Believe In Me (Paradise Place Book 7)

by Natalie Ann

  “Then please be careful driving home with your hand like that. I know you can’t feel much, but that is when people tend to overdo it.”

  “I don’t plan on doing much more than going home and putting my feet up to watch TV tonight. Trust me, even then I wonder if I’d fall off the couch with the way my day is going.”

  She laughed. “Good. Make sure that is all you do. That is, after you make your appointments at the front. If you have any questions or concerns, please call the office. Our numbers are on the paper. Otherwise, I’ll see you in a week.”

  “You and not Dr. Brooks?”

  “Just me,” she said. “I’ll be taking the stitches out too in two weeks, so you might not be grinning like you are now.”

  “Oh, I’m sure I’ll still be grinning.”

  She shook her head and watched him walk out the door.

  Holy cow. Yep, he was flirting with her, and for once, she wasn’t even offended by it.

  3

  Miserable Day

  Caden managed to get himself home and in the garage without hitting anyone or tripping over his own damn feet.

  What a freaking day.

  He was having serious doubts that moving here was going to improve his health when he’d just managed to land close to twenty stitches in his hand. But as they said, on the bright side, he didn’t need surgery.

  What he felt like he needed was a beer, but that wasn’t happening either since there weren’t any in his house.

  Better diet and lifestyle choices. He’d made a promise to himself to get healthy and he was damn well doing it without medication. And that included the alcoholic kind to take the edge off of the day.

  He had a goal and when he put his mind to something he accomplished it.

  Four months after he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and his ulcer, he’d managed to heal most of his stomach up to the point it didn’t bubble over with acid at the thought of eating fruit. And because he had a blood pressure cuff here he checked it pretty much daily and knew it was much better than it had been.

  Hell, even at urgent care it wasn’t high, which was shocking, all things considered.

  The past month he’d been cutting back on his workload, knowing he was transitioning out, and handing clients and files over to others he’d been mentoring. He’d keep some of them, as they’d said they went where he went. That made him feel good. It’s not like he couldn’t still be there for them and thankfully they were some of his less demanding clients. There were just as many that wanted to stay and he was glad to give them away, knowing they were part of his problem.

  So rather than thinking about a beer, he got a bottle of water and a brick of cheese. He opened the drawer and pulled a knife out and tried to figure out how to do it without hurting his hand.

  He didn’t feel anything, but that didn’t mean he was stupid enough to apply pressure or grip it with his left. Instead, he looked like an idiot while he put his forearm on it and cut a few slices off, then grabbed a handful of whole wheat crackers.

  Small meals or snacks throughout the day, he’d read, was the best thing to do and he was sticking to it.

  Once he was on the couch with his snack and drink, he grabbed the remote to check out the news and try to push this miserable day from his mind.

  The only good part was the cute nurse that was sweet to him today.

  He couldn’t tell you the last time someone went out of their way to distract him. Not without having some other purpose.

  Not only that, every doctor’s office he’d been to in the past few months was rushed. Get him in, check over a few things, ask some questions, kick him out.

  Here, they took their time. They went out of their way. They talked to him.

  Sarah, her name was.

  Blonde hair that he could tell wasn’t her true color but she wasn’t trying to make people believe that either. Her roots were darker, the middle and ends much lighter. More like it was multiple shades of brown and blonde. Either way, he’d never noticed things like that before on women. Not little details of the different shades of her hair.

  Her head had been down while she looked over his hand and, instead of seeing his mangled skin, he’d focused on the loveliness in front of him that seemed to not just have a good attitude toward him but with the other staff and doctor too.

  It must be the new environment that had him flirting with her when he’d never done that before. When he had time for a woman, it was someone he knew through work or the circles he ran in. Associates more than friends. Dating didn’t come into play with him. Who had time?

  Plus, most women he’d been around in recent years were just too demanding.

  His phone rang and he looked over to where he’d tossed it on the couch next to his plate of snacks and saw it was his mother.

  Just great.

  He could ignore it and pretend he was unpacking, but she’d only call him back later.

  “Hi, Mom.”

  “Caden. How’s the unpacking coming? I didn’t want to call you right away and figured I’d give you time, knowing you’d want to get as much done as you could.”

  “It’s going,” he said, trying to figure out if he should tell her what happened. It’s not like she’d see him to know, but he’d always had a problem lying.

  For the most part his parents and sisters had given him space in his life. Until he passed out in the restaurant and they were called as his next of kin without his knowledge. On top of passing out like an idiot, he’d hit his head on the way down and had a concussion. He was never going to live that night down.

  But his parents hopped in the car and made the two-hour drive. By the time he was ready to be discharged, they were coming into the hospital, so they’d brought him home, his mother refusing to leave his one-bedroom apartment that cost almost three times the house he was in now.

  They’d slept on the sleeper sofa until he had to all but kick them out after three days, insisting he wasn’t dying and was fine.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” she said, always able to read between the lines. “Maybe your father and I could take a trip and help you get situated.”

  “I don’t have any place for you to stay.”

