One day, he'd be back in fighting form. It was taking longer than he liked. As a doctor he knew the body healed in its own time. He grew impatient with the duration. He needed to get back.
Or did he?
He'd wanted to join Doctors Without Borders since he'd been a kid and first heard about them. His medical education was broad and he hadn't specialized in any one field, but wanted a wide background. He'd learned so much about various diseases in his work over the last few years and gained experience in tropical diseases far beyond what he would have had he opened a family practice in the states.
He’d dealt with more traumas than expected during natural disasters. Every bit of knowledge helped with future patients.
But it got tiring being in foreign countries all the time.
He frowned. That was one of the things that had appealed when he was studying in med school–variety and travel.
It was a nomadic life and he wasn't sure how much longer he'd enjoy that. He only had time to learn enough of a language to work with patients, then they'd move on. His colleagues came from a variety of countries. All spoke some English and he was at least conversant in French. He liked working with them.
If he was being honest with himself, he'd have to confess that sometimes late, at night, he felt all alone in a foreign place.
His mother had died while he’d been in medical school. His father had remarried a few years later to a widow with several young children. He was in his element participating in all the activities of children growing up.
Nick kept in touch via Skype, but they hadn't seen each other in a couple of years.
He himself was thirty-eight years old. He'd had the opportunities in his life he'd once wanted. Now, what?
Was it a result of this illness that he was even questioning things?
Maybe it was time to settle some place and change the direction of his life. Maybe that dream had played out and a new one was ready to take hold.
This town, the activities Annie had related, had him thinking even more about putting down roots. It sounded very appealing to become a part of a community that he'd never have to leave for the next outbreak of a deadly disease. To establish a practice and get to know his patients when well and sick.
Right now, however, it was merely something to think about, not time to make any hasty decisions. Some of these thoughts could be the reactions to being so sick.
He'd continue to take one day at a time. Focus on building back his strength and energy, and let the future stay uncertain until he was ready to make a choice.
Chapter Two
After lunch, Nick bundled up again and went to walk around his neighborhood. There were few people around due, he thought, to the frigid temperature. To him it was a welcomed relief after the heat of Africa. Relishing every moment, he pushed himself to go farther to see as much of the town as he could.
It was charming in an old west kind of way. When he walked down Main Street, he noticed the wooden false fronts on some of the buildings. The signs in front of two indicated they were more than a hundred years old.
He almost expected to see cowboys ride up on horseback, tie the horses to a hitching rail and mosey on into a saloon. Except, he didn't notice any saloons on the street.
At the far end was the large community building where the town events were held–including that potluck Annie had spoken about. He wandered down the street, gazing at the Christmas decorations adorning each shop. Some were simple and small, others elaborate and expansive. It was obvious that Christmas was a special holiday in Lamberton. And vastly different from the holidays he'd spent abroad.
Europe also dazzled with decorations, but more years than not, he'd been in some poor African village working around the clock and completely missing the holiday.
When he reached the community center, he noticed the glass encased bulletin board by the door full of announcements of forthcoming events.
He studied the calendar. If he was serious about returning for good to the US, he might as well attend these to see what it was like. Lamberton was a nice town, from what his cousin said. He could consider staying here if there was any need for another doctor.
And if he did, he'd likely see Annie Tolliver often.
On the other hand, his work over the last few years had been rewarding–taking medical knowledge into areas totally lacking in even basic care.
Yet, as being so sick showed him, he was not infallible. Doctors got sick. Died. Maybe it was time to reevaluate, make new goals or plans.
The next morning Nick was again up early. Too bad all the decorations in the park had been put in place or he might run into Annie again. Still, feeling refreshed after a long night’s sleep he decided to head for the coffee house at one end of Main Street and treat himself to a sugary treat and designer coffee–both an amazing luxury after the remote locations he normally inhabited.
The shop was crowded when he entered and hot. Loosening his jacket, he stood in line. He hadn’t expected the place to be to be so busy. Checking the time he realized it was shortly before eight and most of those in line probably were getting their beverages to go. He looked to the left where the tables were. Several were empty. Annie sat at one with a large cup in front of her. She was reading something on a tablet and seemed totally oblivious to the commotion around her.
When Nick placed his order, he glanced around again to look at Annie.
She was still focused on the tablet. Would she welcome an interruption or be annoyed?
No time like the present to find out.
Once coffee and cinnamon roll were in hand, he walked over to her table.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked.
She looked up in surprise, then a wide smile lit her face. “Hi. Yes, do join me. Came in out of the cold today?”
He placed his breakfast on the small table and shrugged out of his jacket. After the frigid air outside, this place seemed stifling. “I plan to head to the park after I eat.”
She looked at the huge sweet roll and grinned at him.
“I’d think a doctor would eat differently,” she said with a teasing note in her voice.
“I’m indulging myself. No cinnamon rolls where I’ve been the last few years.”
