2. Ari
TWO
ARI
"Are you staying long? It'd be nice to have you around," a little old woman, Mrs. Austen, asked.
Upon first impression she looked fragile. As if she might break from a simple pat, let alone a handshake. Yet despite her appearance, she was probably stronger than a lot of the young, virile men I'd met in my time.
"Not sure, Mrs. Austen. That's the hope," I answered her, then gave her a warning. "Sharp scratch."
She shut her eyes, and I took her blood sample, pondering over her question in my head.
Coming to Mayberry Holm was never in the cards for me, but then again, a lot of the things I'd done in the last few years hadn't been in the cards. Life had a way of screwing you up when you least expected it. When you had your guard down.
Which was how I'd found myself a wanderer at the ripe old age of thirty-eight when I should’ve been settled down, a couple kids on the way, and living the quiet suburban life.
Or as quiet as a doctor's life could be.
So here I was, on a small island off the coast of Massachusetts, adrift and trying to have a semblance of a life while at it.
The truth was I didn't know how long I'd be here.
As long as my funding lasted, I supposed.
Maybe a bit longer. I'd been here for a little over two months, and I was starting to get used to the chilly, misty mornings served with a heavy dose of joint ache and the friendly busybodies that seemed a little too keen on my personal life for my liking.
It reminded me of home, even though I was several thousand miles away from it.
I took the cannula off Mrs. Austen’s soft, cottony skin, and she squeezed her eyes even harder for a second before blinking them open and giving me a smile as if nothing had happened.
"Now, now. That wasn't so hard, was it?" I asked her and taped a cotton pad over the puncture site.
Her lips drew deeper into a smile, and she looked me in the eyes. "I barely even felt it," she said.
I chuckled. It certainly hadn't looked that way from where I was standing, but I wasn't going to tell her that.
"See? I'm a good doctor. I know what I'm doing."
She shrugged. "I'd say your exotic accent helps a lot also. Helps take my mind off this wretched thing.” She glanced at her arm.
I laughed harder. "Well, I'm glad you think that."
I bit my lip and focused on the blood sample for a moment, taking a deep breath.
It was hard to be Othered by people after living amongst them for over a decade and to be constantly reminded that I wasn't one of them. Even when they didn't mean any harm. It always simply reminded me I wasn't one of them. That I didn’t belong. Even if some days I felt more American than Greek.
"Now, I'll send those to the lab today, and we should have the results in the next couple of days. So please stop by and we'll look them over together to plan next steps. How does that sound?"
Mrs. Austen patted my hand and got up from the narrow chair as I slid the van door open, hunching until I cleared the top of the vehicle and I was standing outside on the street next to her.
"You're a true blessing on this island, Dr. Ari. I don't know what we'd do without you."
I held her hand for a moment and looked her in the eyes, taking in her words and the full intent behind them.
This simple comment proved to me how much these people needed decent, respectful, and, most of all, free healthcare.
Everyone thought Mayberry Holm and its neighboring island, Nantucket, were these high-end, fancy paradises, when in reality, most lived below the poverty line, a direct result of the islands’ prestige and reputation.
A prestige that had displaced the locals in favor of all the rich assholes that thought they could—and did—outbuy and outprice everyone else if it got them a slice of their very own heaven.
"Now take care, you handsome devil," Mrs. Austen said and started to walk away, then seemingly changed her mind and added, "We'll have to find you a nice local girl to make sure you never leave us."
I only winked at her and let her go her way, turning to the next patient in line, a middle-aged man with flushed red cheeks and unfocused eyes.
"Please. Come on in." I helped him inside and started going through his medical history when there was a knock on the door.
Warren appeared outside and nodded at me and my patient in lieu of a greeting, then climbed inside.
"Can I help?" he asked.
"The courier should be here soon. Would you mind preparing the samples for them?"
Warren gave me a silent salute and got to work.
He may not have been a doctor, but he'd spent enough time in war zones treating wounded soldiers he might as well be. I had no idea what I'd do without his help. I really needed to get a nurse, but that would only make my funding shrink faster.
"Dinner?" I asked a couple hours later when it got too dark to have any patients waiting outside in the cold wintry December.
"No, I think I'd like to starve tonight." Warren snorted, and I rolled my eyes at him as we made our way home in the van.
Christmas lights illuminated our way through the dark quaint streets, and I navigated the roads through melting snow and drunk tourists until we got to our apartment.
"Pizza's on the way," Warren announced, and we made our way inside.
"How's your brother?" I asked when I’d settled down at the kitchen table with some paperwork that needed sorting.
"Good. Busy. I helped at the bar a little. Tried to catch up."
I looked up from the laptop and studied his face. "Tried to?" I asked.
