people aren’t cut out for it. And it’s quite isolated, as you already know. Which is what surprises me about you coming here…alone. You are alone, aren’t you?”
“For now,” she said, sighing. “And I came here because I want to be off the beaten path.” That much was absolutely true. She wanted to set up her new life without the Riordans’ interference, and interference was a distinct likelihood if she did it under their scrutiny.
“Then you’ve come to the right place because I’m not even sure if there is a beaten path.”
“Speaking of the right place, I’d like to go find it and get myself settled in. Do you know where it is?”
He raised his eyebrows skeptically. “You don’t?”
“I’m not very good at directions.” That was a bit of a hedge, but there was no reason to include him in every little detail of her business transaction. Truth was, buying what she had, sight unseen, might seem a little strange to most people, and what she didn’t want was for word to get around that the new doctor was wonky in such affairs, because that could get back to the judge. So instead of admitting that quite possibly she was wonky, or worse, she merely smiled. “I get myself lost at the end of my driveway and right now I’m not even sure if I go left or right to get there.”
“Then we’ll go pick up your loaner car from the mayor, and you can follow me on out there.”
She wanted to ask how far on out was, but instead she took another sip of coffee. It didn’t matter anyway. However far it was, she owned it, and for the next five years it was going to be her home sweet home. In a little over five months, home sweet home for Meghan, too. That, and nothing else, was what mattered.
CHAPTER TWO
THE loaner car was nice—a compact little SUV. Purple. The mayor explained that it belonged to his daughter who was off to college right now, and Della’s first thought was why would a college girl need a car on Redcliffe Island? Was there anyplace to go here? Of course, she didn’t ask. That would have been impolite. Instead, she accepted the keys graciously and promised to be careful.
“I might stop in to see you later,” Mayor Vargas said, as he rubbed his shoulder. “Got a little touch of arthritis setting in, I’m afraid. Maybe you could take a look.”
Her first patient. This was promising. Here less than an hour and she was about to get busy. “Stop by any time.” She assumed he knew where to stop by, and she would have told him to call for an appointment, but she didn’t know if her phone service was in operation yet. Land-line phone. She’d given up her cellphone right after she’d given up just about everything else that had added an extra bill to her burden. In her old life the cost of it hadn’t mattered; in her new life it did tremendously. “I’ll be glad to have a look at you.” She was tempted to tell him to bring all his friends along for an exam, too, but that would have seemed rather bold of her.
“So, is there anything else we can do to help you get settled in, Doc?” he asked. “I know some of the ladies are going to bring meals to you for a while, until you’re set up on your own.”
“I hadn’t even thought about that,” she admitted. “I appreciate it.”
“Well, that’s the way we operate here. What’s mine is yours…you know how that is.”
She smiled like she did know. But the truth was, all those years she’d been married to Anthony she’d thought what had been his had been hers, too, and that everything in their marriage had been shared. Which hadn’t turned out to be the case. It had all been his, except the debt, and that had become all hers.
“So are we good to go?” Sam asked.
“Do I need a key or something to get into the house or the clinic?” Della asked, suddenly realizing that she had nothing that marked ownership or entitlement to the house or property other than the word of Foster Armstrong, who’d said he would send the papers along once they were registered.
“It’s open,” the mayor said, then bade them goodbye and scurried off to his office.
Della stood on the sidewalk for a moment, simply looking around. She liked it, she thought. It was easy. People were friendly. Strangers waved and smiled, and old men tipped their hats in polite greeting. Maybe being cut off from the mainstream wasn’t such a bad thing. “So you’ve never been here before?” she asked Sam.
Sam shook his head. “I’m new in the job. Got lots of territory to cover, and I haven’t had time before now. Without a doctor on the island, I didn’t have a reason, either.”
“You don’t practice medicine at all?”
“Not for an awfully long time. It ties you to one place, and I don’t like to be tied any more.” He flashed an extraordinarily sexy grin at her. “Been there, done that, moved on to something else. Life’s too short to be stuck with something you don’t want.”
“I like having roots. It’s nice to have the same place to come home to. There’s something comforting in stability.” She realized that more now than she ever had before.
“We all think that at some time, I suppose. I did once, but I was wrong about it…For me it was wrong, anyway. So, why don’t you and that purple car follow me out to your house and we’ll see if we can get you set up to stay before it gets too late.” He glanced around. “Where are your things?”
She pointed to her duffle bag, a suitcase and the hand grip next to it. “That’s it. Pretty much everything I own. I’m having a few things sent up from Miami shortly, but I traveled light.”
He gave her an odd look, one somewhere between concern and shock. “Are you sure you know what you’re getting yourself into? Because right now I think maybe we should find you a place at one of the local bed and breakfasts until the rest of your things arrive.”
A bed and breakfast for the night sounded wonderful—a nice cozy room with a comfy mattress, fresh muffins and juice in the morning. The whole esthetic New England appeal suddenly embraced her, but, as much as she would have loved to be pampered in it, she couldn’t afford it. Which was none of Sam’s business. Besides, the sooner she got to her new home, the sooner she would start work on her new life. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “I don’t require much to get by.”
“Apparently you don’t.” He gave her an indifferent shrug, then headed across the street to his SUV—a black one that was about three times the size of hers. “Suit yourself,” he called back, as he hopped inside.
Suit herself…If that had been an option, suiting herself would have included being with Meghan. Being anywhere with Meghan. Thinking about her brought the tears up again and before they started to roll, Della climbed into her purple runabout and fell in behind Sam Montgomery. Why would a man like him avoid the roots when all she wanted in this life was to have them back?
He was trying to get away from something, she decided. Bad experience in the past had him on the run. “Aren’t we all?” she said aloud as the tiny village of Redcliffe, which was the hub of life on Redcliffe Island, turned into a speck in her rear-view mirror.
About a mile down the road, Della followed Sam onto another road, then another and another until she started to wonder if they were caught up in some sort of a maze. They had
