Chapter Twenty
I sat down with the others to enjoy the cinnamon rolls and coffee that the bakery had delivered for those of us helping set up for the community Thanksgiving dinner.
Despite staying up late doing surgery last night and working most of the morning here, my thoughts still wouldn’t settle.
No matter where I was in the room, I looked for the woman tossing my thoughts like a tornado.
Jaelyn.
Currently, she was helping Holly corral the little ones at a table to eat a snack before they went back to playing in the adventure area that the community center had invested in not too long ago.
There were slides, games, a ball pit, and all the necessary items to keep the kids busy.
My trained eye found no less than thirty ways to break an arm, but that was an occupational hazard.
If I let myself get hung up on what could happen, I’d have everyone walking around in plastic bubbles.
Instead, I reminded myself that I had the skills to repair what others had broken throughout life.
Including Jaelyn. By the time I’d finished Alan’s surgery last night, she had a new splint that fit her properly and didn’t slide around.
I could tell it was more comfortable, and she was happy she’d done it, even if she had to endure a bit of awkwardness with the team in the rehab department.
In hindsight, it probably wasn’t every day that the new doctor in town called in a special favor for a patient who wasn’t even his patient.
I groaned. That was a fine example of my head being loud.
I wanted to shut it all down and concentrate on the work at hand, but thus far, I haven’t succeeded.
Even the physical labor of moving tables and chairs, setting up kitchen equipment, and unloading all the decorations hadn’t cleared my mind.
I’d had too little sleep, but that wasn’t anything new.
I’d been going on too little sleep for eighteen years.
“Dr. Warren,” Dawson said, taking a seat beside me with a roll and coffee.
“Major, remember?” I said to the man with whom I’d worked side by side for the day.
Our plan to stop by their house today fell through when Honor stepped into Audrey’s shoes to prepare the community center for Thanksgiving Dinner.
Since Audrey didn’t want to leave Alan’s side, someone needed to organize the event.
Who better than someone in the family with access to all the information?
Honor wasn’t confident she had the chops to do it, but from what I’d experienced, she had the chops and then some.
Then again, she taught teenagers, so keeping people on task came naturally to her.
“Sorry, habit since you’re a doctor,” he said, sipping his coffee as the rest of the guys joined us at the table.
We shook hands again, more in a fellowship manner than a nice to meet you manner, since I had met most of them various times over the last few months.
The only one I hadn’t met was Irving Wallace, one of the social workers from the new housing complex.
We’d remedied that immediately upon their arrival, and after working together for a few hours, I understood why Jaelyn loved the couple so much.
Irving rolled over, his service dog Star by his side, to sit near us.
Gabe had carried his plate over for him and set it at the table before he took a stool for himself.
“How’s Hazel?” Ellis asked.
Once I’d met the man who was everyone’s favorite Santa, I saw the resemblance, at least in the white hair. As the town’s yogi, he was probably in the best shape of any of us here, but everyone assured me his suit had enough padding to convince the kids otherwise.
“As she puts it, big as a house,” Irving said, chuckling as he ordered the dog to rest. “She’s not. She’s barely put on ten pounds, but I would imagine at this point, she feels like a walking basketball. She insisted on coming today to try to, and I quote, shake this kid loose.”
Everyone chuckled as we all sought out the woman in question.
She was sitting by the kids, and Lucy had her hand on her belly as they chatted away.
There was little doubt that Jaelyn was right about that girl.
She had something special, knowing when to seek people out who needed an extra dose of empathy.
“Is she overdue?” I asked, unfamiliar with the situation.
“No, she just hit forty weeks, so the doctor said it could be tomorrow or a few more weeks. Hazel says the baby can come any day but Friday.”
“Why not Friday?” I asked curiously.
“The tree lighting,” Dawson supplied. “No one wants to miss that."
Oh, yes, the tree lighting. The one I’d be attending at Dr. Russel’s insistence.
He’d said if there was anything that would make me stay in Bells Pass long term, it was the tree lighting.
I’d agreed, but only because the real reason I’d stay in Bells Pass long term would be because of the one doing the lighting.
“And happy anniversary, a day late,” Mason said, patting his shoulder.
