Chapter 8 Zoe
ZOE
Zoe parked the rental car in front of the B&B and got out. After a hectic few days in New York City, during which time she’d scrambled to get everything ready to make the pitch and to drum up initial interest among potential networks, she was back in Islingburn.
The whole drive here from Burlington Airport, she had gone back and forth between excitement, nerves, and cool confidence.
She’d finally landed a client, which was great, and she knew she could do a good job.
A great job, even. At the same time, though, Nathan was very reluctant to do any of this, and Zoe got the feeling she’d be dragging him through the whole process.
It wasn’t exactly the way she’d pictured her big break coming, but at least it had come.
Zoe climbed out of the car, grabbed her suitcase from the back, and headed up the three short stone steps to the B&B where she was planning to stay.
It was a large house, painted yellow, with big, bright windows and a garden off to one side.
A wrought-iron sign, similar to the one at the coffee shop, spelled out Bed and Breakfast over the door in curly letters.
Zoe knocked, a little hesitantly. She was used to staying in hotels with doormen and reception desks, not B&Bs that seemed to be run out of someone’s house. A moment later, the door opened, and an older woman with dark gray hair and warm brown eyes smiled at her.
“Welcome! You must be Zoe Devine!” Everything she said sounded enthusiastic, as though Zoe was a long-lost friend she’d been dreaming of reuniting with.
“That’s me,” Zoe said, a little unsure of how to respond to such enthusiasm.
“Please, come in.” The woman beamed at her and stepped aside to let her in. “My name is Iris Whitaker, and I run this place with my husband, Jacob. He’s around here somewhere, but he has bad knees, so he can’t help with your suitcase. Luckily, we only have one flight of stairs.”
“Right.” Zoe was taken aback by how much she’d shared. It would have taken months to get to know this much about a fellow New Yorker. “Um, nice to meet you.”
“You too. Come, come.” Iris gestured for Zoe to follow, so she did.
The inside of the house was bright and airy, with wooden furniture and pictures on the walls of Iris and the man who must be her husband standing on the beach or in the forest. There were a dozen pictures of kids who looked like their children and grandchildren, all smiling.
Iris led Zoe up the stairs to her room, which was small but comfortable and had the faint smell of lavender.
The bed was covered in a yellow bedspread, and there was a vase of fresh flowers on the nightstand.
“I hope it’s all right,” Iris said. “We call this the Sunshine room, because there’s so much yellow.”
“It’s great.” Zoe set her suitcase down. “Well, I’ll be heading out again.”
“Already?” Iris looked surprised.
“Yes. I have some work to do.”
Iris still seemed surprised, but she nodded. “If you need anything, just give me a call. You have my number, right? Oh, and breakfast tomorrow is anytime you’d like, but I usually prefer to have things ready around eight.”
“That should be fine. And I do have your number. Thanks.” Zoe was still uncomfortable with this level of friendliness. Even if she hadn’t needed to get to the clinic to start gathering material, she probably would have left.
“I’ll see you later, then.” Iris smiled a kind smile and walked Zoe back to the door.
The clinic was just a few streets away, so Zoe left the rental car parked in front of the B&B and walked over.
A small group of preteen kids on bikes rode past, giggling and trying to balance with no hands.
Zoe was surprised at first, until she remembered that it was summer break.
Apparently, Islingburn was the kind of town where kids spent the summer break riding bikes with their friends.
In New York, these kids would probably have been at a camp or some kind of summer school.
Zoe arrived at the clinic in the early afternoon and went straight in. The waiting room was emptier than the last time she’d been here. Maya, the receptionist, stood up and smiled at her. This week, she had dark purple hair instead of last week’s red.
“Hey, Zoe!”
“Hi, Maya.” Zoe smiled at her. “Where can I find Nathan?”
“Doc’s back in his office,” Maya explained. “Just take a seat.”
“I’ll head back.” Zoe held up her camera. “I need to get a few shots of him in action.”
“Are you sure he’s okay with you attending patient appointments?” Maya asked, a flicker of worry crossing her young face.
“I’m sure. We talked about it.” Zoe headed down the hallway, her steps quick and assured. She remembered Nathan’s office from last time and found it easily. She gave the door one brisk rap and stood back to wait. A moment later, the door opened.
“Zoe?” Nathan’s brow furrowed. “What are you doing here?”
“Coming to get some candid shots of you,” Zoe explained patiently. “For the pitch. Like we talked about last week.”
“Yeah, sure, but I thought you’d film me, I don’t know, walking around or something. Not in my appointments.”
