Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
“Mom, are you home?” David walked through his parents’ front door, wandering to the back of his childhood home. Jasper, his parents’ yorkie greeted him. Bending down, David stroked Jasper between his ears. “Where are they, boy?” he asked.
Jasper barked. David scooped him up and continued out to the patio. Pushing open the sliding glass door, David stared out at the Pacific Ocean in all its splendid glory. He sighed with relief as the sticky saltwater hit his skin. This, the view of the ocean, the healing balm of an ocean breeze, never became old.
His parents were seated at the patio table. They both glanced up as he passed through the sliding door, closing it behind him.
“Here you both are,” declared David.
David slung himself into one of the empty patio chairs, setting Jasper down on the ground to wander around. Stephen, his dad, glanced up from his e-book, removing his reading glasses, he placed them on the patio dining table.
Stretching, Stephen said with a chuckle, “We weren’t hiding.”
“Just enjoying the last little bit of sunshine before the sunset.” Kelly, his mom, continued to knit. Her needles moved in tandem across the yellow yarn. She paused when she finished the long row of loops. “This is a nice, pleasant surprise. You usually don’t drop by on a Friday night. What’s up?”
Grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bowl on the patio table, David popped some into his mouth. Ignoring his mom’s digging, David knew Kelly was itching to ask about the woman he took out a few weeks in a row. But it fizzled and burned out about a month ago, and David didn’t want to rehash it. Since his divorce, his parents managed to stay out of his dating life. Even if they wanted the details, they didn’t ask and only listened when he offered information freely. David appreciated it.
“If I had a view like this, I’d be out here every night too,” said David.
Kelly smiled, peering over the top of her glasses. “Someday, dear.” She pulled the yarn to give it some more length before starting on the next row of tight loops. “You’ll get your big house on the water too.”
“Doubtful,” leaning back, David crossed his ankles and cradled his neck. The terms of his divorce ran through his head. His jaw tightened. Trying not to think about everything he’d lost, David cranked his neck back and forth. He swallowed, forcing the sting of the past away. Enough. He paused, “Mom, remember that friend of yours who passed away a few weeks ago, the one in your knitting circle?”
“Rebecca?” Kelly stopped mid-knit, peering over.
David snapped then pointed. “Yes, Rebecca. Her daughters came in today. The younger one, Alexis, is a patient of mine.”
A hand flew to Kelly’s heart. “No, those poor girls. I remember Rebecca mentioning there was quite an age gap between the two of them.”
“Uh huh,” David grabbed another handful of popcorn, chewing before he continued, “the older one, Claire, is probably only a little younger than me.”
David almost added, and she’s gorgeous, like knock the wind right out of you, way out of your league, beautiful.
Stephen dug into the popcorn bowl too and took a handful. “Do they know what they are going to do yet? Are they sticking around Pismo?” asked Stephen.
“No. Claire mentioned they have seventy-six days to move out of their mom’s house and get it up for sale.” Amazing how David remembered that very specific detail. He watched as the sun slipped below the water. A stunning smattering of yellow and orange stretched across the sky, and gratitude seeped into David’s heart. He continued, “I don’t think she lives here, from what I gathered.”
Kelly shook her head, starting to knit again. “No, the older one lives in Los Angeles. She’s a physical therapist. I only remember because Rebecca always spoke about her with great pride.” Kelly tsked, “I still can’t believe she’s gone, and how she passed. How awful for them. Their dad isn’t in the picture either. He abandoned Rebecca before the younger one was born.”
Slowly nodding, David pondered on the tragedy of the situation and the unfairness of it. Though his life held challenges, nothing compared to the pain Claire and Alexis experienced. He was grateful to help them in a small way, hoping it relieved a bit of the burden for them.
“Geez, that’s definitely a lot to take in,” David eventually replied. “But it makes sense why Claire was bringing Alexis to her appointment and not her dad.”
A silence lingered, and he focused on the crashing of the waves against the shore. It was calm and soothing, and David happily remembered the evenings he spent with his parents over the years on this patio, watching the waves. David became acutely aware of how lucky he was to have not one, but two parents in his life.
