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

26. Sienna

CHAPTER 26

SIENNA

I shouldn’t have agreed to this at all.

It was a terrible idea from the moment it was suggested, and I should have refused more adamantly. I should have said no and meant it. Maybe I was just excited to see Reece and Mikey’s posturing, but whatever the reason was that made me agree, it was stupid.

The second we got to the bar, I should have left again. I should have said thank you and goodnight there and then, made a clean break from Reece and blocked him on my phone. Simple, easy. A tidy ending.

But I didn’t. And now I guess I feel some sort of stupid responsibility to stay, like I have to babysit him because they’re drinking. I don’t want to let them drive. I know it’s not far, but I wouldn’t want that on my conscience.

Doesn’t make me want to be here, though. And the more they laugh, the more they make fun of us, the more I want to run. Mikey is being so dismissive of patients, his own and ours, of people, of the town. Nothing is good enough for him, and if I never had to look at him again, it would be too soon. He’s not the kind of man I care to know.

But Reece… he’s laughing and mocking too, and it’s breaking my heart. This isn’t the man I was getting to know. This isn’t the man I was beginning to fall for. This isn’t a man who I would ever want to stay in Silverbell. To stay with me.

And for some stupid reason, I still don’t run. It’s like I’m waiting for Reece to change his mind, to pull the rug out from under Mikey’s feet and jump to our defense after all.

Every second that he doesn’t is like another knife in my back.

Eventually, Mikey gets bored or tired or both, and he says, “Well, I’ve got a long way back to my hotel because I booked a good one in a real town, and I don’t know how long it’ll take to get a cab out here.”

“Not long,” I mutter. Despite what he thinks, we are quite a modern town. We have all of the facilities of anywhere else, and even if we didn’t, it wouldn’t make us any worse for it.

“I’ll leave you two to say your goodbyes, then.” As he stands, he winks the least subtle wink that has ever been winked at Reece, then throws a look of what I would describe as disgust at me.

How the hell is Reece friends with this guy?

Reece doesn’t seem to care about his behavior though, because he waves him off with a grin.

Then he turns back to me and looks at me like he sees me for the first time all night. A look that quickly turns into a concerned frown as if he’s trying to ask me what’s wrong.

And that is exactly the wrong look to give me because, at the moment, I’m a tightly wound coil of misery and revelations that has just been waiting to snap.

“I never meant anything to you, did I?” I say.

He blinks at me, cocking his head slightly like he thinks he misheard. “What?”

“This was just a dumb joke to you, wasn’t it? Come to some small town and show the locals who’s boss? God, I bet getting laid wasn’t even part of your plan at all. Was it? But I just happened to fall into your lap because I’m some stupid country girl. I bet that was really funny, wasn’t it? The way I fell for that one. Bet you’re all going to laugh that one out later.”

“Sienna.” He gasps like he’s been knocked on his back. He holds out his hands, opening his palms out towards me as if to try and calm me down. It has the opposite effect. “That’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” I snap, leaning away from him. “Then explain what the hell this was tonight.”

His frown deepens, his eyebrows knotting in a confusion that tells me everything I need to know. He’s barely aware that he’s done anything at all. “This was just two buddies getting together, hanging out, you know. Fun.”

“No.” I sigh. I shouldn’t be letting myself get so emotional about this, but it’s too late to stop it. “Fun isn’t when you make a mockery of people. Fun isn’t pretending to care about someone just to laugh at them later. Fun isn’t making someone lo—” I cut myself off, choking back my confession.

I don’t want to say anything that might make him think I care. It’s too late for a clean break. All I can do now is stamp on it until it’s over.

His lower lip wavers like he’s trying to formulate what to say to make all this okay. He stammers out a few pointless syllables, but no words come. The truth is, I don’t think there’s a single word he could say right now to fix anything. Not to me.

The rest of the world moves behind us, people coming and going, laughing with their friends, clinking glasses together, but I barely hear any of it. All I can see is Reece and the horrid realization that he is exactly who he has always been. The only one who’s been stupid here is me.

I’ve gone and acted just like he thought someone like me should. I’ve fallen for the performance. Now I’m going to have to face the consequences.