Zoe chuckled until she realized he wasn’t joking. “Oh. You’re serious. No — you’re a doctor, so we need images of you doing doctor things.”
“I can be in the pictures, no problem,” another voice piped up from inside the room. Zoe gestured towards the sound.
“See? Your patient is fine with it.”
“Fine then. Come in.” Nathan didn’t sound all that pleased, but he stepped back so that Zoe could enter. His patient was, to Zoe’s surprise, Claire, the barista she’d met in the coffee shop last time she was in Islingburn. She smiled at Zoe, her eyes lighting up in recognition.
“Let me guess — you’re back for more donuts?” She smiled.
“That’s exactly it,” Zoe joked.
“Do you two know each other?” Nathan asked.
“Claire gave me coffee and a free donut when I was in Islingburn before,” Zoe explained. “Wow, this really is a small town.”
“Sure is,” Claire said. She turned back to Nathan. “You were saying you need to update my patient records, right?”
“Right.” With another uncomfortable glance at Zoe, Nathan sat at his desk and pulled something up on the computer. “It’s been about two years since your last appointment. Are you still living with your boyfriend, Mark?”
“He’s my fiancé now,” Claire said, holding up a hand with an engagement ring.
“Congratulations!” Nathan smiled at her with what looked like real joy. Zoe quickly lifted her camera to snap a shot, but Nathan ruined the image by sending an annoyed glance her way. “And how often do you exercise each week?”
“I try to be active for half an hour each day,” Claire explained. “Usually, I do yoga or go jogging. But I’m on my feet a lot at the coffee shop, too.”
One by one, Nathan went through a dozen questions.
He listened to Claire’s answers, asked follow-ups, and explained a few things as he went.
It was clear why he was such a good doctor: he genuinely cared about his patients.
Zoe tried to take a few pictures of the clear connection between doctor and patient, but whenever she lifted the camera, Nathan stiffened and his eyes narrowed.
“That’s it for today, then,” Nathan said after a while. Claire turned to Zoe.
“Did you get everything you need?”
“Honestly, the two of you sitting and talking like this doesn’t make for the best shots,” Zoe said. Neither does Nathan's weird expression whenever I get my camera out, she thought but didn’t add. “No worries, though, I’m sure I’ll get some later.”
“No, come on.” Claire hopped onto the exam table. “Doc, come listen to my heart or something.”
“I already did,” Nathan replied drily.
“I know, but if we do it again, Zoe can get a picture.” Claire gave a bright smile, and, with a sigh, Nathan got to his feet.
“Fine.”
He took the stethoscope draped around his neck and pressed it to Claire’s collarbone. Zoe stood, moving around to get a good angle.
“Um, Nathan, can you try to not do that with your face?”
“Do what?”
“Glower? You look like you just found out that you’ll be spending the next six consecutive weekends at the DMV.”
Claire giggled. “You do look like that!”
Nathan rolled his eyes. “This is just my face.”
“No, it isn’t,” Zoe said. “I’ve seen you smile, and this isn’t it. Just… act natural. Pretend I’m not here.”
But it was clear that Nathan couldn’t. He kept glancing at the camera, glowering, standing in weird ways, and generally making it impossible to get a good shot. After a few minutes, Zoe stepped back.
“That’s enough for now. Thanks, Claire.”
She wasn’t going to admit that she hadn’t gotten any of the shots she needed. Hopefully, the next appointment would go better.
It didn’t.
The next appointment was for a family with a young baby who they’d recently adopted.
They were at the clinic to make sure the baby was all right after a recent illness.
It should have given great photo opportunities — the baby was adorable — but Zoe struggled to get any good images because Nathan froze and behaved unnaturally whenever he saw that she was trying to take a picture or video.
“Can you just hold the baby and smile for a moment?” Zoe asked towards the end of the appointment as her frustration started to build.
“No.” Nathan handed the baby back to the parents. “She’s doing wonderfully, guys.”
And that was it — no heartwarming photos of the hot doctor holding the adorable baby.
Two more appointments passed with no good photos.
Even though Nathan was clearly a great doctor who cared about his patients, he got stiff and unnatural the moment he remembered Zoe was in the room.
Nothing Zoe did seemed to help, and when she tried to coach him on how to behave around the camera, he only seemed to get more annoyed.
Soon, Zoe began to wonder why he’d even agreed to this. It was clear that he hated being on camera and resented her presence. This was more like pulling teeth than putting together a pitch.