Seduced By The Sheikh Doctor_A Small Town Doctor Romance Page 14

  Even Milo the cat wasn’t safe from being an unwilling instrument in her torture. It burned in his every meow that Kehlan had been the one to find him. Kehlan had been the one who had told her how to take care of him. If she hadn’t loved Dylan so much, and Dylan hadn’t loved Milo so much, she might have given him away.

  The Coffee Cup was the worst. This was where she’d first met him. And this was where he’d came back. This was where she’d been when he’d slunk out of town, leaving her for good. How was it remotely fair that after nearly a decade of working at the Coffee Cup, and allowing her life to center around the establishment in so many ways, a few brief moments with a stranger had overwhelmed all those positive associations? The math didn’t feel like it should work out that way. It wasn’t right. But it was what had happened, all the same.

  And it was the worst on days like today, when there were barely any customers, and little to distract her. She was reminded of that time, not so long ago, when she’d been looking for a distraction from Dylan going away on a field trip. How she wished now she’d never found one.

  “Say, doll…why don’t you take that pretty face of yours and find somewhere better than this rat trap?”

  Alvin’s voice pulled her from her self-flagellation.

  “What?” she asked, trying to pull herself back to the present—back to the kindly father figure in front of her who she’d known her whole life, and who, like so many people in the town, was more important than some charming devil of a tourist. Who was trying to cheer her up, even knowing it was impossible.

  He must have determined his character wasn’t making any difference, because he dropped it and answered her sincerely.

  “Today is dead, and it’s not going to get any better. Must be the weather. Rain like this always drives people away.”

  Paige searched around for the words to respond to him.

  “But we never close early. Not unless there’s a problem.”

  Alvin looked at her knowingly.

  “And is there not a problem?”

  Paige sat down, looking at the empty restaurant.

  “Not one that’s going to go away in an afternoon.”

  Alvin sat down, across the table from her. They had spent so much time together in this restaurant, it felt strange to be sitting here like they were customers.

  “Maybe not. These things don’t heal in an afternoon. But that doesn’t mean that taking the afternoon when it’s given, and letting yourself feel it, isn’t going to help.”

  A rough sob—or was it a laugh?—ripped its way out of Paige’s throat.

  “You think I haven’t been feeling it?” she asked.

  The tears were starting. She didn’t want them to, but she couldn’t stop them. Alvin put his wrinkled hand on hers.

  “I think you’ve been fighting through it. It takes a lot to give someone up. I’m not saying it’ll fix it; I’m just saying a few hours to yourself before you have to go pick up Dylan might do you some good. Take it or leave it, but you should make up your mind quickly, before one of the two customers we’re getting today comes in.”

  He was right, she knew. She thanked him. She didn’t want to wallow, but this wasn’t that, she thought. This was moving through. Moving past. Eventually. And besides, with Alvin poking around and making her cry, she wasn’t really fit for waitress duty right now, anyway.

  She got in her car and rooted around in it until she found a rain jacket. She started driving on autopilot before she realized where she was going, and was almost surprised to find herself at the trailhead for the scenic overlook.

  What a different day today was than the day she’d brought Kehlan here. How much darker. How much damper. How much less hope. All the same, she put on the jacket and headed up towards the summit.

  As she walked, she let the familiar feelings of the last week wash over her. The despair. The sadness. The anger. The shame. It still didn’t feel real. Some part of it still felt like a mistake. An error. The kind of thing that they would laugh about one day when they were old, and still together, and looking over pictures of Dylan’s children.

  Was that what Alvin had meant? Had he sensed that? That she needed to let him go if there was any chance of moving on, and that she would only be able to do that if she had time to really sit and reflect? To know that that was a coping mechanism, and a fallacy. To know that imagining them that way was a lie she was telling herself.

  She sat down on the bench, not caring that it was wet. Her raincoat was long, anyway. And, even if it wasn’t, she was beyond caring about any of that, now.

  No, she didn’t think Alvin had sensed that. He probably just saw that she was struggling and wanted to help her in any way that he could. That was what normal, kind people did, after all. They helped when people were struggling. They didn’t see their weakness and take advantage of it just to have an entertaining few weeks…

  And she was off again, watching like an innocent bystander as her anger at Kehlan built up and bubbled over. There was nothing she could do. The vicious fire built up, and she could only go about her day when it had reduced her memories, once more, to ashes.

  “Paige?”

  She thought she heard him calling her name. She shook her head, and laid her head in her hands. Was this what it was coming to? First, she’d gone just about crazy the first time he’d left. Now, here she was, working herself up into a frenzy and imagining his voice.

  But he’d been there, hadn’t she? She’d thought she was crazy for believing he was there, and then…

  She turned, and just as she had suspected, there he actually was. Kehlan was standing where the trail emerged from the forest, out onto the overlook. He was in what looked to be an expensive suit, and he was absolutely sopping wet. Water droplets dripped from his hair onto his perfect lips. His shiny leather shoes clearly weren’t meant for the trail he’d just taken. They’d be ruined, Paige thought. And the anger she’d been trapped in since he’d left made her glad of it.

