Reede ran his hand over his face. “Do you have any idea what they do to me? A few months ago they gave a party and they—”
“Invited every eligible female around,” Roan cut in as he leaned toward Russell. “We’d never before seen such a flurry of dress buying in the history of Edilean. I heard that one of the women bought a dress, changed her mind, and took it back.”
“Is that bad?” Russell asked.
“She did it six times,” Roan said, obviously enjoying Reede’s discomfort.
Russell was frowning. “Did you like any of the women?”
“How would I know?” Reede asked. “They were all so disgustingly agreeable that I couldn’t figure out any of them. If I’d said I liked to torture baby ducks for a hobby I’m sure all of them would have agreed with me.”
“Whoever heard of an agreeable woman being something bad?” Russell asked. “Did you date any of them later?”
“No,” Reede said. “I don’t have time for dating. Besides, I’ve tried it and it doesn’t work. I get called out on an emergency and have to stand her up and she gets angry. Or I see her as a patient and that never works out.”
“So you live in lonely solitude,” Roan said.
“Look who’s talking,” Reede said. “You want a woman who can discuss philosophy with you and also repair your chain saw.”
“I was sooooo close,” Roan said.
“What does that mean?” Russell asked.
“Too long a story,” Reede answered. “I’m going home and go to bed.”
“Wow!” Roan said as he looked around Reede to the front of the tavern. “Speaking of female bliss, look what just walked in.”
The other men turned to look at the woman who’d entered. In spite of the dirt on her, she was easily the prettiest girl in the place, maybe in the town. She was wearing a simple cotton dress with a pink cardigan, and running shoes, but they didn’t hide her curvy figure.
“She looks like a young Bardot,” Roan said.
“She seems to be looking for someone,” Russell said.
Reede turned back around. “With my luck, it’s me. She probably bruised her arm and wants immediate medical attention.”
“Maybe so,” Roan said, “but the exam would be a real joy.”
“Not to me.” Reede drained his beer. “Is she coming this way?”
“No, she’s talking to Mrs. Garland,” Russell said.
Reede groaned. “Another person who hates me. She’s spreading—That’s confidential, but I had a stern talk with her, and she put on such a show of misery for my staff that for two days I had to put up with their eye rolling and huffing.”
“They still counting the days until Tris returns?” Roan asked.
“There’s a three-year calendar by Betsy’s computer. She penciled in x’s on every day and she erases one each morning. Each day takes them closer to when their precious, can-do-no-wrong Dr. Tris returns.”
“Uh-oh,” Roan said, “the little beauty is coming this way. I sure hope it’s me she wants.”
“Some tutoring in Hegel and Kant?” Russell asked. Roan taught philosophy at Berkeley but he was now on sabbatical.
“I’d give that baby whatever she wants,” Roan said.
It turned out that Sophie had wanted Reede, but not for any reasons they had thought of.
Both Russell and Roan had sat there, paralyzed, unable to move, while the pretty young woman poured beer over Reede’s head. He’d been wearing his look of dread, that yet another woman was going to come on to him, when he got a shock of cold beer.
Her words of “Next time, watch where you’re going” seemed to explain it all. Earlier, when Reede had sat down with them, he’d complained about people littering the highway.
“I glanced down in the seat at some paperwork and when I looked up there was a big white envelope in the road. I couldn’t help but run over the thing. I don’t know what the hell was in it, but it crunched under my tire. I hope it didn’t give me a flat.”
Russell thought that from the look of Sophie’s dirty, ragged state, there was more to the story than what Reede had told them—or that he knew. For one thing Russell doubted if Reede had just “glanced” down at some paperwork. In spite of his complaining, Reede Aldredge was an extremely dedicated doctor. If someone was really ill, he’d do whatever was needed to save the person, even if it took days of his time. Reede had said he hadn’t slept in days, then he’d had the frustration of being called to an emergency that wasn’t real. It was Russell’s guess that Reede had been more absorbed in his caseload than in his driving.
