybe you did want to come back, and I gave you the perfect excuse.”
No, she wasn’t staying for him. In fact, he was the hardest part of staying here, since every time she looked at him she hurt a little bit. “We never did see that movie—the one with your favorite actor—umm, what’s his name?” Ivey couldn’t even remember now, as panic set in.
“I’ll wait till it’s on DVD.” Aunt Lucy waved her hand. “You’ll be fine. You can stay here. It’s not far from the hospital, so it’s convenient if you ever wind up getting that job. I’ve still got my money on you. You can do this.”
The last suitcase packed, Aunt Lucy marched to the kitchen where she used the phone to call for a taxi.
“Do you really have to leave tonight?” Ivey would have liked at least a day to get used to the idea.
“I’ve been cooped up in here for too long.”
“You didn’t even spend any time in the town itself. There are beautiful vineyards right here and people come from all over the world come to see them.”
“You don’t have to tell me. I lived most of my life in this little town. I talked Ben Cartwright into buying this condo so I could visit. They say you should never forget where you came from.”
Aunt Lucy pulled out her compact and outlined her lips in fire-engine red. Presumably so that people would see her lips a mile away. Then she put her hands on both of Ivey’s shoulders, the most affection she’d demonstrated in weeks. “I’m not like you and your mom, honey.”
There it was again. Ivey hated it when Aunt Lucy brought her up or compared them. “I’m not like her either.”
“Nonsense. You’re so much like your mother. Oh, I miss her. She never wanted to leave the town where she met and fell in love with your father. Something about putting down roots. I could never figure her out either.” Aunt Lucy shook her head and dug in her purse again.
But Beth Lancaster had made a habit of ruining people and relationships, and Ivey had gone behind her fixing what she could. Making excuses for mom, cleaning up the chaos. Protecting Beth from the nasty rumors. Unlike Mom, Ivey couldn’t even drink a sip of alcohol without being inebriated, but that didn’t seem to matter. When she looked in the mirror she still saw Beth Lancaster’s dark hair and blue eyes gazing back.
The phone rang and Lucy picked it up. “Could you come up and help me with my bags?” She hung up and turned to Ivey. “Don’t look so sad, dear. You have my cell phone number, and you can call me any time. And stay here as long as you like.”
“But this place is too big for me.”
“Then find someone to share it with. I know who that someone should be.” Aunt Lucy squeezed her hand and then opened the door for the driver, waving him towards the bedroom.
“Stop. Why do you keep bringing him up?” Couldn’t Lucy see how much it hurt? Did she have to spell it out for her aunt?
“Ask yourself why I would want to come back to this god-forsaken town to recuperate when I could be anywhere in the world?”
“I thought it was because this is our home town. You grew up here, so did mom. So did I. We have good memories here.”
“Honey, I wanted to bring you back the minute I heard your old beau was back in town and the hospital would be building a new women’s center.”
“You asked me to move in so you could play matchmaker?” And she’d imagined it was for her great nursing skills.
“Every two months someone in this town asks me for money. But when they came to me for a donation to the women’s center, you better believe I gave them a sizeable one. Enough to call myself a benefactor. Doesn’t that have a nice ring to it?”
“You—you did this? You’re the one who wanted Jeff on the subcommittee?”
“Why not? You two needed a little push, is all. More like a big fat shove.”
Ivey had left a fledging practice as a home-birth midwife. She’d left a decent apartment and friends so she could rearrange her life to take care of Aunt Lucy. Because she’d asked.
“I can’t believe you did this! Undo it right now. Call and tell them you changed your mind.” Ivey handed Lucy the phone.
“I will do no such thing. I don’t mind telling you, you were one silly girl to let Jeff go. By now you’d be married with two or three little ones. Isn’t that what you always wanted?”
And Jeff would have dropped out of medical school. He would have married her out of obligation, not love. Maybe they’d be happy, and maybe they’d be miserable.
“You can’t do this to me.”
“I can, and I did. You can thank me later.” Aunt Lucy patted Ivey’s back.
The driver stuck his head in the door. “All ready, ma’am.”
“When will you be back?” Ivey managed to squeak out.
“I’m not sure. It could be months if all goes well. I’ll be in touch. And I’m going to buy you a new car. No arguing. That old SUV is about to give out on you. Pick out what you want and I’ll pay for it. Walk me outside?”