  “Nonsense,” she said. “There are hotels and I’m sure you’ve still got that sleeper sofa until you get more furniture. I’m dying to see the place.”

  “The pictures don’t do it justice. Just give me some time and I’ll get some beds in here. The upstairs could be set up as a nice guest space for sure.”

  “You sound tired,” his mother said. “Are you sleeping fine? Have you been to the doctor’s lately?”

  “I am tired. It’s been a long day.” He took a deep breath. “I had a little mishap today with the box cutter.”

  “Caden!”

  “Relax. I’m fine. I’m home. Just have some stitches in my palm.”

  “How many stitches?”

  “I didn’t count,” he said honestly. Just because he’d heard Sarah and Dr. Brooks talking when they were pulling everything out to stitch him didn’t mean he knew the exact number.

  “Like two. Five. Ten?”

  “North of ten,” he could confidently say. “But it’s my left hand and I’m sitting on the couch now having some cheese and crackers and a bottle of water.”

  “At least you’re eating like you were told to. But you probably didn’t get much unpacked then, did you?”

  “The movers took care of all the furniture and I got my TVs hooked up and most of the kitchen set up.”

  Though coffee was limited to one cup in the morning, he pulled that out along with some pans and utensils, along with his dishes and glasses. At least he was thankful he did that before he attempted his clothes.

  “That’s good at least. I still think we should come see you.”

  “No. I’m fine. I appreciate the concern, but I drove myself to urgent care, then they sent me to an orthopedic center to be stitched up to make sure there was no underlying damage. Whi
ch there wasn’t. A nice clean cut they said.”

  “I don’t know that there is anything nice and clean about stitches in your hand, but you sound almost normal.”

  “Because it’s a long way from my heart, as I’ve said plenty of times in my life.”

  “I’m sure you were rushing to get it all done and not paying attention.”

  “I wasn’t. I had nowhere to go and nothing to do. I’m going to go nuts having the week off, I’m sure. But the blade got caught up and I tugged it and misjudged where my other hand was. Nothing more than that.”

  “Just relax,” she said. “I’d like to not have to come rushing to see you for another medical issue.”

  “I’d like to not have you do that either,” he said. “And when you tell Dad and the girls, can you please not make it out to be a big deal? It’s really not.”

  His father was pretty calm. His sister Mia was also calm, but Morgan could be a wildcard. They were both younger than him and just as career and goal-oriented. He secretly suspected they felt they had to keep up with their older brother, but he’d never called them out on it.

  “That’s fine. But they are going to ask if I talked to you or they’d be calling you themselves. So I’ll smooth it over before they can get to you.”

  “You’d think they’d be busy with work rather than worrying about me.”

  Morgan was a veterinarian, Mia, a lawyer. He knew both of his sisters wanted to go out on their own someday and he’d spent the past few years investing their money to help make it happen.

  “Everyone is worried about you, Caden. You know that.”

  He did and hated it. It should have never gotten as bad as it was and he had only himself to blame for pushing himself to exhaustion.

  “Well, they can stop,” he said. “I’m living in Paradise now.” He started to laugh. “That was cheesy, but I guess it’s well known in this area. Anyway, life in the slow lane. I got it.”

  “With your promotion, so don’t forget about it.”

  “I’m not. Sometimes life hands you lemons and I’m making lemonade.”

  “Just don’t drink that lemonade. It’s not good for your ulcer.”

  “Good advice,” he said, hanging up the phone. That went better than he thought it would.

  4

  Small World

  “What’s with the blonde hair?”

  Sarah fully expected her brother to make a comment on her new hairstyle when she showed up Saturday morning to babysit. She’d gotten it done a week ago and everyone seemed to love it. When she walked into work on Monday morning there were squeals and comments about blondes having more fun.

  That hadn’t been what she was going for. Nor had she expected it to be this light, but when Meena Walker, her cousin’s wife, was finished, she’d been in love with it.

  “I needed a change.”

  “That’s a change, all right. I guess it’s better than pink. Didn’t Meena say she was going to give you pink hair at the Christmas party a few months ago?”

  Meena and her cousin Troy had a small Christmas party—their first Christmas as a married couple—and announced their pregnancy there too.

  Meena had always had wild and colorful hair and was trying to convince her to do it, but it just wasn’t her style. Then when she looked around and noticed most people her age settling down into marriage or having kids, she started to get depressed.

  “She did and I told her no. I like the idea of different shades of brown.”

  Harris grinned at her. “Last I looked that was blonde.”

  “It is and I really love it. Does it look that bad?”

  “Of course not,” he said, nudging her shoulder with his. “It’s just you’ve never done anything like this before and it makes me wonder what is going on with you.”

  Harris always did know her well even though he hadn’t lived around here in years. He might have been a professional pitcher worth more millions than she’d ever know—nor would she ask—but he was always her down-to-earth brother.

  “Nothing. As I said, it was time for a change.”

  He squinted one eye at her like he didn’t believe what she was trying to sell him. “If you say so. It does look good though. I like the cut too.”

