by Terra Wolf
“—my kid too. She doesn’t get to be a fuckin’ dictator of parenting—”
I tried to tune the guy in the garage out, but it was hard with his loud mouth and abrasive way of talking. I didn’t even know who the woman he was complaining about was, but I was pretty sure I was on her side of this issue. He seemed like a piece of shit. He was always rude, arrogant, and self-absorbed. It was actually kind of surprising he had a kid at all — or cared about it — but I guessed a good personality wasn’t a prerequisite for reproducing. As unfortunate as that fact was.
“Okay, we should have that in stock,” the kid at the counter said after I rattled off the list of parts I’d need to fix the truck.
If I trusted those guys in the garage even a little, I could just let them do the work and then walk over to the antique shop to see Claire. But I didn’t trust them as far as I could throw them. They’d come back to me with a list of needed repairs as long as my arm and a bill big enough to make my head spin. People in these parts still had the idea that doctors made a lot of money. No one seemed to consider the ongoing costs of operating a small clinic like mine, insuring it, and maintaining the building. Not to mention my penchant for taking alternative forms of payment to help people out. Most people on this mountain probably thought I was one of the richest guys out here, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I did all right for myself, yeah. I was getting by and the clinic wasn’t really in any danger of shutting down, but I still needed to scrimp where I could, and auto repairs was one of those areas. So unfortunately, visiting Claire would just have to wait until another day. And hopefully, Molly could manage to keep the gossip train in the station until then.
Six
Claire
I’m not sure how I did it, but I somehow made it to Monday evening without losing my mind or going crazy with the thoughts of Luke — Dr. Bradford. And I’d still had to talk myself out of canceling the appointment half a dozen different times. Ella was fine, that much was clear. She’d even spent the day with Chuck yesterday and came home in the same condition I left her in. Practically a miracle.
But I couldn’t bring myself to cancel the appointment. I just couldn’t. I wanted to see him again too badly. Even if it was only for a few minutes, even if it was completely professional and innocent. I just felt a pull toward the man, and as I was getting ready to head out, I found myself humming while applying lipstick.
“Ella, honey, put your shoes on,” I called out from the bathroom, fussing with my hair one last time. I’d straightened it — yeah, straightening my hair and putting makeup on, I had it bad — but already it was kinking up into soft waves that made me glare at it. But it was good enough, I supposed. This wasn’t a date or anything. Just a doctor’s appointment for my little girl. I was being ridiculous and I knew it, but that didn’t stop me at all.
Just the thought of seeing Luke smile at me made my heart skip a beat. The thought of him saying my name, those full, sensuous lips forming around the syllable, sent shivers to my toes and put an extra little hop in my step. I knew it was silly. I knew I was getting way ahead of myself, but I deserved a little fantasy of my own. It had been just me and Ella for far too long. And as much as I loved my little girl, god only knew how lonely I really was.
So maybe I’d worked up an unachievable fantasy in my head. So what? It gave me something to look forward too, even if I was completely certain the reality of today wouldn’t live up to my hopes. It was something, and I had to hold on to whatever I had. Who knew when another hot, capable professional would stumble onto this mountain to refresh my fantasy bank?
I put the last finishing touches on my make-up and checked the time. I was cutting it close for our six o’clock appointment, but we should make it. I wouldn’t want to seem too eager to be there.
When I came out of the bathroom, Ella was on the living room floor, laying on her belly, staging some kind of meeting with her stuffed animals that looked very important. At least, it was important to her. Lots of things were very important to a four year-old that most adults would consider pretty silly.
I tried not to tell Ella that her imagination was silly if I could help it, I never wanted to stifle her creativity or the big worlds she created in her head, but I saw her little feet up in the air, her toes wiggling free, and I groaned.
“Ella, did you hear me? You need to get your shoes on so we can go to the doctor.”
She turned to look at me, her brows drawn close together. “I’m not sick.”
I sighed. She had a point. I hated when I was outsmarted by my toddler. But I was still the adult and I still had some say in how things went around here, damn it.
“I know you feel okay, but Dr. Bradford wants to check up on you and make sure you’re all better.”
She pouted and sat up, looking at the circle of stuffed animals surrounding her. “I’m all better, I promise.”
I glanced at the time again and clenched my jaw. “This isn’t up for discussion Ella. Put your shoes on, we’re leaving.”
“But—”
“No buts, except yours, out the door. Come on,” I said, waving her up off the floor. She glared at me as she stomped over to her shoes and wrestled them on her feet. She got her left and right mixed up, but I had a sneaking suspicion she was just trying to stall me some more for whatever reason and I wasn’t going to let it fly. If she wanted to wear her shoes on the wrong feet, so be it. She could be the one that was uncomfortable.
I ushered her to the car and strapped her into her booster seat before heading off down the mountain. For a moment, I’d forgotten why it was so necessary that we visit Dr. Bradford, but now that I wasn’t arguing with Ella anymore, it all came rushing back and a tremor of excitement flooded my veins.
The mountain road was as bumpy as ever, even more so thanks to my speeding. I didn’t want to show up too early and look eager, but I really didn’t want to be late enough that he canceled the appointment or thought I wasn’t coming.
