in something where she’d failed—holding her dad’s attention for more than a minute or two at a time. She hoped so.
“Nope. I marked it off on the calendar. One year and ten months, which you might as well call two years.”
Admittedly, she hadn’t been the most dutiful of daughters these past several years. First, because she just didn’t like coming home. And second, because as her responsibilities and skills continued to move her forward in Seattle’s medical mainstream, she was better able to forget Marrell. Some memories weren’t as vivid, she was discovering now that she was back, and she was fine with that.
So, she was eager to get on with whatever she had to do so she could go back to her real life. To Eric. Because the farther she was away from him in miles, the further she felt distanced emotionally. The way she always had, in every other relationship, affair or friendship she’d attempted. Eric was her success. Her longest. Except Caleb, but that had been a kid thing, which didn’t count. And now, she didn’t want anything happening to what she had with Eric. But she was already beginning to feel the detachment, wondering if it had something to do with Marrell.
What was it about this place that made her feel so uncomfortable?
“So, about the hospital, Dad...”
“I know. You don’t want it. Don’t want to move back here.”
“None of that’s changed.” Couldn’t, wouldn’t.
“You always knew it would be yours, Leanne. This shouldn’t come to you as a surprise.”
“It doesn’t. But I’m not...” She drew in a deep breath. This was difficult because she didn’t want to hurt him. While her feelings for her dad were strained, there was nothing malicious in her. Nothing that made her want to punish him. Living how she wanted would, though, as that didn’t include her dad’s dream. “Since I’m not moving back, my thought was to own it from a distance and trust the daily operations to someone else.” She could tell by the disappointment registering on her dad’s face it wasn’t what he’d hoped for. But it was the best she could do. “I don’t fit in here, Dad.” Hadn’t since she’d been a kid. In fact, the most solid memory of her childhood was her plan to get away from Marrell as soon as she could.
She and Caleb running away together... They were only nine or ten when they’d planned it, but it was a plan that had always stayed alive in her with, or without, Caleb. “I’ve lived away from Marrell almost as long as I lived here, and the blood in my veins runs pretty thin when it comes to my sentiment for this place.”
Finally arriving at her dad’s office, she followed him in, immediately went to the cushy leather chair across the desk from him and sat down. Same chair she’d always sat in. Same decorations. Fishing lures and poles hung on the wall, photos of fishing trips filled spaces where fishing gear did not, along with old photos of babies he’d delivered and patients he’d cured. No pictures of her. Bookshelves on the south wall were filled with medical volumes and books about—yes, fishing. All of him, none of her. Such a stark reminder of what she’d never had.
“There’s nothing I can say or do to change your mind?” Henry asked, dropping down into the well-worn leather chair behind his desk.
“I took a three-month leave of absence instead of resigning my position in the hospital. That’ll give me plenty of time to get to know Sinclair, and find the right person to take over.”
“But you’ll still own it?”
No, she didn’t want that burden either. But the hospital was almost a family legacy, so it only seemed right that she should keep it in the family...for a while. “I’ll still own it,” she replied.
“Well, I do have a new hire who might be good to take over. Caleb Carsten. He’s been here three weeks, just moved back to Marrell himself.”
“Caleb’s back?” she asked, totally shocked. Caleb—her first love when she’d been five. First heartbreak much later. “I’m surprised,” she said tentatively, not sure how to react. To love him being here because he might be the solution to her problem, or hate it because he’d quit being her friend when she’d most needed one? Maybe she’d be indifferent since all that was a lifetime ago. “He hated it here. That was something we both had in common.” And it almost felt personal that he’d changed his mind and come back.
“Well, hate or not, he’s renting the old Wilson place out on Bentwood Road, and if his plans work out, he’ll probably buy it.”
Caleb settling down here? Hard to imagine. So, what was behind it? “He’s a surgeon, isn’t he? Why would a surgeon want to work here? We don’t do major surgeries.”
“Because he’s in family practice now. Got wounded in Afghanistan, can’t operate. He had to change direction.”
Well, Caleb had always been about changing direction, hadn’t he? Still, changing direction toward Marrell? Why here, specifically? “Why didn’t you tell me he’d come home?” she asked, dragging up old memories of Caleb Carsten. He’d been a little on the rough side, looks-wise. Sandy-blond hair, always a little bit long and unkempt, blue eyes... Sort of a solitary boy. Awkward. Odd. Often in trouble. Smart. Probably the smartest kid she’d known. So full of promises she’d bought into when she was so young she hadn’t understood all the things that had kept him apart from the other kids in town.
“Because I wasn’t sure he’d accept my offer to work here permanently, and I’m still not sure he’ll stay. So, I decided to wait until he’d made up his mind about Marrell before I said anything.”
“Meaning you kept me out of the loop, even though you want me to take over the very same loop you’re keeping me out of?” Some things never changed. Her dad had always overlooked her. Even when she’d tried hard to get him to notice, he never had. In fact, there’d been times when she’d believed he’d favored Caleb over her.
“I thought if you knew Caleb was back, you might not come. You two didn’t have a happily-ever-after ending, you know.”
“He was a bad kid, Dad. Got into trouble. Got put in jail.” Replaced me whenever you’d let him. “What was I supposed to do? Give up on everything I wanted and hope he would have a miracle transformation? And you’re right, if I’d known he was back, working here in family practice, I probably wouldn’t have come. Not because I don’t want to see him but because he’s capable of doing everything you expect me to do and, probably, secretly want him to do more than you want me to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Henry asked, looking over the top of his glasses at her.
“It means Marrell isn’t big enough to support both Caleb and me, especially in the same field. Since he apparently wants to be here, and I don’t...” She shrugged.
“But the hospital’s yours, all except signing the papers, which are being drawn up right now.”
“You know I don’t want to run it, Dad, or work in it. I’ll own it, but that’s all, as I have a different life than that.” He wasn’t listening to her, though, like the way he’d never listened to anything she’d ever said. Still, she wasn’t giving up on this. Especially now that Caleb had entered the mix and offered her the possibility of something she hadn’t expected—a good, workable solution.
“Then it will have to be your decision to turn the day-to-day operations over to somebody else.”
