Her Old-Fashioned Doctor Read Free Page B

gorgeous dimple on his left cheek. God, he was handsome. And rugged. Nothing like the men from Westchester. His worn jeans, boots, and button down blue shirt gave him a casual, country appearance that appealed to her greatly.
    “I can tell you’ve been crying, darlin’. Are you in some kind of trouble?”
    She shook her head. “No. Nothing like that.” She stared into his eyes, wondering if she could trust him, wondering if it mattered if she spilled her troubles at his feet, just to get them off her chest. Maybe then some of the worry darkening her mood would lift. “Promise you won’t judge me?”
    “I promise.”
    She sighed. What the hell . “I was engaged to be married in about six months. Two nights ago I caught my husband-to-be with three prostitutes. We’ve been engaged for years, since shortly after high school, and the plan was that we’d always get married and have a big fancy wedding after I finished college. We’d just bought a house together, and I caught him in our bedroom with all three of those girls. So I packed a suitcase, hit him in the balls, and left.”
    “You kicked him in the balls?”
    “He pissed me off, and he was standing in my way. Technically I didn’t kick him in the balls, I swung my suitcase into his crotch. Knocked him on the floor too,” she said with pride as she recalled the pain twisting Steven’s face before she walked off.
    “Remind me to never piss you off.”
    She laughed and took a sip of tea. They ate in silence for a few minutes, and even though she hadn’t revealed much to John, she still felt a thousand times better for talking about it. Her habit of bottling up her troubles often left her stomach in knots and her head pounding, but a simple conversation with him left her feeling lighter, even happier, if she could claim any happiness at all right now.
    “Does your family know where you are?”
    “I called my parents. I told them what happened and said I needed to get out of New York for a while. Steven has already been by their house several times looking for me. He’s harassing my friends too, but none of them know where I’m headed.”
    “Where are you headed?”
    She shrugged. “Florida, I guess. My parents have a house on Rosemary Beach. I thought I’d stay there for a while. If I’m going to avoid my problems, I might as well do it with sand between my toes.” A thrill jolted through her as he continued to maintain her gaze, not once blinking, his intense stare holding her captive. She forced in several deep, slow breaths and decided to redirect the conversation. “It’s your turn now. Tell me about you. Where do you practice medicine?”
    “I own and operate a nonprofit called House Call Hope. Sometimes other doctors, including two of my cousins, come to volunteer, but most of the time it’s just me here in the hills. A lot of the people around here, especially those who live outside of town, don’t have any transportation. So I spend Mondays through Thursdays making house calls, and on Fridays I see patients in a small office I keep here in town.”
    She listened in awe as he went on to describe his nonprofit and the type of people he usually helped. As he described the difficult winter months and putting chains on his truck tires to visit patients high up in the mountains, her respect for him deepened. He explained that he’d grown up outside of town in the same house he lived in today. His father was also a doctor and had worked at the nearest hospital located an hour away, but he’d eventually set up a small practice in town to help the locals, the very office that John saw patients in today. While anyone could show up at the hospital for treatment, even if they didn’t have insurance, finding the transportation for the hour long trip was often too great a hindrance.
    “Does your father still live around here and practice medicine?”
    Sadness flickered in John’s dark brown eyes. “No, he’s not in good health. He lives in an