Dancing in the Moonlight - Harlequin.com

RAEANNE THAYNE
73
horizons a little and opened a general medicine practice
somewhere more interesting than Pine Gulch, Idaho. So
why come home?”
He had many answers to that particular question,
some easier to verbalize than others, but he did his best
to put his reasons into words.
“Old Doc Whitaker gave me my first taste of
medicine, literally and figuratively. He probably did the
same for you, right?”
She nodded with a small smile for the robust man who
had treated everyone in the county for nearly fifty years.
“He brought all three of us boys into the world,
treated us when we had the chicken pox, helped Seth
through the worst years of his asthma,” Jake went on.
“In high school, I worked at the clinic on Saturdays and
a few afternoons a week. I grew to admire that old coot
for his dedication, for the connection he had to his
patients. He knew them all. Their kids, their parents,
their sisters and brothers.”
He was quiet for a moment, remembering the man
who had been such a steady influence in his life. “When
I was finishing my residency, I tried to picture myself
working in some impersonal HMO somewhere treating
thirty patients a day. I just couldn’t do it.Around that time,
Doc called me, said he wanted to retire and was I interested
in buying his practice. Coming home seemed right.”
“Any regrets?” she asked. “Does fame and fortune
ever come calling your name?”
“Not that I’ve heard. But maybe I had my cell phone
turned off and missed it.”
A smile almost broke free but she sternly forced her