He took a big bite of the treat and savored every taste sensation.
“I’ve been walking around Lamberton,” he said a moment later. “It’s a nice town.”
“I think so. It’s not as big a tourist draw as some people would like, but we do get visitors for special events–like the Christmas season, Gold Rush days in the spring and for the Independence Day celebrations,” she responded. “Some people like the small town feel of the place, and the old-fashioned celebrations.”
“I can understand the appeal,” he said, taking another bite. He should have come here before now. The cinnamon roll was beyond delicious.
“Tell me about where you practiced medicine; I know it has to be vastly different from here.”
He remembered some of the places he’d been and nodded. None were like this western town.
“Parts of Africa are amazingly beautiful like Victoria Falls and Mount Kilimanjaro. Other places are desert, devoid of much but barren land. Hauntingly beautiful none the less in its own way. But mostly I was involved with disasters and epidemics and focused on the people who needed aid.”
“How long before you return?” Annie asked.
He shrugged. Everyone thought he’d return. It was only in the last couple of days that doubt rose.
“After the holidays.”
“Great, you came at the best time. You will check out all the activities, right?”
He nodded. She was getting to him.
“So do you recommend everyone begin their day with an overdose of sugar?” she teased again.
Nick glanced at the almost gone cinnamon roll. She wasn't going to guilt him into regretting one single bite.
“No, only those from Africa who haven't had a cinnamon roll in years,”
he replied giving her a lopsided grin.
She grinned back. Taking a final sip of her beverage, she put the cup down and gathered her tablet.
“I have to get to work,” she said, putting her tablet in her large purse and reaching for the empty coffee cup.
“Need any help?” he asked.
Where had that come from? He'd just met the woman. She ran her own nursery–obviously with employees to help in the workload.
She looked surprised. “Not really. If you want to ride along, I’m delivering poinsettia to offices which have ordered them for the season. Then I have some plants to check on at the local nursing home.”
Annie was surprised at his offer, but understood he was probably tired of his being alone and knowing no one in town. And truth be told, she wouldn't mind his company. Her curiosity seemed to rise each time she saw him.
He popped the last bite of the roll in his mouth, wiped his lips with the napkin and balled it up for the trash. Putting on his jacket, he reached for his cup. “Ready when you are,” he said.
Annie smiled as they walked out of the warm coffee shop and into the frigid winter air. She worked alone most of the time, except when at the nursery with her two employees. It might be fun to have a ride-along.
The morning was beautiful. The snow covering the ground sparkled like diamonds in the sunshine. The streets were clear enough to not worry about slipping and sliding and the air was incredibly clear as the view of the distant Bitterroot peaks attested.
Once they were in the cab of the pickup truck, she picked up a clipboard with a list of businesses and addresses.
“I plan a circle route,” she said.
“Meaning?”
“We'll start out on one side of the street go to the end and the come back on the other side. That way you'll get to see all of downtown and I'll fill you in on the places we're stopping.”
The first stop was the welcome center at the edge of town. Annie quickly took in two pots of the flame red flowers, stopping only a few minutes to chat with Marcia, the only full-time employee for the welcome center.
The next stop was the police station on the first side street heading toward the heart of Lamberton.
“Cops like flowers?” Nick asked as she pulled into a parking place right in front.
“Easy Christmas decorations, less bother for them. I also have a tree for them to be delivered later this week–already decorated. They like the festivities, but not decorating so much. More business for me,” she said getting out of the truck.
By late morning Nick knew quite a bit about downtown Lamberton. Not that it comprised the entire town; there were several side streets that held offices and a strip mall. A big feed and seed store on another one side street, and several small businesses on each of the cross streets. But for Main Street, Annie had a story about each business as they passed or stopped.
“That's the last of them,” she said when she returned from a delivery almost opposite the first stop.
“Do you volunteer at the visitor's center?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Why?”
“You'd make a great tour guide. I feel I know a lot more about the town than before.”
She smiled. “Well, I have lived here all my life,” she said.
“Don't you ever want to go someplace else? Try somewhere else?”
She shook her head–thinking of Jack.
“I had the chance, once, but couldn't even think of living somewhere else. This is home.”
He nodded. “That's one thing I don't have–home, unless you count the suitcase I live out of,” he said whimsically.
“Doesn't sound like much of a home if you don't mind me saying,” she replied. “Don't you ever think about putting down roots? Making lifelong friends, becoming part of a community?”
“Not until recently,” he said slowly.
“Want lunch? The café on Beale Street has great burgers and fries,” Annie said.
He nodded. It would give him a chance to find out more about Annie herself. She was a wealth of knowledge about the town, but had told him very little about herself. He wanted to know all he could about the woman. She was unlike anyone he'd ever met.
And he wanted to know what made her so content with living in the same place all her life.
