Lighthouse Beach

by Shelley Noble

  And Jess would either return to her parents to be humiliated for humiliating them or she’d stay with Lillo. Just the two of them. For how long?

  “So what do you say, Lillo?” she heard Diana saying. “You okay with a girls’ long weekend away?”

  Lillo looked up from the piece of toast she’d been holding halfway to her mouth for way too long. Mac was right. She was in a rut, but it was where she wanted to be.

  On the other hand, a girls’ weekend away might be fun. She used to love them. She pushed away the niggling voice that said, This is a bad idea—it will unravel your life and it won’t be pretty.

  “That’s settled,” Mac said. “So finish breakfast, take Jess over to the clinic and get some relief for her wrist, put on your swimsuits …” She squinted out the window. “And maybe a sweatshirt, and enjoy your time here.”

  Jess clutched Mac’s hand. “I don’t want anyone to get in trouble because of me.”

  Mac snorted out a laugh. “Trouble? We got so much trouble already, what’s a little more?” She held up the pot. “More coffee, anyone?”

  Lillo wasn’t the only one with ambivalent feelings about the coming week. Diana was used to a cutthroat world, a creative exchange of ideas beset by hackers, backbiting competition, out-and-out theft. She wasn’t sure how much she could take of the old homespun “salt-of-the-earth” lifestyle. She was having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that she’d given up her first vaca in months to stay in a primitive, overcrowded shack, probably subject to hurricanes and tidal waves, with three other women as diverse as friends could possibly be.

  She cut a sideways look at Lillo, who seemed to be lost in some serious thought. Well, they had just appropriated her home for their long weekend away.

  She was an odd bird. A year younger than Jess, which would make her about thirty. But weird. Not country, not cosmopolitan, she’d obviously seen some of the world, but she lived like a hermit.

  Diana had no doubt that Lillo wished she’d never brought them home with her and that it was Mac, not Diana, who had convinced her to let them stay. For one sane moment, she thought of her four-star hotel in Boston, the spa day she’d reserved. Then she cast her plans to the wind.

  This was bound to be more interesting. And actually, she didn’t care if the Parkers did find them. She’d been waiting to give them a piece of her mind for years.

  Mac insisted on doing the dishes, but Diana made her promise to text them a grocery list before the day was out. A few minutes later they were all piled back into Mac’s van and headed toward the Lighthouse Beach clinic.

  They drove down Main Street past quaint New Englandy–looking shops, most of which seemed to lean precariously to the left. There were quite a few people on the street.

  “It looks just like a Maine fishing village.”

  “It is a Maine fishing village,” Lillo said. “Though there’s not much fishing going on these days. Too many corporate outfits nosing out the independents.”

  “Lots of tourists, though,” Diana said. “You have a good liquor store?”

  “I wouldn’t say good, but adequate.”

  “So, any fun things to do?”

  Lillo laughed. “Not much, I’m afraid. Visit the lighthouse. Sailing. Hiking. Sunbathing. Hanging out at the pub.”

  “Does it ever get warm enough to wear a bikini on your beach?”

  Lillo flashed her a grin. “It’s warm enough today. You have to inure yourself.”

  “Ah.”

  “But having a little bit of land behind and the jetties on each side cuts out a lot of the wind—and other people, if you want to lie out in the altogether. Just only at high tide, please, when there won’t be families with children walking out to the lighthouse with their binoculars. The insurance is astronomical as it is.”

  “Who pays the insurance? The coast guard?”

  “Therein lies the rub, as they say. They sold it to the town years ago and retired Mac. The town has been paying for the insurance since the lighthouse is the only thing that draws any tourist trade. With fishing being what it is, we need all the outside cash we can get. The only problem is paying for the escalating premiums.”

  “Is that what Mac meant when she said they had so much trouble they wouldn’t notice more?”

  “That and unemployment, poverty, the usual.”

  “Gotcha.” Diana had researched the demographics of dying towns as a part of her economics studies. But the thought that a quaint little town right on the ocean could be one of them … news to her.

