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CHAPTER ONE
DUMPED. HOW COULD Paul have dumped her?
Dr. McKenzie Wilkes stared at the phone message, not quite believing what she was reading.
Not just dumped, but via text. Seriously?
What did it say that Paul had dumped her via a typed message? That she hadn’t warranted an in-person kick to the curb?
After more than two years of dating and his promise of undying love, she’d at the minimal deserved a call and explanation, surely? At least Clay, her ex prior to Paul, had broken things off in person rather than through technology.
To be fair, Paul had tried calling the previous evening.
Only she’d not seen the missed call until too late to dial back because she’d been on call at the hospital until six this morning and she’d been swamped. She’d not even seen the notification until long after midnight. Was this what he’d wanted to talk to her about? That he no longer loved her and wanted to end their relationship?
McKenzie bit the inside of her lower lip as she glared at the phone screen. Nope, she was not going to cry. Not going to happen. She had to go inside Seattle Cardiac Clinic for Kids and put on a happy face. How could she not when her patients and their families were dealing with so much more than a broken relationship?
Their sweet little hearts really were broken, physically as well as emotionally. Yet, most of her patients’ families had amazing attitudes once the initial shock wore off. Yeah, she had to get her act together and not give in to the urge to go home, crawl into bed, curl into the fetal position and cry until there were no tears left.
Her patients needed her.
McKenzie loved her job as a pediatric cardiologist and advocate for her patients. She often got caught up in work, volunteering to take on extra shifts or canceling plans because one of her patients was in crisis.
She’d thought Paul had understood. Perhaps he hadn’t. He worked for an online retailer. His clients didn’t die if something went wrong.
McKenzie bit deeper into her lower lip, hoping the physical pain would defer the shattering in her chest.
Paul loved her. Hadn’t he told her so hundreds, if not thousands, of times over the past two years? How could he just text that they needed time apart to reevaluate their feelings? That he felt they’d grown apart and had different life views and goals?
Pretty much all her future personal plans were tied up with Paul and the life they’d someday have together. She’d thought they’d be married within the next year or two, would start a family, would grow old together.
Then again, she’d thought the same thing with Clay, hadn’t she? He’d ended a seven-year-long relationship that had begun during medical school and ended it when she’d thought they’d be taking that next life step together. Instead, he’d told her he was accepting a residency in Boston and she wasn’t invited.
Oh, the pity she’d gotten at home following that breakup. As if dealing with her own inner misery wasn’t enough, her mother had just about driven her crazy with date setups and poor-you babying.
She’d had to get away. Taking a residency offer in Seattle had been a godsend in so many ways.
Unfortunately, McKenzie was about to have an emotional déjà vu. A bad one. Possibly one worse than the last. In just under a month, she would be traveling to Tennessee for the first time since she’d moved.
For her cousin Reva’s wedding with McKenzie as one of the bridesmaids. They’d always planned to be in each other’s weddings. McKenzie had even wondered if Paul would use the trip to pop the question himself.
Obviously not.
Why had she hinted to her mother that a proposal might be in her near future? Wasn’t that like throwing gasoline on a fire?
Going to Jeremy and Reva’s wedding single was not an option. Her mother would feel it her obligation to push every Tom, Dick and Harry at her, all the while offering her looks of pity and conversations about how she’d once again been dumped.
McKenzie’s fingers palmed the phone she held as reality further sank in. Paul had ended their relationship. He didn’t love her anymore, if he ever had.
Sure, he’d never sent her heart into the acrobatics childhood fairytales had made her think were supposed to happen when she was around her significant other, but she enjoyed his company, their relationship made sense, and she genuinely cared for him. Besides, who believed in those kind of fairy tales, anyway?
Their relationship had been pleasant, comfortable, like warm cocoa on a cold drizzly Seattle night. Paul was dependable and made her happy.
She’d loved her cocoa guy. He’d made her feel loved, needed, as if she mattered.
“Hey, Dr. Wilkes,” one of her colleagues called, jarring McKenzie to the fact that she was standing frozen to the spot where she’d gotten the text.
“Hi, back,” she called, giving a little wave and pretending that her world hadn’t just crashed around her as she made her way inside the building and toward her office.
Her hands shook. Thank goodness she was in clinic today and not doing procedures where she had to have super steady hands.
It was more than her hands that shook.
Her entire body trembled.
Paul had dumped her.
Feeling a wave of lightheadedness hit her, McKenzie paused on her way to her office, leaned her forehead against the cold concrete wall, and closed her eyes.
She’d be okay. Even if Paul didn’t love her anymore, she’d be fine. Somehow.
Even if she had to go to Reva’s wedding and pretend everything was just lovely in her own life despite being single again, she’d survive those looks and conversations behind her back.
