Chapter Twenty-One
The park was dark and quiet as we walked through it, the crisp, cold air invigorating me after a long day.
We were only days away from the tree lighting, and I was still tossing around what I was going to say, especially considering I didn’t feel worthy of the honor to begin with.
Perhaps a walk to the gazebo would inspire me.
“This town sure keeps you busy,” I said, resting my head on Major’s shoulder as we walked toward the gazebo. It was lit up with tiny fairy lights as we approached, but the tree would remain dark for a few more days.
“You’re not kidding,” he said, laughing as he squeezed me to his side. “It’s been like this at every job, but mostly because I was low man on the totem pole then.”
“Which means they gave you all the holidays and weekends, right?” I asked, and he nodded.
“That’s not the case here in Bells Pass. I’m busy, but helping people makes it worthwhile, even with the extra hours. Eventually, things will fall into a rhythm with the schedule once the novelty of having the new guy do your surgery wears off.”
“I don’t know, I’m glad the new guy did my surgery. I bet AJ is, too,” I said as we climbed the stairs to stand under the roof of the gazebo. It was lovely with the netted Christmas lights offering a sneak peek of the holiday fanfare.
“That kid is something else,” he said, leaning against the railing as he pulled me closer to stand between his legs. “I’m glad she felt comfortable telling you she was hurting. She probably felt guilty since her mom had so much going on with Audrey already, but that pin had to go.”
“Color me surprised that screws could come out of your bone like that,” I admitted, shuddering a bit. “Poor kid.”
“Yeah, they can migrate once the bone is healed. Sometimes our bodies perceive them as foreign objects and try to work them out the way they would a splinter or something similar. Either way, the repair is solid now, so it won't hurt anything to pull it out and let her continue to heal.”
“I’m glad it didn’t take long to do. You’re exhausted. I can tell by how these lines deepened as the hours grew long,” I said, rubbing at the creases near his eyes. “You’re always handsome, but tonight you’re handsomely tired.”
“I am, but not too tired to kiss you,” he whispered, lowering his head to take my lips.
The kiss deepened instantly, offering a deliberate exchange of emotion that left me suspended in time.
The past fell away with the kiss, showing me what the future had to offer if I had this man by my side.
Every time I built up my determination to stay hands off and build nothing more than a friendship with Major, he tore those walls down and reminded me why I should trust him.
When he pulled away, he kept his lips close and held my gaze. His smile spoke volumes.
“Did you just kiss me under the roof of the gazebo?” I asked, my eyes turning up to stare at the roof.
“I did, but the tree isn’t lit, so I decided it was still safe. Even so, I’m telling you that kiss was the beginning of something extraordinary, Jaelyn Riba. Just trust yourself.”
“Myself? Don’t you mean to trust you?”
“No. You can’t trust me until you trust yourself. I’ve learned that the hard way, so I try to share this nugget of information with as many people as possible. When you trust yourself, you can trust the decisions you make.”
“Because if I don’t trust my decision, any trust I put in you would be false trust?”
“Yep,” he promised, kissing my nose. “Should we head home? It’s going to be a busy week, and you have a big day tomorrow.”
“I do, but so do you.”
He took my hand and helped me down the stairs to walk back to his car parked at the diner.
“Besides starting back to work, I still need to write the speech for Friday night. Mel helped me get started, so I don’t think it will be too hard, except for the feeling that I shouldn’t be doing it.
I even tried to convince Mayor Tottle to have you do it instead,” I said, laughing a bit at myself.
“You did what?” he asked, stopping and grasping my shoulders. “Why would you do that?”
“You’re the newest doctor in town, and you’ve helped a lot of people already, so I thought you were more than worthy of the right. Mayor Tottle didn’t see it that way, so here we are.”
“No, I mean, why would you think you shouldn’t be doing it. Your business is legitimate.”
“Yeah, that’s what he said too,” I admitted, scrunching my lips up.
“I even told him the truth about never turning it into a full-time business, but he said if I couldn’t think of the lighting ceremony from the lens of Little Bird on the Moon, then I should think of it from the lens of The Bird’s Nest. While it was attached to the diner, it was the first food truck in Bells Pass and was successful because I took the helm and steered it. ”
“He’s a smart man,” Major said, tucking me back under his arm while we walked. “This comes back to that trusting yourself thing. Once you teach yourself to do that, you’ll find it easier to stop second-guessing yourself about everything in life.”