  She flipped her head side to side. She’d always had it one length, but the long layers around her face gave it some body. It really was fun. And fun equaled happy, which was what she was going for.

  “Thanks. So where is Scarlet? It’s too quiet in here.”

  “She’s taking a nap and Nicks is with her.”

  “I figured when he didn’t come greet me.” Nicks was Harris’s boxer mix. His wife, Kaelyn, had been Harris’s physical therapist after his injury and suggested he get a dog to walk and help with his rehab. He hadn’t wanted anyone to know he moved back here, so Sarah had adopted Nicks in her name for him.

  “I’ll go get him before I leave so he doesn’t panic. You know how he gets.”

  Nicks was very protective of the whole family, but was also the sweetest dog there was. She’d love to get her own dog at some point and even went to a fundraiser before Christmas at the animal shelter where she’d gotten Nicks. Too bad she couldn’t have dogs in her apartment. Just cats and she wasn’t even close to becoming a crazy cat lady yet, regardless of her single status.

  “I do. You can leave now,” she said. “I want to play with my niece, but I won’t wake her up. I promise. It’s going to be close to sixty later so I’ll probably take her for a walk. Stroller in the garage, right?”

  “I’ll go pull it out for you. She’d love to go for a walk. I hope to be home by midafternoon. Kaelyn should be home around the same time. You know how to reach us if you need anything.”

  “I’m fine and you know it. Go to the clinic and have fun today. I love having Scarlet to myself the one day a month this happens.”

  Harris had his own baseball clinic in town and split his time between running that and watching Scarlet while Kaelyn worked. During the week if he was at the clinic and didn’t or couldn’t bring Scarlet with him, either their mother or Kaelyn’s mother watched their granddaughter.

  Once Harris was gone, Sarah went into the kitchen and got a bottle of water, then picked up the remote and turned the TV on. With any luck Scarlet would only be sleeping for another hour, then they could play, have lunch, and go for a walk. She’d try to get her back down for her afternoon nap before either Harris or Kaelyn came home.

  And several hours later she was pushing the stroller, Nicks not thrilled they’d left him home, but she didn’t want to try to manage the sixty-pound dog while she had her niece. Nicks might easily stay by Harris or Kaelyn’s side, but not hers.

  Scarlet was babbling and pointing things out like she always did. Sarah was just happy to get some fresh air and was looking forward to spring coming. The snow was pretty much gone at this point, as they’d had a mild winter and the hope was they wouldn’t get much more.

  She was probably a mile or so away and turning down another street when she noticed a man outside staring at the front of his house deep in thought. She knew the house; it was Ryan Butler’s old house. Kaelyn’s cousin. Ryan had just gotten engaged and moved in with his fiancée.

  Heck, even grouchy old Ryan found someone and was settling down.

  When the man turned, she stopped and stared herself. Holy shit. Talk about a small world.

  She moved closer and shouted, “You better not be lifting anything with that left hand.”

  Caden stopped and looked at her for a second, then he smiled. Must be it took him a minute to realize who she was. She got that a lot, as most were used to seeing her in scrubs with her hair pulled back.

  “Hey,” he said, moving forward. “Do you live here too?”

  He was looking down at Scarlet who was kicking her feet. Once the motion stopped she wanted to get down and move. When this little girl started to walk, her brother was going to be in trouble.

  “Nope. I’m on babysitting duty.” />
  “Has to be related to you,” he said. “I see some similarities.”

  “My niece. My brother’s daughter.” She wouldn’t say Harris’s name. She tried not to do it often. If someone didn’t know who her brother was, she kept it that way as long as possible.

  She wasn’t jealous of Harris and his success. Just sick of everyone wanting to get to know her more so they could get to her brother. It’d been like that most of her life.

  First it was the girls that wanted to be her friend so they could come to the house and flirt with Harris. Then it was guys when she was older hoping to get a chance to meet him.

  It was pretty demoralizing to know most only wanted to be with her to get to her brother and it taught her to be distrustful and cautious with most people now.

  “She’s a cutie. What’s her name?”

  “Scarlet,” she said. “And I have to say, this is a very small world.”

  “Why is that?” he asked.

  “Because my brother is married to the cousin of the guy whose house you just bought.”

  “Ryan?” he asked.

  “One and the same,” she said. “I think that is the only reason I looked over because I knew it was Ryan’s house.” She looked down at his hand and noticed that it was exposed. “You’re not overdoing it, are you?”

  He held his hand out to her and she could see the Steri-Strips looked to be pretty secure on his palm still. “I’m following doctor’s orders. I’m good at that.”

  She laughed. “Not many are. Have you managed to finish unpacking with the bum hand? Or you probably had help,” she said, just testing the waters to see if he was single or not. Just because he drove himself to the doctor’s the other day didn’t mean there wasn’t someone at home with him.

  Then she wondered why she cared when she never had before, even if he was flirting with her.

  But he’d been nice and, though she’d been flirted with a lot at work, it didn’t bother her coming from him. She’d have to explore that another time. If he was single.