  But there was something Paige didn’t expect. He didn’t have a cruel expression on his face. He wasn’t back to twist the knife, nor to grovel and apologize just so that he could find his way back in to betray her again. No. His normally calm, even face was a picture of confusion and worry.

  Paige stood. She walked towards him, as though drawn in by a magnetic force, though it was more so that she could speak to him and be understood over the sound of the rain falling around them.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, the words harsh and rough, and leaving her throat feeling abused.

  “I told you I’d be back.”

  Lie. He was a liar. She knew this already; why did it hurt so much to see it proven?

  But was he? He seemed to believe what he was saying. Paige faltered, half of her wanting to forget everything and forgive everything and jump into his arms. But the other half of her remembered the agony of the last week.

  “You said no such thing. You just…you just left. You said you wouldn’t and then I came back, and you were gone. Didn’t answer your phone, and didn’t call me back. And the bed and breakfast said you’d checked out. And…”

  She trailed off. For all her anger, there was one thing that could still override it.

  “Kehlan, what’s wrong?”

  He struggled. There was something else. Something bigger than what he had or hadn’t told her. If she’d thought about it even an hour ago, she’d say that wasn’t possible. But here, with him before her, she knew it was.

  “You really didn’t get my note?” he offered, uncharacteristically weakly. He was diverting the conversation, but she didn’t push it. As angry as she’d been at him, all her anger was secondary.

  “I really didn’t.”

  “I put it on the picture on the fridge. The one with the elephant.”

  Paige felt the bottom drop out of her anger, leaving only relief, confusion, and concern.

  “It was cheap—the magnet on it is weak. Sometimes it falls off when the fridge
door closes, if it’s trying to hold something up.”

  The both came to the realization at the same time.

  “The coffee.”

  Paige looked down, shamefaced.

  “I thought you were being cruel.”

  “I thought it would be a nice surprise. If I had known what it would cause you to think…”

  Paige shook her head, moving closer to him. He was shivering, lightly. She was close enough to tell, now.

  “But you didn’t.”

  She said the words more to herself than to him. She knew there were more questions. Why didn’t he answer his phone? Why didn’t he call her back? Where had he been for the last week? But the answers to those questions were all tied up in the big something that he didn’t want to tell her.

  At least, not out here. Not yet.

  “How do I always end up getting you soaked to the bone?” she asked, brushing some of the water out of his hair with her hands.

  It was the first time she’d touched him since she’d believed she would never touch him again, and it felt electric. The rain was slowing down, and it made her voice sound louder and clearer than it had been.

  “I don’t know,” he said, clearly relieved.

  No witty rejoinder. No little joke. Something really was wrong.

  “Let’s get you dried off,” she said.

  He nodded, and they headed down the mountain together.

  Chapter 22

  Kehlan

  He hadn’t thought there was room in his heart for more damage and upset. He’d come back here, with his battered, bruised psyche in full mourning. He knew that what he was carrying back to her was different from the man he was when he left. He could only hope that she would accept it.

  But when he’d asked Alvin where she was, and gotten that absolutely withering look in response, he knew something had gone horribly wrong.

  The note falling off was just a chance. Just a horrible chance that had caused Paige so much pain. He wondered, if he were in a different state, if he might have been offended that she had been so quick to doubt him. But he couldn’t judge her for that. There wasn’t room. Not now. And besides, she had a history of being left. Things like that leave scars, and all Kehlan could do about them was dedicate the rest of his life to letting them fade without reopening the wounds that had caused them.

  When they got to Paige’s car, he realized he’d never ridden in it. They’d always taken his rental wherever they went, since it seemed like a waste not to use it. But now, they climbed into her twenty-year-old boxy contraption, and he couldn’t help but wish that they hadn’t opted for the fancier car every time. This car felt like her. It felt warm and welcoming the way she was. And, it turned out, there was a blanket behind the passenger seat.

  “Here. Take off your shirt and put this on. It’s a long way back to town from here.”

  She was amazing. He knew how much she cared about him, and how she must have felt when she believed he’d left her. He could see that anger in her, bubbling away under the surface, when she’d first walked over to him at the overlook. But here she was now, sitting beside him, offering a blanket and caring for him. That was Paige—always caring.

  They didn’t talk on the way back to town. He had a feeling she understood that there was something too big for him to get out while she was driving. It would wait until they were home.

  Home. He had already started thinking of it that way, even so quickly after she’d accepted him back. At least, after he hoped she had accepted him back.

  When they got back to the house, it all felt so familiar. Even a week away had made him miss it. The easy, worn-in way that everything had about it. The bits and pieces of the lives of the little family that lived there. And, he realized, feeling sharp little claws suddenly dig into his calf seemingly from nowhere, the little kitten.