God, what was wrong with me? I was getting all twisted up in knots over a guy that probably didn’t even remember my name. It was ridiculous and I knew it, but that didn’t help me pull myself out of it.
The butterflies flapping in my stomach only grew in numbers as I drove further down the mountain, and by the time I turned onto the road that led to the clinic, there was a full-blown swarm of them, enough to be pushing up my throat, making me feel like I was going to puke. What was I thinking, straightening my hair and putting on make-up? Who was I trying to impress?
Suddenly, I just felt self-conscious. Would he realize how hard I was trying? Would he just see me as some desperate single mom trying to throw herself at him?
Wasn’t that what I was doing?
I looked in the rearview mirror at a still-pouting Ella. No matter what I told myself, I wasn’t really doing this for her sake. I knew she wasn’t sick any more. She was hardly sick still the day after I brought her in and it had been nearly a week now. No, I was definitely doing this for myself, but I wasn’t actually planning on doing anything. I just wanted the time away from work with some eye candy. Was that too much to ask?
I wasn’t actually planning on throwing myself at him. To be honest, I probably wouldn’t say more than a handful of words once we established how he wanted me to pay him.
A shiver of heat teased through me at that reminder. I’d all but insinuated he wanted me to pay for Ella’s visit with sex the last time I saw him. And he was horrified.
That was like a bucket of ice water over my head. He’d been completely appalled by the very thought of sleeping with me. So I could be certain that there was no chance of anything more.
I blew out a heavy breath, tightening my grip on the steering wheel. Right. Just a normal doctor’s visit with a normal doctor who I was not fantasizing about in my every spare moment.
Who was I kidding?
But I didn’t have the time to change my mind, because I was already in the parking lot and parking th
e car on auto-pilot. Ella unbuckled herself and was waiting to hop out the moment I opened the back door. She must have still been annoyed with me for cutting her important stuffed animal meeting short, because she didn’t take my hand as we walked up to the door, but it was fine. I could give her that little bit of independence.
When I opened the door, I expected to see Luke at the front desk waiting for us, but instead, it was another man with a welcoming smile. Another tall, handsome man with light brown hair and laughing eyes.
“Hello there,” he said brightly, nodding at Ella.
“Hi,” I said, repositioning my purse on my shoulder. Suddenly, I was feeling nervous and foolish. I hadn’t expected anyone else to be here and not seeing Luke immediately left me deflated. “Um, we have a follow-up with Dr. Bradford?”
The man’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “I assume you mean Dr. Luke Bradford? I’m his brother, Dr. Aiden Bradford. Luke’s been called to the hospital on an emergency, so I’m handling his patients today.”
“Oh,” I said, sounding way too disappointed. I should have been embarrassed by that, but I was too busy feeling sorry for myself to really bother.
The doctor seemed to notice, his smile fading somewhat. “If you’d rather wait for him, I understand. I can reschedule you—”
“No!” I said too quickly, recovering as fast as I could, hoping he didn’t see the bright, hot blush rushing to my cheeks. “I mean, no, that won’t be necessary. We’re just following-up on Ella’s flu. Wanted to make sure she’s all better.”
The man — Aiden — smiled again, leaning across the counter to look Ella in the eyes.
“What do you say, Ella? Wanna come to the back and let me check you out?”
Ella huffed. “I’m not sick,” she grumbled.
“I can see that,” Aiden said, his voice lowering conspiratorially. “But you know how moms get, always worrying and fussing over stuff that’s not a big deal. I bet it would make your mom real happy to not worry about you being sick anymore and wouldn’t that be a nice thing to do for her, for all the nice things she does for you?”
I almost wanted to tell him he was barking up the wrong tree since I’d already annoyed her by dragging her here, but Dr. Aiden Bradford had some kind of magic wand or something, because my surly four year-old sighed and looked at me with a long-suffering look.
“Yeah, I guess,” she said.
Aiden grinned and stepped around the counter, offering his hand to her. Ella knew better than to take a strangers hand, so she looked back to me and I nodded. She slipped her hand into his and we all headed back to the examination room together.
After the doctor took her temperature, checked her heartbeat, and asked me a few questions, he stepped back and turned to me.
“Well, looks to me like Ella’s doing great. You did a good job of getting her healthy again, mom.”
“Told you,” Ella said, her voice dripping with smug victory.
There was no point in arguing with her. I knew she was healthy when I brought her in and I was just coming with my own ulterior motives. Motives which were summarily thwarted. So I guess that showed me. I shouldn’t have been using my baby girl to try to get closer to a cute doctor. This was my payback, I didn’t get to see him at all.
And that wasn’t to say that Aiden was unattractive at all. He was charming and nice and very handsome, but he didn’t fill me with the same thrill that Luke did. And the shiny gold band on his ring finger was a pretty big deterrent.
Still, I didn’t know how this family lived up on this mountain without me knowing about it. Luke had said he’d stayed after his residency because he had family in the area, but he didn’t mention it was his brother. That made me think the Bradfords had been in the area longer than he let on.
Not that it really mattered, I just wanted to know how the hell I’d managed to go so long without seeing him. But if today was any indication, we were back to that normal. Who knew when or if I’d ever see him again unless I had some kind of emergency up on the mountain.
