tried to scan the newspaper she’d purchased at the hospital, as she normally did, but her mind kept wandering. She couldn’t help wondering about how Josh was handling his new wheelchair, and whether or not Dr. Morris had unwound enough to play a few games with his son.
And she found herself hoping that the uptight surgeon wouldn’t overdo things with Josh in his eagerness to get the boy walking again. If he pushed Josh too hard, the poor kid would be too sore to participate in her games tomorrow. Moderation was an important aspect of physical therapy and she realized now that she should have made a point of reinforcing that fact before they’d left.
She doubted Dr. Morris knew anything about moderation. The way he’d watched her, with his incredibly intense gaze, had made her feel extremely self-conscious. And far too aware of him.
Her cheeks burned as she remembered the way she’d let him have it in her office. Normally she didn’t find it at all difficult to keep her temper under control, at least within a professional setting. But somehow Josh’s father had pushed her buttons in a big way. The memory of her tirade made her wince. She’d have to make sure she kept her cool during their session tomorrow.
Would Dr. Morris bring his son in again? Or would he send Josh to someone else? Everyone knew that Dan Morris was single—there was a lot of talk about him being one of Angel’s most eligible bachelors, especially now that Dr. Tyler Donaldson had been snagged by Dr. Eleanor Aston.
But whereas Tyler was a flirt, Dan was an enigma. Composed. Aloof. She didn’t doubt for a moment that he had a nanny to help care for his son. The thought that she might not see Dr. Morris in the morning left her feeling curiously disappointed. That was crazy, because it wasn’t as if she had any interest in the guy, other than how he needed to learn how to unbend enough to help his son.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly missed her subway stop. At the last moment she grabbed her backpack and her newspaper and elbowed her way through the crowd to dash out the door seconds before they closed. Thankfully, the weather was mild for spring, so it was no hardship to walk the few blocks home to her tiny apartment.
Inside, she quickly heated up some leftovers and forced herself to finish reading the newspaper. She liked being up to date on current events, especially as the length of her commute didn’t provide any time to watch the news.
When she opened the entertainment section, she stared in shock when she recognized her sister, Sally, and boyfriend, Mike, smiling together in a huge photo announcing their engagement.
Sally and Mike were engaged? Since when? And why hadn’t anyone called her?
She couldn’t seem to drag her gaze away from the beautiful, happy couple. Her sister was as dark as she herself was fair, making it even more noticeable that they weren’t bonded by blood. Molly had been adopted by the Shrivers when she’d been four years old, but shortly thereafter her adoptive mother had discovered she was pregnant.
When Sally was born, Molly had been thrilled to have a younger sister to play with, but as they’d grown older, it had become clear that Sally, as the biological daughter, had been the favorite and she herself had too often been simply an afterthought.
Nothing had changed in the years since they’d both grown up. No matter how hard she tried to belong, when it came to her family, she remained the outsider, looking in.
Seeing her sister’s engagement photo soured her appetite, so she shoved the newspaper aside and carried her dishes to the sink. She shouldn’t be so upset at how Sally had gotten engaged without telling her, but she was. She knew her family hadn’t done this to her on purpose, they weren’t mean-spirited, it was more that they often forgot about her.
If she called her mother now to ask about Sally’s engagement, Jenny would profusely apologize and offer some weak excuse to try to cover the fact that Molly hadn’t been included.
For a moment, a deep sense of loneliness weighed down her shoulders like a heavy blanket. All she’d ever wanted was to be a part of a family. She’d thought her prayers had been answered when the Shrivers had adopted her, but over time she’d become less and less a true member of the family.
And since she’d graduated from college her one attempt to have a family of her own had backfired. James had been several years older than she was, a divorced father with two young boys. She’d met him when one of his boys had been injured playing soccer and she’d performed his therapy. They’d dated for five years, and she’d been sure he’d propose marriage, but instead he’d called off their relationship, claiming he’d fallen in love with someone else.
He’d broken her heart, although now, a year later, she could admit she’d loved his two young sons more than she’d loved him.
Not seeing James’s boys anymore had left a huge, aching hole in her life. In her soul.
Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest. She didn’t belong, not with the Shrivers and certainly not with James. On a professional level she belonged at Angel’s, and working there had been the best decision of her life.
It was too bad that on a personal level it seemed she was destined to live her life alone.
Dan swallowed a curse as he wrestled to get Josh’s wheelchair back into the trunk of his car. Josh didn’t seem to like the stupid chair, despite Molly’s insistence that having it would give him more independence. And Dan hadn’t appreciated the sympathetic stares aimed at his son when they’d ridden down in the elevator together. One of the reasons he had balked at using the chair had been to save Josh from being teased about it.
Although maybe if he’d used the wheelchair with Josh from the very beginning, his son would be that much further along with his therapy.
More to feel guilty about. As if everything Josh had been through, the prolonged hospital stay and multiple surgeries, hadn’t been enough. With an effort he shoved his dark thoughts aside.
“Ready, Josh?” he asked, as he slid behind the wheel.
“Yep.” One good thing was that Josh hadn’t been upset about going to therapy this morning. And he hadn’t clung to Gemma, his nanny, begging her to take him. Dan knew part of the reason was that Josh was looking forward to seeing Molly again. However, he hoped there were also tentative bonds forming between him and his son.
Yesterday, when they’d gotten home, he’d fired the tutor who’d been mean to Josh and had called the school to arrange for a replacement. This time a young college freshman by the name of Mitch came to the house and Josh seemed to flourish under the kid’s fun and somewhat laid-back approach.
As he’d watched them together, he couldn’t help thinking Molly would approve.
After Josh’s lessons they’d played the ball game again and the entire time Molly’s parting words had played over and over in his mind. Don’t worry, you’ll get better with practice.
His gut still burned with the memory. He hadn’t felt that inadequate since his internship year.
Despite being seriously annoyed with her, he had to admit to feeling some grudging admiration for Molly. No one had ever dared to stand up to him the way she had. And what was that she’d said? Something about how she wouldn’t stand over his shoulder and tell him how to do heart surgery? Earlier in the session she’d called him Mr. Morris, but she’d obviously known who he was the whole time.
He supposed it was possible
