Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
Dean pulled his car up in front of the physical therapy clinic and sighed. He was there to pick up his fiancée Noelle so that he could take her out for dinner, and he was trying to muster his energy so that she wouldn’t see how tired he was and feel sorry for him.
It had been a particularly exhausting day for him, and he knew that in reality, it would take more than a few deep breaths for him to recover from it.
The mechanic shop that he owned, Main Street Auto, was usually extra busy in the spring as people were repairing issues that had occurred to their cars during the long, icy winter or issues that they wanted resolved before taking long summer road trips.
Even though that day hadn’t been particularly busy for him—and even on their most hectic days he had the support of an excellent team—he’d started the day a little fatigued and he’d ignored the way his internal voice of caution had urged him to take more frequent breaks.
Dean had been diagnosed the year before with early onset osteoarthritis, and he was still learning how to deal with it.
He was used to being the kind of person who just kept pushing himself, pulling the energy to keep going out of thin air.
Now, however, when he pushed himself too hard, especially during an arthritis flare-up, it inevitably caused intense fatigue and muscle aches, which made everything more challenging.
He glanced at the physical therapy clinic’s doors, wondering when Noelle was going to come out, and he smiled.
Meeting the beautiful woman that was going to become his wife was undoubtedly the best part about everything that had happened to him.
If it hadn’t been for his arthritis, he never would have gone to physical therapy and met Noelle, who’d initially been his P.T.
They’d become great friends almost instantly, and after hanging out with her a few times, he’d known that he felt more for her than friendship.
He’d switched to another physical therapist—a friendly and highly competent man named Chip—before asking Noelle out on a date.
Ever since then, the two of them had been inseparable, and she’d been incredibly patient and sweet as he’d navigated the tricky waters of his struggle with pain and fatigue and needing to rest more.
For the past several months, things had been going extremely well for him, and he’d had almost normal levels of energy and hardly any pain at all.
He’d begun to feel that maybe he’d finally cracked the code of taking care of himself, and it was all going to be smooth sailing from there.
However, the severity of his current flare-up made him feel a bit concerned.
He wasn’t entirely sure what had started it, since the day before he hadn’t worked unusually hard or pushed himself too much.
I don’t want to let worry spoil the evening, he thought, taking another deep breath and doing his best to smile.
I have an appointment coming up at the doctor’s soon, so they can tell me then if there is some kind of issue.
But I’m sure there’s nothing wrong—I’m probably just tired.
Fatigue is funny like that; it can be caused by all kinds of things.
In the next moment, Noelle stepped outside the physical therapy office, and his heart leapt up when he saw her.
She was wearing jeans and a mustard yellow sweater that seemed to accent the beautiful red tones of her hair.
He saw that she’d changed into a pair of heeled boots—something she wouldn’t have worn while working—for their date.
His heart ached a little, wishing he had more energy to give her that night.
Still, he was determined to muster his adrenaline as best he could.
He wanted Noelle to have a wonderful time on their date.
“Hey, sweetie,” she said as she swung into the passenger seat of his car. “You look handsome.”
Dean laughed and shook his head. He was sure that his messy dark brown hair was looking particularly messy at the moment, since all he’d done to freshen up after getting home from the shop was wash his hands and arms to get the grease off and change into clean clothes.
“You look beautiful,” he told her, feeling smitten.
She laughed happily and kissed him. He started the engine of the car and pulled out of the physical therapy parking lot.
Their drive to The Salty Spoon was a short one, and Dean was looking forward to sitting down and eating something delicious.
He hoped that eating some food would help pick up his energy levels.
“Did you hear about what’s been happening with the movie?” Noelle asked, touching his arm eagerly. “The film crew is here in town already, and Alexis said they’ve already been to The Lighthouse Grill, with Delilah Bates!”
“Wow.” Dean grinned. “That’s really cool.
” He’d seen a few of Delilah Bates’ movies, since he’d grown up in a house full of sisters, and while he wasn’t a fan like the rest of his family was, he admired the actress a great deal.