The café was half full when they entered. Like the coffee shop, it felt stifling warm after the cold winter air. After helping Annie take off her jacket, he shrugged off his own. They sat at a booth near the back.
“We beat the lunch crowd,” Annie said looking around.
Nick reached for the menus tucked into a stand near the wall. He handed her one.
“Thanks, but I don't need it. I eat here a lot if I don't feel like cooking for one. I'm getting the blue cheese burger, spicy fries and a chocolate milkshake. They have the best milkshakes anywhere.”
He opened the menu and looked at the various offerings. While he had eaten in some of the finest restaurants in Europe when on vacations, nothing sounded as enticing as a good old American hamburger and fries. And ice cream was a rare commodity where he normally worked.
“Sounds good,” he said. “Only I'll have the mushroom burger.”
He closed the menu just as the waitress came to the booth.
“Hey, Annie,” the young woman said.
“Hey Jessie. Have you met Nick Keller? He's staying at his cousin Roger's place.”
“Hello. Glad to meet you. Where's Roger these days, I haven't seen him in a while.”
“He's traveling for Christmas,” Nick said.
“So what can I get you folks?” Jessie asked.
Once their orders were given, Nick looked at Annie.
“I know you run a successful landscape business and offer services to suit the season, but tell me more about yourself. You grew up here. Do your parents still live in Lamberton?”
Nodding, she said, “My dad's a manager for the Excalibur Ranch, a big conglomerated-owned ranch west of town. He's been there since I was a kid. He and my mother love ranch life. It's okay, but I'm not a huge fan of cattle. So I picked a different way to make a living. I see them often. It's only a twenty-five minute drive out to the ranch.”
“Nice to be close, but not too close.”
“Exactly! How about your parents?”
“My mom died when I was in med school. Shortly after that my father married a woman with three little kids. They live in Oregon. I don't see them much. I guess the kids are pretty grown now.”
“Don't you like her? Is that why you're here instead of with them?” she asked.
“I don't dislike her. It's just that family is so far removed from mine growing up, I always feel like a third wheel. Plus with kids and all their activities, I thought it better to opt for a quieter place.”
Annie felt sad that he didn't feel at home in his father's house any more. She couldn't imagine not being able to go home to see her parents whenever she wanted.
Jessie brought their order, setting them down in front of each of them.
“Are you going to the wrap party tomorrow?” she asked Annie.
“Yep,” Annie replied, reaching for the catsup to pour on the edge of the plate by the fries.
Jessie looked at Nick. “If you're not busy, join us. We're wrapping presents from the Santa's Donation.”
He looked at Annie in question.
“Santa Donations are gifts people donate for those families on hard times. The first year we held a wrap party on Christmas Eve, but even with more than twenty people wrapping, it took hours when we all wanted to be home. So now we have a wrap party each week to keep up with the donations. It's fun. Join us and you'll meet some more people,” she said.
“Are you thinking of settling in Lamberton?” Jessie asked.
“He's a doctor with Doctors Without Borders, just visiting,” Annie said.
“Well, come anyway. It's fun and for a good cause,” Jessie said. With a smile, she turned to head for another table.
“
Where do people donate?” Nick asked.
“At the bins in front of the Community Center. Sometimes it's clothing, sometimes canned goods, and often toys for kids. We have a list of families who sign up for it or others who are recommended, so we know approximate sizes of kids and age for toy match. If a family has a special request, we try to fill it if we get the right donation, or sometimes we buy the specific item ourselves so no one's disappointed.”
“Sounds like a terrific way to celebrate the holidays.”
He took a big bite of the burger. It had been a while since he'd had a hamburger and, like with the cinnamon roll, he savored every morsel.
Annie had been right, he thought, when he took a sip of the chocolate milkshake. It was ambrosia.
“How did you celebrate in Africa?” Annie asked, delving into her own lunch.
“Sometimes working with an epidemic. Other holidays, I had some days free and visited different cities in Europe. I think my favorite was Christmas in Vienna. What I really missed most, however, was Thanksgiving. Few countries have such a holiday, and none feature turkeys as the main meal. I missed that the most.”
“It's a favorite holiday of mine,” Annie said. “Though come to think of it, I think most of the major holidays are favorites. You should be here in the spring when we celebrate Gold Rush days.”
“I always think of California when I hear gold rush,” Nick said.
“I expect more people do, but Montana has a rich history in gold mining. Nothing like the big rush in California, but still, the mines produced millions of dollars worth of gold. Lamberton was a smaller town, but there are mines still scattered around. Most have been cordoned off as unsafe.”
“I assume the town was named for a miner?”
“Yes, Josiah Lamberton, owner of the Lamberton Mine, one of the richest. But he was smart and started a store, then a church, then a school, and soon most of lots in the town that sprang up belonged to him. He lived to be an old man, and never revealed the total amount produced by his mine.”
A Teaspoon of Mistletoe Page 2