“Please, call me Alex. I spend so much time in your diner I feel we should be on a first-name basis.”
“All right. Alex it is.” She wrote a receipt and handed it to him. “You made a very fine purchase.”
“Yeah.”
He couldn’t help turning his attention back to the stage. Edie and Aaron had stepped down, leaving Julia alone to handle the master of ceremonies duties. Her voice sounded shaky, as if she was still struggling with her emotions.
“I invite you to take a look at the silent auction prizes we’ve assembled. There’s something there for everyone. We’ll be picking the winners in an hour, so there’s still time to get your tickets. And the ladies at the bake sale booth tell me they still have some items for sale. Everything has to go, so please go see them. I’m going to turn over the mic to our deejay now. Let’s get this party started!”
Alex closed his eyes. He had to get out of here. He couldn’t listen to Julia’s voice anymore, couldn’t watch her, and still pretend there wasn’t something between them. He couldn’t hide his feelings any longer.
He was in love with her.
“Dr. Campbell? Alex? Are you okay?”
Jill stared at him with a concerned look on her face. She probably thought he was crazy. Maybe he was. He couldn’t be in love with Julia. He was leaving in six months.
He made himself smile. “Yeah I’m fine. Just a little tired.”
“Go home and get some rest. We can’t have our favorite doctor keel over from lack of sleep. We need you!”
“No rest for the wicked, I’m afraid. I’m heading to the hospital to work a partial shift so Dr. Willson can take in some of the festivities here.”
“That was good of you.”
Alex shrugged. “He would have done the same for me.”
“True, but you look like a guy who needs some pampering. Come into the diner this week, and I’ll fix you up with some home cooking. Gratis.”
“Thanks, Jill, I appreciate that. I’ll see you soon. Good night.”
“Good night, Doc.”
After saying good night to Edie and Aaron, Alex bought two dozen cookies and some brownies to take to the staff at the hospital. Then he looked for the Stewarts so he could say goodnight to Ava. He spotted them not far from the stage, talking with Julia. She looked up when he approached, her expression guarded.
“I have to take off for work now,” he said, shaking Wyatt’s and Lily’s hands. “It was nice meeting you.”
“Good to meet you, too,” Wyatt said. Alex wondered if he meant it.
Ava tugged at his pant leg. “Good night, Dr. Alex. When will I see you again?”
He laid his hand on her head, and stroked her soft curls. “There’s still a couple of games left in our ball season. I guess I’ll see you there.”
“But I don’t get to talk to you there. When are you coming to our house again?”
Alex glanced at Julia. She blinked and looked away. He picked up Ava and gave her a hug. “I’m not sure, Sweet Pea, but I’ll be thinking about you.”
She hugged his neck. “I’ll be thinking about you, too.”
He squeezed his eyes closed and did his best to compose himself before setting her down. He turned to Julia.
“You did a great job tonight. Congratulations.”
“Thank you, but I had a lot of help from people like Lily.” She gave him an uncertain smile. “Thanks for bidding on my prize. I guess I’ll see you on our date. What would you like to do?”
Visions of making love to her danced through his head. He pushed them away, desperately trying to keep his expression neutral.
“I’ll leave that up to you. I should get going. Good night.”
“Good night.”
He left the gymnasium as quickly as he could manage, but he couldn’t outrun his thoughts. He was in serious trouble. He was in love with a woman he couldn’t have. A woman who didn’t want him.
Chapter Fifteen
Julia followed Alex’s progress as he left the gym, his movements easy to trace since he was taller than most people in the room. His dark hair gleamed under the harsh gymnasium lights, and she remembered how soft it was, how thick, how like silk it had felt as it slid between her fingers…
“Julia? Are you all right?”
She blinked and turned her attention to Lily. Forcing a smile, she said, “Yes, of course. I’m sorry, what were you saying?”
“I was just saying that we’re going to head home with Ava after the silent auction winners are announced. In the meantime, I’m going to convince Wyatt to dance with me and Ava.”