  Kehlan shed the blanket and followed her, shirtless, into the kitchen. His pants were still damp, even after the heater going full blast the whole car ride back, but that was forgotten for the moment.

  He watched as she bent down, looking underneath the fridge. He watched as she grabbed a long-handled wooden spoon and fished out the note, along with the traitorous magnet that had caused so much misunderstanding. He watched her read the note, and saw her eyes go wide with understanding.

  She rushed to him, throwing her arms around his still-chilly body and pulling him close.

  Finally, now, after what had felt like such a long time, he got to hold her in his arms again. He held her close to him, letting the warmth of her and the nearness of her soothe the constant ache of mourning.

  “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know…”

  He shook his head.

  “How could you? It’s no one’s fault. And if I had called…I just couldn’t handle telling you. Not until now. Telling you makes it real, somehow.”

  It was true, he realized as he said it. As good as it felt to have her close to him again, and to be forgiven for the crime he hadn’t realized he’d committed, it also brought on a fresh wave of pain.

  “Was it expected?”

  “Yes and no. It was a surprise, but it shouldn’t have been.”

  She didn’t seem to know what to ask, and he didn’t know what to offer her as far as information. He would tell her about their conversation. One day soon, when he’d told her more about how they had been all his life, so that she would have the context to understand what it meant for her to use her final breaths to give his new life her blessing.

  For now, it seemed, Paige knew most of what she needed to know. She knew enough to comfort him. And he knew her well enough to be comforted.

  They didn’t talk about it that night. He didn’t make her any new promises. The promises he had already made stood strong, and were getting stronger by the minute. He would live there, in Stockton, and they would figure things out. And whatever might happen, whether it was good as their previous week together had been, or painful as this past week had been, they would face it. Together.

  Chapter 23

  Paige

  Paige had often thought that the early days of Dylan’s life had passed by in a flash, too fast to be appreciated. But that was before she’d experienced the past ten months with Kehlan, and what a happy whirlwind life with him had become.

  The man moved quickly. She didn’t know if it was just his overriding sense of certainty in life, or the fact that his whole life, things had moved seamlessly when he put his mind to it. But in what seemed no longer than a blink of an eye, Stockton was Kehlan’s official residence, and he had set up a practice in order to bring some much-needed accessible medical care to the locals.

  In another blink, he had bought the old abandoned house that Paige and her sister had played in as children, and that she’d showed him on his first visit to town. Then, after that blink, there were long hours with the two of them together, often with Dylan, renovating the place with care, picking up where the hired-in heavy-duty carpenters and structural engineers had left off.

  Another blink, and they were visiting her sister in Seattle, taking in everything the city had to offer. Paige had always felt out of place in Seattle, but with Kehlan by her side, she no longer felt that way. And when Kehlan—whom her sister and her husband both adored—told them that he would make a point of it to drag her out of Stockton to come see them more often, he meant it. And he followed through.

  Then, they were discussing Paige’s future at the Coffee Cup. She would never leave it. That much was a given. But with the confidence gained from discussions with Kehlan, she spoke with the owner, and was able to both scale back her hours to spend more time with her family, as well as officially shift focus and get credit and pay for the work she was doing as a buyer for the café. All things she should have done long ago, she realized. But with Kehlan, things that should happen actually did.

  Another blink, and they were moving in together into the old abandoned house, now a fully renovated, beautifully designed reimagining of what it once wa
s. A home in the space that Paige had dreamed of living in as a little girl, but so much grander, and better, and more them as a family than she ever could have imagined back then.

  And now, one last blink later, the whole little family—Paige, Dylan, Kehlan and Milo—were boarding a jet destined for the other side of the world, where they would meet Kehlan’s less-than-little family.

  As she boarded the private jet, it hit Paige again just how unused to all this wealth and luxury she still was. The last ten months had been wonderful, and she was aware that, since her live-in boyfriend was a prince, money problems just weren’t something she would ever have to worry about again. But still, when she was confronted with the extent of his wealth, she wasn’t sure how to navigate the space around it in her mind. It was strange.

  But a good strange. A comfortable strange. A strange that rendered her first long intercontinental flight a comfortable journey rather than a harrowing affair.

  Dylan certainly seemed to appreciate the private jet. He was determined, by all signs, to investigate every inch of the cabin. And the polite stewardesses seemed content to let him. As for Paige herself, she calmed her nerves with some of the local Stockton wine that she’d brought along with her for the journey, and tried to set aside all her worries about meeting the royal family.

  “They’ll love you,” Kehlan told her at intervals. She loved that it didn’t exasperate him to reassure her in the face of her worries. It was like he took it on as his duty to do so, and got personal satisfaction from carrying it out. She tried to believe him as best she could. He was an easy man to believe.

  When the four of them arrived in Al-Derra, it didn’t take her long to realize that she needn’t have been so worried. All of Kehlan’s reassurances that his extended family—for all their power and prestige—were quite down to earth and excited to meet her, turned out to be true. She had a hard time keeping their names straight, but even that didn’t seem to faze them.