Russell glanced at Sophie as she sat there in silence, clutching her envelope to her, and she looked as though she were at the bottom of her ability to go on. He’d worked with people who had her look, and too many of them came to a bad end.
Yesterday he’d called his brother and Kim, who were on their extended honeymoon, to tell them the good news that he’d been given the job as pastor of Edilean Baptist Church. He’d start in three weeks. Travis had asked him to look after Kim’s friend, Sophie Kincaid, saying that she was staying at Mrs. Wingate’s and . . . Russell couldn’t remember exactly what else his brother had said. Was there mention of a job? “Yesterday was pretty busy at my house but didn’t I hear that you have a job in Edilean?”
“Yes,” Sophie said. “I’m to be a personal assistant to Kim’s brother, Reede. Watch out!”
Her statement had so shocked him that Russell had swerved to the right and nearly run off the road. He got the truck straightened out and tried to think about what to do. Tell her that Reede was the man who’d nearly run over her? He looked back at her. She looked so forlorn that he couldn’t kick her while she was down. Maybe if he could postpone the meeting for a few days he could find Sophie another job. He wondered what she was qualified to do.
“So you went to school with Kim?”
“Yes,” Sophie said. “College.”
“What did you study, if you don’t mind my asking, that is.”
“All three of us roommates got our degrees in fine arts. Jecca went two dimensional, with painting, Kim only cared about jewelry, and I went three.”
“Dimensional? As in . . . ?”
“Sculpting.”
Great, Russell thought. How was he going to find a job for a sculptor in Edilean? He smiled at her. “I bet you’re hungry.”
They had reached the town and Sophie was looking out the window at the beautifully restored old houses that lined the streets. Kim had said that Edilean was a town that time forgot, and it looked like she was right.
“It’s pretty,” she said to Russell as he pulled into the parking lot of what looked to be a 1950s dinner. “Al’s,” she said and smiled for the first time.
“Kim tell you about the place?”
“She said it could give you a coronary at one plateful.”
Russ smiled. “I’m sure she’s right, but sometimes grease heals wounds.”
“I’m not exactly dressed to be seen,” Sophie began as Russell went around to open her door.
“This is Edilean, not Paris. No one will notice.” As he ushered her inside the little restaurant he realized how wrong he’d been. Sophie’s prettiness caused everyone to look. Even in her frayed attire, she drew attention.
The real reason he’d stopped at the diner was to be able to make some calls before he took Sophie to Kim’s house. As soon as they’d ordered, he excused himself and stepped outside to call his wife, Clarissa. He asked her to please go to the grocery and get enough to fill Kim’s refrigerator.
“But I thought her friend was staying at Mrs. Wingate’s.”
“She was nearly run down by a car.”
“Is she all right?” Clarissa asked, alarmed. “Should she go see Dr. Reede?”
“No!” Russell nearly shouted, then controlled himself. “It’s a long story and I want to tell you about it—and to ask your advice. The gist of it is that Reede is the one who nearly ran over her and she’s to start work for h
im tomorrow. I’m afraid she may take a baseball bat to his head.”
“She’ll have to get in line,” Clarissa said. “Half the women in this town want to murder him. I heard that the last meeting of the Edilean Book Club spent three hours plotting ways to get revenge on him. I think the Lifetime channel is interested.”
Russ didn’t laugh. “I think Sophie has reason to chair the club. My brother—”
“Is going to be his usual scathing self,” Clarissa said.
“He’ll enjoy telling me what I should have done.”
“And you’ll enjoy telling him his faults,” Clarissa said. “I’ll get groceries and flowers and put them in Kim’s house. Come home soon and we’ll talk about what else to do.”
Russell smiled. He’d fallen in love with her the second he saw her and he still marveled at his excellent judgment. “Did I ever tell you that I love you?”
“Not for an hour or so,” she said, her voice soft. “Come home. I miss you.”
