“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.
* * *
Caleb’s first inclination was to look away when he noticed Leanne coming toward him. But that was the sixteen-year-old boy in him reacting. Apparently, when it came to Leanne, he was much closer to being that sixteen-year-old boy than he was a thirty-six-year-old man, because he did glance away about the same time his heart did a little clutch. So, he fixed his attention on the clock above the cafeteria cash register. Got involved in some heavy-duty studying of the way the hand that counted the seconds jerked as it ticked from moment to moment.
“Caleb?” she said, stopping directly in front of him, extending her hand to him. “How are you?”
He glanced up at her, smiled politely, stood, and accepted her handshake. “Leanne,” he responded, then allowed himself a two-second appraisal of her, from head to toe. Beautiful was the word that first popped into his mind. Then stunning. Followed by caution. All while the jerky hand of the clock ticked loud enough to taunt him and cause him to sweat.
She let go of his hand and returned the same stare he’d just given her. Only, a little longer than two seconds. “I had no idea you’d come back to Marrell. Odd coincidence we’re both here at the same time, isn’t it?” she finally said.
She looked like she wanted to sit down with him. Had her hands on the back of the chair, ready to pull it out from the table. Problem was, he wasn’t ready to have her there. Wasn’t ready to have her attempt polite conversation or reminiscences. Wasn’t ready for anything, where Leanne Sinclair was concerned. “I suppose it was bound to happen at some point, since you’re going to be my new boss.” Said deliberately and stiffly because he didn’t want to leave the impression that he wanted to be friendly. Not with her.
Despite his best efforts to put up an almost visible wall between them, she pulled out the chair and seated herself across from him. Looking too damned pleasant. “Yeah, well, Dad and I have a difference of opinion on that. Which I don’t want to talk about right now. Instead, tell me all about yourself.”
He sat back down, looked down at the half-eaten Cobb salad sitting in front of him, then pushed it away. Suddenly his appetite was gone. “Not much to tell.” At least, not much to tell her.
She adjusted in her chair, folded her hands on the table in front of her and stared him straight in the eyes. “Dad says you have a little boy?”
“Matthew. He’s five. Closer to six now.”
“It’s hard to believe that you—that we’ve gotten that old. Last time I talked to you, you were what? Sixteen? Seventeen? And now you’re a dad?”
“Yep. I’m a dad,” he said, his voice still purposely stiff.
“Are you OK, Caleb?” she asked. “You seem...quiet.”
“Just thinking about all I’ve got lined up for the afternoon.” Not true, but it sufficed as the truth because what point was there in being blunt? Or telling her that he didn’t want to be anywhere near her? Their close proximity was inevitable, at least for now, so why make it more difficult than it already was?
“Need some help? I don’t have anything to do, and I’d be glad to pitch in.”
“No. I’m fine. Only have a half-dozen patients scheduled, and I don’t have anyone admitted to the hospital right now, so I’m good. But...thanks.” She was trying so hard to break through to him, it almost made him feel bad that he was keeping his distance. But he didn’t trust Leanne. He’d learned his lesson with her years ago, and it had been a hard one to learn—that life, and people, could be cruel. She’d shown him that, and he had no reason to believe she’d changed. Of course, there was no reason to believe she hadn’t changed either. Consequently, he was fresh out of benefits-of-the-doubt where Leanne, or women in general, were concerned. She’d hurt him once too many times to yield even an inch for her. So had his ex-wife.
While the hurt was still fresh with Nancy, and Matthew was a constant reminder of that, going on to twenty years was a long time to hold on to all that hurt from Leanne. So, maybe it was just the whole relationship thing in general that he didn’t want anywhere near him. At least, that was the thought he held on to when he did the polite thing and went to get her a glass of iced tea. Extra lemon, one artificial sweetener—something he shouldn’t remember from the old days, yet did. But why? Caleb blew out a heavily frustrated breath as he carried her tea back to their table; impatient with himself for hanging on to such a trite little detail among a barrage of so many other larger, more impactful ones.
“Thanks for the tea,” she said after taking her first sip. “I’m surprised you remembered how I take it.”
“It came back to me,” he lied. There were many things about Leanne he’d never forgotten. The way she tilted her head slightly to the right when she laughed. Or entered a room with such purpose she drew everybody’s attention without even trying. Even the virulent expression that came over her when she was getting ready to put him down in front of his friends. Make fun of him. Lead him on, only to humiliate him.
“I know we weren’t great friends back when we were teenagers,” she said, “but it’s nice seeing you again. I’ve lost touch with pretty much everybody else. So, what have you been doing with yourself all these years...besides being a doctor and a dad? I heard you were in the military?”
Well, he did have to hand it to her. She was trying hard to be friendly. But it was difficult buying into something he didn’t trust. Difficult buying into that friendliness. “Went into the Army after jail. They put me through med school, then I went to a base hospital in Germany, as a surgeon. By the time I was thirty-one, I’d met Nancy, was well on my way to being a dad, and before my first anniversary in Germany, I was newly married and newly deployed to Afghanistan.
“My first deployment was short because they let me go back to Germany for Matthew’s birth. Then sent me back into combat when he was three months old. I was pretty successful in battlefield surgery there for nine months, then got wounded, then sent back to Germany to rehab and got divorced since she’d decided she didn’t like being tied down. When the military sent me stateside, I rehabbed a little more in Boston and concluded I’d never be a surgeon again, not that I’d had much time to be one before. So, off to California to rehab for a few more months, then took a job there, hated it. Went to Houston, hated it. Philadelphia...the same.
“Finally, by the time Matthew was three and I was beginning to realize he needed stability, I landed a good job in Vegas, and settled down. But it was a horrible life for Matthew, who was getting old enough that his surroundings were making a difference. He didn’t get to go out and play. His musical talent was beginning to appear but there was no one to guide it. No friends. Plus, his intellect set him apart from just about everything and everyone, and he was becoming a very unhappy, sullen little guy.
“So... Marrell. Primarily because Hans Schilling was here, and I want Matthew in his program.”
“Then you didn’t come back only because you wanted to come home?”
“I’ve been reading about Schilling for two years. Wasn’t thrilled that he’d ended up in Marrell, since I didn’t want to end up here. But it is what it is. You have a kid, you turn your life inside out for him.” It all