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Dr. Luiz walked over, sat down in the chair opposite Natalie’s desk, and regarded her for long, silent moments. “From the time I met you as a bright-eyed resident, I’ve felt a special bond with you, Natalie. Treated you almost as if you were my daughter. I want good things for you.”
Feeling a wave of emotion wash over her, Natalie waited for him to continue. He didn’t disappoint.
“When I first announced my intent to semi-retire, I never questioned that you could step up to fill the vacancy. I’ve no doubt you’d have done so successfully if the circumstances were different, because you’d have put your whole heart, your whole being into this hospital.”
He was right. She would have.
“If relocating is what you believe in your heart is right for you, then I support your decision.”
Natalie closed her eyes. Accepting the offer was the right decision.
“But I don’t agree that it is in your best interests to relocate. I want more for you than that, but I’m not convinced you want more for yourself.”
She arched her brow.
“Something changed for you in Miami. I couldn’t put my finger on it until I saw you with Matthew. Hiring him was the right thing for Memphis Children’s, but it was also the right thing for you.”
“You’re wrong.” It would have been better if Matthew had stayed a fantasy fling.
Wouldn’t it?
Dr. Luiz leaned forward. “I don’t know everything that happened between you two, but I do know you need to figure it out before anyone else sees this.”
He crumpled up her resignation letter and tossed it onto her desk.
His words making her question conclusions she’d already come to, she shook her head. “There are a lot of things you don’t know. Just take my word for it when I say that taking this job is the right thing.”
“Lucky for them that you think so. Pity for you.”
Dr. Luiz was wrong. The position in Florida opened a whole new world of opportunities. She’d be a fool to stay. Staying meant seeing Matthew regularly. She needed to forget him. To forget the things he made her long for.
Natalie winced. She wasn’t longing for anything.
She wasn’t.
If she was, she’d have reacted differently when Matthew had confessed he was falling for her, right?
She wouldn’t have questioned his motives in what he’d said. Wouldn’t have assumed that he was only saying he wanted her because she’d found Carrie and he’d been overcome with emotion.
At his words, she’d locked up inside, felt panicked. She’d felt the need to run, been scared to believe him.
Most of the people who’d come into her life had been temporary, had come and gone, and she was the one left behind.
Why should she expect him to be any different?
Emotions were messy, set a person up to get hurt. She’d been hurt enough during her lifetime. More than enough.
She hurt now.
Shocked by her admission, Natalie dropped her head onto her desk, the wadded-up letter crunching beneath her forehead.
Ugh. What was she doing?
Leaving for Florida. Was that nothing more than running away because she was afraid of Matthew, of what he made her want? Afraid of caring for Carrie?
Afraid or not, she did care. And she did want.
Straightening, Natalie sucked in a deep breath, fought back the moisture accumulating in her eyes, and rubbed her temples.
