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There was so much Ashleigh could say in response, but now was not the time.
“I want to take your blood pressure before I go.” Ashleigh pulled her blood pressure cuff from her bag and attached it to Paula’s arm. Having an injured child was bound to raise anyone’s blood pressure. “Where’s Mark?”
“Playing at a friend’s house.” Paula stiffened, her words curt. “The mother is supposed to bring him back around six.”
They were silent as Ashleigh listened to Paula’s rapidly pumping blood with her stethoscope.
“Not bad, but higher than it should be,” she told Paula as she removed the cuff. “Just close your eyes and take some deep breaths. I’ve got everything else covered.”
Ashleigh silently packed up her medical bag, afraid to say anything that would inflame Paula and raise her blood pressure.
Like why couldn’t you have been loyal to me when my marriage was falling apart, instead of taking Kyle’s side?
* * *
ASHLEIGH HAD NEVER driven a minivan, but Ryan was too young to ride in the front seat of her two-seater sports car, so she’d taken Paula’s vehicle. One more reminder that Paula had been blessed with a growing family while Ashleigh had been denied a single offspring.
The mile drive to the hospital provided an abundance of memories. From the quaint shop where she and Kyle had shared a bowl of bubble gum ice cream on their first date in high school, to the tiny apartment they lived in before they bought the historic home that still housed Ashleigh’s pediatric practice.
The office where she no longer worked.
Knowing that Kyle wouldn’t be at the hospital was a relief. Though it only prolonged the inevitable no more than a day or two.
She’d deal with Kyle and her myriad of emotions when the time came.
Meanwhile, Ryan kept up a constant dialogue during the short drive, forcing Ashleigh’s mind away from the memories that haunted her.
“And my friend Jarrod can do a wheelie,” Ryan was telling her.
“Wow! That’s impressive. Is he the same age as you?”
“He’s a year older and doesn’t have training wheels anymore.”
“Were you trying to do a wheelie when you fell?” Ashleigh’s suspicion was confirmed by Ryan’s sheepish nod reflected in the rearview mirror.
Rekindling her relationship with her nephew wasn’t the time to lecture him on his foolishness. She’d leave that to his mother.
“Here we are,” she told Ryan after she maneuvered the minivan into a parking space in the hospital visitor lot. Back in the days when she had privileges here, she’d been able to park in the staff lot, which was closer to the entrance.
Once again, she shoved away those memories and walked Ryan across the parking lot and through the automatic doors leading to the emergency entrance. The sound of a siren got louder as an ambulance pulled up to the hospital.
“Dr. Wilson.” The middle-aged receptionist, Kathy something, gave her anything but a warm welcome.
Another convert to the Kyle camp.
The woman’s flowery perfume battled with the hospital’s unforgettable smell. But the nasty combination of illness, medications and antiseptic made her nostalgic nonetheless.
“How are you, Kathy?” Ashleigh realized how much she’d missed this place, no matter what kind of reception she received. Would this punch in the gut happen every time she ran into someone she once knew?
After exchanging cool pleasantries, Kathy’s attention turned to Ryan. “Oh, dear! Let me put this poor boy into the system.”
She returned to her computer and took down his information, including the insurance info Paula had sent along. She ushered them right back into a curtained area. “Dr. Phillips should be in to see Ryan shortly,” she said before leaving them alone.
Not more than two minutes went by before the curtain was pulled back, but it wasn’t Dr. Phillips. Ashleigh’s heart leaped into her throat.
Kyle.
Her ex-husband looked even better than she remembered. His thick, dark hair was matted, a product of his longtime habit of moving his protective eyewear to his head when not in use. He had a healthy tan and the corners of his deep blue eyes crinkled ever so slightly. Rather than make him look older, they made him more attractive. Even when those gorgeous eyes barely glanced at her before landing on Ryan.
She blanched at Kyle’s insolence. Not that she blamed him. She’d been out of his life long enough for him to go on without her.
He did his customary tug at the neck of the T-shirt he wore under his blue scrubs and cleared his throat. Kyle was the only man she’d ever known who looked hot in scrubs.
