Forever This Time (27 page)

*   *   *

“Are you ready, kiddo?” Josie grabbed the handles of Avery's wheelchair. Once again, Avery's foster mother had asked Josie to pick her up at the hospital after her one-week stay. Apparently her hair appointment had been more important than her child this morning.

“Super-ready, Jos! Can you do
NASCAR
-style on the way out?”

Josie laughed. “I think there's a rule in the Big Sis handbook about wheelchair racing. If we crash, they might kick me out of the program. Then they'd give you a horrible awful new sister who'd make you eat broccoli and never take you to Snowflake Village.”

“Horrors.” Avery shivered dramatically, but reached up to give Josie a fierce backward hug. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

“Anytime, kiddo. Anytime.”

Avery waved to everyone gathered in the nurses' station as they rolled by, blowing kisses like a mini Miss America. As they rolled through the lobby a minute later, Avery was quiet. Then she put her tiny hands on the wheels to stop them. “Wait.”

“What's wrong?” Josie leaned down.

“Nothing.” Avery pointed toward an elderly woman sitting on a padded bench just off the lobby. “Can you roll me that way for a minute?”

“Um, sure. Do you know her?”

“Nope. Come on. Roll.” Avery pushed the wheels with her hands, trying to make Josie go faster.

When they reached the bench, the woman looked up, mystified. Avery held out her hand and said, “Hi! I'm Avery!”

The woman smiled tentatively and put her hand around Avery's. “Hi, Avery. I'm Madeline.”

“I really like that wrap thingie you have on your head.”

In an instant, the woman's face softened as she lifted her hands to her soft turban. “Well, thank you, dear. My daughter got it for me.”

“Do you think they make those in orange?”

“I bet they do, sweetheart. I bet they do.” Then she put her hand on Avery's knee. “In the end, it's a small price to pay for getting better. Hair grows back, after all. You might even get curls next time around!”

“I know, but I really think I look
terrible
bald.”

“I think you look beautiful, sweetheart. I bet no one even notices your hair when they see that smile of yours. Your heart shines right through it.”

“Thanks, Miss Madeline.” Avery squeezed her hands. “Maybe I'll see you here again.”

“Maybe,” Madeline replied softly. “I'd sure love that.”

Avery put her hands on her wheels and pushed backward slowly, then stopped to blow her a kiss. “Flutterby kiss!”

As Josie turned the wheelchair toward the door, she leaned down to kiss Avery on the head. “Hey. I thought flutterby kisses were reserved for me and Ethan.”

Avery tipped her head thoughtfully as they emerged into the bright August sunlight. “They are, but she looked like she really needed one.”

 

Chapter 27

“So Dr. Heath called again. He's—quote—still very anxious to speak to you about the symposium in Seattle next month.” It was three days later, the park had been sprouting problems like dandelions all day, and Josie had only picked up the phone because she feared Kirsten might be calling about a patient. But no.

“Does that man not understand the word
no
? I won't even agree to go to dinner with him. Why in the world does he think I'd drop everything and head off to Seattle for a conference with him?”

“You've gotta give him points for persistence. And Seattle's nice this time of year.”

“Not funny, Kirsten.” Josie adjusted a soda nozzle as she clamped her phone between her shoulder and her ear. “Did you tell him I've retired and moved to the Himalayas?”

“He didn't believe me. Also couldn't get him on board with your solo sail around the world. Or your midlife-crisis trip to Siberia.”

“Midlife crisis? I am
not
midlife.”

“I'm happy to forward him your way if you'd like to come up with better ideas.”

Josie laughed. “You're doing just fine.”

Kirsten sighed. “I could tell him it's really unfortunate, but you perished in a freak moose accident. Maybe he and I could go out for drinks to mourn together.”

Josie laughed out loud. “You do like Seattle.”

“You're right. I
am
that shallow.” Kirsten shuffled some papers on her desk and cleared her throat. “So listen. Given that it's Wednesday and you're still up there … what are your thoughts about next week? Still think you'll stay up there? Should I try to shuffle patients again?”

Josie clamped the front of the soda dispenser shut, then nodded to the teen manning the snack cottage as she slid out the side door. This was the third repair job she'd done already this morning, and she was only doing the easy ones since Ben already had his hands full with a couple of rides that had decided to pop screws overnight.

Ethan was—she had no idea where. He'd headed out of the office this morning with a quick wave, and she hadn't seen him since.

She put her free hand to her forehead and grimaced. “I just don't know. Dad's finding more words each day, it seems. They're still waiting for a rehab spot to open. I feel like maybe I should at least stay up here until he's settled wherever he's going to be for the short term, you know? Just to be sure Mom's okay?”

“Of course.”

“But I know this is putting you in a serious lurch. I've already been gone almost two weeks, and I know you can't keep covering my patients and your own.”

“Speaking of which, Britney took herself to the ER last night.”

“Oh no. What happened? Did she call us first?” Britney was nineteen, with a medical file two inches thick already. Josie had talked her through a full slate of real and imagined crises over the past year, and was finally getting close to convincing her to stay on her meds regimen. Or thought she was, anyway.

“She did.” Kirsten's voice was tentative. “But she wasn't crazy about talking to me.”

“Ugh.” Josie stopped at a green metal bench and sat down, staring into the pines. If she was a physician who dealt with people's physical issues, it'd be so much easier to leave her patient load in the care of a colleague. But emotional problems were a whole different ball game. It took forever to gain the trust of patients, to get them to open up, to get them to a space where they'd accept help.

Britney was the perfect example. She'd been working with her for months, and two weeks after she'd finally broken through the girl's ironclad shell, she'd been unreachable when Britney needed her. Dammit.

“I'm really sorry, Kirsten.
Really
sorry. Is she doing okay?”

