A Home for the M.D.

“Just kidding. I like the guy. I’m glad he and Alice are part of our family now.”

“The three of them make a lovely family.”

Jacqui had been a silent spectator during much of Seth’s courtship of Meagan. Meagan had initially interviewed Jacqui for the job as Seth’s housekeeper when his previous employee had fallen and broken her leg, but Meagan had been helping out only as Seth’s friendly neighbor at the time. From the relative anonymity of her job, Jacqui had observed during the next few months while Seth and Meagan had grown closer, then moved apart. The busy attorney and harried surgeon had been afraid their demanding careers and other obligations would be insurmountable obstacles between them. Jacqui suspected they had worried as much about hurting Alice as about having their own hearts broken. But love had overcome their fears, and they had become engaged at Christmas.

Jacqui had attended their small, tasteful wedding, and she didn’t think she’d ever seen a happier couple. Since that time they’d managed to arrange their hectic schedules to allow as much time as possible for each other and for Alice. Jacqui liked to think her capable behind-the-scenes management of their household had smoothed the way for them, at least to some extent.

“Hey, Mitch.”

In response to the greeting, both Mitch and Jacqui looked around. Three men in baggy shorts and T-shirts were passing the table on the way to the exit. All of them looked as though they knew Mitch, judging from the way they nodded to him.

“Hey, Nolan. Scott, Jackson. How’s it going?”

“Been shooting some hoops in J-ville,” one of the men answered for the group. “You playing football tomorrow?”

“Maybe. I’ll have to buy some shorts.”

“Heard about your house,” another man spoke up. “Sorry, bro. Anything you need?”

Looking as though he appreciated the offer, Mitch shook his head. “I’m good, Jackson. Thanks.”

“Let us know if you think of anything,” the first guy said again, looking at his companions as if for confirmation. They all nodded earnestly.

“Thanks, Scott. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Co-ed game,” Scott added with a flirtatious smile toward Jacqui. “Be sure to invite your friend.”

Mitch nodded. “I’ll do that.”

“Friends,” Mitch explained after the trio had moved on.

“Yeah, I got that.”

“Hadn’t even thought about losing all my sports gear yet.” He toyed with the remains of his sandwich, regret etched on his face.

“I’m sorry. It must be difficult to lose everything.”

“It’s daunting,” he agreed. “But I suppose it’s a chance to start fresh, too. Too much stuff just ties you down, you know?”

She wouldn’t know about that. She’d never really owned enough that she couldn’t throw everything in her car and move on a moment’s notice. But it wouldn’t always be that way, she promised herself. As soon as she could afford her own place, she couldn’t wait to buy furniture and decorations. Things that made a house a home.

“I guess clothes are my most immediate need,” Mitch mused. “I’m supposed to go on a trip to Peru in September, so I’ll need clothes and luggage for that.”

“Peru?” she asked, hearing a hint of excitement in his voice. He seemed to want her to ask him to explain, so she figured she might as well humor him for the sake of conversation.

He nodded. “Some friends are making a five-day Machu Picchu trek. Eight days total for the trip. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do.”

“Then you should go.”

“The fire came at a bad time—not that there’s ever a good time for a fire—but now I’ve got to make living arrangements and replace some stuff. Still, I think I’ll be able to put it all aside and take a week off for the trip. To be honest, it’ll be my first time out of the country, other than a four-day senior trip to Cancun, Mexico, the summer after high school graduation. Been too busy studying and working to go anywhere since.”

She wondered if that trip would assuage the restlessness she sensed in him—or merely whet his appetite for more traveling. From what she’d seen, when a man got it in his head that he wanted to travel, there wasn’t much that could hold him back. “I hope you get to go and that you have a great time.”

“Thanks. Have you been out of the country?”

“My dad decided to move us to Canada once. I must have been about nine. We stayed in Vancouver for about six months, then moved to Seattle for a while.”

“So you didn’t grow up in Arkansas.”

“We moved a lot,” she said somewhat evasively. “We lived in Arkansas for a year when I was in junior high, and it was always one of my favorite places, so when I had the chance, I came back here.”

“Where else have you lived?”

He seemed to be making conversation rather than prying, but it still made her a little uncomfortable to talk about her past with this man whose life had been so very different. “I’ve lived for at least a brief time in fifteen states.”

“Fifteen states? Wow. For someone as young as you are, that’s a lot of moving around. Especially since you’ve been working for my sister’s family for a year.”

“A little over a year, actually. I worked for another man in Arkansas—in Hot Springs Village—for almost a year before that, so I’ve been back in this state for a while. As for my age, most people think I’m younger than I really am. I’m twenty-nine.”

“Do your parents still move often?”

She nodded. “I can’t imagine my father ever staying in one place for long, and my mother seems content to follow him around the country.”

The last she’d heard, they’d been in Arizona. But it had been a couple months since she’d talked with her mother, so they could very well have drifted someplace else since then. For the past dozen years, especially, they’d been unable to settle anywhere for long. During those twelve years, they had traveled on their own while Jacqui followed a different path.

“Do you have any siblings?”

The question still made a hard lump form in her chest, even after all this time. “I had a sister. She died.”

Although she wasn’t looking at him, she sensed Mitch searching her face. She wondered if he’d heard the guilt that always swamped her when she thought of Olivia.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

“Thanks.” She reached for her purse. “If you’re finished with your lunch, we really should get the groceries. I’m supposed to pick up Alice at four.”

“I’m done.” He swallowed one last gulp of his tea and then stood.

Jacqui moved toward the exit without looking back to see if he followed.

Mental note to self. Don’t ask Jacqui personal questions.

Mitch glanced sideways at the woman in his passenger seat as he drove toward the supermarket she said she preferred. He couldn’t help being curious about her, despite her reticence about her past. Or, just as likely, because of it.

Although he wouldn’t have called her chatty, their conversation had been going pretty well during lunch until he’d started asking questions about her family.

He had definitely hit some raw nerves there. Her relationship with her parents was obviously strained, and her old pain from losing her sister had been almost palpable.

What had it been like for her, growing up without strong roots to either a place or her family? So strongly connected to his own mother and sisters, and to the memory of the father he had loved deeply, and never having lived anywhere but central Arkansas, Mitch couldn’t really identify with her experiences, but he would have liked to hear about them. Not that her past was any of his business, of course. Although circumstances had brought them under the same roof for the next couple of weeks, they were merely acquaintances, nothing more. Maybe by the time he moved on, they could at least claim to be casual friends.