“Hey, buddy.” Kyle bypassed Ashleigh and spoke directly to his nephew, who sat cross-legged on the gurney. “What happened?” He gently removed the scarf from the boy’s arm and handed it to Ashleigh without taking his eyes from Ryan.
As their nephew related the tale, Ashleigh took a mental inventory of Kyle, searching for battle scars, perhaps, that matched her own. She saw none.
Hers weren’t visible on the outside, either.
CHAPTER TWO
IF ASHLEIGH HAD THRIVED without him, Kyle didn’t want to know. He purposely kept his eyes and attention averted, unprepared for his inevitable physical reaction whenever she was near. Instead, he concentrated on Ryan as the boy explained how he got injured.
“I thought we talked about that wheelie stuff,” Kyle admonished gently.
Ryan hung his head, the expression on his face reminiscent of his father back when Scott and Kyle had been young and adventurous.
“At least wait until your training wheels are off before you try any of those tricks,” Kyle reminded him.
Ashleigh drew in an audible breath, probably upset that he would approve what she would consider dangerous behavior. He turned his head partway in her direction. “Better a wheelie than something worse.” He paused and made the mistake of catching her eye. She’d always been a stickler for safety and rules, even though she used to flip backward off someone’s shoulders onto a hardwood floor as a high school cheerleader.
“I was told you weren’t working today.” Ashleigh’s comment was more of an accusation than a question.
“Multicar accident on Hamilton.” He’d been about to go home when Paula called him about Ryan. Thankfully, she’d given him a heads-up that Ashleigh was in town and was bringing the boy in.
Ashleigh turned back to Ryan. “Maybe you should wait until there’s an adult with you before you try a wheelie.”
Ryan looked to Kyle for confirmation, but the emergency room doctor on duty interrupted them.
“Hey, Hank.” Kyle turned from the gurney and greeted him, shaking the older man’s hand when he came through the curtain before making the proper introductions. “Dr. Ashleigh Wilson, this is Dr. Hank Phillips. He joined the staff about a year ago.”
While the two shook hands, Hank ran his other hand through his thinning gray hair. “Are you Paula’s sister? The resemblance is remarkable.”
Kyle should have mentioned Ashleigh was Ryan’s aunt. Even if she hadn’t kept in contact with the boy.
“You’ve met my sister?” Ashleigh’s eyebrows rose.
“Oh, yes.” Hank chuckled. “She’s included me in several of their holiday gatherings since my kids all live a few time zones away.”
The color drained from Ashleigh’s face.
Kyle wondered how she liked hearing that this stranger played a bigger role in her family’s lives than she had.
Ashleigh changed the subject back to Ryan. “From the way Ryan’s holding his arm and the radial pain on contact, I’m pretty sure it’s a simple break.”
Hank turned to examine Ryan. “How you doin’, buddy?”
Meanwhile, Kyle went against his better judgment and scrutinized a preoccupied Ashleigh.
Dr. Ashleigh Wilson. He’d never minded that she’d kept her maiden name when they’d married. An homage to her father, Dr. Clayton Wilson—a man Kyle had been proud to know.
Ashleigh was a little thinner since the last time he’d seen her, pounds she couldn’t afford to lose. Other than that, she looked even more beautiful than he remembered. His fingers itched to touch the loose tendril that escaped from her casually knotted hair. He longed to place his lips on the skin beneath it, to taste the sensitive spot on her neck that never failed to make her suck in her breath....
“Kyle?” From Hank’s tone, it wasn’t the first time the man had addressed him. All three of them stared at him.
He blinked twice. “Yes?”
“Do you want to go to Radiology with Ryan?” Hank narrowed his gaze and cocked his head in puzzlement.
“Of course.” Kyle then said to Ryan, “Let’s get you a wheelchair to ride in. Dr. Hank wants to take a picture of your arm.” Ryan’s eyes lit up as expected.
“Can we do a wheelie in it?” Ryan asked.
“We’ll see.” Kyle avoided Ashleigh’s gaze.
“But you and Aunt Ashleigh will both be there,” Ryan said. “Didn’t she say I needed an adult? Now I have two.”
“Aunt Ashleigh is going to wait for you here.” Kyle needed a break from her after that barely controlled fantasy.
