no one but her would ever know about this.
Remembering the clerk’s instructions about checkout, Leah set her key on the nightstand before fetching her suitcase, carry-on bag and purse. With everything safely outside, she shut the door and heard the lock click.
In the room, the phone rang.
She glared at the door. Great timing. But her friends and relatives all had her cell number. The only one who might call would be the clerk to remind her of the deadline for departure.
It certainly wouldn’t be Will. She refused to delude herself. In any case, she had no way to get in.
The phone rang three more times and stopped. By then, Leah had finished loading her car.
She drove away with a sense of relief at putting the whole incident behind her.
Chapter Two
Will snapped his cell phone shut. He felt relieved that she hadn’t answered, because he didn’t know what he could have offered. An apology, at best.
His edginess had started building earlier in the week, when his ex-wife had accused him in an e-mail of being a rigid workaholic. Then yesterday, when he drove the twins to his parents’ ranch for a visit, emotions had rushed back from a boyhood spent feeling like the odd man out among his three rough-hewn brothers.
When he’d returned to Austin, Will had been seized by a restless longing for something he couldn’t name. Leah had showed him what it was. Flirting with her in the bar had made him feel like a man again, and the sex had been mind-blowing.
But he’d taken stupid risks. Forgetting the condom at first, for one thing. Getting involved with a transient, for another. A woman living in a motel was likely to be desperately seeking someone to latch on to. And Will had no illusions about what a superficially attractive package he offered, if she’d gotten close enough to see the MD decal on his car.
Two other doctors came into the lounge. In no mood for chitchat, he turned away to pour a cup of coffee from the decanter. He would require more than a few cups this morning to make up for the lack of sleep.
The delivery room had paged him at 3:00 a.m. He’d been grateful the beeper hadn’t woken Leah.
After dressing, he’d stood by the bed, admiring the way her dark hair spilled across the pillow. Remembering the glow in her blue eyes, Will had been tempted to rouse her and explain why he had to leave. With uncharacteristic impulsiveness, he’d considered confessing who he was and giving her his phone number.
Then what? He remembered all too well the experience of a colleague who’d had an ill-considered affair with a waitress. Of course, the man had been cheating on his wife, so he’d had even more to lose, but the subsequent stalking and suicide threats had lasted over a year, and the whole incident had wrecked his marriage.
Leah hadn’t seemed unstable. If Will had met her under other circumstances, he would have considered her delightfully sweet. But innocent women didn’t go around picking up men in bars. She had to be playing some game.
He’d already made the mistake of marrying the wrong woman. Allison hadn’t been a nutcase, but in his book, she came close. No matter how frustrated a woman might be, that didn’t justify dumping her husband and children for a rich playboy. The husband, maybe, but definitely not the kids.
A smile touched Will’s face at the thought of his six-year-olds, outgoing Diane and reserved India. They deserved a dad who shared his spare evenings with them, not a strange woman. And one who cut back his schedule so he could enjoy more time with them before they grew up. For heaven’s sake, they were already about to start first grade.
That was why he’d decided to relocate to a town that offered them all a second chance. His announcement that they were moving out of state had ticked off Allison, but since she’d visited the twins only sporadically in the two years since she’d run off with a guy who didn’t like children, she had to accept it.
Due to his commitments in Austin, they were moving less than a week before school started. Luckily, Will’s housekeeper had agreed to accompany them. Eileen McNulty was the answer to a single father’s prayer.
As his pager went off again, Will set down the cup and looked at the number. The delivery room. He had two patients in labor, so the summons didn’t surprise him.
His new position required working occasional evenings and weekends, but judging by his earlier visit, things were a lot quieter in Downhome, Tennessee. Moreover, Will’s office would lie only blocks from home.
True, the town lacked a hospital, so he’d have to perform surgery in a facility about twelve miles off. And he understood some candidates for the position had balked at the requirement that they handle occasional on-call duties for nonobstetric cases. Will figured he’d enjoy getting to know a range of townspeople, and he liked the idea of practicing old-fashioned community-based medicine.
No doubt about it, he mused as he left the doctors’ lounge. He was going to be much happier away from the stresses and temptations of Austin.
ALTHOUGH THE VISIT to Seattle proved a soothing relief after her experience in Texas, Leah returned without a firm job offer. She’d been impressed by the Rosewell Center, a private school for children with mild handicaps, special talents and emotional problems that made it hard for them to fit into regular classes. Given a nurturing environment and challenges tailored to their temperaments and abilities, the kids flourished.
“The staff at Rosewell said they might have an opening next semester,” she explained to her principal, Olivia Rockwell, who’d stopped by to catch up on the news. Eager to post the pictures and maps she’d gathered on her trip, Leah showed up six days before school started to work in the classroom.
“Can I be selfish and hope they don’t?” After finding a thumbtack, Olivia fixed a loose upper corner of a poster. The African-American woman was tall, with a commanding presence. In her mid-forties, Olivia had embraced maturity by letting her hair go dramatically white-on-black. “It does sound exciting, Leah, but we’d certainly miss you.”
“I have mixed feelings,” she admitted. A warm welcome home from her friends, including a swim party at the community center, had gone a long way toward reviving Leah’s spirits since her return three weeks earlier.
“How can you bear to leave all this excitement?” Olivia, who also served as principal of the adjacent high school, gave her a teasing grin. “They say our football team might beat Mill Valley’s for a change.”
“We’re known for our intellectual depth, not our brawn,” Leah replied, although she doubted most citizens, who placed great store in football victories, shared her opinion.
“Intellectual depth? Well, I do my best.” Olivia was being modest. Since moving here from Memphis fifteen years earlier, she’d made a tremendous difference in the town, as had her husband, Archie Rockwell, who owned the hardware and feed stores and currently served as mayor.
In addition to other civic activities, Olivia had organized a search committee—along with the police chief, Ethan Forrest, and Leah’s friend, Karen Lowell—to recruit physicians after the town’s two doctors, a married couple, had retired. Their first pick had been Jenni, who’d not only fit in beautifully but had fallen in love with Ethan.
“Have
