Chapter Nineteen
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE WARM WATER hitting Aubrie’s back was divine. After rushing down Sentinel Hill, then dealing with the heightened pressure at Doc Bernie’s with the whale watching patients, she needed the clean slate.
She had recognized the signs of the panic attack right away. It wasn’t hard, considering the number of attacks she had experienced the past year. The spike of fear. Flash of heat through the body. The sense of drifting away from Earth, nothing anchoring her to the ground.
The hope was that the move would help alleviate the frequency of attacks. That eventually they’d go away. For some time, it was working—she hadn’t gone through an attack in Maiden’s Bay.
Until Ben brought Annabel in.
Obviously, she didn’t hide it well enough, despite following her coping steps of removing herself from the trigger, using her breathing techniques, saying the alphabet slowly backward in her head. Bran knew something was wrong and tried to get her to open up. But her problems were her problems. He couldn’t fix her, nor would she want him to try.
Her phone buzzed. Bran. As if he knew she was thinking about him at that moment.
Out front. Take your time.
She slipped on a long-sleeve shirt and jeans with boot cuffs and brown boots. She slung her purse across her body, grabbed her favorite sweater, an oversized cream cable knit with brown buttons, then headed down the stairs.
Bran stood on the other side of the glass door in a brown plaid flannel shirt beneath a brown jacket, hands in pockets. She didn’t pin him for the flannel type, but he wore it well.
“All set?” Bran held the door for her exit. “You look nice.”
“Thank you. Same.” It was the truth, but why was it so hard to hear it coming out of her own mouth? “I’m guessing the Crab Festival is on the south side of town?” Aubrie closed her sweater tighter, as if that would close off her thoughts from leaving her mouth.
“What gave it away?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Something about the giant Ferris wheel that was erected overnight down that way?”
“I thought you were going to say the wafts of boiled crustacean you caught permeating the air.”
She sniffed the air for a moment and shook her head. “I don’t catch anything different.”
“You will.” Bran smiled. “Shall we walk to this thing? By the time we find parking, we’d probably end up close by here, anyway.”
She looked down Pearl Avenue, and Bran was right. The parking spots filled up since they had rushed to the practice earlier, and a line of cars headed south. It was the first real traffic she had seen in town.
“I’m up for walking.”
“Great.” Bran walked by her side along the sidewalk heading toward the southern tip of the crescent that was town.
“I haven’t been out this way much so far.” Aubrie took in the window display at Bea’s Bouquets as they passed. Golden yellow and orange leaves were strewn about a table covered in a mahogany brown tablecloth. Bright yellow sunflowers burst out of an oversized glass vase in the center of the table. “But I’ve been loving the displays at the flower shop.”
“That’s Bea’s,” Bran said. “Been around for quite some time. In fact, most of the shops have been here since I can remember.”
“That’s not a bad thing, is it? I think it’d be nice, knowing when you’re gone that you’ll come home to what you’re used to.”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
She slowed her steps, taking a good look at him. “I take it you have another way of putting it?”
“Well, I’ve been gone for a good part of three years. You’d think something would change. Doesn’t a town need progress to keep itself alive, to be relevant?”
“Maybe. But where I’m from, it’s sink or swim. Stores and restaurants pop up all the time but could be gone and replaced in a year. Months even. That just tells me the newest, hippest thing may not be what’s needed. And to be honest, it’s hard for a place to feel like home when it looks different every time you blink.”
Bran’s skeptical look melted.
Aubrie pointed to his smiling lips. “I’ve convinced you, haven’t I?”
He chuckled. “I admit, I never thought of Maiden’s Bay like that. I always thought it was resistant to change, a town slowly dying because it didn’t want to embrace the new.”
“But….”
He elbowed her lightly. “Perhaps you’re right. A part of me does appreciate the familiarity of it all.”
Noise grew as they continued down the curve of Pearl Avenue, the open sea beyond the bay appearing in glimpses between houses and shops. Music played under a sea of voices and even a few delightful squeals from the Ferris wheel. Cars crowded the entrance of a parking lot too small to accommodate the visitors.
“Looks like this is a pretty big deal in Maiden’s Bay.”
“Oh, yeah. The Crab Festival is the only one of its kind within a hundred miles of coastline. At least, that’s what they say on the advertisements. But I do know people come from Parkside, White Bend, even farther out.”
The end of Pearl Avenue was closed off with barrels and cones, a white banner with red lettering hung above a makeshift entrance. 67th Annual Crab Festival, a crab reaching up to the text, its claw making the V in festival.
They walked through, the aromas in the air a platter of seafood goodies. There were food trucks galore, each with their own specialties—fried crab cakes, buttery boiled crab legs, crab burgers. They walked by two trucks with large skillets, grilling butternut squash and zucchini, late season corn on the cob, even pumpkin.
“This is amazing.” Aubrie stopped in front of a truck called A-peel-ing Desserts, an exclusively apple dessert establishment with apple pies, fritters, and crumbles.
“Here.” Bran nodded toward the truck. “They’ve got great candy apples.” As he said it, Aubrie noticed a glass display separate from the baked goods. The apples were enormous, some covered in caramel, others chocolate or red candy. The toppings were endless, with nuts, chocolate chips, sprinkles. A truck attendant was busy rolling one in Lucky Charms.
“I didn’t even have lunch.” Aubrie’s stomach growled in retaliation.
“Um, hello? An apple a day?”
Aubrie laughed. “I don’t think they mean this kind.”
He said something to an attendant and turned back to her. “Yeah, but this kind’s good for your mental health.”
