The Reunion (Love Stories From a Small Town #5)

17. Crashing Down

The hot coffee splashing from my cup to my wrist roused me from my two-minute catnap. “Son of a bitch.”

After years of practice, I was a master of sleeping standing up when I got to sleep at all. Given that I was one of the few intensive care doctors in this part of the state, my time away from this place seemed to be less and less.

The newer doctors who’d mastered the ICU routine moved on to better jobs in the city, and I was up to my ears in work again — not that I had anything better to do.

But when I found the note on my locker asking me to sit in on the new therapist’s interview since the chief was out getting his hip replaced, I figured it was something different to break up the monotony of my life.

The elevator dinged and quick heel clicks beat across the floor to me as Anna dug her keys from her pocket. “Thanks a bunch for hanging around this morning.”

Rushing to catch the ringing phone, she wrestled the door lock. “I hate bothering you like this.” The phone stopped ringing, and she sighed as she pushed the door to the wall. “But we figured since your unit would work with her the most, one of you would want to meet her face-to-face, at least, before everything was finalized.”

I sipped my coffee and sank into the chair across from her desk. “I got called in early this morning, so I was just camping out in the on-call room, anyway.”

Tapping on her keyboard for a few seconds with one hand, she pulled a manila folder from the basket on the wall with the other. “Well, this shouldn’t take very long.”

Peeking out the door, she waved at whoever walked by as I set my cup on the edge of her desk. “This is kind of a formality. She already accepted the job, but we had to meet in person for paperwork’s sake. Speech pathologists are like unicorns, so turning her down wasn’t an option.” Plopping into her chair, she flipped her hands up. “Plus, she’s a hometown girl. So, she wasn’t much worried about the money. Thank God.”

There were two kinds of people who grew up here — the ones who never leave and those who never come back — so I squinted back at her as I racked my brain to figure out who it might be. “I can’t imagine who you’re talking about.”

Pushing the resume across the desktop, she tipped her chin at it. “Faith Bennett.”

More than once, I deluded myself into seeing Faith where she wasn’t. But I’d never managed to pull someone into one of my hallucinations before. “Faith? Are you sure that’s her name?”

Her arms crossed over her as she leaned back in her seat. “One hundred percent. Have you heard of her?”

Pulling the folder closer to me, I flipped through the pages until I found the tiny gray-scale photo of her at the corner of the last page. “Yeah. But, uh,” — realizing I hadn’t looked in a mirror since sometime yesterday, I combed my hair back with my fingers in the window behind her — “no one’s seen her since we graduated from high school.”

The list of credentials after her name had me shaking my head as I read them over, because all I recalled was Faith telling me she wouldn’t be coming to college with me at the playground. “This doesn’t sound like the same person at all, to be honest.”

Snatching the folder from my fingers, she motioned behind me with it. “Well, there she is. You tell me.”

I rocked out of my chair and stepped into the doorway as Faith came to a standstill not ten feet in front of me.

Stuffed into a soft pink business suit that showed enough cleavage to make my head spin, that simple girl who used to wear nothing but jeans and t-shirts grabbed her chest. “Oh, my God.” Shuffling her heels over the tile so she didn’t fall on her ass, she tossed her arms around my neck. “Dominic Vasser, what are you doing here? Have you been here all this time?”

I always wondered what standing before her again would be like. Would it be awkward, or would we only pick up like all the years that separated us didn’t mean anything? But there was nothing but relief for both of us in that hug — a lifetime of questions finally answered. “Where else would I be?”

As right and comfortable and wonderful as it ever was to have her squeeze me like that, I just held her until she kissed my cheek and whispered the words that destroyed me all over again. “Your mom said you moved back to Texas.”

I worked my hands up her arms and pulled her away from me, nearly vomiting on her as I realized what she was saying to me. “Wait a minute. What are you talking about?”

My entire life crashed down all around me when her eyes teared over, because I understood everything she said was the God’s honest truth.

Raising my finger at Anna, I motioned back the hall to the director’s suite. “Can you guys give us a few minutes to catch up, please?”

She darted around us and laid her hand on my back. “Take your time. He has a phone call waiting, anyway.”

I swayed aside to make Faith look at me. “When did you talk to my mother?”

There wasn’t a devious bone in her body, so how she worked so hard not to look at me when she danced around the truth told me everything. “I’m sorry. I must have misunderstood what she said.” Clearing her throat of that giant lump thinning out her voice, she fanned her face with her hand. “You work here?”

She pleaded with me to stop digging for answers with that lip quiver, so I jerked the front of my white jacket to show her the embroidery instead. I’d be working with her every day until one of us retired, so there was no way in hell I would let either of us blow that interview for her. “Doctor.”

“Oh.” The bag on her arm slid down, and she clasped her hands around the strap in front of her as she dried her eyes with a blast of air through her lips. “That explains it.” Laughing at herself, she playfully rolled her eyes away as she tried to diffuse the giant bomb she just dropped on me. “Here I was searching for the rich and famous Texas attorney to the stars all this time. No wonder I never found you in the state bar database.”

It’s weird stepping through that veil into reality when you’ve been wandering through lies for so long. Thinking my life has been one way and finding out it was something else entirely had me shell-shocked, and I could barely put another thought together. “Um. No.” I shook my head as I kicked at a scuff on the otherwise polished floor and tried to wrap my head around what was happening. “I was in a bad car accident my Freshman year, and I guess that inspired me to go another way.”

Stepping closer to me, she laid her hand on my arm. “I’m so proud of you, Dom.” That chemistry between us was as strong as it was the last time she touched me, and she hesitated to pull her fingers away like we were glued together. “For this and for doing what makes you happy. That’s all I ever wanted for you.”

We were only kids in the lunchroom again on the first day of school, exchanging uncomfortable glances and smiles until I pinched her cheek. “Master’s degree? Huh?” When she twisted her lips back at me and glanced away, I peeked down to check her ring finger. “How did that happen?”

Her eyes opened a little wider. “I know. Crazy? Right?”

Now that I had the M.D. after my name, I realized that she had a whole-ass learning disability in math. So how hard it must have been for her to get through college twice like that was about the most impressive thing I had ever heard of. “Not at all. I always knew you’d figure it out once you found a subject that grabbed you.”

Seeing her with some other man and a houseful of kids would have only sent me headfirst into another tree, so I never found the courage to ever search for her all that time. But she was there in my face, and I couldn’t hide from the truth anymore, no matter what it was. “Since they pay me in peanuts, they can’t be giving you what you’re worth. So, what did bring you back here?”

Uncurling her thumb, she swung back and pointed at the elevator. “I wanted to make up some time with Dad before it’s too late.”

When Anna peeked around the corner to check up on us, I laid my hand on Faith’s back to lead her down the hall. “I think they’re waiting for us, but before I get called away or something, you’re coming to the reunion tonight. Aren’t you?”

As soon as she opened her mouth to give some excuse why she couldn’t make it, I put my hand up to stop her. “Or I can drop by your dad’s house or wherever else you want to meet up. But I feel like we have an important conversation that needs to happen. Don’t you?”

With a nod and a fleeting smile, she gently squeezed my hand before she stepped through the doorway. “I’ll meet you in our spot.”