“She's stabilized.”

“Did you try to reach me?” Josie fumbled her phone while she talked, trying to see whether she'd missed Kirsten's call.

“I didn't know about her until she was admitted, and then I thought I could handle it, but she's a tough cookie to crack.”

“I'm sorry.”

“You can stop apologizing. It is what it is, right?” Was it Josie's imagination, or did Kirsten sound a little tense? “We'll get through this. It's part of having a partnership. If we were in a hospital, there'd be other therapists to step up and fill the gaps. But there are only two of us, so if one's down, the other's gotta make it work.”

“I had no idea I'd be gone this long, though. This is too much for you.”

“I'm totally taking a two-week vacation when you get back, so don't worry. I'll get my payback.”

“I don't know, Kirsten. I wish I could be in both places at once. I just wish we knew someone who could—hey!” An idea flashed into her head. “Do you remember Jordan Romano? You met her at that dinner a month back?”

“The one who just moved back from Denver? Sure.”

“Do you think maybe … could we maybe ask her to fill in for a week or two until I get back? Since she hasn't found her own setup yet?” Silence greeted her question. “I know it doesn't solve the Britney-type problems, but maybe we could have her do some of the lower-risk patients?”

“I don't know, Jos. It's a lot to ask of her.”

“She might be hungry for the work. And I can't leave you alone to handle everybody. We thought I was only coming up here for the weekend, remember? And now we're going on two weeks. It's not fair to you.”

“You'd do the same for me, and you know it.”

“Nope. I'd have Jordan installed in your office in three minutes flat.”

“Funny. It just feels … weird, I guess. This office is our baby. I feel strange having someone else come in.”

“Just temporarily.”

“You say that now.”

“Oh, I
mean
that.”

“You
mean
that now. I know. But you never know.” Kirsten's voice trailed off.

“Just think about it, okay? We don't need to decide right this minute.”

“All right. I'll think about it. I won't like it, but I'll try to come around to at least contemplating it.”

Josie smiled. “Good girl.”

“So I can't hang up without asking how Ethan is.”

“Sure you can. He's fine.”

“Any more non-dates?”

“No. The park's crazy-busy, and I've been at the hospital pretty much every other minute. We've barely seen each other.”

“And you're good with that?”

Yes. No. Yes. Definitely no.
“Yes. Definitely.”

“Because the possibilities are frightening?”

“That's one way to put it.”

Kirsten sighed. “Safe's overrated, Jos. If you're going to be up there anyway, I vote for danger.”

*   *   *

After she hung up from Kirsten's call, Josie sat on the bench for a full five minutes. It was mid-afternoon, and stroller traffic had eased as parents headed for the water park at the eastern edge of the property. She put her head back on the bench for a moment, drinking in the quiet. As the swish of the pine boughs and twittering of the chickadees washed over her, she thought about Avery—about how much she'd loved this quieter part of the park where the wishing well stood.

Josie's head snapped up. The wishing well! Why hadn't she noticed it in the entire time she'd been back? She peered through the trees into the clearing where it should be, but instead of its simple white frame and green bucket, all she saw was a young sugar maple surrounded by a lush garden of daisies and pansies.

She jumped up from the bench and strode into the clearing. Where was the well? Had something happened to it? Would they have moved it?
How
could they have moved it?

With all the memories tied to the pennies it housed, how in the world could anyone have ever taken it out of the park?

The radio at her waist squawked, breaking into her internal tirade. She pressed the button to answer. “Josie here. What's up?”

“Hi, Josie. It's Sarah over at the dairy bar. Two of my guys just left for home because they weren't feeling well, and it's crazy over here. Any chance you could come help out till closing?”

Josie hesitated. What she
really
wanted to do right now was go find Ethan and see what the story was with the wishing well. Sarah's voice came over the radio again. “I'm really sorry to ask, but I think something's going around. We've lost about six people this afternoon.”

Josie narrowed her eyes at the radio. “Is this the week they have that Rock Fest over in Keene?” She'd seen an advertisement in the paper, and if she wasn't mistaken, there was a band playing tonight whose current song seemed to be on every radio station she'd tuned in for the last month.

“Um, yes? I think?” Sarah's voice sounded nervous. “But they really did look sick.”

“Of course they did.”
Right.
“I'll be right over. Hold tight.”

She gave a last glance at the maple tree and shook her head, then headed for the dairy bar. Where in the world was Ethan this afternoon? Why was everyone calling her?

Didn't they know she was just temporary?

The radio squawked again and she pulled it off her waist. “Josie here.”

“Uh, yeah, Josie. Nick here. Hey, we've got a kid up a tree.”

She held the radio away from her like it was going to grow legs. “You've got a what up a
what
?”

“Kid. Up a tree.”

“Where?”

“Over by the Penguin Plunge.”

“How
far
up a tree?”

“Um, he's really up there. This is bad.”

“He can't get down?” Josie started walking double time toward the Polar Plunge.

“Could, but he won't. And keeps threatening to jump if we come up.”

“Oh God. Have you called the fire department?”

“They're all out on Cooley Road. Big barn fire.”

“Shit.”

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” Josie shook her head. “Sorry. I'm on my way. Keep talking to the kid. Don't break contact, whatever you do.”

She broke into a jog and reached the tree one minute later. She saw a couple of employees and what had to be the kid's parents, so she headed for them. “Hi, I'm Josie. I'm the … I work here.”

Had she just almost said she was the owner? What was coming over her?

“I'm Paige. Hi. Thanks for coming.” The mom's words came out in flutters.

“So tell me what happened.”

“I don't know!” Paige had her hand to her throat, looking up into the tree. “Everything was fine! We were walking around, and then he just darted over to the tree and started climbing up it. But then he wouldn't stop! And now he's … oh God … look how high he is!”