The Doctor She Always Dreamed Of Read online

  Mom shook her head to indicate ‘no.’

  Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Kira staring at the phone as if deep in thought. Then, with a swift inhalation followed by a slow, measured exhalation she stood tall, picked up the receiver and dialed another number.

  “Hello, Mr. Jeffries, it’s Kira,” she said. “I’m so sorry—” she dropped her head forward and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Yes, sir. I know, sir. If you’d just let me explain.” She stood quietly, listening. “Yes, sir. Your office, first thing on Monday morning. See you th—”

  Apparently Mr. Jeffries didn’t let her finish. The man was an ass. So was Derrick. By thinking only of himself and his need to get up to see his parents, he’d gotten Kira into trouble with her boss. After all she’d done for them.

  When she emerged from the kitchen she walked through the living room right up the stairs, without saying a word. Derrick started after her.

  “Don’t.” Dad grabbed his arm.

  “You heard what just happened.” Derrick tried to pull away.

  “Have to be deaf not to.” Dad looked up at him. “Fifty-four years of marriage have taught me a few things.” Derrick stopped to listen so Dad released his hold. “When a woman’s all fired up, especially if you’re the one who got her that way, you need to give her some time alone to cool down.”

  Derrick looked upstairs, waiting, wondering, expecting Kira to appear at any minute, her bags and shoes in hand, demanding to be taken home. Dread filled his belly at the thought of four tension-filled hours cooped up in a car with her, especially when she had every right to be pissed at him.

  Her sneakers came into view first. The rest of her followed. She’d put her hair up into a high ponytail and added an armband above her left elbow to hold her iPhone which was attached to the white earbuds in her ears. Without looking at anyone she said, “I need to go for a run,” and walked right out of the house.

  Once again, Derrick started to follow.

  “Leave her be,” Dad said.

  “She doesn’t know her way around, GPS won’t work.”

  “Town’s not that big,” was all Dad said.

  True. But still.

  Derrick hurried to the door in time to see Kira take off at a fast pace, her form excellent. Based on her physique, she jogged a lot. He watched for as long as he could, before she turned right at the end of the road and disappeared from view.

  Over the next few hours, Derrick busied himself by doing laundry, helping Mom with her exercises, and then occupying her so Dad could get out for a much needed haircut in town and a few hands of cards at the firehouse. By three o’clock, though, he was done waiting for Kira to return. She could have pulled a muscle or cramped up or been hit by a car. She could be lost or injured and waiting for him to come find her.

  “I’m going after her.” Derrick stood.

  “About time.” Dad looked up from reading the newspaper he’d gotten while in town.

  “About time? You’re the one who told me not to go after her right away.”

  “Wait too long and a woman’ll start thinking crazy stuff and creating problems that don’t exist.”

  Unbelievable. “It would have been nice if you’d shared that important bit of information a little bit earlier, don’t you think?” Derrick grabbed his car keys and left.

  A new coffee shop had opened on Main Street about two blocks down from a dollar store and six blocks before a fancy gas station/convenience mart. Growing up, Derrick couldn’t wait to get out of this town. Now, he felt a tug of longing for the slower pace and peaceful quiet of small-town life. “Hey, Mr. Harvey.” Derrick waved out his car window. The owner of the local hardware store had to be pushing ninety years old, yet there he stood, sweeping the sidewalk out in front of his store.

  His old employer waved back, although Derrick got the impression he had no idea who he was waving to. After scanning the sidewalks and benches all through town, the playground at his old elementary school, and the track behind the high school, he took a right toward the park...and spotted Kira, lying on her back under a big old weeping willow tree, her legs crossed at the ankles, both hands up behind her head.

  He pulled into a parking spot, shut down the engine, and climbed out of his car.

  Kira rolled onto her elbow. Seeing him, she rolled right back into the position she’d been in when he’d first spotted her without so much as a wave or a smile or any sign of welcome.

  He approached anyway, on guard, not sure what to expect.

  “It’s so peaceful here,” she said, keeping her eyes closed. “I’ve just managed to calm myself down. Please don’t ruin it.”

  Without saying a word he lied down next to her, assuming the same position, only eyes opened so he could watch the fluffy white clouds floating along the beautiful blue sky. He inhaled a lungful of fresh country air tinged with the scent of fresh cut grass. When was the last time he’d laid in the grass, looking up at the sky? When was the last time he took a few minutes to appreciate a beautiful day?

  He couldn’t remember. Long hours at medical school and now work, both leading to exhaustion, kept him mostly indoors. His present life was so different from his life as a child, so cluttered with responsibilities, so lacking in time to relax and enjoy life.

  “If I’d grown up in a place like this,” she said quietly. “I never would have left.”

  “Trust me,” he turned to face her. “If you’d grown up in this town you’d have been counting the days until you could get out same as I did.” She kept her eyes closed, her pretty face turned up toward the sky. Derrick continued, talking and watching her. “After I graduated high school I couldn’t pack up and get out of here quick enough. I’d even signed up to take summer classes at college. I’d told my parents it was so I could get ahead, before the fall semester started. But really, I couldn’t stand the thought of another boring summer working two jobs, swimming in the same lake, playing in the same baseball league, going to the same drive-in movie place, eating the same boring burgers at the only diner in town.” He closed his eyes, remembering. “Now...those are some of my happiest memories.”

