5. Going Down A Road
5
GOING DOWN A ROAD
G arrett returned to his place after sweating his ass off.
He wasn’t sure the last time he ran that hard, that fast, or that far, and wasn’t sure why.
He jogged up his front porch, bent over, and was huffing out a few breaths while he pulled his phone off his arm and unlocked the security system to get in.
His shirt was pulled up and over his head while he walked down the hall to his bathroom.
Sometimes he wished he had more space, but the small bathroom in his room he expanded and put a shower in was the best money spent, even if it gave him less room for furniture in his bedroom where he’d stolen that extra square footage.
The water was on and he stripped the rest of the way and stepped under the hot spray. Maybe it’d wipe away the memories of why he’d relocated, but he wasn’t sure anything ever would.
He shouldn’t have brought up the lawsuit.
Losing a patient was never easy.
Losing one that way was harder. Then to have it on the heels of two others in a short period of time and he was just ill over it all in his life.
Add Taylor’s reaction during that time and he was lucky he didn’t shatter.
There was nothing he could have done for any of them and told himself not to get attached to patients, but he had to Linda. She reminded him of his mother and it was hard not to just chat with her weekly.
A stupid cold that she couldn’t shake pushed her treatments off for over a month and in that time, her cancer had spread.
He never saw it coming and wished he had. He was more devastated over that than another patient’s death and told himself never to do it again.
Never get that close.
And when Zach’s case landed on his desk, he knew it wasn’t going to be good. His parents wanted chemo right away, but he waited to run more tests. It was the right decision and backed by two other doctors.
Nothing was going to save Zach, it was about buying time, but his parents didn’t want to accept that. Maybe he wouldn’t have either.
There’d been a time in his life when his parents had to make those decisions too.
Shit.
He wasn’t going down a road that was going to make him crash soon.
He braced his hands on the walls and let out a shout that actually burned his vocal cords.
It was the only place he could do it and not worry that someone would come running panicked there was something wrong with him.
Once it was all out of his system, he washed his hair and the rest of his body and got out.
Dried off and in sweats and a T-shirt, he grabbed a beer and headed to his deck to watch the sunset. It was chilly enough for him to reach back into the door and grab a sweatshirt off the hook.
“Garrett,” he heard.
Shit. So much for a quiet drink on the deck before he watched some mind-numbing show on TV.
“Hi, Vanessa,” he said to his neighbor who walked from her backyard to his and then came over to the stairs and up on his deck. Not even invited.
“I see we both have the same idea tonight,” Vanessa said with a full glass of wine in her hand. She worked in sales or something and had been living on the island for a few years. Most of her job was remote, she’d told him.
Anytime she saw him here, she tried to come and make time with him.
He’d peg her a few years older than him and definitely on the prowl.
He wasn’t interested.
Looking at her long dark hair, almost black and curly, pulled into a ponytail, he realized he was more interested in the blonde’s looks he’d seen today.
“Guess we do,” he said, taking a swig of his beer. He hadn’t even poured it into a glass, just grabbed it out of the fridge and came here.
He wasn’t one for drinking during the week, but today felt like the day for it and he wasn’t sure the reason.
Normally he had better control over his emotions and reactions.
Guess he wasn’t as relaxed as he thought he was yet.
“Do you mind?” Vanessa asked, pulling out a chair and sitting.
What was he going to do? Tell her no and to get lost?
He’d love to but no reason to be a dick.
He rarely was. Maybe life would be easier if he was one once in a while.
He definitely should have been one to Taylor.
Thanks, Mom, for putting that thought into my head.
“Go ahead,” he said when she sat.
“Bad day?” Vanessa asked him.
“Not really,” he said. “Just thought I’d give myself a little treat before my show starts.” He looked at his watch. “In twenty minutes.”
There, he could put a time limit on this.
“Oh,” Vanessa said. “What is it you’re watching?”
Shit, he couldn’t think of anything that was on tonight. He just scrolled through things recorded and picked something.
“Not sure yet,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of stuff to choose from, but I like to start them at eight so I can get two in before my eyes are shutting.”
She let out this annoying giggle that sent spine-tingling nerves racing through his body telling him to run like the devil was nipping at his ass.
Only he had nowhere to go. He was home.
“That’s funny,” Vanessa said. “You’re joking, right?”
“Sure,” he said, taking another long drink of his beer. He was damn well going to get in the house by eight, even if he had to do the one thing he hated.
Lie.
More like making up a call coming in. Yeah, he could do that.
“I lost a big commission today,” Vanessa said, sighing. “I had them on the hook. I would have stripped and danced naked for them if I thought I could have changed their mind. But I could see they weren’t ready to pull the trigger on the financial investment.”
“Guess that saved you some embarrassment then,” he said. Though he wouldn’t be surprised if she’d do something like that for a sale. “Can you give me a minute? I can’t remember if I left my oven on.”