“Thanks so much for seeing us,” I said as the doctor led us back into the reception area. “I was supposed to talk to Dr. Bradfor— your brother about payment? Did he leave any note about that?”
Aiden’s eyes went wide. “Are you the one that makes the pies?”
“Uh… no?” I had no idea what he was talking about.
The light faded some, but then he waved me off. “Don’t worry about it. Just keep that adorable little girl healthy.”
I frowned, ready to argue with him about it, but then I saw the stony resolve in his eyes and I decided this wasn’t a battle I cared to fight. Not now. Not today.
“All right, if you’re sure.”
“I am. Have a wonderful evening Ms. Andrews.”
I could have sworn the way he said that that there was a smirk in his voice, but I decided not to dwell on it as I led Ella back out to the car and tried to push aside all the disappointment swirling in me from not getting to see Luke.
Seven
Luke
“Your girl just left here,” Aiden said the moment I answered the phone.
“My what?”
“Claire Andrews, and that cute-as-a-button little girl of hers.”
I cursed under my breath. “That was today.”
“Yep. They just left. And I’ll tell you what, she seemed awfully disappointed that I was the one here instead of you.”
My bear roared with satisfaction at that little piece of info, but I tried to silence him. I’d totally forgotten about Claire’s follow-up. Well, I didn’t forget about it. I definitely didn’t forget about it. I’d been looking forward to it ever since she left my office the last time. I’d just kind of… lost track of the days, I guess. And when I got a call for an emergency down at the hospital, I didn’t think twice. I never did. They needed all hands on deck for a big accident and had even spared a helicopter to get me down into surgery faster. As much as I wanted to see Claire and Ella again, I knew I’d made the right decision.
But that didn’t make me any less upset that I missed them.
“She’s cute,” Aiden said, filling in the silence left by my own thoughts.
I growled on instinct.
“Easy there. I’m not moving in on your mate. I’ve got one of my own, remember? Just busting your balls. Keep your bear down.”
I sighed. He was right. I needed to keep him on a tighter leash before he made a mess of this whole thing.
“She’s not my mate,” I grumbled in answer.
Aiden just laughed. “Sure she’s not. Whatever you have to tell yourself to help you sleep at night. But as your brother, I’ve never seen you this worked up over a girl before. I know what I’m seeing.”
“Was there something you needed to tell me? I need to get back into surgery if all you’re doing is teasing me.”
He chuckled again and part of me wanted to throw my phone down the hospital hallway.
“No, no. Go save lives. I can give you shit later.”
I didn’t even bother giving that a response before I hung up. I was annoyed with my brother, annoyed that he got to see Claire when I didn’t, annoyed that I’d missed her, and even more annoyed at how much all of this was affecting me. I barely knew the woman and she was distracting me every moment of every day. Maybe I shouldn’t see her again. Maybe I should just forget all about her and move on with my life.
But I knew that wouldn’t happen.
I thought about her the rest of the night, even through the long chauffeured ride back up the mountain to my place. Even when I was crawling into bed, completely exhausted and bone-tired, I was thinking about Claire, her smile, her golden mop of curls shining like a halo. Yeah, there was no way I could forget about her. And there was no way I could stay on this mountain, knowing where she was, and not go visit her.
It was a night of restless sleep, but once dawn broke, I felt reinvigorated. I knew what I had to do. And what I had to do, was see Claire.
I t
ook my time having my morning coffee, showering, and getting ready. I knew I didn’t have any appointments until evening, so the whole day was pretty much free. But I also didn’t want to show up at her shop at the crack of dawn like some weirdo. I had to time it right. I couldn’t let her see how eager I was until I’d gauged her interest too.
So it was nearly noon by the time I made my way down into town, looking for the antique shop she ran. It was a charming little building set prominently on Main Street, trellises covering the front with ivy and wisteria tangling together, only showing the barest hints of red brick underneath. There were big windows, too, with gold lettering that had seen better days, but still proudly said ‘Andrews’ Antiques.’
At least I knew I had the right spot.
I took a deep breath, steeling myself, rehearsing the story I’d concocted for why I was there. No time like the present. Even with my nerves jangling, I forced myself to open the door, greeted by the cheery tinkle of the bell announcing my arrival.
“Dr. Luke!” Ella cried, and I whirled around to find her at a short table, papers and crayons scattered all around her.
“Hey there, Ella. How are you feeling? Eating lots of popsicles?”
She grinned and nodded.
I looked around the shop, but didn’t see Claire anywhere immediately. There was a counter with a register right in front of the door and a big staircase leading up to the open second floor right behind it. Other than that, there were hardly any walls in the space, just a big open room organized into smaller, prospective rooms with the careful placement of furniture. It could have looked ridiculously cluttered and full if it hadn’t been arranged just so, but the way it was, it was inviting and made me want to venture further into the store to see what they had to offer.
“What are you coloring?”
Ella shrugged, holding the paper up for me. “A bear.”
“Ooh,” I said, crouching down at her kid-sized table. “I’ve never seen a pink bear before. She’s pretty.”