13. It Was Working
IT WAS WORKING
“Hi, Mom,” Luca said on Sunday morning. He figured she would have called before now, but had left him alone with texts while he acclimated to his new life on the island.
“Luca. I hope I’m not interrupting you. I wasn’t sure if you were working or not.”
“I’m not,” he said. He thought he’d told them the schedule he had but maybe not. “I’m off until next Saturday.”
“A full week off already?” his mother asked, sounding confused. “Are you on vacation?”
He laughed. “No. Nothing like that. I work five sixteen-hour days straight, then get ten days off.”
“Oh. Sounds hard but nice at the same time. I’m sure you love the long busy days, but I can see you getting bored for ten days with nothing to do.”
Which had been his worry also.
Especially in a new place where he knew no one.
But he did know someone now.
And that person was interested in spending time together.
As friends.
Better than nothing.
“Not yet,” he said. “I’m learning my way around and getting things I need in the house.”
“How much did you have to buy?” his mother asked. “Your last apartment was so small, I didn’t know if you’d have enough or if you’d be able to get things on the island? How does that work?”
He laughed at his mother’s eager questions. In the past it would annoy him, but he knew it came from a place of caring rather than nosiness.
They’d been worried about him for years.
Hell, he was worried about himself.
This move had more to do with getting him away from what was holding him back.
Considering the amount of laughter he’d had in his life in the few weeks he’d lived here, it was working.
“Things take longer, no doubt, or I can have stuff delivered to the docks and go over and get it myself on a day off. They’ve got most things I need on the island, so not a big deal. Nothing I need to rush. The place was semi-furnished and since it’s just me, it’s fine.”
He brought his couch, bar stools, which were useless since there was no place to put them, but the house came with a small table he used. His bedroom, and another room had a bed in it. There were some mismatched chairs and end tables with two lamps.
More than he needed and it worked out fine.
It wasn’t as if he was going to decorate.
It was modern enough and the best he could get on short notice. He’d decide what to do after his year lease was up.
Maybe living in Boston would be better and he could stay on the island at the hospital for those five days like Dr. Raines did.
“You always make do,” his mother said. “How is the job itself? Busy on a small island or slow?”
“In the office, I’m the only doctor on. There is a nurse practitioner with me seeing patients and a nurse’s aide.
I spend about four hours doing rounds in the hospital before the office opens and then after.
I’m on call those five days also. With my background, I’m helping in the ER on the weekends, then just popping up to the pediatric ward before and after, unless paged. ”
“Are you okay with that? I know the ER burned you out before.”
“It’s fine. It’s a nice mix.” And something he had to do to not have it be a trigger anymore since it’s where he was when his wife died.
He could have found any number of other jobs if he wanted to be an ER doctor, but that was a no go full time.
“The job sounds good. What about what you’re doing with your time off? I worry that, with the holidays coming up you’re going to be lonely. Since you’ve got ten days off in between, are you able to fly home for either Thanksgiving or Christmas?”
He knew that would come up.
“I have to start my rotation the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Though it’s tempting, it’s the last weekend that I want to be traveling on. I’ll let you know about Christmas as we get closer.”
He could fly home but knew he wouldn’t. It was just best to say he’d let them know.
“I know that tone,” his mother said. “You want me to back off some.”
“You’re fine,” he said. “I know you care, but honestly, I’m doing great.”
“I can hear it in your voice. I really can.”
“How?” he asked, moving to the recliner and sitting. He hit the button and put his legs up.
“I don’t know. You’re almost a little happier than you’ve sounded before. I can’t explain it. I guess I worried that you’d be working yourself into exhaustion.”
“No. I’m not doing that. It’s hard to do that when I’m off. But I met a colleague. We get along well. We were at the gym together mid-week and then spent the day in Boston on Friday. So, see, I’m getting out.”
“Phew.” His mother let out a sigh followed by a laugh. “I’m so happy to hear that. That’s wonderful news. Another doctor?”
“A pediatrician in the same office,” he said. “We were both off on Wednesday and in the gym. There is only one on the island and not that far from me.”
“Wonderful. Is there a lot to do on the island? Maybe not this time of year, I’m guessing, but come the warmer months there’d be more appeal.”
“I’m finding that out little by little. We went to a great little cafe after. Awesome sandwiches and food I can get to hold me over while I’m working.”
The catering menu had promise. He didn’t care if he ate the same thing for those days. He just wanted something better than fast food since his time was limited, but somewhat healthy too.
“Perfect. I’m glad you’re getting out there. What’s his name? This way you can call him that when talking to me.”
Fuck.
He didn’t want to lie.
“Gabriela,” he said.
There was the silence that he was expecting.
Then the laughter that followed.
He wasn’t sure which was worse.
The laughter. Definitely the laughter.
“It’s a woman?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Is she single? Normally you don’t spend the day with the opposite sex if you’re in a relationship unless it’s work related.”
“Mom. We are friends.”
It was the truth.
Just not admitting that for the first time in years he was feeling something more than friendship. Or maybe thinking of it.
But he hadn’t missed the look in Gabriela’s eyes when she found out he’d just taken his ring off when he moved here.
That screamed “not ready” to any idiot.
Gabriela Mills was one smart woman.
“Friends could turn into more,” his mother said. “Isn’t that how things started with Zoe?”
“You don’t have to whisper her name. I’m not going to break.”
Not even crack.
Not anymore.
“I know, honey. But it’s always been so uncomfortable.”
“It shouldn’t be. It was tragic, but I’ve got to move on. I am. I know you and Dad didn’t like me moving here, but if it helps any, I feel somewhat like my old self. Not three years ago, but like twelve years ago.”
That was as close to what he could say without coming out and admitting it was before he met his wife.
The love of his life.
The person who he thought made him whole.
But he realized one thing. A single person couldn’t do that for you. You had to do it for yourself or you were going to wither away into nothing.
You couldn’t let someone else have that much power in your life.
He wouldn’t ever again.
It took him taking this leap to know that now.
“I’m glad. More than glad. Ecstatic. If you won’t come home for one of the holidays, do you think Dad and I can visit you? Would that be too hard to do being on an island?”
“You know what? If you two don’t mind the travel, then we can do that. I can get you at the airport and bring you over on the ferry, then bring you back as long as it’s not a day I’ve got to work.”
“Nonsense. Your father and I will either stay in Boston and come visit or get a car and figure it out on our own. I’ve always wanted to see the city. Let me look around to see what’s available and when for Thanksgiving. If that doesn’t work, then maybe Christmas.”
The excitement in his mother’s voice told him not to discourage this. If they saw how happy he was—how he was adapting—then maybe it’d be less time assuring them and more time he could spend working on himself.