Page 43 of After You

Hannah turned her shocked expression toward Kade this time. She knew that he believed in what she did, but she wasn’t sure she’d ever heard him defend it before. Of course in Seattle they rarely ran into anyone with whom her practice needed to be defended.

“Oh, I’m not worried,” Conrad said. “I trust Hannah. We were just talking at the diner about whether or not acupuncture could help with,” he glanced at Frank, then Hannah, then said, “certain issues. We were looking it up and I got interested in some of the reading.”

“Which issues?” Kade asked.

“Just some more personal things,” Frank said. “Other than pain and stiffness.”

Conrad snorted. “Well, kind of stiffness.”

Hannah lifted a brow. “Erections?” she asked directly. “You all were talking about acupuncture and sex?” Of course they had been. After that first morning with Kyle in the diner, she probably should have seen this coming.

“And where you’d have to stick those needles,” Frank added.

Kade nodded. “That is a very good question toask.”

And Hannah grinned. She couldn’t help it. This all made her feel good. Even if the older men of Sapphire Falls acted like twelve-and thirteen-year-old boys, she loved that they were interested in and talking about acupuncture in any capacity. She really did believe that there was a place for alternative medicine and healing in the lives of the peoplehere.

She’d been cutting through the square the day before yesterday, when Ty Bennett had stopped her to say that his lower back had been feeling amazing since the quick acupuncture treatment she’d done on him when she’d been at the house to see Kade. Ty, an Olympic triathlete, had apparently had acupuncture treatments in the past. When he’d learned from Kade that Hannah was a practitioner, he’d even offered to knock money off of Kade’s rent if her friend could get Hannah to work on him. As if seeing Ty Bennett without a shirt and having a chance to massage the well-defined back muscles of a world-class swimmer wasn’t payment enough. There were definite perks to herjob.

Albert had shown her how he could walk up and down aisle three in the grocery store, carrying a gallon of milk in each hand, without limping on his usually sore hip after she’d taught him how to use a tennis ball to work out a tight spot. Martha Biggley had called Alice to tell her that Martha’s arthritis was so much better since she’d started using the peppermint oil Hannah had given her. Hannah had even had a chance to do an acupuncture treatment on Ruby that morning, when Ruby had complained of a terrible headache. Ruby had gotten up from the bed in Alice’s guestroom reportedly feeling ninety-percent better.

Hannah couldn’t deny that it all made her feel incredibly fulfilled. She loved helping people alleviate pain, and yes, there was definitely something special about doing it for people she knew and loved.

But it was also bittersweet. This was part of the dream she and Kyle had shared. Helping and healing their hometown. Treating people over the past few days had been rewarding and depressing at the same time. It was like getting a taste of your favorite dessert and then being told you couldn’t ever have it again.

“And then you leave them in for a little while?” Albert asked, eyeing the needle in Kade’s arm with more curiosity than skepticism.

“Right. It depends on what we’re treating,” Hannah toldhim.

“And you move them around?”

“Sometimes. A little bit. But mostly you just lie quietly with them in. Most people feel no discomfort and if they do, it’s verymild.”

Conrad scoffed at that. “I’m hardly worried about it hurting. You know what I did to this knee in the first place?”

She did. He’d told her twice already. “Yeah, jumping off a tractor and landing in the back of a truck probably wouldn’t be good for anyone’sknee.”

“And that was when I was sixty-eight,” Conrad said. “I screwed this thing up jumping off a horse when I was a kid, and then again when I was working for the railroad and jumped out of a movingcar.”

“You need to stop jumping off of things,” Kade told him dryly.

Conrad laughed. “Probably.”

“Heads up, everybody.” They all looked up to see Derek standing by the table. “Dr. Ames is on his wayin.”

“How far away is he?” Conrad asked, his expression one of a little kid caught with his hand in the cookiejar.

“Probably pulling into the parking lot now,” Dereksaid.

“You could have given us a little warning,” Frank said with a frown.

“Yeah, I could have, but it’s way more fun to watch Dr. Ames wonder why you’re all here so late and you try to act natural,” Dereksaid.

“It’s because of you,” Frank said to Hannah. “Gottabe.”

“What’s because of me?” she asked. All she could think was crap. She’d been avoiding Kyle for four days now. She had a perfect record. She’d heard all about him, and how amazing he was, everywhere she went. But she hadn’t seen him. She wondered if she could sneak out the backdoor.

“Doc coming down here so late at night,” Franksaid.

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