Chapter 6

CHAPTER SIX

By the time she did finally make it to the ski slope, she was ridiculously late.

"It's going to get dark soon," the woman running the check-in desk told her, glancing out at the late-afternoon skies. "We normally don't let anyone head out at this time of day. It's not really advised."

Margo blew out a sharp breath. "I know. I grew up here. I'm just back in town for a few days, and I'd really like to get a look at the slopes. I'll be careful."

The woman didn't look convinced, and Margo tried to hold back her irritation. The woman was just doing her job, but everything had gone wrong so far that day, and she wasn't sure she could handle one more thing. She needed something to go right .

"I spent my whole life until I was eighteen in Evergreen Hollow. I know it like the back of my hand, including when it gets dark. I'll be fine."

"What's your name?" The woman looked at her quizzically.

"Margo Stoker."

" Oh. Stoker. Your mom runs the inn." The woman relaxed a fraction as she said it, and Margo knew she'd won, but it didn't make her feel as good as she would have thought. Of course no one really remembered her, even Nora had been back home more than Margo had. But she got that sharp, pained feeling again, realizing how disconnected she really was from everything. She'd gotten what she wanted, getting away from home and severing almost all of her ties, but it didn't feel good, now that she was back.

"All right." The woman pushed paperwork toward her. "A liability statement, all the usual stuff. You sign this, and you'll be good to go."

Margo scribbled her name in the highlighted spots, and pushed the papers back toward the woman. "Okay. Here you are."

The cold air struck her again as she walked back out of the small building. It was getting colder, as it got closer to sunset, and she tucked her scarf a little closer around her neck, tugging her beanie down around her ears. There was still plenty of light out, she thought, and she collected her skis and poles, heading out toward the slopes.

She just wanted to get away for a little while. Some time to think. She'd thought being back at the inn would give her that, but it had turned out to be more confusing than anything else.

It did help, a little. Part of what she'd always loved about her job was the ability to explore, to go places and document the world around her, and the freedom of being out on the ski slopes helped to give her back some of that feeling. There weren't very many people left out there, most of them had already headed back, and as she ventured further she realized soon that she was the only one left skiing. She didn't mind it.

But she also realized that it was getting dark faster than she had thought it would. It had snuck up on her, and she took a deep breath, realizing it was time to head back. It had probably been time twenty minutes ago. Now, it would be full dark before she made it back to the top.

She was good at this though, she reminded herself. She was good at navigating difficult situations and staying calm. She just needed to remember that, and she would get through this.

Carefully, she started to navigate her way back, peering upward in the gathering twilight. She was halfway up before she paused for a moment to catch her breath, trying to gauge how much further she had to go before it would be too dark to see at all.

Not far. She took another step—and felt her foot slip, unable to find purchase as it slid out from under her. She scrambled to try to catch herself, but it was already too late, and she let out an undignified scream as she started to fall back down the slope.

She felt every bump as she tumbled down, and then an awful, sharp pain shooting up her leg as she landed, her foot bent under her.

She didn't need to look down at it to know that her leg was broken.

"Help!" She shouted up the slopes, hoping that she hadn't stayed out so long that everyone had already gone home. But surely all of the employees wouldn't have left while there was still someone on the slopes who hadn't signed out yet.

A wave of relief washed over her as she saw two of the attendants, in their bright blue windbreakers and skis with the blue tape on the sides, start to head down the slope toward her.

"What's wrong?" They stopped on either side of Margo, and she gestured to her leg.

"I think it's broken." She swallowed back a gasp of pain. "I'm going to need help getting back up the slope. And maybe an ambulance to an emergency room."

"Radio up and tell someone to call Doctor Thorpe. We'll get you back into town, don't worry."

Who is Doctor Thorpe?

She didn't have much time to think about it, because the two attendants were helping her up, and all she could think about was the pain shooting through her leg.

They helped her back up the slopes, all the way to a waiting car, where one of the attendants held open the door and the other supported her while she slid inside, her mind racing. "We'll head into town now," the man getting into the driver's seat said, and Margo nodded numbly.

How could this happen?

