The M.D. Next Door

Alice smiled smugly. “I helped Nina make the enchiladas. She’s teaching me to cook. And she’s going to teach me to knit. We were talking while we made the enchiladas and I said I wished I knew how to knit and she said she used to knit all the time before her arthritis made it hard for her to hold the needles for too long, but she said she was sure she could teach me if I really want to learn. She’s bringing needles and yarn Monday. Cool, huh?”

“Very cool.” He loved that his daughter had an almost insatiable thirst for knowledge. She wanted to learn about everything. She’d been taking piano lessons since she was eight, and played clarinet in school band. She was an avid reader and enjoyed visiting museums and science exhibits. Yet he made sure she took some time just to relax and play, something neither he nor Colleen had been encouraged to do as children.

Seth’s father was still a workaholic architect and his late mother had worked for the state government in a high-pressure, supervisory position in the family services department. His mother had dropped dead at fifty-one of a massive heart attack; she’d been in the middle of a conference call when it had happened. That had been ten years ago. Seth had vowed then that he wouldn’t let his job work him to death.

Playtime and vacations had been very rare in his own overly scheduled and often-lonely childhood; he had tried very hard to make Alice’s different despite his career obligations. And if there were times when he felt like he neglected his own needs in favor of hers and his job’s—well, that was a choice he’d made when he’d become a single dad. All too soon, she would be eighteen and leaving for college. He’d have plenty of time for himself then, he thought with a ripple of anticipatory melancholy.

He had just swallowed his first spicy bite of chicken enchilada when the doorbell rang. With a frown, he set down his fork. He wasn’t expecting company. It was a little late for deliveries. Casting a wistful glance at his cooling meal, he rose. “I’ll be right back.”

Anxious to get back to his dinner, he opened the front door without checking to see who stood on the other side. He blinked a few times when he recognized Waldo, wiggling and yapping like the idiot mutt he was. And then his gaze lifted to the face of the slender blonde woman awkwardly juggling the squirming pup in her arms.

“Are you missing someone?” she asked in a pleasant, amused voice.

The dog barked happily, twisting his head to lick his companion’s chin.

“Waldo!” Having heard the commotion, Alice rushed forward to rescue the caller from the dog. “How did you get out?”

“He came to my door,” the woman explained, rather eagerly surrendering her burden. “I heard scratching and when I went to investigate, he bounded right inside as if he’d come for dinner. I told him he was out of luck because I haven’t cooked anything yet. I figured you didn’t know he was out.”

“No, we didn’t.” Seth glanced at Alice. “Obviously he’s found a break somewhere in the fence. He’ll have to stay in the garage until I can find where he got out. I’ll look as soon as we’ve finished eating.”

“Bad boy, Waldo,” Alice scolded. “You could have been hit by a car! You’re just lucky Meagan rescued you before you got hurt.”

“Put him in the garage and wash your hands, Alice. We’ll take care of him after dinner.” He knew they would never be able to eat in peace if they left the boisterous pup in the house. He certainly hoped the obedience classes would be as worthwhile as Alice predicted.

He turned back to their caller when Alice hauled the dog away. “Thanks for bringing him home. I guess.”

She smiled. “You’re welcome. You’re Alice’s dad?”

“Yes, I’m Seth Llewellyn. And you must be Meagan Baker. Alice talks about you all the time.”

Alice hadn’t mentioned, though, that their neighbor was in her early thirties and quite attractive. Her just-above-shoulder-length hair looked soft and slightly wavy, probably salon-lightened to a pretty honey blond. Her eyes were blue, her gaze direct and confident. She didn’t appear to be wearing much makeup, but then she didn’t need any. Her skin was smooth and clear, a little pale, and her nicely-shaped mouth was a soft, natural pink. Very nice.

They shook hands, and he noticed her grip was firm, her skin smooth and warm.

“Alice is such a sweet girl. I’ve enjoyed visiting with her.” She smiled as she spoke, making him believe her.

“She enjoyed spending time with you this week.” He grimaced ruefully. “I wish I could have spent more time with her during her break but I couldn’t get away from work. I hoped her new pup would entertain her for a few days, but having you to visit and being able to swim in your pool has really added to her enjoyment of the days off from school.”

“I’m glad. She’s made my week pass more quickly, too. I’m not used to being at home with nothing much to do.”

Seth studied her face more closely. Her skin was naturally fair, but was she just a bit too pale?

“Are you okay?” he asked tentatively. “You look a little—”

She pushed a strand of hair from her face and he noted her hand wasn’t quite steady.

“I had surgery two weeks ago,” she admitted, and he thought he detected just a hint of frustration in her tone. “I guess Waldo was a little heavier than I realized.”

He recalled that he’d been ordered not to lift anything heavy for a few weeks after an emergency appendectomy back in college, the only time he’d had surgery. Waldo was not only rather heavy, he’d probably wiggled and squirmed all the way from Meagan’s house.

“You should have called us to come get him. Please, come in and sit down for a minute. Let me get you a glass of water.”

“I didn’t have your number. And I’ll be fine, really. I don’t want to disturb your dinner.”

“You said you haven’t made anything for yourself yet. Why don’t you join us? There’s plenty of food.”