“Oh, yes, Grandpa! Can we dance?”
Wyatt chuckled. “Okay, but I’m warning you, I’m not a very good dancer. I might step on your toes.”
“That’s okay, Grandpa. I don’t mind.”
Wyatt laid a gentle hand on her head. “You are the sweetest little girl.”
“That’s why Dr. Alex and Grandma call me Sweet Pea,” she said with a grin.
“I guess it is.” He took Ava’s small hand in his. “I’m going to show Ava how to trip the light fantastic. Do you care to join us, Lily?”
“I’ll be there in a minute, dear.”
Wyatt glanced at Julia before giving a brisk nod and heading off with Ava, who skipped along beside him.
“It’s nice to see them together,” Julia said.
“It is. Wyatt adores her. He doesn’t want to lose her again.”
“I won’t let that happen.”
“No, I’m sure you won’t. At least not intentionally. But what if an opportunity comes up for you to move away? Perhaps a job opportunity, or maybe something more…personal.”
“That’s not going to happen. My life, and Ava’s life, is here. We’re not going anywhere.”
“Dr. Campbell will be leaving in just a few months.”
Julia looked away. She didn’t need to be reminded that time was slipping away. Her calendar told her Alex’s departure was getting closer every day.
Lily touched her arm. “Wyatt and I talked this over. You have a right to live your own life. We can’t expect you to stay in Lobster Cove forever simply because we want you to. You have a right to be happy, and so does Ava. She needs a father.”
“She needs her family,” Julia managed around the lump in her throat. “I could never leave my parents. They need me.”
“I just don’t want you to lose out on a chance for happiness.”
Julia couldn’t help glancing toward the exit of the gymnasium. Alex was gone. She closed her eyes briefly and took a deep breath. Lily needn’t have worried about her leaving Lobster Cove to follow him to San Diego. It wasn’t like he wanted her to.
She’d been shocked when she realized Alex had bid on and won the date with her. She’d also been secretly thrilled. But then he’d whispered “I’m sorry” in her ear, and had been totally indifferent about getting together. Was he sorry he’d bid on her? He’d probably only done it as a way to make a donation to Edie and Aaron.
It was time to push aside any lingering feelings for him. But it was so hard to do.
“Ava adores Dr. Campbell, and from what I can see, the feeling is mutual.”
“I’ve tried to keep them apart, but I haven’t succeeded very well. She’s going to be so upset when he leaves.”
“Perhaps there’s still time to convince him to stay.”
Julia stared at Lily. Was that possible? Could she convince him to stay? What if he stayed, then decided later that Lobster Cove wasn’t what he wanted? That she wasn’t what he wanted?
“I don’t think so.”
Lily sighed and patted her arm. “We’ll bring Ava home right after lunch tomorrow. Would that be okay?”
“Yes, that would be fine.” Julia was relieved their discussion about Alex was over.
Lily kissed Julia’s cheek. “All right. We’ll see you then. You’ve done a remarkable job tonight.”
“I couldn’t have done it without you. Thank you, for everything. You have no idea how
much your support means to me.”
Lily cupped her cheek with her hand, her smile fond. “You’re a dear girl. Enjoy the rest of the evening. We’ll see you tomorrow.”
Julia watched with a smile as Lily rejoined Wyatt and Ava. Wyatt held Ava in one arm and twirled both of them in a slow waltz.
How could she take Ava away from her grandparents? They needed each other.
It was a moot point. It wasn’t like Alex was begging her to leave with him.
****
By the time he got home from the hospital, it was past three in the morning. Just before midnight a man had arrived at the ER having a heart attack, and it had taken over an hour to stabilize him. At the same time, ambulances brought in three victims from a house fire. He and one of the other doctors, who’d arrived at midnight, had had their hands full for a couple of hours. He was exhausted, mentally and physically. All he wanted was to crawl into his bed and sleep for a week.
