The Doctor’s Simple Life (Love Heals All Wounds #3)

11. Reece

CHAPTER 11

REECE

I spend twenty minutes trying to figure out what shirt to wear to go over to Sienna and Peggy’s. Sienna texted me a little while ago to tell me what time she wanted me.

I say she. I have no doubt that she doesn’t want me there at all, but I can’t pretend that the idea of going over and seeing her tonight is upsetting to me.

I’ve hardly spent any social time with anyone here at all. In fact, after every shift, I’ve gone home and sat there. I’ve almost been considering starting to read. That’s how dire things are. At least there’s electricity here, but it doesn’t make up for the fact that I’m missing a month’s worth of TV by not being able to watch it.

Eventually, I decide to go casual but smart, not boring but not too fun. I pull out one of my favorite blue shirts, and as I button it up, my hands start to shake. I’m nervous.

I like Peggy plenty, and of course I see Sienna every day, but this is different. At work, or even the other night — that’s routine. There’s a purpose.

This is social. I’ve almost started to forget what having a social life is like.

I arrive at Peggy’s house at five thirty on the dot. For a second, I linger in the car, not quite sure what I’m going to say, but then I remember that I’m Reece Westbrook and I don’t get scared of anything. Especially not a woman and her grandmother.

Before I can even get to the door, Sienna opens it with a frown like she had been sitting in the window, waiting. “Come in,” she says, then turns her back on me to disappear back into the house.

“Good to see you too,” I mutter.

I head through into the kitchen, and I’m immediately met with the smell of home-cooked food. The windows are steaming up and the pots on the stove bubble away. I didn’t pay attention before, but this kitchen is full of trinkets, evidence of a life lived, of places Peggy has been — commemorative plates and tacky fridge magnets.

And the table is laid immaculately, with a crisp white tablecloth and matching silverware. Even the plates seem to have come from the same set.

God. It hits me so hard that I have to stop for a second and absorb it all. The rich mixture of tomatoes and spices and steam makes me gawk.

When was the last time someone cooked for me outside of a restaurant? When was the last time I had something like this in my home?

I can’t remember.

“Come in, come in!” says Peggy, noticing me standing bemused in the doorway. She rushes over to me with open arms and kisses me on the cheek. I stand stiffly as she does, not quite sure how to react to this affection.

Family dinners aren’t something I have a lot of practice with.

Peggy ushers me over to the table, sits me down and pats me on the shoulder. I never knew my grandma. I can’t remember my parents ever being this affectionate with me.

“I should have asked if you had any sort of food things,” she says. “Like nuts or milk.”

“No, no,” I shake my head. “I’ll eat anything.”

She smiles widely at me. “That’s the kind of good boy I like to see.”

It’s a weird kind of compliment, but it makes my heart skip a beat anyway. I glance over to Sienna, who is stirring a pot with the intensity of someone who is very deliberately trying to ignore what’s happening in the rest of the room.

“I brought this too,” I say, pulling out the expensive bottle of red wine I took all day to find. They don’t really do classy in liquor stores around here. “Thank you so much for having me here.”

Peggy all but skips over and takes it from me, and both her eyebrows shoot up her face as she reads the label. “Honey, thank you . You didn’t need to bring anything. I won’t have you go home to all your city friends and tell them how awful and cruel our small town is. I want you to remember us as kind, friendly people. I want you to tell everyone else, look, the country’s not just full of people who hate you.”

“I never thought that,” I lie. “You all seem really nice to me.”

She grins, and I catch Sienna rolling her eyes out of the corner of mine. This might be enough to win over her grandmother, but I still have ground to make up with her.

Sienna goes over to the sink, picking up the washing up, presumably where she left it. This way, she can turn her back on me fully. I guess now she can pull whatever faces she wants at me.

It just makes me want to try harder to impress her.

As the other two dance around the kitchen, avoiding each other with the skill of people who have done this waltz a thousand times, I feel the urge to pull out my phone and scroll. I don’t because I don’t want to be rude, but my fingers start itching for something to do, and Peggy has already forbidden me from helping three times.

Instead, all I can do is watch.

And as I watch, I notice the way Sienna helps her grandmother without Peggy even noticing. She preempts what implements Peggy will need, quietly does the washing up, and makes sure that all the handles of the pots are turned so nobody will bump into them and hurt themselves. Silently, she cares so much, and she’s never going to get recognized for it.

“All righty, I think we’re all set,” says Peggy, turning off the last burner.

“Service!” calls Sienna with a wink, and Peggy chuckles. Some inside joke, I guess, and it must be a funny one because they both giggle as they put the food into bowls and start to bring it to the table.

I get up to try and help, and Peggy all but slaps my wrists and tells me to sit down. I obey.

