The Best Of Us

Part 4 (#udf267e1a-be2e-5e10-83cd-5f4627f978ba)

Chapter 4 (#udd4231ee-6b47-54f5-9c99-91b52003f2ce)

Part 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)

Part 18 (#litres_trial_promo)

Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way

to be happy is to make others so.

—Robert Green Ingersoll

1 (#u922d9516-b2c1-587d-b21c-cd65653e3e7d)

ON THE FIRST really warm, dry day in early March, Dr. Leigh Culver left her clinic at lunchtime and drove out to Sullivan’s Crossing. As she walked into the store at the campground, the owner, Sully, peeked around the corner from the kitchen. “Hi,” Leigh said. “Have you had lunch yet?”

“Just about to,” Sully replied.

“Let me take you to lunch,” she said. “What’s your pleasure?”

“My usual—turkey on whole wheat. In fact, I just made it.”

“Aw, I’d like to treat you.”

“Appreciate the sentiment, Doc, but it’s my store. I can’t let you buy me a sandwich that’s already bought and paid for. In fact, I’ll make another one real quick if that sounds good to you.” He started pulling out his supplies. “What are you doing out here, in the middle of the day?”

“I wanted to sit outside for a little while,” she said. “It’s gorgeous. There are no sidewalk cafés in town and I don’t have any patio furniture yet. Can we sit on the porch?”

“I hosed it down this morning,” he said. “It’s probably dried off by now. Got a little spring fever, do you?”

“It seemed like a long winter, didn’t it? And I haven’t seen this place in spring. People around here talk about spring a lot.”

Sully handed her a plate and picked up his own. “Grab yourself a drink, girl. Yeah, this place livens up in spring. The wildflowers come out and the wildlife shows off their young’uns. Winter was probably long for you because everyone had the flu.”

“Including me,” she said. “I’m looking forward to the spring babies. I got here last summer in plenty of time for the fall foliage and rutting season. There was a lot of noise.” She took a bite of her sandwich. “Yum, this is outstanding, thank you.”

“Hmph. Outstanding would be a hamburger,” he groused. “I’m almost up to burger day. I get one a month.”

She laughed. “Is that what your doctor recommends?”

“Let me put it this way—it’s not on the diet the nutritionist gave me but the doctor said one a month probably wouldn’t kill me. He said probably. I think it’s a lot of bullshit. I mean, I get that it ain’t heart-healthy to slather butter on my steak every day, but if this diet’s so goddamn healthy, why ain’t I lost a pound in two years?”

“Maybe you’re the right weight. You’ve lost a couple of pounds since the heart attack,” she said. She had, after all, seen his chart. When Leigh was considering moving to the small-town clinic, she visited Timberlake to check out the surroundings. It was small, pleasant, clean and quiet. The clinic was a good urgent care facility and she had credentials in both family medicine and emergency medicine—she was made to order. It was owned and operated by a hospital chain out of Denver so they could afford her. And she was ready for a slower life in a scenic place.