David stood. “I need to go get something real to eat, besides popcorn. I only wanted to stop by to say hi. Do you want me to take Jasper back in?”
“Yes, thank you, that would be great.” Stephen picked up his glasses and e-book and tapped the screen, making it light up again. He put back on his reading glasses. “Have a nice evening.”
Kelly bid him goodbye too.
Scooping Jasper back up, David took the yorkie back inside and placed him in his kennel, making his exit for home. David lived only a mile away in a small two-bedroom bungalow, not on the beach like his parents. But he was grateful he’d found something he could afford in Pismo, too. Though it was tiny, it was his.
With his loans from dental school and opening his own practice, David had only recently started to inch his way out of debt. The divorce hadn’t helped either. Lauren, his ex-wife, wiped him clean out. He shook the memory of Lauren from his mind. If he lingered too long on her, his heart ached, and shoulders became tense.
Since his divorce three years ago, David had just occasionally dipped his toes back into the dating pool. The experience of having his heart ripped out of his chest wasn’t one he was eager to repeat. The only thing pushing him forward was his hope to get remarried and eventually have children of his own. But today, something had happened, a shifting of sorts. When David saw Claire in the waiting room, his heart nearly stopped on sight. His stomach did a weird somersault. Since his divorce, David didn’t notice women, but he had noticed Claire. And he didn’t want to unpack what it meant.
David picked up some takeout on his way home. Entering his house, he tossed his keys onto the kitchen counter. After removing his pad Thai from the plastic bag, he plopped himself on his couch, relaxing to watch a basketball game while he ate. With a full belly, David cheered his team onto victory, before he dozed off to sleep without ever making it to his bed.
Several hours later, David awoke to the ringing of his cell phone.
With one eye open, half asleep, he patted the top of the couch, looking for his phone. Once David located it, he clicked accept without checking the number. “Hello?” David rubbed at his sleepy eyes.
Yawning, David double checked the clock on the wall. He hoped he hadn’t overslept for work, but then he quickly remembered it was Saturday. His office was closed. Relief washed over him.
“Dr. Clark?” Sarah questioned.
Stretching, David rose, taking his empty to-go container with him. He tossed it into the trash. “Hey, Sarah,” leaning against his kitchen counter with his forearms, David asked, “What’s up?”
“You sound, out of it,” replied Sarah.
“You woke me up,” countered David, “and, it’s Saturday.”
“True…” Sarah’s voice faded off. She cleared her throat then continued, “I can see you don’t want to be disturbed. I’ll tell the patient to go to the dentist. Sorry I bothered you.”
“Wait! Sorry…” David rubbed his eyes. More fully wake, he knew he wasn’t being as gracious as he should be. Sarah wouldn’t call unless it was urgent. She was the one responsible for checking the voicemails for any emergencies that might occur over the weekend. “Who’s the patient? And what happened?”
Sarah replied, “Apparently, Alexis… remember she came in with her sister yesterday?” She waited.
His ears perked up a bit. “Yes, of course… go on,” said David.
“Alexis fell this morning in dance class, slipped, knocking her teeth on the ballet barre. Her braces slid up and into her top lip and are stuck. Claire said she could try and take her to a dentist if you can’t see her today. Do you want me to tell her to do that?”
A second chance to see Claire.
“Let her know I’ll meet her and Alexis at the office in a half hour,” replied David.
David ended the call and ran to take a shower and change.
Exactly twenty-seven minutes later, David pulled into his office parking lot, parking next to Claire’s car. Both were still in it, waiting for him to arrive. Through his window, David waved at the sisters. Claire smiled and waved back, opening her door. His heart rate picked up to a steady staccato beat. Simmer down. He partly blamed the adrenaline pulsating through him from the last frantic twenty minutes of showering and changing. The other part—well that was all due to Claire.
