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“You sure? It’s the last one,” Mar says, grinning at me. “You must be on his good side for him to give away his beloved bear claw.”
“First the last muffin and now the last bear claw? You’re going to dread seeing me coming, Dr. Wyatt,” I say.
He mutters something under his breath and his ears turn pink.
“What?” I ask.
“Consider it a welcome to Landmark,” he says.
“We’ve been thoroughly welcomed for a while now,” I counter.
He pauses before saying, “How about we just say it’s my pay-it-forward to a sweet little girl and her mom who brought some sunshine into Happy Cow this morning?”
I stare at him and swallow hard. For some reason, I feel like cryingandhugging him.
I blink up at him, momentarily blinded by his green eyes and the long black lashes, the way his jaw is peppered with scruff, unlike the times I see him at work. Every nerve ending in my body is fired up just being near him.
Terrifying and wrong, but true.
“Thank you,” I say, turning away from him so I can get a grip.
Mar and her husband, Lar, are staring at the two of us like we’re the most interesting specimens they’ve seen in a while. And then Mar gets busy finishing up our box.
Wyatt points at something. “Throw one of those in there too, please. And that fruit tart.” He smiles at me and then Dakota, who claps her hands in approval, and as hard as I’m trying to hold onto the walls I’ve erected, the armor I’ve always needed, my heart thaws and the barriers begin to crumble.
CHAPTERFOURTEEN
EVERY SINGLE AFFLICTION
WYATT
I feel good about the exchange with Marlow at Happy Cow over the weekend…until I see her on Monday morning.
The way she steals my airways, causing my heart to stutter every single time I see her…it’s just not right.
It should send me running in the opposite direction, but it’s such a bizarre phenomenon for me that I only want more.
This is not how a friend acts.
All week I find reasons to walk by the front desk when I have to go anywhere in the hospital, even if it takes me the farthest route. I can use the steps, right?
My strategic and somewhat frequent lurking is how I notice that I’m not the only one intrigued by Mrs. No-No.
This is how she must remain to me until she is no longer married.
There are a couple of patients who are becoming regulars. We’ve always had patients who enjoy their hospital time.
Agnes Freeman comes in every time she gets a mosquito bite.
Jim Landon is prone to thinking he has an incurable disease and so far, he’s only had a sinus infection and Athlete’s foot.
But this is different.
There are two men who have been visiting Landmark Mountain for a few weeks and once they came in that first time, Pine Community has become their revolving door.
Bobby Hymer, age 30, 190 pounds, stats all within a healthy range. I first saw him about a twisted ankle, and the next time was for an upset stomach. When I saw him come in a third time and linger by Marlow’s desk a good twenty minutes before his appointment, and his reason for coming in was a sore on his big toe, something clicked.
David Lowell, age 42, 220 pounds, high cholesterol. He came in for heartburn and keeps coming back like it’s a surprise that it hasn’t gone away overnight while he’s still doing the same things he was that first visit. He hangs out at Marlow’s desk long after his appointments are over.
