Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,5
you just as soon as I had my medical license.”
Augustus Booth chuckled. It was a warm, deep laugh that reminded Mel of the lazy summer afternoons she’d spent following him around, hanging on his every word, ready to absorb any information she could like a fresh pad of gauze. “Well, I’m glad to have you back. I hear that brother of yours is taking over at the bakery. Surprised Emma didn’t dig her heels in on that one.”
“Oh, she probably would have, except that Micah brought his son with him. So we know she’ll be taking it easy and she also gets to play grandma.” Mel knew nothing less could have ever gotten her mother to relinquish any of her responsibilities at Carr’s Cakes. “Thanks for calling us, Doc. I know Mom told you not to, but Micah and I are the only ones as bull-headed as she is.”
“As smart as you are pretty. I’m just glad you and Micah will be able to make her slow down. I hate to see a woman her age looking so tired.” Doc Booth, a good thirty years older than her mother, looked a little worse for wear himself. Of course, he should have retired ten years ago. He’d been waiting for her to be ready to start her own practice, but she hadn’t finished her residency until a few months ago and she’d wanted to be fully credentialed before coming home.
“Don’t worry about Mama; we’ll watch out for her. And now that I’m back, maybe we’ll be able to persuade you to take Clara on that trip to Europe you’d been promising her since before I was born.”
Dr. Booth had the good grace to blush at the mild reproach. Medicine wasn’t so much a profession for him as a vocation. As the only doctor in town, he’d sacrificed a lot of family time so he could take care of the citizens of Unknown. “Well, you know where everything is. Not much has changed around here in the last ten years. I’ve set up one of the upstairs bedrooms as your office. I’ll keep mine for a while longer. Don’t think I’ll be able to quit cold turkey.”
A snort behind them reminded Mel that Sandra still sat behind the desk.
“And Sandra here can show you where any supplies you might need are when Anna’s not around.”
“Anna? She’s not still your nurse, is she? I would have thought she’d have run off by now,” she teased, knowing full well the older woman would have to be carried out of the office in a casket before she’d leave. Mel loved Doc Booth’s long time nurse and keeper, Anna Humphrey. Anna had been fresh out of nursing school when Mel started lurking around the practice as a skinny little eight-year-old. When Doc Booth was busy, she’d shown Mel some of the basics of first aid. All of the nurses Mel worked with since graduating med school were always impressed that she treated them with such respect, and it was all due to Anna.
“She’s proud as she can be that our girl’s finally coming to work here.” Doc Booth put an arm around her shoulder and began to lead Mel toward his office. The spacious room, once the library of one of a long-dead oil baron, held the same oversized mahogany desk that had been there as long as Mel could remember. Built-in bookshelves lined three of the four walls, the shelves almost groaning under the weight of medical tomes. The other wall, dominated by a large picture window, was filled with photos and degrees.
Out of habit, Mel flopped down into one of the soft, well-worn chairs kept for any visitors who stopped by just to chat. He took the chair opposite, his expression growing serious.
“What’s wrong?” Mel asked. While he was fantastic at delivering bad news to patients, when Doc Booth was talking to people who knew him, his face was an open book.
He sighed. “Word’s gotten around town that you’ll be taking over for me.”
“Of course it has.” Mel laughed a little. “Between my mother and your wife and the rest of the gossips in town? Everyone knew half an hour after I got off the phone with Mama.”
“You’re probably right about that. But not everyone is…thrilled, shall we say, about you being the new doctor.”
Mel frowned, trying to pick apart the phrasing. “About me as a person or me as someone other than you?”
He hesitated, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. “A little of both,