Plates upon plates get crammed onto the table: a whole joint of beef, vegetables, side dishes, and condiments I can’t name. Slowly, I start taking food, hesitating from starting as I wait for Peggy and Sienna to sit down, but Peggy waves her hands at me as she drops down a huge bowl of steaming broccoli and says, “Eat, eat! What are you waiting for?”

I guess I was kind of expecting her to want to say grace or something. I don’t know; it just felt wrong to start. But she seems determined that I start to eat, so I do.

The first mouthful explodes over my tongue, and I let out an accidental moan of delight. I don’t know what she’s put into this, but it’s delicious. My first bite was a little hesitant, but as I realize how good it is, I have to stop myself from eating too fast.

By the time Peggy finally joins us, I’m about to take seconds. She grins at me. “My, look at your appetite! See, Sienna, he is a healthy young man.”

“Gramma…” She groans. “Enough, please. Let’s just eat.”

What the hell has Peggy been saying about me behind my back to get that reaction? I decide to try and change the subject. “This is great, Mrs. Hale.”

“Please, call me Peggy. I won’t tell you again.”

“Sorry,” I mumble.

“It’s good to see you enjoy yourself. You must be having a good experience in our town.”

I shrug. “I haven’t seen too much of it.”

“You haven’t?” She gasps, sitting back like she’s genuinely offended.

I let out an awkward chuckle. “No. I, uh… I guess I just don’t really know where to go.”

“Or want to,” mutters Sienna under her breath. Peggy can’t have heard because she doesn’t look over, but I throw Sienna a mock hurt look. I don’t really care what she thinks at all, but she is right. I’ve felt no desire to explore at all. I don’t think this town is as awful as I’d first expected, but it’s still not a place I think I’d like to hang out in.

I’m not the kind of guy to hang out by myself anyway. I have friends. Why would I do anything alone?

That’s for losers and sad people. I’m neither of those things.

“Well,” says Peggy, barreling on with her thought. “That’s got to change. Sienna, honey, you haven’t shown him anything?”

“No,” says Sienna curtly. “I see him all day at work. Why would I show him anything he’d be ungrateful for outside of that?”

Peggy raises an eyebrow that’s a telling off all by itself, and Sienna sighs. I know she didn’t want me here, but this is more hostile than usual, even by her own high standards. “You don’t think it would be good to spend some quality time outside of the hospital?”

“No,” says Sienna, putting her foot down. “I don’t see why I should.”

“I think it would be good for Reece to have a good friend to show him some of the wonders of Silverbell.”

I bite my tongue to stop myself from saying what wonders? And Sienna mumbles, “Means he’d have to have a good friend,” which gets another stern look from Peggy.

She looks between us and says, “Now, I think y’all could do with a little time where you’re saying kind things to one another. What are you doing this weekend, Reece?”

“Um… nothing,” I say, unable to think of a lie quickly enough to cover myself. It’s not like I do anything at all here except work.

“Then it’s decided. Where are the top spots in Silverbell?”

Sienna makes a face that can’t be mistaken for anything except misery, and I can’t say I blame her. Peggy starts droning on about history and forests and cafes, and I feel a little bad, but I tune it out. All I can do is focus on Sienna.

She’s given in to her grandmother, agreeing to show me around, and I can’t help but wonder why. Peggy’s funny, but Sienna has made it clear that she feels nothing towards me. This week, I almost started to think differently, but this dinner is proving to me that it was all in my head.

Yes, we’ve had a few moments that I would describe as flirty, a few long looks and lingering touches, but that’s at work. Sienna is confident in who she is at work. Outside of that, I barely know her at all.

But Peggy seems to think there’s something in this too. And Sienna can’t say no to her grandma.

Maybe it’s the delusions of an old woman who wants to see her granddaughter thrive. I can’t blame her for that. I’m sure it’s what all good grandmothers do. It’s flattering that she thinks I’m a catch.

Is it what Sienna wants, though? I would have said no, but this week…

No, I’m having delusions too. Sienna is agreeing to this list that Peggy is drawing up, but I’m sure she’ll text me later and tell me not to bother showing up. Maybe that would be best for us both. After all, from the way we fight, it’s clear that we’re nothing alike. She can’t stand me, and I don’t understand her.

That’s no basis for a relationship, is it?

But she is beautiful. And she’s not rejecting the idea completely.

It must be too long since I’ve been with a woman; that’s what’s doing this to me. I’m going crazy by being alone in my own bed every night. Sienna is the only woman who speaks to me — except her boss, who I’m sure would throw herself at me if I let her, but I’m not that kind of guy. I have a little self-respect. Not much, but enough to not sleep with the boss.

It’s the situation, that’s all. The family dinner thing is getting into my head. I don’t want Sienna. I’m just getting a glimpse of a life I can never have. And it’s making me ache.