“No,” Ashleigh countered. “I’m going with you.”
Kyle shrugged. “You’ll have to wait in the Radiology waiting room.”
Ashleigh’s cheek muscles tensed and she narrowed her eyes at Kyle. The daggers were locked and loaded.
“Hospital regulations,” he said pleasantly before she could argue. “You no longer have privileges at this hospital.” Her choice, but he didn’t say it aloud.
“You’re a pediatrician, as I recall.” Hank appeared oblivious to the tension in the room. “Where are you practicing now?”
Ashleigh’s color heightened. “I’m no longer practicing medicine. I work out of Richmond as a hospital fund-raiser.”
The reality of Ashleigh’s words hit Kyle in the pit of his stomach. Ashleigh had given up the career she adored because she could no longer bear to be around children.
* * *
ASHLEIGH FUMED AS she sat on the thinly padded vinyl chair in the radiology department waiting room. How dare Kyle exclude her? She was every bit the doctor he was, even if she hadn’t cared for patients since she left town.
She was perfectly happy working as a hospital fund-raiser. Turned out, she was pretty darn good at coming up with unique ways to get people to part with their money.
Which didn’t mean she never regretted giving up medicine—specifically working with children. She loved being in an office full of laughing and crying little ones, the noise and confusion never more than she could bear.
Until her last miscarriage.
That was the child she was supposed to finally carry to term. She’d made it into her second trimester and had begun telling people she was pregnant.
She crossed her arms over her abdomen and bent forward in pain at the vivid memory of that first wave of cramps that had ended her dream of giving Kyle the child he deserved.
“Are you okay?”
Ashleigh straightened at the young woman’s voice. “Yes, I’m fine.” Ryan sat in his wheelchair in front of a woman in purple scrubs. Her name tag read “Molly,” but she didn’t look familiar. She didn’t appear to recognize Ashleigh, either.
“Ryan’s all done.” Molly had a perky lilt that matched her smile. “Dr. Jennings and Dr. Phillips asked for him to wait with you while they consult with the radiologist.”
Ashleigh’s jaw clenched. She was being shut out again. She’d known the radiologist, Jim Gorman, since preschool. Under other circumstances she’d barge into his office, but she decided not to push the issue. In the short time she’d been at the hospital, several old acquaintances had given her a wide berth. They obviously weren’t fans of hers since the divorce.
Molly turned and left them alone in the waiting area.
“How’s your arm feeling?” Ashleigh asked Ryan.
“Okay, I guess. They let me see the picture of my arm bone. It was cool!” He busied himself locating hidden pictures in a kids’ magazine someone had given him, so Ashleigh didn’t say anything more.
She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes for a moment before realizing the voices around the corner were speaking about Kyle.
“It’s a shame about Dr. Jennings,” one female voice said.
“I know, he’s so nice. And cute, too.” The other female let out a quiet moan.
Ashleigh listened carefully, assuming they were discussing how she’d divorced poor Dr. Jennings, when two other people deep in conversation entered the waiting room. As they walked past her to the reception desk, Ashleigh could no longer hear the women.
So she rose from her seat and pretended to search for a magazine on the vertical acrylic rack bolted to the wall, while tuning her ears to the conversation around the corner.
She could only pick up certain words, but they were important words.
Accident, lawsuit, brain injury.
* * *
PAULA ROLLED FROM her side to her back and stared at the bedroom ceiling until she was ready to scream. Or at least until she found herself out of breath, forcing her to roll back onto her left side.
A few minutes ago, Mark had slammed the front door to announce his arrival and now she heard him rooting through kitchen cupboards searching for a snack.
“Don’t spoil your dinner,” she yelled.
“I won’t,” he promised, and she believed him. He’d been going through a growth spurt and he consumed food and outgrew clothing before the money left the checking account.
Paula struggled to a sitting position. Propping herself up with pillows against the headboard, she took her laptop from the drawer next to her bed and turned it on.
She needed to let Scott know what was going on. Kyle had confirmed Ryan’s arm was broken when he called about a half hour ago, but she didn’t want her husband to know the doctor had put her on bed rest. He had enough stress with his job and he didn’t need to have to worry about her, too.
