Page 35 of Doctorshipped
“Three of them. Also, Cherry and Ella Mae.”
“Wheweee. You’ve been officially welcomed then.” Brooks’ easy laughter fills the room.
I nod again. This guy feels familiar—like a younger brother—the one I never had. I usually don’t experience this kind of connection with anyone. Maybe this town is getting to me after all.
I find myself telling him, “Cherry showed up in a red dress. Fiona, my eleven year old, had just brought three baby frogs into the house. They were loose and we were on the ground hunting them down.”
“Oh man!” Brooks laughs again. “I bet Cherry freaked out.”
I nod again. “She seemed to have another idea as to what might happen when she introduced herself to the new doctor in town.”
“Oh, I’m sure she did. We call it getting Cherried. I can’t fully blame her. She went through a divorce. She’s lonely and she lives in a town where a fifth of the population are seniors, and another fifth are under twenty. Half the town’s married. She’s got slim pickin’s and she knows it.”
“How about you? You’re what? Twenty-five?
“Twenty-eight, but thanks.”
I chuckle. Men under thirty who think they’re old. I was one of those once. Maybe I was old at that age. Feels like I’ve always been old.
“I’m single. We single men need to stick together, don’t you think?”
I study him. “Have you not found anyone you like around here?”
He’s an objectively handsome man with an affable personality. He’s old enough to have settled down, especially by small town standards where many people marry right out of high-school or college.
“Well now, that’s a long story. Maybe I’ll have to take you to pizza and beers after all. The short version is this. Have you ever met that one woman who feels like your if-only?”
“Not sure.”
Now Brooks studies me.
“What do you mean by my if-only?” I ask.
“If only the timing were different, or circumstances … or maybe if only I were different. She’d be the one—be mine.” A serious expression passes across Brooks’ face. It’s like grief, but not quite as heavy. “But, life’s not different and I’m me, so she’s not mine. Still, I just can’t shake the feeling that she should be. So, I can’t bring myself to date because it almost feels like cheating. I’d be cheating on the one woman I can’t have, but can’t shake.”
“Yeah. I may have met a woman like that,” I confess.
Have I? Maybe I have. I can’t shake her, that’s for sure. I couldn’t even shake her after five minutes of watching her come unglued at the ticketing counter. Do I think she’s meant to be mine? Probably not. I don’t really think I’m meant to ever be in a relationship again. And if I were, it wouldn’t be with her. She’s too chaotic. Too chronically happy. Too unsettling.
“Well, that’s why I’m single,” Brooks cuts into my thoughts with his words.
I nod again. I’ve already shared more with this near-stranger than I do with most people I’ve known my whole life.
Fiona bounds in the office, probably expecting me to be alone. “Daddy!” She pauses and looks at Brooks. “Oh! Who are you?”
“Fee, this is Brooks. He’s a fireman here in town. Brooks, this is my daughter, Fiona.”
“Nice to meet you, Fiona.”
“I’m sorry I just barged in. I had to ask my dad something urgent. But it can wait.”
“No, no. I wasn’t here as a patient. I can leave you two to whatever you need to get to.”
Fiona doesn’t wait for Brooks to even stand up. “Miss Jayme wants me to come over this afternoon to bake with her. She said it will help me practice reading and—bonus!—I’ll bring home cinnamon muffins. Can I? Can I? Pleeeease?”
Brooks chuckles and settles back into his chair after realizing my daughter’s definition of urgent has degrees.
“This was urgent?” I ask.
