The Doctor Returns. Stella MacLean

      CHAPTER THREE

      “ANOTHER WEEK OVER,” Sherri said to Gayle on their way out the staff door to the back parking lot of the hospital.

      “Yeah. TGIF. Tomorrow I’ll go back to worrying about paying my bills. Tonight’s my time-out,” Gayle offered ruefully, hitching her huge black-and-silver purse over her shoulder.

      They were going to a birthday party at the pub for Peggy Anderson, the phlebotomist at the clinic, and Sherri fully intended to put this particular week well behind her. She would not give Neill Brandon one thought. Not for a minute would she allow the past two days to ruin her evening. “I’ll go home, get changed and pick up my gift. I’ll meet you at your place in about an hour. We can walk to Rigby’s from there.”

      “You got it.”

      She drove home, fed her cat, got ready and drove back along Higgins Road, pleased to see that the repairs had been completed. When she and Gayle walked into Rigby’s, they were surrounded by blaring karaoke music and the smell of barbecued spareribs. Immediately drawn into the crowd of people who’d shown up for Peggy’s party, Sherri felt better than she had all day.

      Gayle led them through the crowd to the bar. “Where’s Henry?” she asked the new guy behind the bar after ordering an apple martini for each of them.

      “He’s sick, got the flu or something. I mean, like he’s really sick. There’ve been a couple of people in the past couple of days who’ve come down with this flu.” The bartender shook his head.

      “Sorry to hear that,” Gayle called over the din of voices and music.

      Leaning toward Sherri as they stood against the bar waiting for their drinks, she returned to the conversation they’d begun on the walk over to the pub. “This may come under the heading of ‘unsolicited advice,’ but since you’re not asking I’ll tell you anyway. You should go out with Neill just to settle it once and for all,” she said.

      “Easy for you to say. How would you feel if you were me?”

      “I’d want to get past it, move on, enjoy life, get to that new job in Portsmouth. But what I’d really want would be to show him just how good my life is now, how little his behavior influenced me. Would that be true?”

      Would it? No. He could still turn her knees to Jell-O. All the more reason to escape to Portsmouth. “The truth really doesn’t matter and neither does the past,” she said emphatically, more to convince herself than Gayle.

      Sherri accepted the drink offered by the smiling young man behind the bar and took a huge gulp designed to blur the image of Neill. “Didn’t we agree to have a good time tonight and forget about what may or may not happen in the future?”

      “We did.” Gayle smiled at someone across the room. “I’m going to make the rounds, see who’s here.” She pointed to a group of people standing near the fireplace along the back wall. “I’ll start over there. I see that new guy from Respiratory Technology. He’s hot.” She held up her gift. “Meet you at Peggy’s table.”

      “Go for it,” Sherri said, spotting Ned Tompkins, a high school classmate on the stage at the back of the room singing karaoke. His voice wasn’t half-bad. She leaned against the bar and listened.

      As she watched, her cousin Nate Garrison slid his arm around her. “What’s a beautiful woman like you doing in a place like this?” He winked.

      “Old line, but I love you anyway.” She stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek.

      “Love me enough to tell me how you’re doing these past few days?” He eased his cane against the bar stool and hugged her.

      “You mean with work?”

      “That, too.”

      Her cousin’s inquisitiveness reminded her that he had been a very competent police officer until being shot in Boston some years before. That hadn’t dulled his protective instinct when it came to her and her sister, Linda, as well as his own sister, Anna, and her two boys. One of the things she loved most about Nate was that he’d been there for her family when Ed went to prison. But as much as she loved him, she wanted to be free of any discussion involving Neill Brandon.

      In his overprotective way, Nate had warned her that he intended to take a very personal interest in what happened when Neill arrived in town. “Can we skip past Neill and move on to something more interesting?”

      “I ran into him the other day at the grocery store. And I decided to have a chat with him.”

      “Nate! Tell me I wasn’t the topic of your chat.”

      “It gets better. I let him know that I wouldn’t stand by and see you hurt again.”

      “You did not! Tell me you didn’t!”

      He nodded sheepishly.

      She was so relieved she’d never told Nate about Neill being the father of her child. If he reacted this way to an old boyfriend being back in town, how would he have reacted had he known the truth? “Having you don your white knight armor is not what I need right now, Nate. You’ve got to stay out of it.”

      “Oh, so there is something between the two of you?”

      “No! I just want people to forget about Neill and me. There’s nothing going on, and there won’t ever be. I have my life and he has his.”

      “And you’re okay?”

      The concern in his eyes told her where he stood. Nate had been her defender since they were kids. “Listen, I’ve got everything under control. I’m happy, see?” She flashed him a huge smile. “You’ve got to mind your business on this one.”

      “You are my business.” He tweaked her nose and smiled down at her. “But I’ll leave it alone for now. Are you ready to party?”

      “Absolutely.”

      “So am I.”

      They sipped their drinks and listened to the music until two women showed up at Nate’s elbow. Although he’d never married, Nate collected women with an ease that astounded her, and his cane seemed to add to his appeal where women were concerned. Too bad that kind of talent didn’t run in the Garrison genes. She’d love to have a man or two dangling off her arm, if only to erase Neill from her mind.

      Snap out of it. This is a party, not a wake.

      Leaving Nate to his female admirers, she chatted with several people who worked at the hospital, finally wedging herself into the crowd around Peggy. “Happy birthday.” She handed Peggy her brightly wrapped gift.

      “Thanks, Sherri.” They shared a jostled hug. “This is such a great party. Makes me feel so good. It’s so nice to have such wonderful friends.”

      “Enjoy every minute of it.”

      “How did it go with Neill today?”

      Was there no other topic for tonight? “Fine, just fine.”

      “Wonderful.” Like Gayle, Peggy had expressed a keen interest in Neill’s return to Eden Harbor.

      Maybe in a community as small