He pulled into the carport and cut the engine. Just as he was about to open the door, a small figure walked in front of the car, startling him. Dora Dawson. At least this time she was fully dressed. But the confused expression on her face spoke of her illness. She looked like a lost, scared child.
Alex got out of the car and went to her. “Hi, Dora. You must be cold.” He took off his jacket and placed it around her shoulders.
“Is Polly home?”
“No, Dora, Polly’s not here. I’ll take you home, okay?” He held out his hand.
After a moment of hesitation, she took it, her grip surprisingly strong. “Okay.”
He walked her across the lawn to her house, knocking on the front door when they reached it. There was no response, and the house remained dark. He knocked again, banging harder this time, and pushing the doorbell simultaneously. Dora stood beside him, shivering in the dark. What would he do if Paul didn’t answer the door? There was no way he was going to wake Julia in the middle of the night and upset her with this. He began to worry about Paul’s health. Had something happened to him? He tried the knob, but the door was locked.
Just when he thought he’d have to call the police again, a light came on over the front door. Paul unlocked the door and opened it. He took one look at Alex and then at Dora, and began to cry.
Dora stepped inside and patted his back. “Why are you crying? Everything’s all right.”
He tried to pull himself together. “Yes, everything’s all right. You’re home now.”
“Of course I am.” She walked into the house as if nothing had happened.
“Can I come inside, Paul?” Alex asked.
“Yes, come in, please.” Paul stepped aside before pulling a tissue from his pocket to wipe his eyes. “Can you wait downstairs? I’m going to get Dora into bed.”
“Sure. How about I make us some tea? I think I could use some right now.”
“Help yourself. The kettle’s on the stove, and the teabags are in the cupboard next to the fridge.”
Paul coaxed Dora upstairs while Alex went to the kitchen and filled the kettle with water. While he waited for it to boil, he found teabags and a couple of mugs, then slid into one of the kitchen chairs, his whole body aching in fatigue. He’d just close his eyes for one moment…
The whistling of the kettle roused him. He pushed himself out of his chair and poured hot water into the cups. A moment later, Paul entered the kitchen. He looked as exhausted as Alex felt.
Paul lowered himself carefully into a chair at the table, and Alex placed the cup in front of him before sitting down with his own mug. Paul’s fingers wrapped around the warm mug, and for a few moments he silently stared into the amber depths. At last he sighed and looked up. Alex saw tiredness and resignation in the older man’s eyes.
“I thought I could care for Dora myself, but I know now it’s not possible,” he said. “She wanders, especially at night, and it’s getting worse. I try to stay awake at night to keep her safe, but I can’t watch her every minute. She’s gotten away on me a few times. But I guess you already knew that.”
“Yeah. Why didn’t you ask for help? Why did you try to keep her illness a secret, even from Julia?”
Paul’s face crumbled. “Because I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t bear the thought that I was losing the woman I loved.”
He turned away, tears streaming down his cheeks, his shoulders shaking with his sobs. Alex found a box of tissues on top of the fridge and set them on the table in front of Paul. He took one and blew his nose, taking deep breaths to pull himself together. Alex could only imagine what he was going through with Dora’s illness. But he had a pretty good idea what it was like to know the woman he loved was slipping away from him.
Julia was nearly gone, and he didn’t know how to get her back.
Paul drank a few sips of tea before beginning to speak. “At first, it was easy to dismiss Dora’s memory loss as just getting older. We even joked about it. But as her behavior started to get more unusual, it became harder to ignore or pass off as just a senior moment.”
He paused to drink more tea. “She started repeating herself, over and over, asking the same questions until I thought I’d lose my mind. But then there were periods when she seemed like the old Dora, and I thought I’d only imagined she had any problems at all. Those moments are gone now. This disease crept up on us so slowly we almost didn’t realize anything was wrong until it all fell apart.”
“I suspect Dora has Alzheimer’s disease, but we need to do some tests before we can make that diagnosis. Dr. Willson said you’ve been stalling about taking her to see the neurologist in Bangor.”
