Page 45 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

His gaze stayed fixed on me like he’d listen to me talk for hours. ‘Did you ever audition?’

‘Several times for chorus openings in shows like Moulin Rouge and Wicked. Me and like a thousand other wannabe actors.’

I rarely talked about my time in New York. While I loved the city, how the pace was like a constant stream of caffeine in my veins, other parts of it were bad for me. The loneliness and frequent temptation of alcohol and drugs. How once the sun set behind the skyscrapers, all my demons crawled out of their hiding spaces and took up residence in my head.

He pulled off strips of tape and pressed them against the bandage, mumbling a word under his breath.

‘What did you say?’

‘Brave. It’s like I said the day Mrs V got sick. Putting yourself out there. Sharing your talent with the world knowing you might get rejected. That takes real bravery.’

‘Or a hell of a lot of delusion.’

‘I disagree. People spend their whole lives thinking about their dreams but never chasing them. Then, when they are at the end of their life, they voice all their regrets. Believe me, I’ve heard from more than a few patients how they wished they’d taken more chances. You had a goal and went after it. What you did took courage. Never underestimate how powerful it was to make that choice.’

I sat in stunned silence. He barely knew me but he easily cut right to the heart of the matter. There were a lot of things about my past I wasn’t proud of, but auditioning for shows, living in New York, was the one glimpse of sunlight in that stormy period of my life.

‘Is it weird?’ I asked hesitantly.

‘Is what weird?’

‘Having to take care of me again?’

It was the damn elephant in the room. Might as well get it out in the open.

‘If this, if I’m… making you uncomfortable, I can go because that is the last thing I want.’

‘No.’ I reached out and touched his knee. He focused on where my hand sat and I quickly pulled away.

‘Piper, what you battled is a sickness like any other. You were treated and then followed doctor’s orders. Committed to recovery, set a new path, which by the looks of things was a damn good choice.’

Behind those beautiful eyes was not a single flicker of judgment. And if he was going to work at the clinic through the summer, he would have heard my whole story anyway because no one in this town could keep their mouth shut.

His steady gaze never wavered even as I said, ‘Am I fixed, doc?’

He pressed his lips into a thin line. ‘Ford.’

‘Excuse me?’

‘I want you to call me Ford.’ That sweet grin reappeared. ‘It feels appropriate now that we’re neighbors.’

I muttered, ‘Fine.’

‘Do you have a headache or any other symptoms?’

‘Besides extreme embarrassment, Ford? No.’

That got me a full-blown smile. He closed up the first aid kit, set it on the counter and walked straight toward the bathroom. I chased after him and stumbled into the room, bumping into the pedestal sink.

He ran his fingers over the spot where the shower rod was once anchored to the wall. ‘Wow. This took some work. Were you hanging on the bar like it was a jungle gym?’ he chuckled.

‘No, but I may have been dancing a little. Flailed my hands out and hit it.’ The way he bit into his lip said he was holding back another smile. ‘Yes, Rihanna does make me want to move, but maybe the shower isn’t the best place for a dance party.’

He threw back his head and laughed. ‘You think?’

As his shoulders shook, I took in this casual side of him. The T-shirt and shorts. How the sheen in his luscious dark hair made me want to reach out and run my fingers through it. And that smile, it was equal parts boyish and sexy, which only made my mind race with thoughts of how his lips would feel brushing across mine, his tongue parting the seam between us.

‘I have spackling paste in my apartment that’ll patch it,’ he said, interrupting my fantasy.