The Family They've Longed For

Her heart beat its way up into her throat, making it hard to breathe. She’d thought she was prepared to see him—but not this soon. Not tonight. Not when she was barely ready to deal with being back in town at all.

“Hello, Aurora.”

He and her mother were the only two people who called her that. Her mom did because she’d always thought it such a romantic name for a baby born under the Northern Lights. The aurora borealis. And Jacob had often called her that because he’d known it annoyed her, and teasing had always been his way of telling someone he cared about them.

Not that he cared about her anymore. Not after all that had happened between them. Not with all the time that had passed since they’d spoken.

“Hello, Jacob.”

“I didn’t know when you were getting in, so I thought I’d check on Twinkie.”

Twinkie. It also struck Rory that he was the only person who called her mother that other than her. Until that moment she hadn’t thought about the familiarity that came with names and nicknames. None of her other friends had ever called her mom Twinkie—why had he picked that up?

Probably because he’d been around the house and participating in an awful lot of the crazy over the years. Funny how he had the kind of steady, predictable, wonderful family almost anyone would appreciate, and yet he’d enjoyed being at her zany, very unpredictable and unorthodox house just as much as his own.

“That’s nice of you, but you don’t need to worry about her now that I’m...here.” She’d almost said home, but had stopped herself, because this wasn’t her home anymore. Never could be.

“Might as well take a look while I’m here.” Jake scratched the dog’s head and it looked up at him with the same delighted expression as her mother did. “How are you feeling? Have you taken the pain medicine they gave you?”

“Oh, yes. I’m following all the directions they gave me. But I’m still in a lot of pain, so it’s not working too well.”

“Sorry you’re in pain. It’s not always easy to control the first couple days out of surgery. Let me take a listen to your heart and lungs.”

He reached back to the stethoscope he had looped into the back pocket of his jeans, then pressed his long fingers to her wrist while looking at his watch. Afterward he even pulled a portable blood pressure monitor out of his bag to check that, too.

Meanwhile Rory just stood there, feeling strangely uncomfortable, having no idea what to say or do now that he was here. The awkwardness hanging between them wasn’t surprising, even though she’d foolishly hoped that seeing him might leave them both feeling indifferent. That had clearly been a pipedream, considering their parting years ago hadn’t exactly been full of rainbows and smiling understanding between the two of them.

Her legs felt a little wobbly, and she briefly considered sitting down, but that would have left her on an uneven footing with him—looking up even more than her five feet four inches required her to.

Jacob’s gaze suddenly turned back to Rory, and she swallowed at the mix of emotions in his eyes—the same anger and hurt and confusion that she felt tangling around her own heart...that had seared her to the depths of her soul when she’d left nine years ago.

“Your mom said your Aunt Patty’s coming to take care of her after you’re gone. She still working at the army base in Anchorage?”

“Yeah. She lives with her son Owen, who’s stationed there. She scheduled next week off, so I’ll only be here for a short time.”

Those dark eyes seemed to bore right into her, and the long pause after she’d answered left her fidgeting—until he finally broke the silence with the question she didn’t want asked.

“So, how’s your life?”

“Good. Everything is great.”

God, when had she become such a liar? If there was one person who had to know that wasn’t true, it was Jacob. But there were good things about her life, right? Although her job was about the only thing that came to mind.

“I just passed my board exams, so I’m officially a doctor of pediatric orthopedic medicine. I was supposed to be interviewing today, for a permanent position at the hospital, but I had to reschedule it for next week.”

Again, he didn’t speak, and even as she squirmed under his serious gaze memories of the time they’d been apart got mixed up with all the years they’d been together. It was as if nothing had changed between them.

For a brief moment she had the shocking urge to go up on her tiptoes and give him a kiss hello on that luscious mouth. Which proved that her brain’s muscle memory was stronger than her common sense when it came to him. But of course that wasn’t surprising, was it? They’d known one another since they were kids in elementary school.

Except kissing those lips hadn’t happened until college, so that might not be the best explanation she could have come up with. Besides, all that felt like a lifetime ago.

He didn’t respond, instead handing her a business card, his expression unreadable. “I’ll be going, since you’re here to look after Twinkie. Here’s my number if you need to reach me. She’s supposed to have a follow-up appointment with her surgeon in a few days. I can take over after that.”

That uncomfortable flutter in her chest just wouldn’t go away, and she swallowed at the realization that she’d be seeing him way too much during this visit if she had to do as he suggested.

“Maybe you forgot I’m a doctor too,” she said, trying to somehow infuse some light humor into the words, even as the air felt like a heavy shroud hanging over her. “And a surgeon. Very used to dealing with post-op issues. After she sees her own surgeon I can take care of any problems she might have.”

“Just the same as always.” Annoyance and disapproval were clear in the dark eyes that flicked across her. “You can do everything better than anyone else. You never listen to anyone else.”

“That’s not what I said. I just meant—”

“I know what you meant. But here’s the thing: I have all the equipment to take her vitals and deal with any problems at my office, not to mention pain meds and antibiotic ointment for her incision and replacement bandages. So get over your ultra-independent self and bring her to my office after her appointment so I can take a look.”

“Jake, it’s just not necessary to—”

“Don’t worry,” he interrupted with a mocking smile on his face. “Since you have to be in control of everything, I won’t shut you out of the process.”

“I don’t... I don’t have to be in control of everything!”

She folded her arms across her chest, which was starting to burn a little. She’d made one horribly bad decision—admittedly a life-changing decision, but still... That didn’t make her controlling. It made her foolish. Regretful. Broken.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He didn’t bother to answer that, just picked up the bag he’d brought and moved toward the kitchen.

“I have some food. I figured you wouldn’t have had a chance to go to the store. I got it when I was in Fairbanks earlier, since the selection at Green’s Market can be slim pickings sometimes. In case you don’t remember.”

Rory stared after him, trying to figure out how to handle all this as he moved out of sight.

Then her mother spoke. “It’s so sweet of that Jacob to bring us food, isn’t it?” her mother said, with the adoring smile on her face she always had when Jake was around, clearly oblivious to the tension between the two of them. “He always was something special. I remember—”

“I’ll see if he needs help.” Rory didn’t want to be close to Jake in the small kitchen, but she definitely didn’t want to listen to her mother’s glowing diatribe about how perfect and wonderful he was.

But the truth...? He really was nearly perfect.

Yes, he had that impatience thing that sometimes boiled over into irritation. And he’d always left his socks in the middle of the floor, apparently not considering them to be “real” clothes that had to be put in the laundry bag. And somehow, he’d never seen pot lids as counting toward actual dishes that should be washed. But otherwise...

Perfection in human form. He just was.

She was the one who was totally and horribly flawed.

Just before she got to the doorway, a loud curse and then a series of crashing sounds came from the kitchen, and suddenly she remembered.

The sand. Crap!

She sprinted the last few steps, and once she hit the kitchen the toes of her boots slid across the linoleum and nearly jammed into the top of Jake’s head, where he lay flat on his back on the floor. Cans and boxes were strewn everywhere, and a split plastic jug glugged a small river of milk onto the ancient blue linoleum.

“Oh, my God, are you all right?”