“Me too,” he said and clicked off. He could see Sophie through the window of the diner and he lifted his hand to her. As he walked back into the restaurant, he looked upward. “Give me wisdom,” he whispered, then went inside.
Three
The next morning, Sophie felt much better. Yesterday, over thick cheeseburgers and fries, the handsome young pastor had told her funny stories about him and his brother. He’d made her feel so much better that she’d even had a strawberry milk shake. After they ate he drove her to Kim’s house and, at Sophie’s insistence, he’d left her there alone. All she wanted to do was get clean and put on clothes that smelled good. Kim’s pretty house, with its blue and white furniture, supplied her every need. She soaked in a tub of hot water, washed her hair, used a conditioner that smelled of peaches and almonds, put on a clean cotton nightgown, and fell into bed at 9:00 p.m. She was asleep instantly.
She didn’t wake until after seven the next morning, and she was pleased to see that the fridge was full of food. She made herself a big breakfast, raided Kim’s ample closet, then set out to find Dr. Reede’s office. It wouldn’t do to be late on the first day.
But when she opened the front door, she was startled to see a young woman sitting on the porch, waiting for her. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Heather Davis, I work for Dr. Reede, and I’ve come to drive you to the office.”
“Oh,” Sophie said, “I didn’t expect this.”
The woman was looking Sophie up and down, as though she were judging her. “Anything to help our beloved doctor. The poor man is so lonely, so needy, that our hearts cry out for him. We’ve been searching for someone to come along and rescue him.”
For a moment Sophie could only blink at her. “Rescue?” she managed to say.
“Well, you know what I mean. Not literally, of course, because he’s a hero in his own right, but then you must know that. If you were Kim’s roommate, you’ve probably seen a thousand photos of him.”
“Not really,” Sophie said. “Kim was more interested in trying to find—” She cut off, not wanting to betray a confidence. “But no, I’ve never met Kim’s brother. I’m sure I’ve seen photos of him, but that was a long time ago.”
“Great!” Heather said, then caught herself. “I mean it’s good that you’ve had some acquaintance with him. So to speak.” She waited until Sophie got in, then took the driver’s seat.
“I need to get my own car,” Sophie said. “Do you know what’s happened to it?”
“Junked,” Heather said.
“What?”
“Early this morning Mr. Frazier sent a tow truck out to get your car and he said it wasn’t worth fixing. I’ll have to drive you everywhere and make sure you see only the right people.”
Sophie looked at the young woman, who seemed to be talking very fast and with a great deal of nervousness. “I’ll need my car to—”
“You’ll get one. Russell and Clarissa took care of everything last night.”
“Clarissa?”
“Russell’s wife. She was married before and she has a little boy named Jamie. They’ve been married a very short time and when Ellen—that’s Kim’s mom but I guess you know that—asked our old pastor—not old in age but he’d been here a while—if he wanted to leave, he said yes and Russell was one of the candidates. He gives good sermons, but then we all say we just go there to look at him and that he could say anything and we wouldn’t care. It was announced yesterday that he and his wife will be taking over the church. Gum?”
Sophie wondered if the woman always talked this fast or if she was just nervous. “What?”
“Chewing gum. Would you like some? We’re here.” Heather pulled into a six-car lot in the back of some brick buildings and they got out.
Sophie smoothed her hair and her skirt, hoping she was presentable to meet Kim’s heroic brother.
Heather was watching her. “The doc’s not here. He left early this morning, something to do with tourist problems.” She started walking quickly toward the back of a building.
Sophie hurried after her. “What does that mean? What are tourist problems?”
“Oh, you know. They burn down forests, break body parts, run their cars into the lake, fall out of trees, all the usual things.”
“My goodness,” Sophie said as she followed the young woman into the building. They’d entered at the back of a doctor’s suite, and she hurried past three exam rooms. In the outer office two women were standing and looking at Sophie as though she needed to pass inspection. The three of them stared at her in silence.
