“Once I finish this paperwork, you can get dressed, and we’ll get going in no time.” Humming quietly as if she loved her job, she input data into Mia’s file.
Mia smiled over a melody as familiar as breathing to her. Her mom used to sing this same song when she was happy. Mia closed her eyes to listen and urged her body to relax. The notes rushed up the scale and plunged down, bringing with them the last good memory Mia had of her mother.
Mia could almost feel the warm breeze skipping off the lake and into their cabin at Evergreen. Their family had just arrived for a much-needed vacation, and her mom’s face lit with happiness for the first time in months. Her parents didn’t think she and David knew they fought over their father letting his job take priority over the family. Sure, he was a doctor and had to go in to work at odd times and he put in long days, but he’d chosen to be absent more than needed.
Their vacation was supposed to fix all of that.
They’d no sooner unpacked when her father dug out his laptop and sat at the worn kitchen table to work on a medical book he was writing. Mia’s joy evaporated along with her mother’s. She issued an ultimatum. If Mia’s father spent his vacation days working on the book, the marriage was over.
Mia couldn’t stand by and do nothing. She begged her father to take them for a ride around the lake. He agreed, and she was thrilled. She would keep their parents together. All was going well—they were laughing and joking—until she pointed out a deer bolting from the woods. Her father looked away long enough for the car to slip onto the steep shoulder. He tried to wrestle their vehicle back onto the pavement but lost control, and they slammed into a monster evergreen, killing her mother.
Mia sighed. Life would have been much easier if God had let her mother live. If her father never blamed her for the accident.
She was so tired. Tired of carrying around the lack of her father’s love. Of her brother always siding with their father. Of her breakup with Ryan. Of having to flee the home and place she once loved to get away from it.
Now having to come back here and face it all again when she thought she’d come to grips with it. She didn’t think she was this skittish woman. Living in the past instead of the present, and she’d do just about anything to make the heartache go away. All she wanted was love. The same kind of love she’d had for the first thirteen years of her life. Unconditional. Everlasting.
Except it didn’t last. She’d learned her lesson the hard way. Most men disappointed her. No love or love so shallow it was followed with betrayal. And they always had a need to control.
Her father. David. Ryan, just beginning to show the tendencies before they broke up and proving it yesterday.
No way she’d remove the armor she’d developed. Not with any of them. They would only hurt her again.
Best remember that.
A knock sounded on the door, and Karen’s humming ended.
Mia clung to the memories of her mom, but they drifted away with the music. Expecting Ryan, who’d offered to give her a ride home today, she opened her eyes.
Not Ryan. Her father.
He searched the space and took in her appearance. His eyes creased in a critical assessment before zoning in on the computer.
What was he going to say? Criticize now? She drew in a quick breath and held it.
“Doctor,” Karen said, a hint of awe settling into her tone.
“I’ll just have a quick peek at Mia’s records.” Head bent low over the cart, the sound of his fingers clicking on the keyboard pinged through the room.
Mia stared at a large void on the back of his head replacing thick black hair that had once thrived like shag carpeting. His profile didn’t seem quite as intimidating anymore. More fragile and old. She released her breath. She could do this, right?
“Everything looks good, Mia.” He waved a hand over the computer. “You should make a full recovery.”
It was so like him to put up the facade of being a concerned father in front of others. She hadn’t been able to stomach the two-faced behavior in high school and had rebelled against it, but after yesterday’s stress, she didn’t have the strength to fight him. Besides, if she hoped he would confess his part in the fire, she’d better not embarrass him in front of Karen.
Mia smiled tightly. “I appreciate your taking the time to stop in. Do you have a few more minutes to talk?”
His mouth dropped open. She hadn’t responded positively to him in years. He probably didn’t know what to make of her sudden about-face, and he didn’t know what to say. An awkward silence descended on the room.
Karen cleared her throat. “If you don’t need me for anything, Doctor, I’ll get out of your way.”
“Yes, of course.” He flashed the nurse a kind smile reserved for those who met his exacting standards.
As Karen departed, Mia grappled with what to do. She wanted to say something to keep him looking open and receptive, but when the nurse exited the room his door of kindness snapped shut, and his hard shell returned.
“The barn burning down is most unfortunate,” he said. “You’re no doubt upset that it will reduce the value of the property.”
Right. He would choose to comment on the structure instead of saying that he was glad she wasn’t injured.