“Any tips or tricks on how to do that?” I asked, my laughter soft in the still night air.
“When you make a decision, make it based on the consequences you’re willing to accept versus the rewards you might gain,” he said with a shrug.
“I don’t follow.”
“It’s simple,” he explained as we reached the sidewalk. “For instance, the issue of dating me. Not dating me would lead to some very boring consequences, whereas dating me would lead to some very exciting rewards.”
I snorted, punching him playfully. “You’ll take any opportunity to convince me to date you. Besides, we just had dinner at the diner. That was a date.”
“It was, but I wasn’t referring to just one dinner. I was referring to—”
“Give me your wallet and no one gets hurt,” a voice said as someone stepped out of the trees lining the park.
Fear shot through me as I stared at the man.
He wore a black mask and a black hoodie.
Try as I might, there wasn’t one thing I could find about him that made him familiar.
That might have been the terror running through me, though, especially when my gaze landed on the long, sharp knife in his hand.
Major held up his hands near his chest. “Relax, man,” he said calmly. “It’s in my back pocket, that’s all I’m reaching for.” He kept one hand in the air while he pulled his wallet out of his back jeans pocket and held it out.
“Take the cash out. Hurry up! Hers, too!”
Once the wallet was open, Major pulled out a few bills and held them out, waiting for the man to snatch them. “She doesn’t have her purse or her wallet. It’s in our car.”
Before I could react, the man lunged forward, holding the knife to my throat. “Give me your purse!”
“She doesn’t have it!” Major exclaimed.
The man stuck his hand in my coat pocket, the action digging the knife further into my skin, leaving a painful burning in its trail.
Before I could think of a good plan, he rammed into me as he took off.
He caught me off balance, and I twisted, pulling my arm into me the moment I realized I couldn’t catch myself.
“Jaelyn!” Major yelled, reaching for me, but it was far too late for him to break my fall.
My head bounced off the concrete, and I lay there dazed, staring up at the stars.
“Don’t move,” he said, his phone to his ear as he checked me over. “Does anything hurt?”
I blinked, my vision swimming a bit when I did. “My head. Just give me a minute.”
“I’m calling 911,” he said, and before I could argue, he started giving our information to the operator.
As he spoke, he stroked my hair tenderly, his hand occasionally straying to my cheek to cup it.
It was evident at that moment, as I gazed into his worried eyes, that trusting myself was the only obstacle in our way.
I slid into the bed next to Jaelyn and flipped the light off.
She was already asleep, but I wasn’t sure I’d catch a wink, even as tired as I was.
Sleeping would mean taking my eyes off her for more than a heartbeat, something I hadn’t been able to do since she was in the back of an ambulance being assessed by the EMTs.
Would she go to the hospital and get checked out?
No. She insisted she was fine, even as the EMTs bandaged her neck wound, which was thankfully superficial.
They agreed that she likely had a concussion, but she still refused to be transported to the hospital.
As hard as she smacked her head on the ground, she was lucky she didn’t have a subdural hematoma.
Then again, she might, but we wouldn’t know because she refused to go to the hospital!
Deep breath, Major, I ordered myself.
After sucking in some breaths, I remembered that I was a medical doctor and could treat a simple concussion at home, even if she had put up plenty of bluster about it when I told her she was sleeping in my bed so I could keep an eye on her.
The way she moaned about being so tired and that if I woke her up, I would be the one who needed a hospital made me laugh, but I was smart enough to do it on the inside.
The adrenaline had left me shaking, so once she was in bed, I took a shower, hoping the hot water would work out the knots in my neck and relax me enough to catch a few winks before waking her in two hours.
Tomorrow was a clinic day, so at least it wouldn’t be a day of surgeries after the busy weekend we’d had.
I’d already let Dr. Russel know that I’d need a pass for a few days on any surgeries unless they were emergencies he couldn’t handle.
I’d been in the operating room practically nonstop, and I still had to deal with the knee situation this week.