  Lillo turned off Main Street and onto a narrow side street called Shandy Way. Two blocks later she stopped the van in front of a weathered shake-shingled house.

  “This is the clinic?”

  “It used to belong to the Gregorio family, old-time lobster people, then they moved on and the Devon family bought it. Dr. Charlie Devon lived here and had his office downstairs, then Charlie Devon Jr. had his practice here, and when he died without finding someone to replace him, he left the building to the town to be used for the next doctor or as a free clinic. So far we don’t have a local doctor, so what we have is a part-time clinic.”

  “So you only can get sick on Tuesdays and Thursdays?”

  “Pretty much. Only we haven’t even had that since the beginning of spring, when the nurse practitioner who was running it moved away. So, until we find a replacement we depend on visiting doctors and the emergency room on the mainland.

  “Though we’re lucky. The clinic is open for the whole week. So you guys go in, tell the receptionist, Agnes, you’re my friend. And I’ll pick you up when you’re done.”

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  “Uh, no. I have a few quick errands to run. I’ll meet you back here. Just come out when you’re done. Or have Agnes call my cell.”

  “Right.” Diana opened her passenger door just as two men came out and down the walk.

  “Mornin’, Lillo. You back from the weddin’ already?” asked the younger man.

  “Find any fella to say ‘I do’?” asked the older, and broke into a fit of congested coughing.

  “Too many bad jokes gonna kill ya, Dad.”

  “Ayuh, ’spect they will. But if Lillo don’t choose soon, I’m gonna take her home with me.”

  “I’m gonna hold you to that, Jacob,” Lillo said. She waved as the two men walked off down the street.

  “Friends of yours?” said Diana with a jab of holy-crap-what-have-I-gotten-myself-into.

  “Most people are friendly here.”

  And how’s that for dodging a question? thought Diana. “Shall I use your name to get an appointment?”

  “Nah. It’s much looser than that. Just give your name to Agnes; she’ll take care of you.”

  Allie helped Jess out of the van. Lillo shifted gears.

  “Wait. What about payment? Will they take Jess’s insurance or do we have to pay up front?”

  “Don’t worry about it. See ya in a few.”

  Diana climbed out of the car and barely had time to slam the door shut before Lillo was driving up the street.

  Diana, Allie, and Jess, holding her arm close to her body, watched her drive away.

  “That is one strange lady,” Diana said. She meant it. At first she’d thought maybe Lillo had high-functioning Asperger’s syndrome or something. But it wasn’t that. Diana usually got pretty fast impressions of people, even though she worked in computer code all day. But not Lillo Gray. She would eventually. She just needed a few days.

  They moved slowly up the walk. Met a mother and three kids coming down the steps. Stepped aside when a teenager holding his hand in a towel rushed past them. Allie ran ahead and opened the door for him.

  The kid mumbled a thank-you and hurried inside.

  Diana was ready to insist that they see to the kid immediately, but when she stepped inside the kid was gone. The waiting room, however, was packed. People standing, sitting, chatting, kids running around, pushing battered plastic trucks across the floo
r. Chairs and what looked like church benches were crowded into any space they would fit. The floor was wood, painted white, and looked like it had been through hell.

  Nothing screamed hygienic. Fortunately, Jess didn’t have any open wounds, and if they could manage not to touch anything until they got back to Lillo’s and Diana’s cache of Purell, they should all survive.

  Needless to say, the pandemonium stopped as soon as everyone became aware of the newcomers. A woman sitting in a chair nudged the teenager next to her, and he and another boy got up and went to stand against the wall. She motioned Allie to bring Jess over.

  Diana made her way over to a battered desk where a gray-haired lady sat arranging a mountainous stack of manila folders.

  “Can I help you?” the woman asked, more curious than concerned.

  “We’re friends of Lillo Gray.” Diana wasn’t surprised when the conversation nearest them cut off to a whisper. It was a gamble. Lillo could be the most notorious, hated member of the community as far as Diana knew. But she didn’t really believe it. And it only took a second for the receptionist to prove her right.

  “Oh, you must be the girls from the wedding.”

