Page 27 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

‘And your breathing at night,’ Silvio urged.

‘Don’t you go telling all our intimate secrets.’

Now Silvio was the one with pink cheeks.

‘How about we walk over to the clinic? Let me do a short exam to make sure things are all right?’ I said.

She waved me off. ‘Not necessary. I haven’t been sleeping well and it’s taking its toll.’

‘Honey,’ Silvio started. ‘Get your sweet behind out of that chair and get movin’. Can’t hurt to let the doc give you the once over.’

‘Since when did you get so bossy?’ she lovingly chided him.

‘Where’ve you been? I’ve been this saucy since ’round nineteen seventy.’

She huffed out a laugh. I gave a brief glance to Piper, who kept her worried gaze fixed on the ornery woman.

‘Young man, mind helping me?’ Silvio scooted around the chair and we each took a hand to help Mrs Vanderpool to her feet.

He walked her to the door and I grabbed my keys and wallet off the table. Barb and Susan quickly intercepted me. ‘Thank you, Dr Foster.’ Their solemn gazes flicked to Mrs Vanderpool. ‘Will she be all right?’

‘Not sure. I’ll know more after I check her over.’

I started to say my goodbyes when Susan reached for my hand. ‘You’re good people. Glad you’re in Ivy Falls.’

‘She’s right,’ Barb added. ‘Coffee and donuts on the house the next time you stop in.’

‘That’s not necessary.’

‘Just say yes,’ Susan huffed. ‘Once my sweetie sets her mind to something, there’s no changing it.’

‘All right then. See you next time.’

I waded through the crowd. Another tug in my chest had me glancing over my shoulder for one last look at Piper, but she’d already disappeared into the kitchen.

Outside, my lungs filled with another blast of wet air. I followed a few steps behind the older couple, their hands sweetly entwined again.

I tried not to jump to conclusions with a patient, but I’d seen her symptoms before and suspected she needed more specialized care than I could provide in Ivy Falls.