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Jay nodded. “It would be something we’d have to deal with.”
“I think it’s a moot point. She hasn’t even been in contact with Janessa. I don’t think she’s coming back.”
“I guess we’ll see,” Jay said as he got to his feet. He hesitated a moment, looking like he was going to say something else, but then he turned and left the office.
Gareth stared at the empty doorway. Jay hadn’t reacted like Gareth had assumed he would. He either had other stuff on his mind, or he just didn’t care. Gareth was going to go with the former because it was rare that Jay didn’t care about something that impacted the clinic negatively.
When Janessa knocked on his door to let him know his first patient of the afternoon was in an exam room, Gareth realized he hadn’t eaten his lunch. He still wasn’t hungry, so rather than force himself to eat, he took his sub to the break room and put it in the fridge. He wanted a cup of coffee, but that would have to wait until he had some time between patients.
“Hello,” Gareth said with a forced smile as he walked into the exam room. “How’re you doing today?”
“I’m okay,” the elderly woman said. “Just here for the follow-up you wanted on my blood pressure.”
Pushing aside all his thoughts and emotions, Gareth focused on his job. It felt like the one stable thing in his life right then.
“What happened to Aria?” the woman asked once they were done discussing her health concerns. “Is she sick?”
Gareth hadn’t anticipated dealing with patient inquiries about Aria, though he probably should have.
“She’s moved on,” Gareth said.
The woman frowned. “She left? Why would she do that?”
“Yes. She had to leave for personal reasons.”
That was true enough, though it didn’t seem to appease the woman.
“I really thought she’d stick around. She seemed to like it here.”
Gareth had thought that, too. “Apparently, she changed her mind.”
The woman peered at him with sharp blue eyes. “You didn’t do anything to chase her away, did you?”
“No. I can honestly say that this had nothing to do with me.”
“Well, it’s a real shame that she left.”
The woman stood and reached for her coat. Gareth helped her put it on, then walked with her to the front. “Take care of yourself.”
“You too, young man.”
His gaze landed on the empty chair behind the reception desk, and his heart ached. He might want to hold tight to the anger, but there was no denying—to himself at least—that beneath it all was the hurt… so much hurt. Its presence just added to his anger because he didn’t want to feel it.
She was the first woman he’d ever felt such depth of emotion for—had ever really loved—and now he didn’t trust his feelings because it felt like they’d been for a different person.
When he went home later, Gareth busied himself with stuff around the house. Though he had someone who came to do a general cleaning of the home, he did his own dishes and laundry. So after putting on his favorite medically-oriented podcast, he threw in a load of laundry, then wandered into his garage.
He opened the overhead door to let in some fresh air as he worked to organize his tools. They weren’t necessarily messy, but he had a tendency to put tools he used on the workbench instead of back on the wall or in the spaces he’d set aside for them. Sorting them out was never his favorite thing, but right then, he needed the distraction.
A hand landed on his shoulder as he worked. Startled, Gareth jerked around, sighing when he spotted Wade.
Pulling one of his ear buds out, Gareth said, “What are you doing here?”
“Something is obviously wrong, so I’m here to see what’s up.” He put his hands on his hips as he glanced around. “What’s going on?”
Gareth turned his attention back to his tools. “Nothing.”
“You lie,” Wade said without heat.