  “I grew up in New York City, went to college there, work there, and live there.” She inhaled deeply then exhaled. “It’s not often I get to enjoy the fresh air and peace and quiet of a perfect summer day all by myself.”

  “You must get away on vacations.”

  She slid him a glance. “Nope. Mom does best when she sticks to her routine, when she’s surrounded by what’s familiar. And I can’t afford what round the clock care would cost on top of vacation expenses.”

  Derrick rolled onto his side and pushed up onto his elbow. “If you don’t mind me asking, why does she need round the clock care?”

  “Not care as much as supervision, assistance, and direction,” Kira clarified, without answering his question.

  So he asked again. “Why?”

  “Severe traumatic brain injury and all that goes with it, memory loss, mood swings and unpredictable behavior. She’s ambulatory, but with assistance.”

  “How’d it happen?”

  She bent one leg at the knee and started rocking it from side to side. “I’d agreed to babysit my cousin, but I had a huge test the next day. I was all stressed out. Mom said she’d babysit in my place. She was attacked on her way home.”

  My God. “How long ago?”

  “I’d just turned eighteen so twelve years ago.”

  Which meant her mother was most likely as good as she was going to get recovery wise.

  Kira blew out a breath. “If it’s okay with you, can we not talk about my mother? I’d like to go back to enjoying this beautiful day and pretending I don’t have a care in the world.”

  Derrick wanted to know more. “What about your father?” Why did care for her mother fall all on Ki
ra?

  She closed her eyes and turned away. “Dad left when I was fourteen, Krissy was only ten. My mom was the most caring woman I knew. She looked out for everyone in the family, aunts, uncles and cousins included. If she could do something to help, she would.” Kira smiled. “Or she’d send me.” She turned back and opened her eyes. “Dad didn’t like sharing her, but he put up with it until my grandmother had a stroke and Mom wanted to move her into our condo. Dad had a fit, said she belonged in a nursing home. Mom insisted, like she always did, “Family takes care of family.” Dad issued an ultimatum. “It’s your mother or me.” Mom cried and pleaded, but in the end, Grandma had no one else, so Mom chose her.” Kira swatted at a fly that’d landed on her forehead. “Dad packed up and left that night.”

  “That sucks.”

  Kira shrugged. “He set up very generous college accounts for my sister and me, and had his attorney send a check every month until Krissy turned eighteen.”

  “What about after your mom’s injury?”

  “Not a word, which was fine by me. I was eighteen, legal age to assume responsibility for my sister and my mother. We didn’t need him.”

  Derrick said the only thing he could think to say. “I’m sorry.” She’d been through so much at such a young age yet had managed to finish college and attend graduate school to earn not one but two masters’ degrees, with no support and encouragement from loving parents, like he’d had. And while having to care for her mother and her sister. She was one strong, determined, and admirable woman.

  “I’m sorry, too,” she said. “He was a great dad up until he left. And my mom was a great mom. Even though she’s still my mom she’s not my mom like she used to be my mom...if that makes any sense.”

  It made perfect sense. Derrick reached over, took Kira’s hand into his and held it.

  And she let him.

  For the next few minutes, they laid just like that, side by side, hand in hand, listening to random birds and someone hammering off in the distance. A light breeze blew past, the tree’s long, graceful branches swayed back and forth, shading them from the sun. Derrick couldn’t remember a more perfect late summer day, or feeling so comfortable just doing nothing with a woman.

  Kira let out a sigh.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “I will be,” she answered.

  “Do you want me to talk to your boss, to explain what happened?” He would, in a heartbeat, regardless of any possible consequences. Kira didn’t deserve to suffer because of his actions.

  “No.” She went up onto her elbows. “I’ll handle it.”

  Like she handled everything, he was sure, on her own. “But you shouldn’t have to.”

  “Regardless.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said, again. Never had he meant an apology as much as he’d meant that one.

  “I know.” She plopped down on her back, bending her knees, her sneakers planted on the grass.

  They laid in companionable silence some more until Kira blurted out, “On top of everything else I’ve got going on, my sister has decided now is a good time to have a baby.”

  A decision Kira did not sound happy about. “Just like that? Is she married?” Not that marriage was a requirement or anything.

  “Married? I don’t even think she has a steady boyfriend. But I don’t see her enough to know for sure.”

  Derrick did the math. “She must be around twenty-six years old which is old enough for her to do what she wants.”

  “You don’t get it.” Kira sat all the way up, crossing her legs, yanking on a blade of grass. “When she was nine, Krissy won a fish at a carnival in Central Park. I wound up feeding it and changing the water. When she was thirteen, Krissy insisted she was responsible enough to take care of a cat. I wound up putting out fresh food and changing the litter box. Two guesses who that damn cat still lives with.” Kira pointed at her chest. “Me.”

