Karen Rose - The Most Eligible Doctor

As he held her coat for her, she slid her arms into the sleeves, then turned around. “Did you enjoy your work there?” she asked. They were mere inches apart. She could see the small lines around his eyes and mouth, the few strands of silver at his temples.

His gaze found hers and stayed for a few moments. “Practicing there was challenging.” He cleared his throat. “All the supplies had to be flown in.”

Realizing he’d evaded her question, she had the feeling he didn’t want to talk about anything personal. Even though he’d given her the basics earlier, he didn’t seem to want to divulge more than that. “I can see how practicing in a remote village would be challenging.”

The atmosphere in the office was thick with tension as they stood there. Brianne stepped away from him so she could think straight. She wanted to apologize once more for this morning. “I’m sorry about my lateness today. I don’t have a good excuse. I have a digital alarm and I mistakenly set it for p.m. instead of a.m. On top of that, I didn’t sleep well and I was late awakening. Lily and Megan usually make enough noise to—”

“Why didn’t you sleep well?” he interrupted.

Though he apparently didn’t like answering personal questions, he didn’t mind asking them. She might as well tell him the truth. “I was anxious about today. Working with a new doctor and all.”

“From your performance, I don’t see why you were anxious. You’re good with the patients and more than competent in the exam room.”

The compliment blindsided her and she felt her cheeks grow warm. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’m sorry I was gruff this morning. I didn’t sleep well, either, last night. My father has insomnia and rattles around in the kitchen at 2:00 a.m.”

“He should try chamomile tea,” she suggested impulsively.

Warm humor lit up Jed’s eyes. “He’s set in his ways and doesn’t take advice well. But I’ll mention the tea.” As she crossed to the doorway, he offered, “If you’re on the way out, I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary.”

“I feel responsible keeping you this late. I want to make sure you’re safely on your way home before I leave.”

In spite of safety alarms in her heart warning her to keep her distance from Jed Sawyer, she was disappointed there was nothing personal about his offer. She realized he was simply one of those men who was a protector.

She gathered up her purse. “I have to set the security system.”

Nodding, he let her precede him out of the office.

A few minutes later, when they stepped outside into the black, early January night, Brianne took in a huge breath of the cold air. “I guess Wisconsin weather is mild compared to Alaska’s.”

Jed walked beside her, his words coming out with white puffs of vapor. “Deep River was a whole different world. We had wind chill of fifty-eight below in December. Yet when the northern lights lit up the sky, none of the rest seemed to matter.”

She thought about Alaska and the aurora borealis…and Jed watching it. Then she motioned toward her car, the only one in the parking lot. “You walked?” she asked.

“I’m about six blocks away.” He was staring at her car. The parking lot lights flowed over the white foreign sports car as if spotlighting it.

“Would you like a ride?” she asked. “I can drop you off.”

“Thanks, but I enjoy walking.”

From what she could tell, Jed was extremely fit, and she wondered if he did more than walk. He was still eyeing her car.

She opened the driver’s door, and the smell of leather was noticeable.

He glanced inside, then focused once more on her.

They were standing very close. So close that Brianne found it hard to breathe again. He was a good seven inches taller than she was, and she felt fragile, small and out of her depth standing before him. She tipped her chin up a little, and she could have sworn he leaned a bit closer.

Neither of them spoke as the pines along the building swayed in a breeze and a truck rattled down the street. Her heart beat faster than it ever had.

Then Jed lifted his head and put a few inches between them. With his hand on the frame of the sports car, he said, “This is a beautiful car. You don’t find many of them in Wisconsin.”

She felt memories flood over her, and heat came to her cheeks despite the cold. “It was a graduation gift from my parents,” she said in a low voice.

“You must have very generous parents.”

Her parents. Irrevocably gone. Unbearably missed. Two days before her graduation, as they drove to her college, a tractor trailer had swerved into them.

Her voice caught as she managed to answer, “They were very generous. They’re gone now.”

Seeing the uncertainty on Jed’s face at her words, she decided to leave to take care of the awkwardness she’d created.

“I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a good night.” Sliding quickly into the bucket seat, she closed the door and switched on the ignition.

Dr. Jed Sawyer stepped away from her car.

Quickly, she backed up, veered to the right and out of the parking lot, trying to keep heartache at bay.

On Saturday morning, after Brianne had run a few errands, she returned to the Victorian house that had become her home. After her parents died, seven months ago, she’d been lost in their huge house. She’d taken the job at Beechwood Family Practice a month after graduation and had met Lily Garrison, a divorced mother who’d been looking for a housemate so she and Megan could more easily meet their bills each month. Lily and Megan had provided Brianne with a safe harbor, and they now felt like family.

The house’s wraparound porch with its yellow railing brought a smile to Brianne’s face, as it always did. After parking along the street—there was only a one-car detached garage in the back—Brianne picked up her dry cleaning from the seat beside her and ran up the three wooden steps.

As she stepped inside the living room with its shiny hardwood floor, colorful rag rugs and big-cushioned, overstuffed turquoise-and-red furniture, the smell of cinnamon wafted around her. Carefully hooking her dry cleaning over a closet door hinge, she headed for the kitchen and was surprised by the activity there.

“We’re having a party,” five-year-old Megan called as she pressed a cookie cutter into bread slices.

“A party?” Brianne asked. She had been up and out before Lily and Megan had awakened this morning. Lily hadn’t said anything about a party last evening.

Lily’s blond waves, loose around her face now, swished against her cheek as she looked up from her cutting board, where she was slicing celery. “Last night when Doug and I were talking, I mentioned Jed Sawyer.”

Doug was a computer technician Lily had been dating for months now. Despite her good intentions to leave thoughts of Jed Sawyer at Beechwood, Brianne was interested in anything Doug had had to say about the rugged doctor. Ever since that night almost a week ago when Jed had made the comment about her car, they’d worked efficiently together, but politely, with no personal conversations. He didn’t seem to engage in truly personal conversation with anyone.

“What did Doug say?” Brianne asked.

“The gist of it was that it must be difficult for Jed to come back home and live with his dad after all these years. So…I thought it would be nice to have an open house for him. Just a welcome home get-together. I remembered you said you didn’t have plans for tomorrow, so I invited Dr. Olsen and his wife, Sue and Janie and their husbands.”

Sue in billing helped Janie manage the practice’s office. It was just like Lily to want to help Jed feel comfortable being in Sawyer Springs again, and to impulsively throw a party.