“That wasn’t the greeting I was expecting,” I noted.
She gave a shy smile and something in my chest shifted. “Hi, Joshua,” she stated in that raspy voice of hers.
One second I was staring down into those dark brown eyes that were framed by long lashes and the next she was wrapped in my arms. The anger I felt was there, but a need to know she was real and standing in front of me, became more important than my anger.
For the first few seconds she remained stiff, but eventually she melted into my hug.
Chapter Three
Kayla
Home.
My eyelids floated closed and I became wrapped up in the scent of lavender and cardamom with a hint of cedar. I inhaled deeply. This hug felt more like a homecoming than the taste of my mother’s pasteles.
I’d been back in Williamsport for a little over a month. Had been staying with my parents for that same amount of time. However, I hadn’t truly felt as if I was home until the exact moment Joshua Townsend wrapped his arms around me. That wasn’t good news.
I don’t know who broke the hug first. It probably was Joshua, if the hard glare he was giving me was any indication. How he could go from hugging to grilling me was beyond me. But that darkness that I remember seeing in his eyes as a kid was still there and right then it was focused on me.
For what felt like forever he just stared down at me; that beautiful jaw of his, which was decorated by neatly trimmed hairs, was rigid.
“Seven years you’ve been gone without a word and just show up to my fundraiser?” His voice was so full of accusation.
I glanced around, searching for a comeback. “I didn’t know this fundraiser was hosted by Townsend—”
“Not Townsend,me,” he corrected. “The oncology department of Williamsport General.”
A pang in my belly and my eyes briefly closed. Yes. It made sense why he’d have a fundraiser for this hospital’s oncology department. We’d spent a lot of time in these halls once Chelsea got sick.
“I didn’t realize—”
“You would have if you’d stuck around.”
His sharp tone stung almost as much as my guilt had but I squared my shoulders and looked him directly in the eye.
“I was working on my medical career to be able to help people.”
“Is that what you were doing?” he asked snidely.
“Yes.”
“Looked more like you were running, from my vantage point.”
I narrowed my gaze on him. “And where exactly is that vantage point? From the crack of your—”
“There you are, Joshua,” a slender brunette interrupted my reply.
For a split second, Joshua looked just as annoyed as I felt at seeing the woman. But within the blink of an eye his annoyance was gone so fast that I was sure I’d imagined it.
I wish I could say the same for my own feelings. My lips pinched as I watched the woman place a perfectly manicured hand on Joshua’s forearm. I took a step back when something inside of me wanted to push her away. Joshua wasn’t my possession … hell, we weren’t even friends anymore, obviously. That was my fault, and I knew it. I’d take responsibility for the ending of our friendship.
“Denise,” Josh murmured.
She had to be his girlfriend. She looked like his type. Beautiful and demure enough to fit in with his high society crowd. I wasn’t surprised to see Joshua had moved on. It had been seven years and he was a very good-looking, wealthy man in his prime. I had to refrain from observing too closely just how good looking he was in the tailored black and white tuxedo that draped over his fit and lean body. His chiseled jaw was evident even through the light coat of the beard he now wore. The contrast of the darkness of his hair and the sparkling green of his eyes was still enough to cause a weakness in my knees. And those fucking freckles.Jesus.
“I’ll leave you two alone,” I commented just loud enough to be heard before I sauntered off, grabbing a champagne flute from a passing waiter.
Unfortunately, I lasted at the charity event for another hour. My aim had been to go, make sure a few of the doctors I worked with saw me make an appearance, and get the hell out of there. Just as my luck would have it, my boss insisted I meet with a few of her patients, which turned into more questions on my field and the type of medicine I practiced. And of course, as often happened with my line of work one of the traditional doctors I was introduced to took the time to challenge my credentials. I wasn’t a stranger to doctors who believed naturopathy was the way of quacks. It wasn’trealscience in their estimation. My degree was a joke. And every one of these doctors that I’d come across had a story of a patient who knew of a friend of a friend who’d listened to a naturopathic doctor and ended up dying from their very treatable form of cancer. It was bunk. I would’ve told him that, too, if it had been a few years prior. Instead, I just smiled and restated the rehearsed defenses of my practice before gracefully bowing out.
