Page 15 of Mountain Freedom
“Yeah, we’ve been fighting an uphill battle here with opioids. Doc was only part of the problem. Did the patient agree to the lower dose?”
She shook her head. “No, he stormed off with a few choice words about how a ‘pretty little girl’ like me needed to watch myself. Said he would find a real doctor to take care of him and that someone needed to teach me my place around here.” She shuddered. “It kind of shook me up, honestly.”
I pulled out my wallet and gave her my card. “He’s probably all talk. Just blowing off steam. But if you ever have any problems, you call me. My cell’s on there.”
She looked at the card, her face lighting up as she studied it. “Gosh, it’s still hard to believe you’re in law enforcement. I bet your daddy wasn’t thrilled about that.”
I chuckled, even as I felt the shadow pass over my face. “No, he’s not. Thinks of me as a traitor. Doesn’t matter. I avoid him and he avoids me.”Mostly.Ever since Russell had found out I was back in town, he’d taken to occasionally harassing me, just to show me he still could. It was happening more and more. And for some reason, I kept letting him get away with it.
Her eyes got soft. “Well, I’m awfully proud of you, Jackson. You know, I thought of you a million times after we moved away. Hoped somehow things had gotten better for you or that you had gotten away from him. I’m glad you did.”
“I thought of you, too,” I said. I opened my mouth to tell her how much her friendship had meant to me and how much I owed her for giving me strength to hang on through the dark times. But before I could, her cell phone rang.
“Oh!” Her eyes went wide in shock when she saw the screen. She bit her lip, staring at it like she was debating whether or not she should answer.
“Need to take that?”
She kept staring at it. “I don’t know.” The call ended before she had a chance, and relief flashed through her eyes—until whoever it was immediately called again. She sighed. “I probably should answer. I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine,” I said, standing to leave. “It was really good seeing you, Allison.”
She gave me a long look. “It was really good seeing you, too, Jackson. Maybe we’ll run into each other again soon.” She reached over and squeezed my hand. Then she answered the phone with a look of regret.
But not before I saw the nameMikeon the caller ID.
Chapter Five
Allison
I was shockedto see Mike’s name on my cell phone screen. I hadn’t spoken to him since the day he had practically encouraged me to sleep with Dr. Barkley for a job, which had hurt even worse than finding out about him and Dr. Fountain’s daughter. After Jen had left that day, I called and left a voicemail letting him know we were done. It was the coward’s way out, but it hadn’t seemed to bother him. He had never even taken the time to call me back.
Part of me knew better than to answer the phone. But the other part of me knew I would worry until I found out why he was calling.
“Hello?”
“Allison.” His voice came through, strong and confident. “It’s been too long.”
“It’s definitely been a while,” I agreed, flooded with mixed feelings over hearing his voice again. On one hand, it filled me with warmth to hear the familiar way he said my name. We’dbeen friends, then more, since med school, and his absence in my life after being part of it for so long had felt strange.
On the other hand, hearing his voice brought the hurt right back.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call you,” he said. “I didn’t know what to say.”
“It’s fine,” I lied. I would never let him know it had crushed me that I hadn’t even been worth an explanation.
“Darnell told me you moved,” he said, a trace of hurt leaking through his voice. He paused for just a moment. “I was surprised you would leave without saying goodbye at least.”
I bit my lip, forcing out a breath. “Mike, what’s the point? We’re over.”
“I know,” he said. He took a deep breath, letting silence feel the void. “It’s complicated. Look, I just want to say that I’m sorry for the way things went down. I got in over my head, and you know the pressure my dad put on me to land something prestigious. I was playing the game. I’m sorry it hurt you.”
“Okay,” I said, not knowing what else I could possibly say. It wasn’t as if I was going to let my feelings out. How could I? I didn’t even understand them. Because while the whole thing definitely hurt, it was also a relief in some ways. He had been a great friend during med school, but I had never been completely comfortable with our relationship turning romantic. Truth be told, there had always been some red flags with him—things I’d been willing to ignore in exchange for having a partner who knew what residency life was like and didn’t expect more from me than I was able to give.
“I miss you, Allison.”
My stomach clenched. “You don’t get to say things like that anymore.”
“Can we not be friends?” he asked. There was a bit of sadness in his voice. It tugged at my heart, reminding me of what I used to feel for him.
