Page 62 of Love By The Falls

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Three weeks later…

“Mom! Can I go to the park with my friends?” Charlie asks when we reach my car in the school parking lot.

I throw my bag in the backseat and jump when I turn around and find Jason standing behind me.

He smiles with his hands in his pocket. “Hey, Charlie, Charlotte.”

I can’t believe he’s still here, although I’ve gotten used to him just showing up after school. I expected him to leave weeks ago. He told me his new position allows him to work from home and he’s in no rush to get back to the city. Ironic, since he was in a big rush eleven years ago.

“Hi Jason.” Turning to Charlie, I add, “I can’t take you to the park. I have a doctor’s appointment that I’m already going to be late for. Get in.”

“I can take him,” Jason says.

I stare at him, annoyed that he’s fueling this conversation. I wish he would just leave already. But his offer to help sounds appealing. I wouldn’t lose time bringing Charlie to my parent’s house.

“Please, Mom!”

“Fine. But please bring him home by five. He’s got homework tonight.”

“I will.”

However, Jason doesn’t follow Charlie and his friends toward the park across the street. Instead, he puts his hand on the roof of my car and leans down. “Anything I should be worried about at the doctor’s office?” he teases.

“You stopped worrying about me a long time ago, and you don’t need to start now. I’m fine.”

“I was just trying to make you laugh. You don’t do that anymore.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not the same woman you once knew. I’ve changed.”

“Maybe. But there’s still a lot of the old Charlotte in there.”

I don’t have the energy to argue with him. Besides, I don’t even remember who the old Charlotte was. I was barely an adult when I became a mom.

He waves as I drive out of the parking lot and take the main road into town.

The heart of Cedar Brook Falls is composed of seven streets that lead to a park and a fountain in the middle of the square. The streets shoot out like bicycle spokes from this center point.

Dr. Gibbons’s practice is in one of the oldest buildings in the downtown area, next to the original bank. It might sound strange to outsiders, but we locals call this area downtown. The town’s population grew once the Cedar Brook Mill opened, and the town became one of the largest electricity producers in the state. The Mill became the lifeblood of the town, but the little downtown area would always be the town’s heart.

“Hey Judy,” I say when I walk through the front door. “How are you?”

“Good, Charlotte.” She picks up the phone at her desk. “Dr. Gibbons is ready to see you now. Take a seat in room 2.”

“Thanks.”

I walk through the corridor and choose the chair instead of the bed while I wait for the doctor. This won’t take long after all.

In fact, only a few minutes pass before Dr. Gibbons opens the door.

“Hi Charlotte,” she says. She’s wearing a white lab coat as she always does, and her red hair is pulled into a neat bun. “Great to see you.”

Dr. Gibbons delivered Charlie, and knew me well before that, too. She has two children of her own that I’ve taught.

“Good to see you, too.”

She sits in front of her computer and clicks on the mouse, awakening her screen. “Let’s see here. I saw the results earlier, but I’ll pull them up in case you have questions.”

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