Exiting his car, Claire and Alexis lingered by the back of his truck. Claire was in black form-fitting yoga pants and a tank top. Her hair was pulled up into a messy knot. David gulped, forcing himself to concentrate on Alexis, who held a blood-soaked rag to her mouth.
“Oh boy,” David motioned for them to follow him to the office’s front door. He walked toward the entrance. Over his shoulder, he said, “It looks like the ballet barre won again.”
He caught Claire’s smirk. The feeling invigorated him. David made her smile, and he wanted to do everything he could to make it happen again. Fumbling with his keys, he forced himself to pull back his shoulders and focus on getting Alexis the help she needed.
Alexis scoffed, “I didn’t know it was a fight,” she mumbled through the rag.
“Neither did I.” David added without missing a beat. With the correct key found, he opened the door and flipped on the lights to the lobby. “Come on in.” He held the door open, allowing them to enter. “I’ll survey the damage.”
Passing through the door, Claire said, “Thanks for meeting us on such short notice.” She wrung her hands together. “I hope we aren’t keeping you from your family.” She gnawed on her bottom lip.
“Nope,” David shook his head. He motioned toward the exam room. “I live alone.” He flipped on the lights. “You saved me from a long boring morning of Saturday cartoons.” Once at the nearest exam chair, he rested his hands on the head rest. “You can sit here, Alexis.”
With the rag still pressed to her mouth, Alexis lowered herself into the chair. “You don’t really still watch cartoons… do you?” She raised an eyebrow.
David turned on the overhead exam light, moving it directly over Alexis’s mouth. “Of course, I do.” Smiling, he gazed over at Claire while he said, “You’re never too old to watch cartoons.”
“Aren’t you like thirty plus?” asked Alexis.
“Alexis,” Claire hissed. She closed her eyes for a moment, then patted Alexis on the shoulder. Directing herself to Alexis, Claire continued, “You can’t ask things like that.” Claire met David’s gaze. “Besides, I think Dr. Clark is only teasing you.”
Alexis rolled her eyes. “Okay, sorry,” muttered Alexis.
“Now, enough about my TV watching habits, and how I’m way past my prime. Why don’t you slowly remove the rag?” David sat down in the swivel chair next to Alexis, grabbing some latex gloves out of the box. He put them on. Claire pulled up one of the other nearby chairs and sat on the other side of Alexis, across from David. “Let me see the damage.”
Alexis removed the rag, revealing a swollen and bloody lip. Her top four braces were firmed jammed into her top lip.
“Oh no, ouch.” David gasped, drastically. “I hope you’ll live.”
Alexis’s eyes bulged. Her gaze darted to Claire then back to David.
Waving it off, gingerly, David widened her mouth with his fingers. “I’m kidding.” David peered closer at her teeth and lip. “This is completely fixable. Your lip will take a while to heal, but there doesn’t appear to be any damage to your teeth which should be a huge relief. You’re going to get to keep all of them.”
Claire sighed, leaning back in her chair. “Thank heavens.” Her hand flew to her heart. “I nearly passed out when Alexis showed me her lip.”
David caught the train track lines across Claire’s forehead slowly easing away. “It always looks worse than it really is.” David reverted his attention back to Alexis. “I’m going to need to numb up your lip before I remove these braces stuck in it. Then I’ll replace them with new ones. The whole thing should only take an hour or so.”
Alexis started to cry. “I’m so glad.” She swiped at her eyes. “The last thing I needed was to be toothless too.”
“No, no, nothing like that.” David patted her shoulder. “You get to keep all your teeth. And when you get these braces off in six months, you’ll have a beautiful smile. Let me go grab the numbing medicine and other tools I need, and I’ll be right back.”
David left and went into the room where the dental instruments were sanitized and stored. He gathered the ones he needed along with the numbing medicine. When he returned to the group exam room, Alexis and Claire were laughing.
David set his instruments down on the side table. He smiled, “I can see you’re both in better spirits.” He lowered himself onto his swivel stool.
Alexis swiped at the tears running down her face. “Yes, now that I know I’m not going to end up as a toothless teenager, you could say I’m doing better.”