  “Yes. We are. Our friend hurt her wrist. We just need an X-ray to make sure it isn’t broken?” Diana was aware that she’d ended her statement as a question like some gawky teenager, but she wasn’t sure the clinic even had X-ray equipment.

  “Well, we’ll just have Doc take a look and see what he thinks. Have a seat. We’re a little backed up this morning.”

  Diana signed Jess’s name. The receptionist handed her a clipboard with a ballpoint pen attached by a string. “Just have your friend fill this in.” Diana took it back to where Allie and Jess were sitting.

  “Heah, take my chayah,” the woman next to Jess told Diana.

  It took her a second to translate “take my chair” and by then the woman had already stood. “Weay’ll be goin’ in soon.”

  Diana thanked her and sat down. She handed the clipboard and pen to Jess.

  “Wow. This must be a really popular doctor,” Allie said under her breath.

  “If he’s the only act in town, this could take a while.”

  “Maybe we could just see the nurse practitioner,” Jess said.

  “If there is one, I’m sure she’s pretty busy, too.” Evidently they hadn’t heard Lillo’s explanation of the precarious state of the clinic. Diana decided not to enlighten them. No reason to worry Jess any more than she already was.

  “Are you in pain? Should I ask for an aspirin?”

  Jess shook her head. Diana looked around for a free magazine. Normally she would just pull out her phone and do business or open the newspaper app. But the sign over the door to the office said no cells. And there were no cells among the waiting patients. Not even surreptitious e-mail checking. These people didn’t mess around.

  There wasn’t a free magazine and the ones she saw other people reading were months old. So Diana stared at the only other things available. Pictures drawn by children. Joey and his broken leg. “Thank you, Dr. Hartley” scrawled in awkward letters. Mindy and her measles. “I love you, Doc.” The thank-yous filled the walls, mostly written to Doc, or Doc Hartley, a few to Doc Harley, and others to Doc Clancy. Popular guys.

  The door opened. Everyone in the room looked up. The kid who had run past them on the steps came out. He looked quickly around the room, ducked his head, then scurried across the room and out the front door.

  “Mrs. Spencer?” The receptionist waited for the older lady to rise from her chair and edge her walker toward the door.

  “Lovely day, Agnes. So glad to have the doc back.”

  “Yes, it is, now watch yourself getting through the door.”

  Diana heard the doctor welcome Mrs. Spencer before the door closed.

  One patient at a time. This could take all day. No wonder Lillo hadn’t wanted to stay. Diana had half a mind to hit the local stores and see what she could find in the way of girls’-weekend-away provisions. Maybe she and Allie could take turns staying with Jess.

  Time didn’t march, but crept inexorably on. Half hour. Hour. When one person came out, another went in. When they left, they were replaced by others.

  “I wonder what he looks like,” Jess said.

  “Who?”

  “The doctor. I think he must have white hair like those television doctors. All crusty old New Englander but with a heart of gold.” Jess sighed.

  “Good heavens,” Diana said. “She’s hallucinating.”

  “No, really. Haven’t you noticed, everybody’s so friendly.”

  Until someone mentions religion or politics, thought Diana. “Well, I can hardly wait to meet this paragon of Yankee medicine. Evidently from a long line of crusty New England doctors whose offices also were housed here. I just hope he doesn’t retire before he gets to us.” She glanced at her watch; they’d been there for over an hour and the room had continued to fill.

  She actually jumped when Agnes announced “Jess Parker” and the whole room turned to watch them maneuver their way across the floor.

  “Miss Parker,” the doctor said as soon as Agnes ushered them into the nether regions of the clinic. Just a hall with several doors, probably the same doors that had led to bedrooms in a former life. “This way, please.”

  Before Diana got a good look, he turned and walked through an open door. They followed him into a room that was barely large enough for a desk, a medicine cabinet, and an old examination table.

  He turned around. “I’m Dr. Hartley.” He surveyed the three women and zeroed in on Jess. “Looks like you’ve hurt your wrist.”

  Jess said, “Uh.”

  Allie and Diana exchanged looks.