“It’s weird to think about people from Hollywood being here in Rosewood Beach. ”
“I know!” Noelle gestured emphatically toward the streets around them, almost as if her hands were saying, “Ta da!” “I can’t wait to see some of them. My last client said that she saw them all walk past her cottage on their way down to the beach. She was fangirling so hard, she said.” She laughed.
“If you see them, take some pictures for me, would you?” he asked her.
“Of course! Take some for me if you see them?”
“Of course.”
They paused at a stoplight and shared another kiss.
“I think we should go out and about this weekend and see if we can spot them,” Noelle said, looking gleeful. “It’ll be like taking a day trip to a town to walk around and explore and have fun, except it’ll be our town. Kind of like our first date.”
She smiled sweetly at him, and he couldn’t help grinning. Back when they’d first met, he’d taken her on a tour of Rosewood Beach since she’d been new to the area, and it had reminded him of what a great place his town was while showing him what a kind, good-natured person Noelle was.
“That sounds like a lot of fun,” he told her. “Let’s plan on it.”
Secretly, he was a little worried that he would feel achy and fatigued again that weekend, and he hated the thought of disappointing Noelle—and of missing out on their adventure.
I’ll just have to make sure I get plenty of rest before this weekend, he told himself. I know how to deal with my symptoms, I just forget to stop working sometimes.
“And just think,” Noelle said, lacing her slender fingers through his. “Someday we’ll be able to look at this movie and see our town in it. Thousands of people are going to get to see Rosewood Beach, even though they won’t know it’s Rosewood Beach. Our cute little town is
going to be famous.”
Dean chuckled and squeezed her hand. He thought to himself that he was the luckiest man in the world, and he couldn’t wait to make Noelle his wife.
Julia stepped inside the baby nursery, holding her breath a little. She’d been in the room countless times by now, but it still filled her with a sense of tenderness, and almost of awe. She loved looking at the crib that was waiting for their baby, and at the colorful yellow walls.
She and Cooper had decided to wait to find out the gender of their baby until the birth, and so they’d gone with a zoo animal theme for their nursery, painting the walls a darling sunshine yellow.
There were bright green accents all over the room—a crocheted blanket hanging on the back of the rocking chair, picture frames hanging on the wall, and lampshade were all a shade of green reminiscent of green growing gardens.
They’d stenciled outlines of various baby zoo animals along the ceiling in rainbow colors.
The room felt cozy and inviting, and Julia couldn’t wait to sit down in it with her newborn boy or girl and rock them to sleep.
She sat down in the rocking chair and looked slowly around the room, soaking in everything surrounding her.
Sometimes she felt torn about their decision to wait to find out the gender.
She loved planning things, and not knowing what kind of outfits to buy made her squirm with impatience sometimes, but she and Cooper had both felt for a while that they wanted the moment of the birth to hold that special surprise for them.
Not knowing the gender might have kept them from planning, but she enjoyed the anticipation that was building up as they waited to meet their little one.
She heard soft footsteps behind her, and a moment later, Cooper stepped inside the nursery.
“Hi,” he said, whispering as if the baby was already there asleep. Macey was downstairs watching one of her favorite Disney movies, so his whisper wasn’t for her. Julia smiled, liking that he seemed to feel the same kind of expectant reverence in the nursery that she did.
“Hi, sweetheart,” she said, turning her face upward for a kiss.
After he’d given her a tender peck on the lips, Cooper’s eyes traveled across the room. “That mobile is cute,” he said, grinning when he saw the mobile hanging over the crib, made up of baby zoo animal plushies and colorful ribbons.
“Isn’t it darling?” Julia looked at it approvingly. “I found it online, and I thought it was just perfect.”
“It really is,” he said. “You’re a smart lady, Mrs. Harris.”
Julia’s heart still gave a shiver of happiness whenever anyone called her “Mrs. Harris,” especially Cooper. She loved her new name and everything that went with it.