Internal Fixation - Tawdra Kandle Page 0,39

Deacon, my ex-lover. And I knew without a doubt that Deacon had misinterpreted Noah’s chumminess as proof that I’d already moved on from whatever had been between the two of us last year.

Sighing, I rolled my shoulders and reach for the clasp of my seatbelt. “I’d better get inside, I guess. I’m going into the hospital tomorrow since I didn’t even stop by there today. Alison . . .” I grimaced. “Damn. I’m going to have to tell her that Deacon’s back, which means she’ll have to find another job.”

“She knew this was a temporary gig, right?”

“Yeah.” I opened the truck door but didn’t slide out yet. “She did—she does—but the longer Deacon was away, the more comfortable she got. I hate that now she’ll probably have to leave, unless she wants to take a part-time position somewhere else in the hospital.”

“Do you think she’ll go back up to Philadelphia?” Noah asked.

“I really don’t know,” I admitted. “She doesn’t have any ties to that area, other than it’s where she worked after medical school. She was originally from California, but she doesn’t have any family. I don’t know all the details, just that she grew up in a series of foster homes. She met her fiancé the first day of her residency in Philly, and that’s why she stayed. I get the feeling that once he was gone, she didn’t care to stick around there.”

“She’s had a tough life,” Noah observed. “Sucks that she’s going to have to move on again.”

“It really does.” I dug in my handbag to find my house keys, and once I had them in hand, I leaned across to kiss Noah’s cheek. “Okay, I need to let you get on the road. Thanks for driving me there and home again. And thanks for having my back today, and letting me have a break-down in your truck.” I rolled my eyes as I began to climb out of the truck’s cab. “One of these days, I’m going to have to start making up for everything I owe you, Noah.”

He laughed, but it sounded almost strained. “You don’t owe me anything, Emma. That’s not how friendship works.”

I turned around and leaned my elbows on the seat I’d just abandoned. “That’s sweet. And I love you for saying it.”

Noah pressed his lips together, his jaw tightening. “Love you, too, Em.”

I was about to close the truck door, but I paused before I did it. “When do you leave for Wisconsin?” Since Tampa didn’t have a Christmas Day game this year, Noah had carved out a few days to fly up and spend the holiday with his parents and his brothers.

“Early on Tuesday morning. And then I’ll be back Friday night. We have a light practice Saturday morning. You’re working all week, right?”

“I am.” Since my parents had decided to travel to England over Christmas this year, I’d offered to cover all of the holiday hours at the hospital. “I guess I’ll see you sometime after next weekend. Travel safe. And give your parents my best.”

“Thanks, I will.” He opened his mouth as though he was about to add something else, then gave his head a small shake. “Merry Christmas, Emma. Try not to work too hard.”

Laughing, I slammed the door shut and stood on my porch to watch him leave, feeling a swell of gratitude that I had this lovely man in my life. I wasn’t sure what I’d do without him, or whether I would have survived the last fourteen months without his steady presence.

That thought lingered as I went inside, wandering around my home, putting away the food Anna had sent home with me—all the vegan goodies that no one else would eat, anyway—and tidying up a few things I’d left in my hurry to get over to the farm earlier today. This cabin . . . nearly everything about it spoke of Noah. There was nothing in here that even remotely reminded me of Deacon; he’d had no part in it. The trailer—that was where my memories of him remained. And they could jolly well stay there, for all I cared.

Deacon was my past, part of the awkward, difficult days when I’d just arrived in Harper Springs and was grappling to figure out my place. He was uncertainty and irritation and frustration.

Noah was my present, the man who’d been there as a stalwart and refreshing presence when I’d needed him the most as I’d established myself here and fought to keep the oncology wing working