AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Emory,” I called, beckoning her and her mother to follow me down the hall.
I led them to one of the exam rooms and shut the door behind us. Emory looked pale and tired when she climbed up onto the exam table. After going over Emory’s medical history with her mother, I checked the little girl’s vitals, and everything was normal except for a fever. Her throat, however, was bright red and her tonsils were swollen.
“I think you might be right,” I said to Rosalee. “I’ll swab little Emory’s throat to make sure, but I believe she has strep.”
Taking a sterile swab from the tray on the counter, I slowly tickled Emory’s throat with it, trying my best not to trigger her gag reflex as her mother held her tiny hand in a comforting grip. When I was finished, Janie must have been waiting by the door because she almost instantly appeared with a pair of tongs and carefully placed the sample in a plastic container before rushing off to the lab.
“It won’t take long for the results,” I assured Rosalee.
Emory slid off the table and climbed into her mother’s lap, instantly closing her eyes.
“Are you from around here?” I asked, even though I was almost positive they were tourists; it was easy to tell from the accents.
Rosalee shook her head. “We’re from Boston. Oak Island is where we like to vacation.”
My eyes widened. “Really? I live in Boston. I work at Massachusetts General Hospital.”
Rosalee smiled. “Small world. I take it you’re here visiting your family?”
I nodded. “For the summer.”
It sounded so simple, but it was anything but that. I wasn’t about to go into detail about losing my grandmother, reconnecting with a lost love, and deciding what to do with my grandmother’s house.
Rosalee rubbed her hands soothingly over Emory’s back as she started to doze off. “As much as I love Boston, I would choose this place over there any day. It’s so beautiful here.”
“Yes, it is,” I agreed. “If there was a neurosurgeon job close by, I might consider moving back, but there’s nothing down here. That’s why I stayed in Boston after finishing college.”
There were other reasons, too—Jensen being the main one—but with my skills, I needed to be in a big city.
A soft knock sounded on the door and Janie came in, holding a piece of paper with the test results. As predicted, Emory had strep. I wrote an antibiotic prescription and handed it to Rosalee so they could be on their way.
Still holding Emory in her arms, Rosalee walked with me to the front desk, and my mother checked her out. “Thank you for seeing Emory,” Rosalee murmured.
I smiled. “I was happy to. Enjoy the rest of your vacation. Emory should start feeling better tomorrow once she has a full day of antibiotics in her system.”
There were more people in the waiting room, and I could tell by the hopeful look on my mother’s face that she wanted me to stay.
“Give me a chart,” I said, holding out my hand and laughing.
My mother beamed and handed me a file. “We don’t need the help, per se, but you’re so good with kids. You’re a natural when it comes to them. It seems to be all we have on the schedule today.” Most of my surgical patients were adults, so I never saw many children.
“It’s okay,” I replied, “it feels good helping out. I'll be here if you need me again in the next two days. Nyla comes in after that and I plan on showing her around. But I’m sure she won’t mind if I leave her to come here.”
My mother waved me off. “Oh, no, sweetheart. You need to spend time with your friend since she’s coming all the way down here.” She moved closer, her gaze narrowed mischievously. “But . . . what I do want from you when you get the chance is to search your grandmother’s room and see if you can find anything else. Maybe you could go see Georgia and talk to her. I’m curious to see if there’s more.”
Excitement bubbled in my chest. “I can do that.” Seeing Georgia again sounded like a great idea. “It might take me some time searching through Grammy’s room,” I added. “The box hidden under the boards was stealthy.”
My mother giggled. “That’s my mom for you. She was a crafty woman.”
That she was.
I’d searched through the room already, but I had a feeling I needed to go deeper. It was an adventure I looked forward to and one I knew Nyla would be ecstatic for.
17
EVERLEIGH
Three days had passed, and I’d barely seen Jensen. Most of my time was spent at the clinic with my parents. There was an influx of tourists coming in with various ailments, and I didn’t want the office turning people away. However, when I got home each day, I could tell something new was done to the house. The siding had been pressure washed and a fresh coat of sealer was on the deck. Jensen had been by every day, and I was disappointed that I hadn’t been able to see him. At the very least, he deserved a thank you for everything he’s done for me.