She shook her head, eyes growing big when the attendant handed Bran a sliced caramel apple larger than any apple she’d ever seen.
“Come on. You know you want to try one.”
“I didn’t say otherwise.” She grinned and selected a slice. The tart juicy apple collided with the butteriness of the caramel, which stuck to her teeth. “That’s one of the best things I’ve ever tasted.”
She finished the first slice and went for a second, Bran smiling in delight, a string of caramel stretched past his lip.
“Here.” Aubrie touched his cheek with her thumb to wipe the caramel away.
“Oh.” Bran’s hand met hers, and they stood frozen for a second, her hand touching Bran’s. She caught a glimpse of his blue eyes. “Thanks.”
She pulled back and gave a nod, her hand aching for the contact again. She cleared her throat, as if clearing the past moment, and noticed a white tent set up next to a parked ambulance.
“Hey, is that the medical tent?” She pointed to the white canopy. “Think we should see if they need help?”
“Yes to the first question. And no to the second. I’m sure they’re fine.” He took another bite of an apple slice.
“Come on, you’re not even curious what kind of staffing they have? Supplies, expertise?”
He exaggerated his enjoyment of the candy apple, closing his eyes dramatically. “Mmm,” he said with a stuffed mouth. “So glad Doc Bernie gave us the afternoon off.”
“Just for a minute? I’m going to check it out, with or without you.” She walked away, the disappointed grunt from Bran audible.
“Fine.” He caught up with her as she entered the tent.
Two uniformed EMTs sat in folding chairs at a table, one with his arms crossed, the other looking over several food truck flyers.
“If they need any help here,” Bran whispered, tickling her ear and sending a thrill down her spine, “it’s breaking the boredom.”
She nudged him playfully.
“Hey, I know you guys.” The folded arm guy pointed at them. “At Doc Bernie’s, right?”
Aubrie recalled his face. “That’s right.” She ran through events back to the day she first arrived, which seemed ages ago. Not in a days-have-been-torturous kind of way. She had gotten to feel comfortable here so quickly, she had forgotten just how fresh she was to town. “You helped with the appendicitis patient.”
The man nodded.
“I— we” —she eyed Bran—“wanted to see if you needed extra hands here.”
“Nah,” he said. “It’s usually slow at this thing. We get the occasional kid sticking his hand where he shouldn’t, getting a finger pinched. Or the tourist who didn’t realize they were allergic to shellfish.”
“Have you tried any of these?” The other EMT held up the food truck menus.
Bran leaned toward the man. “I’d try the apple dessert one.” He showed off the remains of the candy apple.
“Thank you for stopping by, though,” the first said. “Do you know any kids who may want a sticker?” He held up one from a stack, the sticker reading Don’t be a crab, get the jab. “They’re from last year’s vaccination awareness campaign.”
“No,” Bran said.
“I’m sure we could use them at the clinic if you don’t mind.”
“Go for it.” He handed her a stack, and she put them in her purse.
“Thank you,” she said. “See you around.”
“Hopefully not.” He chuckled. “At Doc Bernie’s, at least. You know what I mean.”
“I do.” Aubrie waved and followed Bran out the tent. She stopped just outside, halting his footsteps farther into the fair. “Was that so bad?”
He tipped his head back, staring at the sky, like a teenager who had been told to do his chores, which made her giggle. He smiled back. “Is there ever a moment you’re not thinking about medicine?” He pointed to her purse, housing the stickers. “About helping people?”
She hadn’t thought about it before. How much did she think about work? “It’s not exactly the type of job we can walk away from at the end of the day.”
He sighed. “I know. But it seems like you bleed medicine. Like it’s what gets you out of bed and keeps you going.”
She shrugged. “Is it not that way for you?”
He rubbed his chin, as if a beard were there to scratch. “Don’t get me wrong. I love what I do. But, with people like you, like Doc Bernie, you live medicine.”
A thought was born, one that grew a smirk on her face.
“What?” he asked.
“Are you trying to say that I’m like Doc Bernie? You know, since I’m like him, I’d be great to take over the practice?”
“Wha—I—” He hastily scrambled his hand through his hair.
“I’m joking, Bran.”
“Of course.”
They started walking to who knew where. It didn’t matter, as they were in the middle of the busyness that was the Crab Festival.
Bran stopped, another thought apparently striking him. “You would be great to replace my grandfather. For real.”
“Thank you,” she said, walking slowly beside him again. “Why do I feel there’s a ‘but’ in there?”
“It’s just that, with your mind focused on work all the time, you forget to have fun.”
She stopped and turned to him. “Do you really think that of me? That I don’t know how to have fun?”
His shoulders nearly touched his ears. “I mean, Doc Bernie’s party, hiking, this festival. They’ve all led to you talking or thinking about work, haven’t they?”
She thought over each one on his list. “I guess eventually. But work isn’t everything.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“What? I can have fun.”
Bran swiveled on his heel, looking smug. “Then prove it.”
“I don’t have to prove myself to you.”
“Because you can’t.”
She felt compelled to slap him, the innate reaction she always held back when someone told her she couldn’t do something. She also wanted to show him he was wrong—the reaction she usually acted on. But why did she care what he thought? She questioned whether she didn’t know the answer, or didn’t want to face the answer. “All right, I’ll play your little game.”
“No talk of work the rest of the afternoon.”
She placed her fingers over her chest. “Promise. No work talk.” She couldn’t fight the smile forming on her lips as she stepped away from him, walking briskly to a sign up ahead.
“Where are you going?” he shouted behind her.
“To have fun.”