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I STEPPED INTO THE clinic, the same as I did every morning, but before I could so much as take off my coat, Rita waved to catch my attention.
“You have an appointment this morning,” she told me. I furrowed my brow.
“Did someone book in last-minute?”
“Someone turned up,” she replied, nodding to my office. “Seems like it’s urgent.”
I frowned. I normally got a little warning before someone just dropped in on me like that; the upside to a small town like this one was I was people usually didn’t turn up out of the blue, because they were far too polite to risk what it might mean to their social standing. Whoever this was, it must have been urgent, or they didn’t care one little bit about what I thought of them.
I headed to my office, put my hand on the door, and tried to gather myself. Whatever this was, I could handle it. Whatever it was, I could take what came next. I knew it could be something serious, and I would need to be ready for it if it was.
When I pushed open the door and saw who was standing on the other side, it was like every sensible thought I’d had had just dropped right out of the back of my head.
The woman waiting for me was one I had never seen before, which, in this town, was reason enough to make me pause. But it wasn’t that which caught me off guard. It was her.
She was tall, just an inch or two shorter than me, with long, blond hair swept back into a ponytail at the back of her head, showing off her lightly freckled skin and green eyes. She was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a tee, but it looked like it could have come straight from a fashion runway when it was on her slim, perfectly proportioned frame. I blinked, just staring at her, and doing my very best to pull myself together before she noticed me just staring at her like a downright idiot.
“Hello?” she greeted me, seeming to sense how quickly I had been thrown off my game. I straightened my shoulders and gathered myself.
“Yeah, hello,” I replied, extending a hand to her. “I’m Nate Burgess. And you are?”
“Ellie Parrish,” she replied, slipping her hand into mine. Parrish—ah, so this was Celeste’s daughter? It explained why I hadn’t seen her before.
“You must be Celeste’s daughter,” I replied. “I think we spoke on the phone.”
“We did,” she agreed. “Sorry to turn up so early. I wanted to talk to you about my mom as soon as I got here. I need to know how she’s doing.”
I nodded. I appreciated her effort, even though it had taken her running across the whole world to get here first.
“Your mother will need some care now she’s ready to go back home,” I explained. “Is she very independent most of the time?”
“To a fault,” Ellie replied, shaking her head. Her ponytail bobbed back and forth, and I tried not to let my gaze linger on it. I wondered how it would feel to brush my hands through it, and shoved the thought down at once.
“You’re going to need to be very strict with her about what she can or can’t do while she’s healing,” I explained. “These first few weeks after the fall, they’re the most important. That’s when she can injure herself again if she’s not careful, or interfere with the healing of her current injuries.”
Ellie nodded.
“And I’ve taken a look at her house,” I continued, settling into my seat. “She needs to have a few aids put in—grips on the stairs, a bar over the bath to help her get in and out. Will you have trouble affording them? Or getting them put in?”
“No,” Ellie replied at once, shaking her head. She seemed sure of it. Whatever it was she did, she was clearly making good money at it.
“Good,” I replied, pulling out the notes I had on Celeste in my drawer. I wanted to make sure I covered everything, since it seemed like this girl had been so far from all of this for a while now. I didn’t want her to end up making a mistake and getting Celeste hurt again, especially not when she had already been through so much.
“Is there anything else I should know?” she asked.
“Your mother has a run-down of her injuries for you to take a look over,” I explained. “It seems like she’s on the mend pretty well for the time being, but we need to make sure it continues. The last thing we want is to let something happen to put her back in her recovery.”
“Of course,” She agreed, nodding, her brow furrowed. “And—and what can I do to help that?”
“Keep a close eye on her and try to get her to rest as much as possible, especially in these first few weeks,” I told her. Even though I had pretty much said everything I needed to, I still found myself wanting to keep talking to her. When she was listening to me, a small furrow appeared between her brows, and I couldn’t stop glancing at it. Damn, this girl was cute.
“I will,” she agreed, and she took the seat opposite me finally, as though acknowledging she actually needed to stop and talk to me.
“Thank you for taking care of her,” she told me, her eyes flashing with sincerity as they met mine. “I know she’s not the easiest person to look after.”
“She’s been fine with me,” I replied, and I could see something pass over Ellie’s face—was it guilt, maybe? Guilt that she hadn’t been there to take care of her mother when she needed it? I wasn’t going to press any more on that button. I knew I had to ignore the urge to delve in a little deeper. I supposed I was just curious as to what had driven her out of this town in the first place, and what exactly it was that seemed to have pulled her back in even though she had been gone for so long.
She glanced around the room, looking for some way to change the direction of the conversation, and her eyes fell on my degree, displayed on the wall beside her.
“Oh, you studied in New York?” she remarked, her eyes lighting up. I nodded.
“I used to live there,” she replied. “What part did you stay in?”
“I was just in student accommodation,” I replied. I could hardly remember that time in my life as it was, given how stressed I had been studying for my exams and praying I would pass everything. It wasn’t like I’d had a whole lot of time to just enjoy the city.
“How did you end up here, then?” she wondered, cocking her head to the side curiously. “After New York? Seems like a hell of a jump.”
“I’m here to cover for the old doctor,” I replied. I had never intended to stay for long, but I would stick it out as long as it took for them to find someone who seemed better suited to this job than me. I could do it, sure, but it wasn’t exactly everything I had dreamed of. I knew I would be of more use if I was somewhere a little busier, not in a small town like this. I still had the energy to handle bigger clinics in more hectic cities, but this was where I was sticking it out for now, and this was where I would stay as long as they needed me. When I decided this was going to be my profession, I had promised myself I would do everything I could to make sure I took care of people, even if, sometimes, I felt as though I would have been better used somewhere else.
“Oh, okay,” she replied, leaning back in her seat. It was clear she had been hoping for someone a little more chatty, but honestly, I had enough to do today as it was without indulging her in conversation. I had told her what she needed to know, and if I got any more distracted by her cute looks, I wouldn’t get a damn thing done today.
“But I’m not going to be here for long,” I continued. I could tell this threw her. She had clearly assumed I was the person she was going to be dealing with from here on out, and I had no idea how much longer I was actually going to be here. Maybe this was a defensive measure, a way for me to convince myself I had control over this situation, even though she had just turned up in my office out of nowhere and thrown me entirely off the rest of my day.
She nodded, slowly. She looked annoyed at the revelation, unhappy at what she had just heard, but there was no point in me lying to her—I likely wouldn’t be the only person to help her mother through her recovery from that fall, but I would do what I could for Celeste while I was here.
“Of course, I’m totally committed to helping your mother as long as I’m here,” I replied, and I saw her perk up at once. A small smile spread over her face, and she lifted her gaze to meet mine again.
“Let’s talk about that, shall we?” she asked. “I want to know everything you think I need to do to keep my mother safe and well while she’s in recovery. Where do you suggest we begin?”
