“Are all the awards in this case for my mother?” A feeling of awe, mixed suspiciously with pride, swelled in my chest as I turned back to the display to closely examine its contents.
“In this one, yes, they are.” She beamed. “And it’s the biggest one in the school.”
“I never knew.” I shook my head and blinked rapidly to try to dry up the tears that were springing to my eyes.
“I see so much of your mother in you. And if you are anything like the Celeste King I grew up with, you also have a mean, stubborn streak.” She raised an eyebrow at me with a small smirk. I smiled at her in the reflection of the mirrored back panel of the display case. “Be patient with your mother. Raising children is hard, and your job is never done. I still stay up nights worrying about my babies, and they’re all grown.” She chuckled. “But losing a child… I’d suspect that would be the hardest thing to live through.”
I focused on a photo of my mother sitting atop a horse, wearing a big grin, and holding a giant bouquet of flowers. Mrs. Lee’s words echoed through my head, leaving me more confused as the tears I’d given up trying to suppress streaked down my face.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Hello, Ms. Walters.” The woman at the reception desk of the doctor’s office greeted me without my having to tell her my name. I still hadn’t gotten used to that. “Dr. Westlake is finishing up with a patient, then she’ll be right with you.”
“Um, are there two Dr. Westlakes?” I asked, slightly confused.
She let out a loud chuckle. “If there were, it would certainly make my job a lot easier.”
“Then, I’m sorry, there must be a mistake.” I leaned closer to the desk. The receptionist raised an eyebrow. “I’m here for a gynecology appointment.”
“Yes, Emmaline Walters. One-thirty with Dr. Westlake.” She spun the monitor of her computer around so I could see it.
“Dr. Westlake is a GP, a vet, and a gynecologist?”
“She is the town doctor,” the receptionist replied with a small shrug before shoving a clipboard at me. “Please have a seat, fill out these forms, and I’ll need to see your insurance card, if you have one.”
I took my place in the waiting room, seriously contemplating canceling my appointment and making the four-hour drive to Atlanta, but then I remembered my regular doctor had a six-month wait and I had no desire to accidentally run into anyone I knew. Atlanta didn’t feel like my home anymore, and my life there felt like it belonged to someone else. I wondered if my mother was right. Was I running away from my problems? Then I remembered my talk with Erica’s mom. My mother ran away from her old life and started a new one. Who was she to judge me?
Dr. Westlake called my name twice before I jumped out of my chair and followed her into the exam room. I guessed I was keeping this appointment. At least there weren’t any goats this time.
“Okay, everything looks good.” Dr. Westlake sat up and rolled her stool away from the exam table. “Did you have any specific concerns?”
“Actually, I would like birth control.”
“Birth control?” Her eyebrows quirked and I could see the faintest hint of a smile. “Of course; would you like to discuss your options, or did you have something in mind?”
“I was on the pill, but my prescription ran out a couple of months ago and I haven’t been able to get a refill.”
“No problem; I can write you a prescription, but once you start taking it again it will be a week before you’re protected, so you should use another form of protection to be safe.” She stood and walked to the counter and began typing notes on a tablet. I pulled my feet out of the stirrups and sat up. “I’m sending your prescription to the pharmacy and sending your tests to the lab—”
“There’s a lab in town?”
“Oh no.” Dr. Westlake laughed. “They go to County General.It’s the closest hospital. We have a close relationship with them. A lot of their visiting patients and their families stay in town.”
“Visiting patients?” I asked, confused. “To a small county hospital?”
“Emma.” She turned to me with a sardonic smile. “You’re a very smart woman. The farm you’ve inherited from your grandparents is one of the leading producers of medical marijuana in the southeast. People come from all over the country, sometimes the world, for treatments. Not only have your grandparents helped hundreds, maybe thousands of people who’d almost given up hope, but they also brought this town back to life. We owe them a lot.”
“Whoa,” I whispered under my breath.
“Indeed.” She chuckled. “I’m gonna let you get dressed.”
“Everything said here is covered under doctor/patient confidentiality, right?”
“Of course,” she called over her shoulder as she washed her hands in the small sink, “but if you think you’re keeping whatever you and Dan have going on under wraps, you can forget it.”
“What do you mean?” I was surprised, but a smile was spreading across my face.
“I could tell by the look on Dan’s face when he brought you in here to get your hand stitched up. He might as well have been wearing a sandwich board. And of course, everyone sees you two making eyes at each other at Erica’s. It was only a matter of time.” She winked at me and left the room. It wasn’t until she’d gone that I noticed the small pile of condoms on the counter of the exam room that definitely wasn’t there when I came in.
