Page 47 of Unspoken Love

Good, he thought. She needed the rest.

Grabbing his boots, he stepped out the back door into the warmth of the day and made his way toward the stables.

Chapter Fifteen

While Faye sat in the chair in the exam room waiting for Dr. Rowen, her mother was outside talking to her favorite nurse, Grant.

The two were always flirting. At first, Faye hadn’t thought much about it, but now that she was feeling the afterglow of an amazing weekend with Nate, she was sort of rooting for them. Why hadn’t Grant asked her mom out yet? Had he? Maybe they had gone out.

She knew that the man wasn’t married. She’d overheard how his wife had died almost ten years ago. He had a son, Calvin, that was a few years younger than she was.

And her mother had never remarried after she’d divorced her dad while he rotted in a prison cell. His right to see any of his children had been stripped away shortly after she’d turned one and was in her third surgery.

The way her mother told the story, almost every bone in Faye’s body had been broken because of that man. All it had taken was ten minutes. Her mother had asked her husband to watch the kids while she showered, and that short time had changed the course of so many lives.

The knock on the door pulled Faye’s attention from the swirling thoughts in her head.

“Good morning, Faye,” Dr. Rowen said with her usual calm warmth as she stepped inside, already reading from the tablet in her hand. Her silver-streaked dark hair was twisted up in a neat bun, and her fitted blazer made her look more like a professor than a cochlear implant specialist. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Faye smiled weakly. “Not a problem.”

Dr. Rowen took the seat across from her and looked up over her reading glasses. “So, I got your labs back from the swabs we took around the implant site.”

Faye held her breath.

“There’s a mild infection around the site—nothing severe, but it might explain some of the pain and the overload episodes. I’m going to prescribe a ten-day course of oral antibiotics, which you will start today, and I want you back in a week to follow up.”

Faye nodded slowly. “Will this affect the implant? Will it have to be replaced?”

Dr. Rowen gave a gentle shake of her head. “Not unless it’s left untreated. You’ve done the right thing coming in quickly. The area isn’t showing any signs of rejection or fluid buildup, which is what we’d worry about most.”

“Okay,” she said, exhaling. Relief mixed with slight disappointment. She had hoped for a cleaner outcome—but she could live with antibiotics.

“I also want to run one more test next week—some sensitivity mapping to see how your implant is responding to environmental noise. Sometimes, post-infection, the sound balance can shift, and we may need to reprogram it.”

“Got it,” Faye said, absorbing every word, every possibility.

“Good.” Dr. Rowen stood, smoothing her blazer. “Is your mom still out there?”

Faye nodded. “Yes, she’s probably still flirting with Grant.”

Dr. Rowen’s mouth curved. “She’s not the only one. I’ve had to remind him this is a medical facility, not a dating app.” She winked before leaving the room with a chuckle.

After they’d stopped by the pharmacy to fill her prescription, her mom took her to their favorite lunch spot in Portland—Milo’s Garden Bistro, a cozy plant-filled café with mismatched chairs, freshly baked bread on every table, and usually a low noise level.

They were seated at a small table by the window while the lunch crowd buzzed around them. Currently, it was a little too loud to talk easily, so her mom started signing to her.

“You okay?” she signed.

Faye nodded and signed back.

“I’m glad it was just an infection. I don’t mind taking antibiotics for one week.” She paused, and her fingers slowed for a heartbeat. “It could’ve been worse.”

Her mother reached across the table, her eyes soft. “You’ve got this.”

Faye smiled and took a sip of her coffee. “So did Grant ask you out?”

Her mother laughed as the conversation turned to men and relationships. While they ate, Faye told her mother that she was sort of seeing someone, but kept Nate’s name out of it.