Ivey walked Lucy to the curb and watched the taxi cab become a smudge of yellow in the distance. She swallowed the lump in her throat and the memory that came back. Leaving seemed to be a pattern with Aunt Lucy.
In Los Angeles, Lucy had found a little cottage for Ivey to rent. Not that she had ever spent much time there with Ivey. After Lucy had made sure Ivey had enough money to stay for the remainder of her pregnancy, she’d murmured a few choice phrases about Gloria Steinem and the sacrifices women had made so that Ivey wouldn’t have to hide a natural event and then taken off on her next adventure.
But Ivey wasn’t hiding because she was ashamed. Not exactly.
She would take care of their baby, and within three years, once Jeff was done with medical school, she’d let him know. Then he could decide for himself if he wanted a relationship with their child. He’d probably be a little bit mad, Ivey figured, but in the end he’d see her sacrifice was noble. He’d see she’d done it for him. So that he could keep going forward without interruption. So that if they wound up together, it would be for the right reasons.
But it hadn’t quite worked out. There was no point in rehashing the past now, bringing up old wounds and mistakes to examine them under the harsh bright light of today.
No point at all.
5
By the evening after Aunt Lucy had gone, Brooke had already invited Ivey to a wine-tasting event. Brooke ran Serrano’s, one of the more popular wineries in town, and recently she’d been so busy with their booth at the Grape and Wine Festival that she suggested Ivey join her at the winery so they could hang out. Ivey didn’t drink, but Brooke Miller was her best friend and a person didn’t grow up in Napa Valley without learning how to swish and spit. Wine tasting events and the annual festival were as much a part of the landscape of Starlight Hill as the river that ran through town.
Ivey, for her part, wondered why Brooke hadn’t thought it important to let her know that Jeff was back in Starlight Hill. A little heads-up might have been nice. Not that Ivey would have let his being back in town keep her away from helping Aunt Lucy. That would have given him too much power.
However, his being in town was one matter and working with him on a subcommittee another. Her teeth hurt thinking about it. The last person she wanted to discuss pregnancy matters with. It didn’t help that his eyes seemed to glaze over every time they talked about high risk versus low risk. Unless maybe he was as exhausted as he claimed.
His supposed exhaustion hadn’t stopped him from checking her out. Yeah, she’d noticed. Several times she’d glanced up from her notes to find him staring. Never even bothered to hide i
t. And she was done walking in front of him. She could literally feel his eyes like lasers trained on her assets.
No, she wouldn’t go there again, to a relationship that failed because Jeff didn’t have time for one. And he still wouldn’t, not with his resident’s schedule. She’d bet a lifetime’s supply of chocolate on that fact. Besides, he liked to plan everything and Ivey loved surprises. Adventures. Flying by the seat of her pants. Living life without regrets.
Brooke was behind the wine bar, wearing long dangly turquoise earrings, and a colorful bracelet in the shape of a snake hugged her bicep. Back in their high-school days, Brooke had worn her naturally blonde hair dyed black to match her mood, but now she was back to her blonde bombshell look.
“Hey, I’m here.” Ivey sidled up to the bar. “And I’m not tasting.”
“No kidding.” Brooke of all people understood Ivey’s aversion to alcohol. It wasn’t that she judged others, but ever since Mom’s accident, Ivey didn’t drink on principle. Which made living in Starlight Hill ironic.
“Hey, Eric, I’m taking a break. And don’t give me that look. I’m not even supposed to be pouring.” Brooke waved an arm in a young man’s direction.
“I thought you ran this place,” Ivey said, following Brooke, who carried one glass of wine with her.
“I do. Which means I have to pour when we have an event and we’re short staffed. Like today. We’re bringing in a new line of Cabernets that have a woodsy, nutty—you don’t want to hear about this, and I want to hear about the job at the hospital. Did you get it?” She sat at a table and Ivey joined her.
“No. But here’s the good news. I’ve been put on a subcommittee with a resident.” Ivey explained the details.
“Well that sounds promising.”
“Maybe. Except that Jeff is the resident.”
Brooke froze. “Uh-oh.”
“I’ll say. I didn’t even know he was back in town.”
Brooke might have picked up on the accusatory tone in Ivey’s voice. “Hey, sorry if I forgot to mention it. Life gets busy, ya know? Besides, I’m sick of you acting like you should be wearing a scarlet letter.”
THE STARLIGHT HILL COMPLETE COLLECTION: 1-8 Page 4
