“Well, I do have a new hire who might be good to take over. Caleb Carsten. He’s been here three weeks, just moved back to Marrell himself.”
“Caleb’s back?” she asked, totally shocked. Caleb—her first love when she’d been five. First heartbreak much later. “I’m surprised,” she said tentatively, not sure how to react. To love him being here because he might be the solution to her problem, or hate it because he’d quit being her friend when she’d most needed one? Maybe she’d be indifferent since all that was a lifetime ago. “He hated it here. That was something we both had in common.” And it almost felt personal that he’d changed his mind and come back.
“Well, hate or not, he’s renting the old Wilson place out on Bentwood Road, and if his plans work out, he’ll probably buy it.”
Caleb settling down here? Hard to imagine. So, what was behind it? “He’s a surgeon, isn’t he? Why would a surgeon want to work here? We don’t do major surgeries.”
“Because he’s in family practice now. Got wounded in Afghanistan, can’t operate. He had to change direction.”
Well, Caleb had always been about changing direction, hadn’t he? Still, changing direction toward Marrell? Why here, specifically? “Why didn’t you tell me he’d come home?” she asked, dragging up old memories of Caleb Carsten. He’d been a little on the rough side, looks-wise. Sandy-blond hair, always a little bit long and unkempt, blue eyes... Sort of a solitary boy. Awkward. Odd. Often in trouble. Smart. Probably the smartest kid she’d known. So full of promises she’d bought into when she was so young she hadn’t understood all the things that had kept him apart from the other kids in town.
“Because I wasn’t sure he’d accept my offer to work here permanently, and I’m still not sure he’ll stay. So, I decided to wait until he’d made up his mind about Marrell before I said anything.”
“Meaning you kept me out of the loop, even though you want me to take over the very same loop you’re keeping me out of?” Some things never changed. Her dad had always overlooked her. Even when she’d tried hard to get him to notice, he never had. In fact, there’d been times when she’d believed he’d favored Caleb over her.
“I thought if you knew Caleb was back, you might not come. You two didn’t have a happily-ever-after ending, you know.”
“He was a bad kid, Dad. Got into trouble. Got put in jail.” Replaced me whenever you’d let him. “What was I supposed to do? Give up on everything I wanted and hope he would have a miracle transformation? And you’re right, if I’d known he was back, working here in family practice, I probably wouldn’t have come. Not because I don’t want to see him but because he’s capable of doing everything you expect me to do and, probably, secretly want him to do more than you want me to.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Henry asked, looking over the top of his glasses at her.
“It means Marrell isn’t big enough to support both Caleb and me, especially in the same field. Since he apparently wants to be here, and I don’t...” She shrugged.
“But the hospital’s yours, all except signing the papers, which are being drawn up right now.”
“You know I don’t want to run it, Dad, or work in it. I’ll own it, but that’s all, as I have a different life than that.” He wasn’t listening to her, though, like the way he’d never listened to anything she’d ever said. Still, she wasn’t giving up on this. Especially now that Caleb had entered the mix and offered her the possibility of something she hadn’t expected—a good, workable solution.
“Then it will have to be your decision to turn the day-to-day operations over to somebody else.”
She wasn’t going to engage. They’d had this discussion—argument—many times over the past year. He knew where she stood, and nothing about that had changed. But Caleb...now, that added a whole new dimension to this argument. Maybe he could be the one to take over. Hopefully, buy her out sometime in the future. It was certainly a plan worth considering. “Which I will certainly do. So, how was Caleb wounded?” she asked, not sure what to expect.
“Shot in the shoulder. Shattered the bone, caused some neurological damage. Not enough to cause a lot of disability but enough to keep him out of the OR.”
That was too bad, because she imagined Caleb would be good at anything he did. She was sure he’d have been a great surgeon. “And he’s back in Marrell, why?”
“To raise his son. To be closer to his family, so they can help him.”
“Then he’s a single father?” That was something she hadn’t expected. Somehow, she didn’t picture Caleb as the father type.
“To a five-year-old.”
“No mother in the picture?”
“Not that I’m aware of. But Caleb’s a very good dad. Dotes on his son.”
“I don’t suppose I would have expected that from someone like him.” Because she still pictured him as the one who stood apart from everybody else. The one being cuffed and carted off to jail. Which was, in fact, the last time she’d ever seen him.
“Someone like him, Leanne? Caleb was always a nice boy. A little troubled, yes, but he had potential. Went into the army after he was released from detention, got himself through college and med school. Then turned his life into something successful.”
“I guess that makes sense, seeing how he would come to the hospital and follow you around all the time. And all the attention you gave him.” That he hadn’t given her. “Anyway, I’ll catch up with him as soon as I can. Maybe ask him about taking over admin duties at Sinclair.”
“Let him settle in first. Figure out if he’s going to stay or not.”
“You mentioned that before, that he might not stay.”
“If Matthew doesn’t get into Hans Schilling’s school, he might not.”
“The orchestral conductor who runs that school for child prodigies? Matthew is a musical prodigy?”
“From what I’ve heard. And that’s the real reason why Caleb came home. Sure, having his family here for Matthew was a big incentive, but Hans Schilling was the real draw.”
“Well, I’m not going to promise I’ll wait before I start pressing him, because I have a life to get back to. But first I’d like to talk to him—for old times’ sake.” Not that she really recalled many of those old times since she’d been more focused on how she was going to make new times for herself.
“He’s in this morning.” Henry glanced at his watch, saw that morning had slipped into noon. “Actually, you’ll probably find him in the cafeteria right about now. Eating lunch.”
“Then I’m on my way to the cafeteria. Care to join me?”
Henry shook his head. “I’m taking off early today. Meeting up with Dora, and we’re going fishing. Do you want to join us for dinner tonight?”
“Fresh catch?” she asked, standing up.
“Whatever we can come up with. Dora makes this great frying batter...” He licked his lips. “You know she’s going to make me fat, don’t you?”
Leanne walked around the desk, bent down and gave her dad a kiss on his forehead. Even though they had their differences, some of them severe, she loved the old man. Admired him for his dedication to his work. He was a great doctor all the time, and a not-so-great father some of the time. In the scheme of things, she supposed he did the best that he could. “You haven’t gained a pound in all the years I’ve known you and I don’t think Dora’s going to change that,” she said. Then she went off in search of Caleb.
*