“I swear it wasn’t anything like that,” he says at last. “I like you.”

“Really?” I scoff, swallowing back the lump in my throat. If I’m going to cry, it’s not going to be where he can see it.

“Yes, really.” His voice is so gentle that I can almost believe it, but I won’t let myself be weak like that again.

“Then explain, ‘Oh, small towns are so pointless, and all the people are so small,’” I demand. “Or am I special? Do I not count as one of the small people? Is it just all my friends you think are dumb? Am I some exception to the rule?”

His lips wobble again. It’s probably smart of him not to say anything. I don’t think there’s anything he can say that would satisfy me.

“I’m sorry,” is all he says. And that’s pretty good, but not good enough.

I sigh and my shoulders slump. I’m tired of this fight. Time to let him go. “Well, I guess you’ll have fun back in Miami, then, with all the girls and the smart people who can hold a proper conversation with you. You must be looking forward to it.”

“Sienna,” he says. I’m riling him up now. I can see it in the way he’s prickling, taking sharp breaths to try and calm himself. “It’s not like that.” He speaks more harshly than I think he means to, but a thrill runs through me at it.

It’s good. It means he’s engaging. It means that I still might mean something to him.

I shake my head. I’m letting him go. This conversation isn’t proving anything except his own self-centeredness. If I don’t end it now, I’ll be haunted by him. And I refuse to live my life like that.

Cutting him off is for the best. It’s not like he would have any intention of speaking to me when he gets back to Miami. This was a nice diversion for him. But I have to face facts. There was no way he was going to do anything but let me go and forget all about me.

I’m just preempting that decision. I’m trying to stop myself from hurting.

If I cut him down now, maybe it’ll hurt less.

I need this to hurt less.

“No, it is. I know exactly what this is like, and I don’t need you to pretend anymore.”

There’s a flash of hurt across his face, and I know I should feel bad about that, but I can’t. Seeing him react like this makes me feel like maybe I did mean something to him after all. Maybe not much, but something. Enough.

“You don’t belong here, Reece,” I say, my heart thumping in my chest. I was never designed to go head-to-head with people. I’m not good at it. I think I might throw up. “You don’t belong here, and you never have. Just go home. Go home and leave us alone. It’s what you wanted, isn’t it? To leave? Well, now you’re going to get it.”

He stares at me like he’s been slapped, and I choke back a sob. “Goodbye, Reece,” I manage to spit out, then stand up, shoving my chair back. It wobbles ominously on its legs, and for a second I think it’s going to fall over. But it doesn’t.

It allows me that little dignity, at least.

I try not to notice the girls at the bar looking at me. No doubt this will be gossip all over town tomorrow, but I don’t care. I need to get out of here. I need to leave Reece behind before this becomes a problem.

Before I lose my nerve and stay.

As I run out the door, I pass Mikey, who’s leaning against the wall. I hear him take a breath as if to say something or to laugh, but I don’t stop. Instead, I run for my car and burst into tears as soon as I sit down, the full force of the fight we just had hitting me in the chest.

All I can do for a while is sob, my chest heaving as tears flow down my face. Reece is gone. And I meant nothing to him. All of this was for nothing.

Eventually, I catch my breath and start to worry that someone’s going to see me sitting here, crying alone in my car. The last thing I want is to be interrupted by some well-meaning person from town. There’s only one place I want to be.

I cry all the way to Gramma’s and let myself in when I get there, scurrying out of the car so that none of her neighbors will see the mascara running down my cheeks. It’s probably pointless trying to damage control gossip now, but the fewer people who see me like this, the better.

Gramma is in the kitchen and calls out when she hears the door. “Sienna? Is that you?”

I open my mouth, but no words come out. All I can do is stumble to the kitchen. She sees me in the doorway and her face falls in concern. She opens her arms out to me, and I rush over to her, wrapping my arms around her so I can sob into her shoulder.

“Oh, honey,” she coos, soothing me. It’s the only voice in the world that could soothe me right now. “Sweetie, what happened?”

But I can’t speak to tell her.

All I can do is cry.