Page 76 of Protecting What's Mine

“Ouch,” Mack sympathized. There was that shame again. And instead of motivating him to do better, the shame had made Leroy retreat from the subject entirely. Russell was right. Some doctors didn’t care about their patients as people. But she wasn’t going to be one of them. “Look, you’re in good shape. You have to be to keep up with an eight-year-old. And not all doctors are…”

He looked left and right then whispered, “Assholes?”

“Exactly.”

He still didn’t look convinced.

“I’m here to help you figure out how to stay healthy and well for years to come. That surgery might have thrown you for a loop. I know it was a long, complicated recovery, and your surgeon sounds like a jackass. But moving forward, you and I can be proactive to keep something like that from happening again.”

“I can’tnotbe here for him. Tyrone needs me. His mom needs me.”

And Leroy needed them.

“Then we start with a physical,” she said firmly.

She pulled up the scheduling app on her phone. “How does next Tuesday look?”

Mack limped her way toward the parking lot, feeling like she’d had her own victory on top of the Benevolence Spider Pigs’ win. He’d pushed her back to Halloween with a litany of excuses. But she’d nailed Leroy down for a physical and bloodwork. She’d also added the friendly threat that she’d show up on his doorstep with her medical bag if he bailed on her.

“Hey there, doc.” Georgia Rae, in a powder blue sweater set embroidered with sparkly threaded flowers, waved from the concession stand.

“Dr. Mack.” Skinny Carl, the man with a lot of opinionsandchildren, nodded at her. He had a baby in one arm and a toddler on a leash tied to his belt.

Mack waved back and quickened her pace toward the parking lot.

After she’d locked down Leroy’s appointment, she’d given a foot rash a cursory glance and chatted with a mother of five who suggested Mack consider hosting a community flu shot clinic.

An idea tickled at the back of her mind. She tucked it away to mull over later.

“Skipping out on us, Dreamy?”

She turned and saw Sunshine bolting toward her in a blur of tail and tongue. Linc followed. His greeting was slightly more tempered than the dog’s, but she still picked up on his enthusiasm in the slightly lecherous look he shot her legs.

A pack of kids in grass-stained uniforms and a collection of skin tones and missing teeth closed around them. “Coach Chief Linc, are we going for ice cream? Are we?”

The kids were as excited as Sunshine was.

“If I can convince Dr. Mack here to go with us.”

They turned their sad, puppy kid eyes on her. Sunshine added weight with her own.

“Please, Dr. Mack? Please?” A boy with goggles over his glasses and a runny nose clasped his hands under his chin.

A lanky youngster with a cute afro peeking out from under his hat cocked his head and shot her a confident wink. A future heartbreaker in the making.

“Please?”

Lincoln Reed didnotplay fair.

She telegraphed him a look that said exactly that.

He sent her a cocky wink. The man’s confidence was a force of nature. And she found it appealing.

The ghost of that text message floated through her mind and doused the playfulness that was arising in her. She’d never outrun the shadows of her past. And Linc, with his sisters and his nieces and nephews, came from a warm, solid family history. It wasn’t just a mismatch. It was a catastrophe. She had no idea how to be a productive partner in a healthy adult relationship.

She felt sick and sad. As if the toxicity of her past was leaking through her pores to taint the present.

Something wet and fluffy nudged her hand, and she looked down at Sunshine, who beamed up at her with unconditional doggy love.