Page 106 of Clara Knows Best

Not too long later, he looked up when someone knocked on his open door. “Dr. Wilder,” he said, rising. “I was just shutting all this down for the night.”

“I came to say good-bye,” she said, entering. She was using a cane now instead of a walker.

“You taking me to the airport?”

“No, but Asher brought me with him. He’s waiting out there. Clara can take me home. I just thought, I didn’t really get a chance to talk to you last night. Didn’t want you to go home feeling neglected.” She smiled.

He had been feeling uncertain about her, but this unexpected visit reassured him: she was up to something after all, and hadwaited until the last minute to spring it on him because she didn’t want him to have time to consider his options.

She sat down in the chair her daughter had taken.

“Is something on your mind?” he asked, resuming his seat.

“I don’t want to be a helicopter parent, but I hope I’ve made it clear that I would like to see more of you in the future,” she said. “You know, you can visit whenever you like. For a weekend, for a month. We’ll expect you on holidays.”

“I work most holidays,” he hedged.

“I know how it is. I was a young surgeon once, too.”

He’d forgotten about that. Before she’d moved to a tiny town with no doctor, she’d been in demand at George Washington University Hospital in D.C. “Why’d you move here?” he asked curiously.

“More space for the kids to run around,” she said with a shrug. “Asa needed it, too. You’ve probably noticed that he spends most of his time outdoors.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“I grew up in an affluent suburb of Sacramento,” she went on. “My father was a judge. Clara comes by her expensive tastes honestly—I was very spoiled by parents who were too busy to spend time with me.”

He understood. “So you raised your kids way the heck out here, where you wouldn’t be too busy to see them grow up.”

She nodded gracefully.

“What next?” he asked.

“What are you referring to?” she asked.

“Retirement?”

“I haven’t thought too much about it.”

Uh, huh. Here it comes. “Oh, really?”

“All I want now is to get back to normal after this knee surgery,” she confided. “I think I’m afraid to retire while I’m not at full steam—it would feel too much like the end. Maybe in ayear or two I’ll talk to Asa about it.” She smiled self-consciously. “He sometimes understands what I want before I do.”

He was still waiting for the other shoe to drop when she got up from her chair and leaned on her cane once more.

“You’d better get going,” she warned. “Give me a handshake or a hug or something.”

He stood slowly. She hadn’t offered him the practice. She hadn’t put down a guilt trip.

He looked down at her hand, and took it in his own. After a slight hesitation, he pulled her closer, and they hugged, and he pretended for a few seconds that she was his mother.

She kissed his cheek, smiling. “I can’t thank you enough, Jesse.”

“Hey, don’t mention it,” he said as they stepped apart.

“Have a good flight. Don’t forget what I said.”

“About what?” he asked blankly.

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