“Sure,” Vanessa said, getting more comfortable.
Fuck!
He found his phone on the table, picked it up sent a quick text to his sister, and left it right there by the glass door where he’d hear it.
“Was it on?” Vanessa asked.
“No,” he said. “But sometimes I get busy and had a call when I was getting dinner ready.”
At least that part wasn’t a lie. His mother did call him... with his dinner in the microwave though.
“I saw you leave for your run. That would have been horrible if you had it on while you were gone.”
Which meant she was looking for him.
Last month she realized he was here full time rather than short visits. Since then he always felt he was being watched.
So much for the privacy, but it’s not like he was going to drop more money than he had for a weekend place to get the space between houses.
When he’d bought the place, he never expected he’d be here like this.
“It didn’t happen,” he said, taking another sip. “Thankfully.”
“I like a man that can cook,” she said. “Maybe we should have dinner together. You know, cook it that way.”
It was not the first time she’d hinted at it, but she was getting bolder.
His phone rang.
“Sorry,” he said. “Excuse me.”
He got up and moved to the glass door and felt her eyes on his back. He was feeling uncomfortable in his loose-fitting sweats and hoped nothing was showing. He never wore sweats around people.
When he saw his sister calling, he let out a breath.
“What’s going on?” Gabriela asked. “It sounded urgent.”
“Can you give me the patient’s name and details please?” he said, looking out at Vanessa watching him on the deck.
Gabriela laughed. “Seriously, Garrett. I’m bailing you out of a bad date. That’s wrong.”
“I understand. Can you hang on for a second?” He put the phone down to his chest. “I’m sorry. I need to deal with this now.”
“Not a problem,” Vanessa said, standing up and walking off his deck slowly. She had tight black leggings on and a fitted white shirt. Not sure why he hadn’t noticed that before, but she was showing off what good money had bought her, not even caring it was cold out giving her skin some added stiffness.
Once Vanessa was gone, he shut his glass door and flipped the light off. “Jesus, I owe you.”
“You’re damn right you do,” Gabriela said. “Where are you?”
“Home.”
His sister burst out laughing. “Was that your crazy neighbor again?”
“Right on the first try. I swear I can’t even have a beer in peace when I want it.”
“Sorry about that,” his sister said. “Maybe put a fence up.”
“I’m thinking about it. Not sure I can get it high enough though and she’ll still see me if she’s on her deck.”
“The hard life of being wanted by the opposite sex,” Gabriela said. “So many men would feel sorry for you.”
“Very funny,” he said. “You don’t understand.”
“I do,” Gabriela said. “Do you think you’re the only one that has the opposite sex hitting on you nonstop and you’ve got to wonder if it’s you they want or an in with the family name?”
He frowned. He knew his sister would understand. “Who is bothering you? I’ll take care of it.”
His sister laughed. “No one right now. And I don’t need my big brother to take care of me. It was during my residency. Now I only see dads with their kids and most of the time it's both parents. I’m not sure who is a single father or not and don’t ask or care. Not to say some douches haven’t flirted in front of their kids, but I shut it down pretty fast.”
“Good to know,” he said.
“How is everything else going since I’ve got you on the phone?” Gabriela asked. “Mom said they might visit for the weekend.”
“Are they trying to get you to come over too?” he asked. He wouldn’t mind seeing his sister.
“I’m here now,” Gabriela said.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m here for the week filling in. So I’ll just stay until Sunday rather than leave on Friday after work like I was planning.”
“How come you didn’t tell me you were here?” he asked. “You could have stayed with me.”
“Nope,” Gabriela said. “I stay at Mom and Dad’s when the house is empty. You’re just mad because if I was there Vanessa wouldn’t have come over.”
“Yeah,” he said, laughing.
“Sorry,” his sister said. “If I wasn’t on the island, you might not have caught me to save your butt. But I get out earlier here than in Boston.”
“Would you ever come here full time?” he asked.
“Don’t confuse me with you,” Gabriela said. “I like Boston.”
“I did too,” he said.
“Your job is more stressful than mine,” his sister said. “My biggest stress half the time is the crying kids or the parents when I tell them their kids aren’t perfect. When I get a sick one, they get referred to a specialist.”
“Yeah,” he said. “Me. I don’t like that at all.”
“Don’t go there, Garrett. You’re good at your job.”
“I know,” he said.
“You're so good at it because you’ve been on the other side. Don’t forget that. Not everyone has your empathy, but you need to find that line and not cross it.”
“I did,” he said. “I’m paying the price.”
“There is no price to pay,” Gabriela said. “You’ll be fine because you always are. But this year away will give you time to heal and make some decisions.”
“That’s the hope,” he said softly.
He just wasn’t so sure it would happen.