Claire continued to chuckle. “Sorry, this is just the first time we’ve laughed about anything in the past several weeks.” With a hand over her belly, her laughing slowly subsided. She swiped at her eyes too. “I’m glad Alexis is going to be okay.” She gave Alexis’s shoulder a quick squeeze.
“Me too,” added David.
Then he shot Alexis up with the anesthetic. Once her lip was numb, he removed the braces and replaced them with new ones. The process was fast and easy. But David found himself having a hard time concentrating with Claire only a few feet away from him. He forced himself not to glance over at her, not once, not even when he felt her eyes on him. But then again, where else was she going to look? So, David tried not to flatter himself too much.
“You can go ahead and sit up.” David pressed the button to raise the back of the dental chair. “I’m done.”
Once the chair returned to its low position, Alexis swung her legs over the side. “Thank you, Dr. Clark.” She wiggled her mouth a little. “My mouth feels so weird.” Lightly, Alexis touched her lip.
“Be careful.” David stripped his gloves off, gathering up all the used instruments on the metal tray. “Remember, you can’t eat anything until the numbness has gone away completely. You don’t want to add a bitten cheek to your list of injuries.”
Claire stood, gripping her purse. “And how long does it usually take for her mouth to feel normal again?”
“A few hours.” David rose too, walking over to a back table, he placed the used instruments in the bin to be cleaned. “Everyone’s a little different, but you should be fine by the time lunch rolls around.”
Alexis stood. “But, I’m already hungry,” she whined.
Claire tilted her head, touching her on the shoulder. “I think you’ll manage to survive.”
A long pause followed.
David motioned with his hand. “Here, let me walk you out.”
Leading them from the exam room to the front door, David held it open for them to exit. Alexis immediately walked to the car without another word. Claire pressed the unlock button on her car keys for Alexis.
Once Alexis was inside with the door closed, Claire glanced over at David. “I know this was extra…” Claire shuffled her feet. “You were so generous to not charge us the remaining balance for her braces. Please let me know how much we owe you for today, and I can settle the bill right now.”
David shook his head, shoving his hands into his pockets. “It’s on the house.”
Claire threw her hands down at her sides. “I can’t let you do that. You’ve already done so much for us already.”
“I’ve done very little.” David glanced between the car and Claire. “Besides my mom, Kelly, was friends with Rebecca. Just think of it as a friends and family discount.”
“They were? You didn’t mention that before.” Her face softened, and Claire took a step closer to him. “How did Kelly know Mom?”
With her nearness, David caught a whiff of her sweet intoxicating scent, and his knees nearly buckled. “They were in the same knitting group.” David managed to say without his voice shaking.
Slowly nodding, Claire said, “Knitting. Mom did love it. Alexis is wearing a sweater Mom knitted for her.” Her voice faded, while her eyes moistened. Claire glanced away, blinking rapidly. “Well, thanks again. I’ll let you go.” She took one step toward her car then stopped. “Do you have any big plans for the weekend?”
“No, how about you and Alexis?” David asked out of politeness.
“Alexis wants to go see a movie at the outdoor theater on the beach tonight.” Claire fiddled with her keys. “It’s going to be cold, but she hasn’t wanted to do anything lately, so I think I’ll take her.”
“Is that the one near the pier?” David folded his arms. “I’ve heard it’s fun.”
Claire nodded. “I’ve heard the same thing.”
“My parents have mentioned going once or twice. They liked it. I’ve been meaning to check it out myself,” added David.
Claire motioned toward him, “You should join us.”
Casually shrugging, David replied, “Thanks. Maybe I will.” Though he had zero intention of attending. Claire was only being polite, it was something people said, nothing more.
Walking toward her car, Claire peered over her shoulder and said, “Okay. Thanks again. Bye.” She strode the remaining distance to her car. Climbing in, she drove away.
David went back into his clinic to finish cleaning up. The interaction in the parking lot played on repeat in his mind. Should he join Alexis and Claire at the outdoor movie? He shook off the idea. Nah, ridiculous.