was the tone which had scared her. The shake in her mother’s voice behind the facade of happiness. The same tone she’d used that terrible night Vivian had found her mother bleeding on the kitchen floor. So even though her mother had said she was okay, Vivian knew she wasn’t.
Vivian owed it to her mother to come back home. Her mom had been her only constant in her life. She had sacrificed so much so Vivian could create a future for herself—so she didn’t have to rely on someone else. That was what her mom had always said. In other words, a life where she didn’t have to rely on a man.
“You don’t need a man, Vivian. You’re smart, talented. Don’t let anyone hold you back.”
Her mom’s words had made her decide to go to Germany in the first place. She had wavered over it and for one brief moment she’d thought about putting down roots with Reece. Her mother had changed her mind.
She was very well aware that her mother’s singing career had been held back by her father. A father who couldn’t even be bothered to stick around. Her mother gave up a huge contract because Vivian’s father had been jealous of his wife’s success and then when he was offered a gig he was gone.
And that was the last they saw of him and their savings.
She couldn’t leave her mother high and dry. She couldn’t let her mother, who had early onset Alzheimer’s, live out the rest of her life in a rundown facility while she was halfway across the world.
Vivian might be cutthroat when it came to her career, but she loved her mother. Loved her enough to come back to Nashville.
“Vivian, you okay?”
She shook her head, chasing those thoughts away. “Sorry?”
“You zoned out. I thought perhaps you saw something I might’ve missed,” Reece said, a hint of concern in his voice. She didn’t deserve him. Never had.
“No, sorry. Jet lag.” She passed the tablet back to Reece. “I think I would like another MRI done and an EEG monitor for a forty-eight hour period. Perhaps we can force a seizure in a controlled and monitored environment.”
Reece nodded. “Sounds good, but how do you propose we do that when we don’t know what triggered it?”
“You said he had a seizure on stage at the concert, right?”
“Yes, he did.”
“How about we start with flashing lights, dark room and loud music?”
A small grin crept across Reece’s face. It was good to see him smile. “Good thinking. I’ll get my team of residents on it.”
“Thanks. I’m glad you have the team of residents so readily at your disposal.” It was so easy to talk to him about medicine. She’d forgotten. It was how they’d first connected. How he’d gotten through her defenses.
“Well, all the surgeons do. It’s just I’ve been using them more often for my Alzheimer’s trial study.”
Vivian perked up. “Alzheimer’s study?”
Reece nodded. “Yes, I have a trial running now with some medication therapy and electrotherapy with EEG monitoring for brain activity. I just started it.”
“Have you found all your participants?” Vivian asked.
Reece frowned and cocked an eyebrow. “Why are you so interested?”
“Don’t get on the defensive. Alzheimer’s is not my specialty. I was merely making conversation.”
Reece stared at her in disbelief, but then relaxed. “Yes, my trial is currently full. There is a large pool of people suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s who are more than willing to participate.”
Vivian tried not to show her disappointment, but really it was to be expected. Alzheimer’s trials filled up quickly.
“So not interested in Alzheimer’s, but here to take Dr. Brigham’s job?” he asked.
The question caught her off guard. “Who told you that?”
“I’m not obtuse, Vivian. I know that’s why you’ve come back to Nashville. Why else would you leave Mannheim’s practice?”
“For your information, I outgrew Mannheim’s practice. I wanted to branch out and expand my horizons further. Start my own trial, perhaps, and I couldn’t do that in Munich.”
“Why Nashville?”
“Why does it matter?” Vivian snapped. She didn’t want him to know about her mother. No one needed to know that, but really if her mother hadn’t been so sick she wouldn’t have come back.
“It matters. So, why Nashville?”
“Why not?”
“Only because you were so hell-bent on leaving. You left like a thief in the night. I don’t even remember getting to say goodbye. All I got was a note.”
She saw the anger in him. The hurt. She couldn’t blame him. She knew leaving like that would hurt him. It was a burden that she had to bear to protect herself.
The one time he’d really opened up ever, just after their first time, he said words which stuck with her to this day.
“I’ve lived a life of constant change. I want permanence. I want roots. Roots here in Nashville.”
He wanted something she didn’t and couldn’t give him.
“I thought past was in the past? Focus on the now, remember?”
Reece stood up, his expression hard and cold. His jaw clenched tight. “Right. You’re right.”
“I’m sorry my coming back is hard on you, Dr. Castle, but I’m here to stay and we have to work together so I suggest we make the best of it.”
“Fine.” Only she had a feeling it wasn’t.
“Fine,” she said.
“It’s not like you’ll be here that long anyways,” he snapped.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” It was like a slap to the face. Reminding her again that she’d left him behind, making her feel the guilt more keenly than ever.
Reece shrugged. “I mean once you don’t get the job, Dr. Brigham’s job, you’ll leave.”
“Who says I won’t?”
“I wish I had your confidence, but you’re going against tough competition. Old money, connections, things you don’t have here.” It was as if Reece was using all her old fears to scare her now. To get her to leave. Well, she was stronger now.
Vivian crossed her arms. “I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. And even if I don’t get it, who says I’ll leave?”
Reece snorted. “You will. You’ll move