“I really didn’t want to know, so I put it off. Guess I can’t do that anymore, can I?”
“No. We need to know what’s going on with Dora. It’s not in her best interests to hide the truth, and it certainly isn’t in yours. What happens if you get too sick to look after her?”
He hung his head. “Yes, I know.”
“This situation isn’t good for Julia, either. She’s worried about both of you, but she feels powerless to help you. You haven’t let her help.” Alex paused before asking his next question. He didn’t want to upset Paul further, but he had to know. “Did Dora have anything to do with Ava’s broken arm?”
“She never touched Ava,” he said fiercely. He looked away. “But Ava fell because she tripped over a box of detergent Dora had left on the basement stairs.”
“Why was she even in the basement? I got the impression Julia didn’t want her using the stairs.”
“No, she didn’t. Everything seemed fine that day, so I went downtown to get some groceries. I wasn’t gone more than an hour, but when I got back, Ava was screaming downstairs, and Dora was barricading the basement door with anything she could lift or push in front of it. When she heard Ava crying, she got scared. She didn’t recognize her and thought someone was trying to break into the house. I had to push away all the things in front of the door to get to Ava.”
“Ava told us she’d gone down the stairs to find her teddy bear. Is that what happened?”
“Yes. Apparently Dora became confused when she was down there doing laundry, and Ava was trying to help. Dora couldn’t remember how to turn on the machines, or how to fold the clothes, something she’d done for years.” Tears streamed down his face once more. “I told Ava she couldn’t tell anyone that Grandma locked her in the basement, because they’d take her away and we wouldn’t see her anymore. God help me, I know I shouldn’t have scared her like that, but I was afraid of what would happen if anyone found out.”
“You have to tell Julia what happened to Ava. She needs to know.”
He nodded and reached for another tissue. “Yes.”
“But we’ll worry about that tomorrow. Right now you need to get some sleep.”
“I can’t. What if Dora wakes up and wanders outside again?”
“I’ll stay here and make sure she doesn’t go anywhere.”
“You’d do that?”
“Yes.” He’d
do just about anything for Julia and Ava. “Why don’t you go upstairs and get some rest? Everything will be all right.”
Paul pushed back the chair and slowly got to his feet. “Thank you, Dr. Campbell.”
“Please, call me Alex.”
“Okay. Alex. Thank you.”
“Good night.”
“Good night.”
With a sigh, Paul shuffled out of the kitchen. Alex heard him slowly climb the stairs and close the door to his bedroom. Hopefully, he’d be able to relax enough to get some much needed sleep.
Unfortunately, Alex wouldn’t be able to do the same. He washed and dried the empty mugs and put them back in the cupboard. Then he turned on the TV in the living room and tried to stay awake enough to follow what was going on. His eyes wouldn’t stay open on their own, his head too heavy to hold up…
The sound of the front door closing startled him awake. Cursing himself for falling asleep, he scrambled out of the lounger and ran to the door. He caught a flash of white as Dora hurried across the lawn to his house. For some reason, the house drew her like a magnet, but at least he knew where she was headed. He raced barefoot across the lawn, the grass cool and soft against his feet.
He found her on his front step, once more banging on the door.
“Dora, there’s no one home here. Come with me, and I’ll take you back to your house.”
She cowered away from him, as if she’d never seen him before. “No. I’m not going with you.”
He stood at the bottom of the steps and held out his hand. “Please, Dora. I’ll take you back to Paul.”
“Paul?” A glint of recognition lit her eyes.
“Yes. He’s looking for you.” Alex took one step closer. “He wants you to come home.”
Slowly, she extended her hand. As soon as she was within reach, he grasped her hand and helped her down the stairs. Keeping a secure arm around her shoulders, he walked her back to her house.
Fortunately, the incident hadn’t woken Paul. Alex took Dora into the kitchen and fed her a snack of cheese and crackers and milk. When she was finished, he brought her into the living room.
“Would you like to lie down on the sofa and have a sleep?” he asked.
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