“Thanks,” Irving said, and I could see he was giddily happy. “We spent yesterday preparing the nursery and shopping for a few last-minute things.”
“How many years?” I asked to keep the conversation off me.
“Two,” he answered. “We were married at the gazebo the weekend before the tree lighting, thanks to that man and his now wife.” He pointed at Dawson, who was grinning like a cat that ate the canary.
“What can I say? When Honor sinks her teeth into something, it’s all over but the crying.
” While this made little sense to me, they took a moment to explain how Hazel had been in Bells Pass as a protected witness.
Unable to tell anyone, Hazel thought the townspeople would hold the lie against her, but it didn’t take long to see she was wrong.
“I feel terrible about Alan,” Cameron said as he joined us. “What can we do to help?” He’d addressed the comment to Dawson.
“I’ll defer that question to the guy who fixed him,” Dawson said, and I held my hands up.
“I can’t divulge patient information.”
Dawson shook his head. “Fine, I’ll tell them, then. When someone we know got down to business, he discovered that Alan had…” he paused as though trying to remember the word.
“Osteopenia,” I supplied, and he pointed at me.
“That, which means his bones are weak, right?”
“Osteoporosis means weak bones or low bone density,” I agreed.
“Right, so that’s why Alan’s hip broke. However, the good news is that the doctor we won’t name was able to pin it, as it wasn’t as badly fractured as originally thought.
Then the same said doctor spent half the night finding a pharmacy that had the medication to heal the bone fracture and improve his bone density at the same time. ”
“It wasn’t half the night,” I said with a chuckle.
“Anyway, to your original question, Alan is no stranger to rehab, so he’s happy to go there in a few days and get to work so he can be home by Christmas.” He turned to me. “Do you think someone in his position could do that?”
“From the sounds of it, I’d say yes,” I said with a shrug. “The holidays are always a motivating factor for people, so I think he will likely make that goal easily since it’s over four weeks away.”
“Speaking of the holidays, maybe that’s one way to help,” Gabe said. “We could get him to the tree lighting.”
“No,” I said without thinking, then grimaced as I tried to backpedal. “Uh, if I were his surgeon, I would not sign off on that. It’s less than a week away.”
“Even if we got him there and back in a wheelchair?” Gabe asked, but I shook my head.
“It would still involve a lot of transfers, and an accidental fall would be catastrophic. Not to mention, riding in a car always poses risks.”
“They take everyone to the rehab floor to see the tree light up anyway. At least everyone who can go,” Mason said.
“True, but you can’t hear any of it,” Gabe said.
“You don’t livestream it?” I asked, setting my cup down as the room went silent. I glanced up at blank faces.
Mason turned in his chair. “Shep!”
The man who had been helping his wife with a few final decorations headed our way. “Did you need something?”
“Major just asked why we don’t livestream the tree lighting, and I can’t believe we haven’t thought of that,” Gabe said.
“I’ve thought of it, but I don’t have the equipment or the people to do it. I’m only one person, and my job is under the gazebo.”
“But do you know who has the equipment and the people to do it?” Dawson asked.
“The school!” Cameron exclaimed.
“The kids who run the livestreams for the sports have it down pat,” Dawson said.
“They’re the ones who helped us with the vlogs we did for the bicentennial event.
There are a few seniors left, but they trained the freshmen, so everyone knows what to do.
It wouldn’t be hard to set it up without it coming off as commercialized. ”
“Won’t that cut down on attendance, though?” Shep asked, leaning against the table. “If people can watch it at home, will they just stay home?”
It was Ellis who snorted sarcastically this time. “Did you just ask that, Shep?” His words were filled with incredulous indignation. “And miss the arrival of Moi?”
The table burst out laughing as he ran his hands down his body like a model.
“What was I thinking?” Shep asked, still giggling.
“To answer the question, I don’t think it would impact attendance enough to be noticeable,” Dawson said.
“However, I could see where people who can’t go to the park because of little ones, disabilities, or age would enjoy being able to watch it.
The hospitals in the area could also inform people about the channel it will be on if they’d like to watch.
Bells Pass Hospital can take everyone to the rehab floor to watch the tree light up, but also play the livestream so they can hear the carols and the speeches. ”