Returning just in time to hear the offer, Alice added her own appeal. “Oh, yes, join us, Meagan. We just started eating. I helped Nina cook, and she said we made way too much for just two people.”

Looking a little flustered, Meagan demurred at first, but Alice was hard to resist. Mere minutes later, the three of them sat at the dining table where Alice served Meagan a heaping plate of chicken enchiladas and Spanish rice while Seth poured their guest a glass of raspberry iced tea.

She seemed to be catching her breath, he noted in satisfaction as she sipped the tea. Her cheeks were a healthy pink now, and the faint lines of pain around her mouth had eased. It had been very thoughtful of her to return Alice’s fugitive mutt despite the discomfort it had caused her.

They didn’t have to worry about making conversation. Alice took care of that for them, chattering almost without stopping while they ate. She told them all the latest news from her school friends, gleaned from phone calls and internet friend sites. She babbled about her hopes for Waldo’s training, and all the tricks she wanted to teach him once he’d mastered basic obedience. She shared a funny story her mom had told her in their daily phone call about a reckless cab driver in Hong Kong.

“I’m going to Europe in June, did I tell you, Meagan?” she asked, using the anecdote as a segue.

“Yes, you’ve told me.”

Judging from Meagan’s tone, Seth suspected Alice had mentioned the upcoming trip several times, but Meagan still sounded encouraging when she added, “I know you’re really looking forward to the adventure.”

Alice nodded with the eagerness and trace of hesitation she always displayed when they talked about her trip. “It’ll be great to be with Mom and see all those countries. But I guess I’m a little nervous about the flight to London. I’ve never been on a flight that long by myself before.”

“You’ll be fine. My younger sister Madison went to France when she wasn’t much older than you to visit a school friend whose family had moved there. She was fifteen, I think, which would have made it about twelve years ago. Our parents were nervous about letting her go, but they knew it was a great opportunity for her. The flight attendants took very good care of her and escorted her straight to her hosts when they reached their destination. She had a fabulous time.”

Alice seemed to find reassurance in Meagan’s story. Seth tried to find some measure of encouragement, himself, though he couldn’t help thinking the world had changed in those past twelve years. He dreaded the day he put Alice on that plane, though he was doing his best to keep her from seeing the extent of his reluctance.

“I didn’t know you have a sister, Meagan,” Alice said, already skipping to the next topic.

“I have a sister and a brother, both younger. Madison and Mitchell. My parents had a thing for the letter M, apparently,” Meagan added with a wrinkle of her nose that Seth found enchanting.

“Are you close to them?”

The faintest hint of wistfulness in Alice’s question made Seth frown. Alice had a few weapons in her arsenal for making-dad-feel-guilty. A couple of times she had pulled out the I’m-an-only-child-from-a-broken-home lament, just to see how far it would take her in an argument. She had learned quickly enough that it didn’t take her far at all, but he knew he would hear versions of the grievance again.

As well behaved as she was, Alice was a normal kid just coming into the hormonal teen years. He suspected there would be conflicts ahead in which she would not hesitate to pull out whatever tool she deemed most useful for manipulating Dad. He’d been warned about it by several friends and coworkers with teenagers, and he thought he was as prepared as he could possibly be. At least, he hoped so, he thought with a swallow.

“I am close to my siblings,” Meagan replied lightly. “As much as we can be, at least, with all of us so busy in our careers. We try to get together at least once a month and to call each other several times a week. Our mom is the one who keeps us all informed about what’s going on with the others.”

“We don’t have a big family,” Alice confided. “Dad’s an only child and his mom died when I was too little to remember her. Grampa Llewellyn lives in Dallas, and we only see him a few times a year. My mom has a sister who lives in Denver. She has two kids, but they’re older than me and I don’t know them very well. I see my mom’s parents, though. They live in Heber Springs and I spend one weekend a month with them.”

Seth wondered what it was about Meagan that turned his normally somewhat-reserved-with-outsiders daughter into such a chatterbox. Even if Alice were looking for someone to fill in for her absent mother, Meagan bore little resemblance to Colleen, either physically or in mannerisms.

Colleen’s appearance was a bit more striking than Meagan’s, a slightly exotic attractiveness she played up deliberately with makeup and fashions. Meagan was more girl-next-door pretty, a look he found more appealing these days. Colleen spoke in a mile-a-minute, no-nonsense tone, all traces of the South deliberately scrubbed from her accent. Meagan’s voice was softer, her speech slower, the slight hint of Southern drawl soothing and charming, in his opinion.

Both women projected intelligence, competence and independence—at least, from what little he’d seen of Meagan—but Meagan was less …well, stressful was the first word that popped into his mind. Maybe Alice focused more on the few qualities her mother and her neighbor shared rather than the differences. Or maybe she just enjoyed having the attention of any encouraging adult, he thought with another little ripple of guilt.

He could sort of understand Alice’s fascination. As the meal progressed, he realized he wouldn’t mind having Meagan Baker’s attention, himself. Granted, it had been a while since he’d spent an intimate evening with an attractive woman, considering how busy he’d been with work and his daughter. But he thought it was more than that, that drew him to his appealing neighbor. Maybe he was falling under the same spell that seemed to have affected his daughter.