It’s a strange case and what better way to initiate your time here as our top diagnostician.”
“Most respected neurosurgeon” meant one thing to Vivian. Competition.
“Who is the VIP patient?”
“Country star Gary Trainer. He’s a rising star, but has been having the most curious neurological symptoms since he was rushed in two days ago.”
“Has he had an MRI?”
Isaac grinned. “Of course—as I said, he’s a VIP patient and his record label is very anxious to get him back on his tour.”
Of course.
Musicians were always eager to get back on the road. She’d heard her dad say that enough times.
“Stay longer, Hank. Please. Just a bit longer.”
“I can’t, Sandra. I need to be on the road. I have to make it. I will make it, just like Ray Castille. I will be as big as he is.”
Vivian laughed uneasily, trying to shake her father’s voice from her head. “Musicians.”
Isaac nodded and they got on an elevator, riding in silence until they got up to the top floor. The doors opened with a ding and they stepped off. “This is where our VIP patients stay while they’re inpatients here.”
Vivian didn’t respond. It made her stomach knot just a bit. Money talked here. There were times when she was a kid when they couldn’t get the help they needed. And she recalled the hours she and Mama had waited in an overcrowded, dingy ER.
Then there were the medical bills after her mother’s suicide attempt that took years to pay off because the ambulance took her to a hospital they couldn’t afford.
Vivian tried to give back when she could. Still, seeing the luxury of Cumberland Mills VIP wing made her wonder how much old money was invested into this instead of the pro bono fund.
She followed Isaac down the hall toward the end room. She could see a group of eager surgical interns in the room from the open door, obviously on rounds, and she couldn’t help but wonder who her competition was. And frankly she didn’t care. She’d easily push whoever it was out of the running when she diagnosed Mr. Trainer and got him back out on tour in front of his fans.
Dr. Brigham knocked on the door. “Mind if we interrupt?”
“Not at all, Doc. They tell me you brought in a specialist all the way from Germany to deal with my case,” a sweet, deep Georgian voice answered.
Isaac nodded. “Only the best for you, Mr. Trainer.”
Vivian stepped around the door, her smile quickly fading as she met the gaze of the attending doctor who was standing next to Mr. Trainer’s bed.
Those familiar brown eyes, pinning her to the spot. He had a bit of scruff and his hair wasn’t as long. The short hair suited him. And he wasn’t as gangly and lean as he’d been when they’d been residents. That young boyish face had melted away. He was more hardened, mature, but it was still him and he was still as handsome as ever.
Reece.
She’d met him in her final year of residency. He’d transferred in from a different hospital, brought in by Dr. Brigham. He was the only one who’d seen through her walls. He’d been her compass back then. Her foundation.
“Who cares where you came from? It’s where you’re going that matters.”
Don’t think about him. Only she couldn’t help but think about him as he was standing in the same room with her. Even though she’d made the decision to leave, she thought of him every day. She’d wronged him and he knew that. Vivian put her career first and she always would.
She could rely on her talent, medicine and herself. She put no faith in love or hearts, because hearts were so easily broken. Something she’d witnessed firsthand when her dad left.
Relationships were never on her radar but, from the first moment she’d met Reece, she’d forgotten that.
The memory came into her mind now...
“Tired?”
“Yes. It was a long shift. I needed air.” She had closed her eyes and hoped that he would leave, but he’d lingered. “Can I help you, Dr. Castle?”
He had shrugged. “I needed air too. I love the scent of magnolias.”
“Yeah, me too. It reminds me of home.”
“Where are you from?” he’d asked.
“Nashville.” She hadn’t known why she was engaging in a conversation with him.
“Me too.”
Then he’d reached up in the tree and plucked a large blossom. Before she’d been able to protest he’d put it behind her ear. A shiver of anticipation had raced down her spine. His strong hand had rested on her cheek.
“What’re you doing?” The words had been a whisper because she’d lost her voice, embarrassed that he was paying attention to her.
“I don’t know. It just suits you.”
Even now, after seven years, she could still feel the memory of his hand against her cheek, holding her still as he pinned that bloom in her hair. She also remembered how much she had wanted to kiss him in that moment.
How his touch had affected her.
She couldn’t believe he was still here in Nashville. She’d thought he would’ve taken some exciting offer from a bigger city. Even though he’d always said he wanted to stay in Nashville, she’d never quite believed him. He was a talented surgeon. He must’ve had other offers over the years. So she was shocked to see him here. The only person she’d ever opened up to. The man who threatened to steal her heart.
Did he remember? That’s why you left.
Vivian had panicked when she fell so deeply in love with him. She had no control over herself when it came to him. Which was why when the Munich job came up she took it.
Love was not something she ever wanted and after leaving Reece it was not something she deserved. And she couldn’t stay in Nashville, but Reece had made it clear he wanted roots. Permanent roots. And that scared her. She didn’t want roots or permanency, because that didn’t last. She didn’t believe in it.
And she only had to look to her parents to see that.
So she’d slipped away to Germany. She’d left him a note but, by the way those dark brown eyes bored into her with cool disdain, it was apparent to her a note had not been enough.
Distance had done no good. She thought of him all the time, regretted what had happened. She’d never expected to find him still here, still working for Dr. Brigham. He had so much potential. Why couldn’t he see it? He was too damn talented to stay here.
Roots be damned; why was he still here wasting his talent? Not that Cumberland Mills wasn’t a great hospital, but it wasn’t the leading