  “In high school,” she went on, “when the novelty of a particular boyfriend wore off and Krissy got bored, she dumped him, no warning, no negotiation, done, goodbye, moving on.”

  Derrick felt compelled to point out, “High school was a lot of years ago. You said yourself you don’t see her that often. Maybe she’s changed.”

  “Maybe,” Kira said.

  “Probably,” Derrick added.

  Kira glared at him. “Whose side are you on?”

  He smiled. “Your side, of course. I’m just—”

  “Well don’t.” Kira wiped dead grass from her leggings. “You stick to dealing with your family and I’ll worry about mine.” Kira looked off in the direction of Main Street. “You know what this town is missing?”

  Derrick laughed. “Do you have any idea how long it’ll take me to answer that?”

  Kira smiled. God she was even prettier when she smiled. “A motel.”

  Funny that’s the only thing she’d noticed. Wait a minute. “Why do you sound like you need one?”

  “I’m no longer on call and Krissy—who I have no desire to see right now—is with my mother so there’s no need for me to be back to the city today. If there was a motel in town, you could spend the evening with your parents and I could spend the night blissfully alone in my very own room.”

  Derrick hated the idea of her spending the night all alone in a motel room. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll stay at the house.”

  “Your dad doesn’t want me there.”

  Derrick sat up too. “Then why did he tell me to pick up some steaks and whatever you want him to grill you for dinner, on our way home?”

  She shrugged. “That was nice of him. But I really don’t have it in me to listen to how great you are and how horrible I am.”

  “I told him everything, Kira.”

  Her eyes went wide. “Everything, everything?”

  He smiled. “Okay, not everything. But how you wouldn’t talk with me until I got the HIPPA form signed and after I got it I wasn’t able to reach you so I drove down to your office and so on.”

  “What did he say?”

  “That he owes you an apology for the heartless beast comment.”

  “First time anyone’s ever called me that.” She looked down and pulled out another blade of grass. “At least to my face.”

  “I doubt he would have said that to your face if he’d known who you were.” Although with his dad, he couldn’t be quite sure.

  “To be completely honest, I’m upset with my sister and stressed about what’s going to happen on Monday when I meet with my boss. I’m really not in the mood to be pleasant company.” She shook her head. “A nice long hot bath, a turkey sandwich, a chilled bottle of wine and I’m good.”

  Not if Derrick had any say in the matter. “You have another night all to yourself. You can do anything you want and you want to spend it alone in a motel room? That doesn’t sound like fun at all.”

  She looked over at him. “For me it is.”

  “It’s not what you wanted last night.” Last night she’d wanted to spend the night with him...naked. And now Derrick couldn’t shake that thought from his brain.

  “Well, we can’t always have what we want, now can we?”

  “Tonight you can,” he told her, wanting to show her a good time. This woman who took care of her mom, who’d taken care of his mom and had gotten her the service and equipment she needed, who rarely had a night to herself, deserved to have at least one night of fun this weekend. Derrick was determined to see that she did. “Come back to the house. We’ll have dinner. Mom and Dad go to bed early. We can go out for drinks.” Two glasses of wine and three shots of Southern Comfort with lime, to be exact. “Or we can swing by the liquor store now and get hammered out back by the fire pit behind the house later on.” Under the stars, like he’d done so many times as a teenager. “That will be fun.” He looked over at h
er. “And tonight, if you offer, I promise I won’t turn you down.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  KIRA SAT AT the table in the kitchen, recalling how Derrick’s dad had, in fact, apologized for his ‘heartless beast’ comment, the minute Kira walked into the house. Then he’d thanked her again for all she’d done earlier that morning, for getting a new home health care agency to come out to visit Daisy, and for not having his idiot son arrested for kidnapping. She smiled. Thank the good Lord Derrick hadn’t shared his atrocious video of her.

  “You’re smiling,” Derrick said from across the table.

  “What? A person can’t smile?” Kira speared a chunk of the potato salad they’d picked up on the way home from the park earlier, a scoop of which now rested on her plate.

  “You been doing it a lot,” Mr. Limone pointed out around a mouthful of steak. “Sitting there all quiet, smiling.”

  It was the whole family togetherness thing. The four of them, Daisy propped up in her new wheelchair, sitting around the table as Derrick shared the happenings at his new family practice, his dad shared news about his friends in town, and they both argued about incidents from Derrick’s youth and whose version was the true and accurate one. Mr. Limone helped Daisy, cutting her food into tiny pieces, patiently waiting while she tried to feed herself with her left hand, assisting only when she became frustrated. At times they both sat there, not eating, simply holding hands under the table, their mutual love for each other evident. Enviable. Daisy seemed so happy to be at the table, a part of their little group, smiling her half-droopy smile, actually chuckling a time or two over the antics of her husband and son.

  Kira remembered dinners with her own family, Dad’s hysterical impressions of his boss, Mom encouraging good manners, each one of them taking a few minutes to share the best and worst parts of their day. Entertaining Krissy would tell jokes or recount something funny that’d happened at school. They’d all laugh. Kira had felt a part of something special. Then life had changed...and then it’d changed again.