  “I take it back,” Diana said under her breath. The doctor might be a New Englander, but he wasn’t crusty by any stretch. No wonder his waiting room was packed. The guy was strikingly handsome in an unaware kind of way. Tall, sturdy, with darkish brown hair long enough to curl at the edge of his shirt collar. Looking about as delicious as a crusty old New England doctor could possibly look.

  “Your wrist?” he repeated, smiling at Jess.

  “Yes. I think I sprained it.”

  “Climb up on the table.” The doctor helped her to sit and Diana and Allie tried to press themselves into a corner to make room.

  He began to gently manipulate Jess’s fingers. “Does any of this hurt?”

  Jess shook her head.

  “You’re not from around here?”

  “No. We’re visiting a friend. Lillo Gray.”

  He hesitated. Looked at all three of them as if reconfiguring his first impression, then he smiled. “Ah, the wedding party.”

  “How did you—”

  “It’s a small town. Your reputation preceded you.”

  He turned Jess’s hand over, eliciting an intake of breath.

  “Why is he smiling like that?” Allie whispered.

  Diana shrugged. It was a pretty weird bedside manner. Smiling was one thing—it could set a person at their ease. But Dr. Hartley looked like he was about to burst out laughing.

  “So how did this happen?” he asked.

  “I fell in the mud.”

  “No. How awful.”

  “It was.”

  “Does this hurt?”

  “A little.”

  “And what were you doing in the mud?”

  “We had a flat tire. And we’d stopped to change it when these bikers—”

  “Here?”

  “Ow. Yes.”

  “I hear bikers can be very dangerous people.”

  “Yes, I was afraid for our lives.”

  “You don’t say.”

  Diana began to get a strange sensation. Like the doctor had already heard about their flat and the Good Samaritan bikers.

  “I thought the head guy was attacking Lillo, so I tried to stop him and fell, that’s how I hurt my wrist.”

  “Hmm.”

  “They were actually very helpful,�
� Diana explained, “but Jess—”

  “Just got out of a bad relationship,” the doctor finished. “Understandable.”

  Jess’s eyes widened.

  Allie slapped her hand to her mouth.

  Diana just nodded. That would explain all the misspelled pictures to Doc “Harley.” He hadn’t just heard about their run-in with the gang … he was the leader of the pack.

  Chapter 6

  How on earth did Lillo hook up with these women? Doc wondered as he wrapped the sprained wrist.

  “Do you happen to ride a Harley?” the brunette asked. Doc glanced up at her. Tall, slender, very well put together, clever looking, and expensively dressed. Fish out of water here in Lighthouse Beach.

  “As a matter of fact.”

  “What?” Jess asked suspiciously.

  “I’m the scary biker who changed your flat.”

  “No way. He was huge and …”

  “Scary,” Doc supplied for her. “But it was me. I have the marks to prove it.” He held out his left hand; two of the knuckles were scraped where he’d had to take off his gloves to pick up the lug nuts.

  The brunette leaned over to see for herself. “Sure you weren’t in a bar brawl to get those?”

  With a sense of humor. “Almost positive.”

  Jess blushed. “You’ve been laughing at me.”

  “Not at all. I’m sorry we frightened you. And I’m glad you’re a loyal friend. Not everyone would take on a threatening group of bikers to protect someone else.”

  His patient looked like she might burst into tears. Now what had he said? Was this the bride, maybe? Hadn’t Lillo said she had the bride with her? And this one had just gotten out of a bad relationship. Just weird. Leave it to Lillo to pick up a bunch of nutcases and bring them home.

  “So you’re all here to visit Lillo?”

  “For a few days,” the brunette answered, moving slightly closer to the seated Jess. A protective move? What the hell had Lillo gotten herself into?

  Doc pinned the end of the bandage. “Ice for the next forty-eight hours, keep it immobile as much as possible, and take ibuprofen for discomfort if needed. The swelling should go down in the next few days. If you develop a temperature or sore joints, come back to the clinic. Regardless, see your own doctor when you get home.” He held out his hand to help Jess from the examining table. She took it and slid to her feet.