decision about whether to leave or not...soon.
But not right now.
A man with dark shaggy hair and a jaw shadowed with what had to be a three-week growth of whiskers made his way to the front desk. There was an exhaustion about him that went beyond physical tiredness. It was in the way his eyes shifted slowly from one person to the next. He greeted several of them, shaking their hands, but it was a rapid clasp and release. Not the hearty greeting most of the islanders gave each other.
He reached the desk, but didn’t take the pen to sign in. Instead he flipped over the top sheet with his right hand and started studying the entries.
An internal alarm went off inside her. While it wasn’t against the rules for patients to glance at the list of other patients to see how long the wait would be—at least she didn’t think it was—the way he was acting was odd, making her gut tighten.
The number of patients they’d had right after the earthquake was staggering, and they had ended up just stacking new sheets on top of the old ones, since they hadn’t had time to sit down and collate the data and put the sign-in times on charts yet. Even though things had evened out quite a bit, there were still things they hadn’t completely caught up with.
When those long fingers flicked another sheet over, it was Lea’s signal to move. Murmuring an apology as she accidentally brushed shoulders with an older woman, she hurried forward, arriving beside the man and firmly placing her hand on the first couple of sheets, trapping his beneath them.
“Can I help you with something?”
His gaze swiveled from the stack of papers to her face. Up went dark brows, a hint of irritation marring his rugged features. “You can let me see how many patients have been treated today.”
That inner alarm became less certain. Those low growled words didn’t sound apologetic. At all. No sign of the nosy-neighbor-caught-with-binoculars-up-to-his-eyes syndrome. Instead he acted as if he had a right to look at those pages. But she didn’t recognize him. She would have remembered those high cheekbones, that bump in an otherwise straight nose.
Although...wasn’t there...?
What?
Despite the whiskers, his strong jaw was clearly visible. This was a man who wasn’t easily deterred from something he wanted. She just wasn’t sure what that something was.
She blinked to bring the room back into focus. Still filled with people. A few of them were on the list, waiting to be seen, but many just needed the solid presence of the clinic to ground them.
She lifted her hand from the papers, although she probably shouldn’t. He still hadn’t explained who he was.
“May I ask what you’re looking for, specifically?”
“I believe I already explained that, Ms....?”
Her chin tilted. “It’s Dr. Dr. Risi.”
“I wasn’t aware the clinic had hired a new doctor.” His voice downshifted, becoming a little less gruff. “Where is Petra?”
“Petra’s mom hasn’t felt well since the earthquake. She’s been going home during her lunch break to check on her.”
How did he know the clinic receptionist’s name? Although most of the islanders in this area seemed to know each other.
And now he was flipping through those patient sheets once again. “I don’t see a list of symptoms or injuries.”
“There isn’t one. Things got too chaotic, trying to separate them out, so we just did triage, taking the critical patients first. We put the ones who were stable but needed a specialist in a secondary waiting area in the Serenity Gardens.”
Facing the ocean, the courtyard led to a spacious garden that faced the sea. Lea’s tiny treatment area had been carved out of a dead-end path, shielded on two sides by vine-covered trellises.
It was the perfect place for her to see patients who needed to work through what they’d experienced during the quake. It was wonderful, and restful, and despite the tragedy she loved what she was doing there. More than she’d ever dreamed possible.
The people in the waiting area weren’t the only ones who needed to be grounded. She’d come to Greece to do just that. And had ended up on the island just as the quake hit. She’d stayed to help.
Her attention came back with a bump when the man in front of her made a slight scoffing noise.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
It was then that she realized she still didn’t know who he was. He could be a psychiatric patient for all she knew. “Do you need to leave a message for Petra?”
He frowned. “Is Theo—Dr. Nikolaides—back yet?”
Theo had just gotten engaged. His whirlwind romance with Cailey had been a bright spot for the clinic, and probably one of the reasons why there were more people than normal here. It was as if folks wanted to catch a glimpse of the couple—live vicariously through those who had been able to find happiness in the midst of tragedy. Cailey was also nearly two months pregnant, and the baby had become a symbol of hope.
“He’s taking a much-needed personal day. Did you have a consultation scheduled with him?”
Maybe he actually was a patient.
“Not exactly.” One side of his mouth went up in a half-smile that sent her pulse tripping over itself. “He called me. Basically said I was an emotionless so-and-so if I didn’t come home as soon as I could.”
Home...
Home?
Then she swallowed—hard—an awful suspicion crashing like a boulder in the pit of her stomach. “You live here?”
His smile widened and he let the papers fall back into place as he turned toward her. “I don’t live in the clinic, if that’s what you mean.”
“No, I don’t mean that, I just...” She was at a loss for words—which was unusual, since talking was what she was paid to do. What she loved to do. No, it wasn’t the words. It was the listening...the empathizing...the helping that she loved.
Although she couldn’t help everyone.
Her eyes closed as a shot of pain punched through her chest.
No, don’t think about that. Not now.
Something touched her hand. “Hey. Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She forced herself to smile. “I’m just tired. And I forgot to ask who you are.”
“Of course. Sorry, I just always assume that everyone knows who I am.” Something dark slithered through his brown eyes. Then it was gone again as quickly as it had come. “I’m Deakin Patera. I’m one of the four founding partners of the clinic.”
Ack!
God,
