Healing Hearts: A Second Chance, Small Town Romance Novel

Chapter 8

Logan

I don't know how I feel? Part of me wanted to approach Sage and to be close to her. She was my best friend and my girlfriend after all. If it hadn't been for her choices to go to Michigan State to prove herself, we'd still have been together. Surely? My heart did leap at the sight of her, she's still trim. I bet she still runs early mornings and does hot yoga. That was her favourite. She said it grounded her and kept her balanced. I could tell just from looking at her as she came into the diner that those legs are still getting a regular workout. Her butt is still high. Why am I thinking about her butt? I shouldn't be thinking about that right now.

I'm supposed to still be pissed off at her for choosing a bit city life over me. Naturally, I don't see that any of that was my fault. I wanted to stay here. It was always in the pipeline that I would take over the town medical practice from dad when he retired. Besides, I love Willowbrook. I love the people even if they can be a bit nosey and in your face at times. That's part of the charm. We all know when somebody needs help and always there to lend a helping hand.

I love our Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter festivals. I'm always in charge of the productions with the headmaster of Willowbrook junior school, Mrs Winters. Together we always manage for the kids to put on a good show. Fall will be here soon and we're already having committee meetings for the Fall theatre production.

My mind wanders as I walk to the practice of whether Sage has been happy and why she is back here in Willowbrook. It's not like I've ever seen her around before when apparently she's been visiting with her folks. Nothing gets passed my mother's radar, she and Sage's mother are tight. Guessing that's how the two of us became best friends too.

Unless I've just been fantastic at not bumping into her. Like I said before, I tend to stay at the cabin with Hector. Some rifts are so hard to overcome and coming face to face with Sage has always been one of them. She ripped me to the core when she made the decision to leave. I could have gone with her, the opportunity was there for me. We would have practised medicine together in the State hospital in Michigan.

I wonder how life would have been if we had. I envisage us having married, had kids and the white picket fence. And that there is exactly it. Working in a bit city hospital wouldn't have allowed all that romance. We'd have been working flat out, fourteen hour days and then some, being on call and too exhausted from flat out days.

There would have been no babies and white picket fences. We were young, just in our twenties. Life was ahead of us, okay it still is just because I'm getting closer to forty than thirty doesn't change that. I am, starkly aware, however, that I ought to get a wriggle on if I want to find the one. I thought it was Sage back then and I daresay she thought it was me. So why the hell did she leave me? I don't see the viewpoint of why didn't I go with her. Surely if I'd loved her enough I would have done?

I approach my practice. Mr Hendricks is standing outside waiting. He taps his local newspaper to his leg. I check my watch and see that I'm still good for time. Some of my patients are a little less patience than others.

"Good morning, Mr Hendricks." I say as I amble up beside him to the brick medical centre. It's not changed since the days my father ran it, except for a lick of white paint on the window frames and some fresh olive green paint on the sturdy wooden door.

"Doc. You're late." He says sternly. It's always the same conversation when he has a morning appointment. You can take the military out of the man but you can't take the man out of the military. To make a point I lift my left arm up and stare down at my watch. I look up at him squarely.

"No, Sir. It's only just coming up to twenty-five minutes past the hour." I smile. He doesn't. Mr Hendricks likes to pretend he is still a general with his stern face, bushy moustache and ram-rod straight back. He humpfs at me.

I unlock the door and it whooshes open. "Come on in then." I say. My assistant Eliza hasn't arrived yet. She'll be here very soon with some nice strong coffee and the maple doughnuts I especially like from Dookie-Dooks Doughnut place here in town. My favourite are the cherry glazed flavour. And thinking of her she pulls up in her beaten up station wagon. That woman needs a new ride.

"Morning y'all." She hollers as if she's standing in the park trying to reach an audience a mile away. Brash, loud but damn good at her job.

"Is that necessary to be so loud?" Asks Mr Hendricks. I can sense he has the extra grumps on this morning. I smile and go and help her with the coffees.

"I bought your favourite, cheery glazed." She holds the white bag up with DDD's red logo on the outside.

"You're a good woman, Eliza. If you weren't already married I'd have to slip a ring on that finger of yours." She giggles like a teenager even though she is the same age roughly as me.

"Oh, Doc. You are such a flirt." I make my way across the wooden floored hallway down the corridor to my office door. I love seeing my name in gold letters embossed on the obscure glass. It makes me realise how hard I worked to get her. All the years of study, the exams, the whole nine yards. It's a dream to be able to help people, whether it's with their physical issues, mental or emotional. We have so many support groups running from the practice that it could make your head spin. Eliza is the one who keeps everything going, she coordinates nurses, speakers, therapists, events, my schedule, manages the phone and just about everything else.

Mr Hendricks takes a seat in the comfortable high backed, brown leather chair in front of my rectangular office desk. The office is old-fashioned it could easily pass for something out of the 1800's with its dark book cases, antique office table, the high-winged chair.

"How is the wrist holding up?" I ask him as I place my mobile down on the desk and switch my computer on. Usually I am a lot more organized before my patients arrived and earlier. Having seen Sage this morning threw me a bit and instead of coming the direct route, I chose to go via main street which can add an extra ten minutes to my time.

"It's fine. I told you there was nothing to worry about." Mm I think. He's nearly seventy, fell off a stepladder decorating which he shouldn't have been doing in the first place and it had a nasty fracture. It's good to see the cast has been removed.

"Well let's just take a look." I say as he reluctantly holds up his right hand.

"It's perfectly fine, Doc."

"It's looking good I have to agree. I think there should be no more getting up on ladders though for you. Why don't you ask one of your lads to come over and help you with that kind of stuff? You should be..." He cuts me off abruptly.

"What sitting at home with a tv dinner on my lap watching some awful gameshow or other. I don't think so, Doc. You youngsters have no idea about gumption and resilience." He grumbles clearly annoyed at my inference. I have to respect that their generation it would seem are a lot tougher than we give them credit for.

"Not exactly, exercise is important and I'm pleased to see you on your daily walk. Keep that up." He grumbles again. "I'd like you to have some physiotherapy for a few weeks. Eliza can fix you up a time with Lynn when she's back from vacation."

"Doesn't need physio nonsense, I'll be cutting my wood for winter soon that'll be physio enough." He sounds quite annoyed. I have to refrain from smiling. My own father would be no different.

"Well, I don't think you ought to be cutting up wood fire, Mr Hendricks. How about we book the sessions in with Anne and you speak with your two boys and get them over to start stocking you up. It's going to be another cold one for sure."

He mutters as he stands, clearly our visit is over. I bid him goodbye, he doesn't acknowledge me or turn back. I already know I've probably upset him for the rest of the day with all the talk about physio. He'll be heading over to the Bluebell diner for his usual muffin, he likes the custard variety and his black as black coffee that you can stand a spoon up in.

I check my schedule on the computer, it's back to back patients until one when I can get a break for lunch. I'll head over to Daisy to check in on her and take Hector for a nice walk. By the look of it, I can be finished today by four. I'm looking forward to running later in the woods with Hector.

And so I settle myself in the for the day. My next patient is Rosanne Burton. She's nineteen and wants to talk about contraception. It makes me think back to myself at that age and talking with Sage about the very same subject. What is it with me today? I can't get my mind off that damn woman.