Warren shrugged. "I don't know, man. Wyatt is...well, Wyatt. He keeps to himself, so it's hard to get anything out of him."
I pursed my lips and cocked my head to the side. "Really? Even with his own brother?"
"He's always been like that. I don't know. Maybe it's our age difference or maybe he's just an extremely private person. I've always tried to reach out. Build some kind of relationship, but—"
"You haven't been able to?"
He shook his head. "It always feels like he's keeping me at arm's length. I guess that's why he hasn't told me about—" He stopped abruptly, and I frowned.
"About?"
"Nothing. It's...erm...nothing. So yeah. That's been my day. How was yours?"
I studied his face a little longer, trying to read in it what he wasn't telling me, but then I decided it was probably none of my business, so I answered his question.
However, when the pizza arrived and I could finally unwind for the day, I prodded further. Maybe it was none of my business, but the problem-solver in me couldn’t let it go.
"Have you tried opening up to him? Your brother, I mean." I chewed on a greasy, cheesy slice and looked at my friend.
"Yeah. There's not much to share though, so it's kind of a moot subject."
"Really?" I raised an eyebrow. "You don't want to tell your brother you've retired? I would think an ex-Marine like him would have thoughts and opinions on that."
"Navy SEAL, and yeah, I know he would. Probably why I don't want to tell him."
I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. My friend was weird. Then again, I didn't know the family dynamic with his brother, so who was I to judge him? Only his best friend, I suppose, but still.
"I think I'm gonna have an early night." I yawned and pushed the pizza box away after a few more minutes.
Today had been a long day, and tomorrow was probably going to be equally exhausting. Sickness and misfortune didn't stop for the holidays and neither did I.
My beauty sleep was cut short when I was woken up at the crack of dawn, barely six in the morning, by a panicked Warren.
"What happened? Are you—" I started.
"It's my brother. He's been arrested," he said before I could finish.
"What? Why?" I rubbed the sleep off my eyes and sat up in bed, trying to blink away the exhaustion.
"They say he killed a guy."
I frowned. "Shit. What are you going to do?"
"I...I don't know. He said he was being questioned. His lawyer doesn't think they have enough to charge him yet, so she thinks they'll release him under investigation."
I took a beat to get up and pull up my pants and then approached my friend and held him by the shoulders.
"That's good, isn't it? That they don't have enough evidence?"
"I guess." He winced.
"How can I help? Are you okay? Do you need me to do anything?"
Warren sighed and relaxed in my arms. "I don't know if there's anything I can do. Or what I should do."
"Right. If they're going to release him, maybe we should pick him up, right?"
"I'm sure his lawyer can give him a ride."
I frowned. "Warren, you big, thick idiot. He's your brother. He needs you there."
"I doubt it."
"Well, I'm sure he does. Even if he doesn't know it. So come on. Go get dressed and we'll go to the station. You need to be there for him."
"I guess," he mumbled.
I let go of him and smacked his head. "That's what family does for one another, silly man. Go. Get. I'll drive us. Clearly you're still half-asleep or you wouldn't be talking such shit."
Warren huffed, but he did follow my instructions, and before long, we were on the road on our way to his brother.
"What do I even say to him?" he asked when I pulled up outside the station.
"Are you serious, Goodman? Just be there. Ask him how he's feeling. It's not rocket science."
Warren grumbled something about rocket science being simpler in this case, and he got out and into the station, leaving me in my lonesome just as the sun rose a little higher.
It colored the morning, winter sky a wild violet that looked almost artificial but soothing nonetheless. Some days it still shocked me that the world could still look so beautiful when there was so much darkness amongst its people. When there was so much uncertainty, so much greed. So much death.
A melancholy wrapped around me like a fuzzy, familiar blanket, and I took slow, deep breaths, the demons in my head finally rising from their own slumber in this quiet solitude. All I could do was look out the windshield and breathe.
My phone beeped. I had no idea how long I’d zoned out for, but as soon as I turned my attention to my device, I smiled.
Evan
Good morning, baby. I just wanted you to know I'm thinking of you and that I love you. x
I squeezed my phone in my hands and took a couple of moments to soak up his words before I replied.
Ari
I love you too.
In an instant came Evan's reply. A single heart emoji that made my own, very real heart feel hollow.
Ari
I miss you.
I hit send and closed my eyes, leaning against the headrest, thinking of his touch against my cheek or his lips on mine.
Usually his messages were the only way I could ground myself. The only way I could get through my day. To think of my husband's love and everything he meant to me.
But today, it felt different. I didn’t know what it was. If the silence that surrounded me had caused it or if it was just one of those days when nothing I did could help.
Whatever it was I had to pull my shit together either way, because Warren was going to need me today. A whole lot of people were going to need me today, and I couldn't let any of them down.