“I don’t really know what my job is,” Sophie said. “Kim was rather vague about my duties, and she said it was temporary, so—”
“Oh no! Not at all,” said the middle woman. She was pleasantly plump and looked like she laughed a lot. “I’m Betsy and this is Alice. We want to welcome you to Edilean and your job will be to give Dr. Reede—”
“Our dear Dr. Reede,” Alice interspersed.
“Yes, our esteemed Dr. Reede, a man loved by everyone, any and all personal service that he needs.”
“Or wants,” Heather said.
“What exactly does that mean?” Sophie asked. “Are we talking cleaning or handling his finances? Or what?”
“Yes,” Betsy said. “I mean no, you don’t have to clean, but actually he doesn’t have anyone now.”
“He did,” Alice said, “but she . . . Well she had to quit so, uh, she did.”
“Not because of Dr. Reede,” Heather said quickly. “She really should have seen the cobwebs, but she didn’t, so—”
“What Heather means is that you’re his personal assistant so you’re to do what you can,” Betsy said.
“When do I meet him?” Sophie asked.
“Who?” Alice asked.
Betsy elbowed her. “Our doctor works long, hard hours, and sometimes he leaves early and stays late. You might not meet him for days.”
“If we can arrange it,” Heather said under her breath.
Betsy glared at her. “Heather means that we have difficulty arranging his very busy schedule. It keeps him so busy because he lives for other people, and is always helping them. He never thinks of anyone but his patients.”
“He sounds like a remarkable man,” Sophie said. She remembered that Kim used to talk of her brother as though he were a pest, and that she didn’t much like his hometown girlfriend. “The most boring person on earth,” Kim used to say about the woman. “I don’t know what he sees in her.”
The three women were staring at Sophie as though they expected her to say something, but she didn’t know what. “Should I come back later when he’s here so he can tell me what he wants me to do?”
“Oh no!” Betsy said. “He won’t be back until this evening. Late.”
“But what about his patients? Don’t they have appointments?”
“We cancelled them,” Heather said.
“Because of emergencies,” Alice added.
“Why don’t you go upstairs and make yourself at home?
” Betsy said.
Sophie had no idea what they were talking about. This was a job, not a home. Before she could express her doubt, the three women opened a door and practically pushed her up the stairs. She went through a doorway, a door shut behind her, and she found herself alone in an apartment.
Her first thought was that it wasn’t a very nice apartment. There were few windows, little furniture, and what there was seemed to be covered in gray. It looked as if people who wanted to get a new set of furniture had given Dr. Reede their old things. There was a fine coat of dust over everything, and as far as she could see, there was nothing personal anywhere. Motel rooms had more personality.
There was one large room that contained a living area, an old dining table with three scruffy chairs, and a little kitchen that had some basic appliances. At the end of the room was an open door and inside was a bedroom with as little personality as the rest of the place. The bed hadn’t been made up, but it wasn’t a jumble. The bathroom, with a stack washer and dryer, completed the apartment.
Sophie went back to the living room and called Kim on the landline and right away confirmed that it was all right for her to stay in Kim’s house.
“Make yourself at home,” Kim said.
Sophie went on to tell her where she was at the moment. Kim groaned. “Horrible, isn’t it? It used to be the sheriff’s apartment. His office is next door and the apartment is above both of them.”
“Where did this furniture come from?”
“Grandma’s attic.”
“That was my guess. Kim, I don’t mean to be ungrateful, but what am I supposed to do here?”
“Make him stay.”
“What does that mean?”
“Reede agreed to stay in Edilean for three years while the original doctor, Dr. Tris, works in New York to be near Jecca.”
“The other doctor is who Jecca married? This Dr. Tris?”
“Sorry. I keep thinking you know everything that’s happened. Yes, Jecca married Dr. Tris, but then she got a job in New York and Tris went there to be with her. But that left Edilean without a doctor. When he gets back in about two and a half years, my brother is going to hit the road again. Until then he’s staying in that hideous apartment.”
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