Just Over The Mountain Read Free Page B

later, when Chris had his first real leave from the navy, Mrs. Cruise threw a huge reception for the couple and invited the whole town—even June. It had all the flavor of a victory lap.
    June’s devastation knew no bounds. She was wrecked. But fortunately she was also angry. She realized, too late, that Chris had zigzagged between her and Nancy for the better part of four years, and the fact that she had him in her camp more often was little consolation. If the three of them had lived in the same town, it would probably have continued. He was just a two-timing lout with a short attention span. She was better off without him and was relieved that Chris and Nancyhad moved away. June got herself ready to be a doctor. Berkeley looked a damn site better than Grace Valley at that point in her life, and she welcomed the opportunity to lose herself in study. She rarely thought about Chris, and when she did think about him, she hoped he wasn’t happy.
    Now June sat at her desk, in her clinic, staring at a patient’s chart but not seeing it. This only happened to her when she heard Chris was going to be home, when she thought about the prospect of actually seeing him. The curse that lay on her was that they’d never had any closure. Shoot, he hadn’t even bothered to break up with me before he got married, she thought.
    But things were different this time. Chris was single.
    Once she had survived the pain of a broken heart, she hadn’t had any regrets about the way her life had gone, sans Chris. There had been a relationship or two along the way; she was hardly a nun. And at thirty-seven, there was still time for a long and even fruitful union.
    Remembering that phone call from her mother…
    Being teased by the men in town about having her old flame come back to reclaim her…
    Thinking about never knowing why …
    “I need a distraction,” she said aloud. “I can’t be dwelling on things past. Stupid things.” She flipped the pages of the chart, glanced at her watch, wondered what her aunt Myrna was doing for lunch.
    Then the door to her office burst open and there stood her nurse, Charlotte, a strong whiff of Benson & Hedges wafting in with her. June jumped in surprise asshe did several times a day, every day, because Charlotte simply would not knock.
    “Sorry,” Charlotte said. “Dr. Hudson called to ask if you’re still doing meat loaf tonight.”
    June made a face and chewed on the end of her pen, looking up at Charlotte from a lowered brow. That was another thing. She always referred to Elmer as Dr. Hudson and June as June. Charlotte had been Elmer’s nurse first, and seemed to still hold his retirement against June.
    “Charlotte, who cooks at your house?” June asked.
    “You know Bud’s cooked since he got laid off last time,” she said crossly.
    “Doesn’t it seem kind of funny that I make Elmer meat loaf every Tuesday night, and he’s retired?”
    Charlotte crossed her arms over her heavy bosom and looked sternly at June. “I think he’s earned that meat loaf,” she said.
    “Well, that figures,” June said, looking back at the chart, pen poised over the paper. “I’ve already told him I’ll see him at six. Remind him for me, will you?” She scribbled a note in the margin of some blood test results. There was no movement or sound from the doorway. She looked up. Charlotte appeared to have frozen there, her eyes wide open, her mouth agog, her coloring fading quickly to pallor. One arm began to rise trembling toward her chest when she went down fast with a huge thud.
    “Charlotte!”
    June got to her first, but John Stone and the receptionist, Jessie, were beside her in a flash. June pressed the stethoscope to Charlotte’s chest. Nothing. She placed her fingertips on her carotid arteries on each side of her fleshy neck.
    “Jessie,” John instructed, “get the crash cart right now. We’ll set up the EKG and defibrillator here in the hallway. Then call the police department. We’re going to