watch. It was one-thirty in the afternoon. She had left Chicago on an early flight that morning, but then there was the long drive from Denver. She understood it would be another hour and a half drive to Covenant Falls, then the drive back to Denver for another early-bird flight to Chicago.
Her aunt was staying with Kerry and Gordon. She hadn’t told them about the possibility of moving. She didn’t want to say anything until she felt reasonably confident the position was a real possibility.
“What do you think?” Eve asked when Lisa joined her in the hospital reception area.
“He said the job is mine if I want it,” she said.
“So now it’s my job to convince you to want it,” Eve said. She explained that the town was cradled on one side by mountains and the other by the plains. “There’s approximately three thousand people in the area, including ranches that aren’t in the city limits but contract for city services.”
“I’m going to be taking my sister and brother out of the schools and activities they know,” Lisa said. “What is there for them here?”
“The school is highly rated and will open in four weeks. We have football, baseball, basketball and track along with a terrific music and drama department. Then there’s skiing clubs, Boy Scouts and Explorer Scouts, community baseball and football. There’s also a lot of special-interest groups—music, mechanics, computers, a horseback riding club.”
“It sounds great. To me. I’m not sure it will to them. They love the city.”
“Maybe because they’ve never experienced anything else,” Eve said.
Lisa was silent the rest of the drive into town. Rolling plains reached toward the mountains. The two-lane road was bordered by fences with occasional breaks leading to houses and barns. As they entered the town of Covenant Falls, it looked even smaller than she’d imagined. She counted all of three stop signs. Eve parked in front of an attractive building she identified as city hall, and they walked across the road to the Covenant Falls Medical Clinic.
She met the nurse, Janie Blalock, who didn’t look much younger than Dr. Bradley. The nurse was friendly and showed her around the office, including a small X-ray room. It was, Lisa thought, probably well equipped for a small-town doctor but she would miss all the state of the art diagnostic technology available in Chicago.
“Time for lunch,” Eve announced when Lisa finished the tour.
Lisa thanked Janie, then she and Eve walked half a block to a glass-fronted building with a big sign proclaiming it to be Maude’s. The diner was nearly empty, and they took a seat next to the window. A large motherly looking woman immediately came over.
“This is Maude,” Eve said. “She owns this place and it has great food.”
“This the new doctor?” Maude asked.
Lisa looked helplessly at Eve.
“She’s looking us over,” Eve said lightly.
“You’re a sight prettier than Doc Bradley,” Maude said. “Your meal is on the house,” she added. She studied Lisa solemnly. “Seems to me you need a bit of meat on you. How about a steak?”
“They’re good here,” Eve said. “My husband swears by them.”
Lisa wasn’t sure. The last few days of uncertainty and worry had her stomach in turmoil. But she also had to eat and she still had a long day ahead. She nodded. “A steak and salad with dressing on the side, please. And an iced tea.”
“I’ll take the same,” Eve said.
When Maude left, Eve turned to her. “What do you think?”
“I like Dr. Bradley. I like the clinic. I like the mountains. But I’m not sure Kerry and Gordon will feel the same.”
“My son lost his father when he was four,” Eve said. “I know how difficult it is for a child to lose a parent. And you and your siblings have lost both. But this town supports its own, and that would include you. We’ll do our best to keep your family safe and happy.”
They couldn’t do any worse. Their Chicago neighborhood that had once been a safe place to live now bred gangs. It wasn’t home sweet home anymore. She just wasn’t sure Gordon saw it that way.
“I’ll show you the house after lunch,” Eve said. “The owner passed away and the heir agreed to let us use it and much of the furniture for a year if we did the repairs and voided the overdue taxes. It’s a good deal for us both. My husband and his group of vets painted the house and fixed everything that needed fixing.”
“Group of vets?”
“We have a lot of veterans here,” Eve explained. “In fact, a military nurse recently moved here. She was wounded in Afghanistan and wasn’t ready to go back to nursing, but she’s available in an emergency.”
Lisa absorbed that. Since their mother died, Gordon had threatened to go into the military when he was old enough, and she had done her best to dissuade him from that path. Would a town full of vets sharpen his interest? One count against coming here.
The food came then, Lisa’s stomach’s turmoil ending at the smell of the steak. Once bite proved Eve’s recommendation. It was excellent and the salad good. The prices were amazingly low, even if the meal hadn’t been free. One count for moving here.
Eve continued to plug the town as they ate, then drove her around for a tour. They drove by a wooded park with a gazebo in front of a sprawling building. “That’s our community center and library,” Eve said. “And there’s a small museum and a beach, as well.”
“Where do the kids usually gather?”
“School. Maude’s. The falls. The community center or sports field. Or they go horseback riding as incentives. Nearly every kid in town can ride. I have two horses that your brother and sister can ride.”
A plus for Kerry, the animal lover. Lisa wasn’t so sure about Gordon. His sport of choice was soccer and he’d quit playing in the spring.
Eve took a corner just three blocks from the clinic and stopped in front of a white house. It was a two-story with a connected garage. A white picket fence stretched around the property.
She and Eve walked onto the small porch. Eve unlocked the door and they went inside. The house was not unlike her parents’ house in Chicago: a large living room with a fireplace, a kitchen with plenty of cabinets and a small dining room. There was a master bedroom and bath downstairs and two nice-size bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs. It looked newly painted and the furniture, though a little more formal than she liked, looked comfortable.
She looked out the kitchen window and saw a large fenced area. “Pets are welcome, too,” Eve said.
Lisa hadn’t thought of that. Kerry had always wanted a dog, but it never happened for one reason or another. Maybe...
She realized she was making a life-changing decision for all of them. A huge decision. Kerry may be happy with it, especially with a dog and horseback riding. Gordon, the other hand, would hate it. She would be taking him away from his so-called friends and all he knew.
She thought of the argument