All she'd wanted was to get a little time alone to clear her head, and things had gone from bad to worse. She'd felt confident that she would be fine out on the slopes, long enough to get back before it was completely dark. And yet somehow, things had gone from bad to worse so quickly.

She didn't even know if Evergreen Hollow had the means to treat a broken leg. She couldn't remember what the doctor's office in town was like, but she was pretty sure the doctor who ran it was ancient. It didn't instill a lot of confidence that they'd be able to help her, and she wished they'd just called an ambulance that could take her to Providence. She would have felt better about everything.

Briefly, she considered calling her mother and letting Rhonda know what had happened. But she didn't want to do that either. Rhonda would just worry, and the last thing Margo wanted was to give her mother something else to worry about, especially after what had happened with the roof this morning.

The medical office in town, she saw as the attendants driving her there pulled up in front of it, was a small white-sided building with a dark gray gabled roof, and matching shutters on the windows. It looked more like a home than a doctor's office, she thought, cozy and appealing, but not necessarily where she wanted to go for an injury like this. But it didn't seem like she was going to get much of a choice.

Despite the late hour, there was a nurse waiting when the ski attendants helped her hobble in, a dark-haired, middle-aged woman who introduced herself as Gemma.

"We'll just get you into an exam room," she said, taking over from the attendants and thanking them. "And Doctor Thorpe will be in to see you in a few minutes."

Margo smiled tightly, wincing from the pain as the nurse got her situated in the exam room, helping her up onto a table and bustling around as she took Margo's temperature and blood pressure. Her leg was still shooting sparks of pain all the way up her side, and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying hard not to panic. She could see it swelling, and she didn't want to look at it any longer.

Gemma left, promising the wait wouldn't be long, and Margo opened her eyes again, staring up at the ceiling. She had no idea what on earth she was going to do. She needed to look for a new job, but she couldn't exactly go out on assignments with a broken leg, even if she managed to find a new position so quickly.

She either wouldn't get hired, or she would, and she'd start off her first months at a new magazine or paper chained to a desk, working on editing other people's articles and seeing all the far-flung, fantastic places they got to go. That sounded worse than being unemployed—other than the part where she wasn't getting paid at all right now.

Glancing around the room, she noticed with surprise that there was a small tapestry on the opposing wall. Not at all what she would expect to see in a doctor's office, and she peered a little more closely at it, realizing that it was an authentic Indian mandala. That surprised her too. It wasn't just some knock-off, whoever had hung it there had clearly traveled.

There was an elephant in the center of it, she saw. And then, she noticed the tapestry was lagging on one side. It was turning the elephant's trunk downward, and that was bad luck. It needed to always be pointing up, toward the sky.

She knew she should leave it alone. Focus on the bigger problems she had right now.

It's just a tapestry , she told herself. It doesn't really matter.

But it was bothering her, and she wanted to fix it.

Frowning, she sat up, maneuvering herself off the exam table. She held on to the side of it with one hand, hopping toward the opposite wall, and tried to reach up with her free hand to fix the tapestry, but it was a little too high for her to reach.

She let out a frustrated breath, and moved a little closer. There was a table underneath it, and she tried to push herself up onto it, thinking she could reach higher from there.

Unfortunately, it was a rolling table, and the moment she tried to push herself onto it, it moved away from her.

She let out a yelp as she slipped, suddenly terrified that she was going to fall and injure herself even worse than before. She could feel herself about to fall?—

—and then a pair of strong arms wrapped around her, keeping her from hitting the ground, and lifting her up so that she didn't have to put any weight on her injured leg.

Margo looked up to see one of the most handsome men she'd ever seen looking down at her. He had sandy blond hair, hazel eyes with just the right amount of green in them, and a strong, clean-shaven jaw. He was looking down at her, concerned, and for a moment she forgot about the pain in her leg.

"Are you all right?" He helped her back to the exam table, steadying her so that she could get back on it. "You're meant to stay here, you know." There was a hint of humor in his voice, so she could tell he wasn't annoyed.

"I—" She felt foolish now, explaining it. "I saw your tapestry. It's crooked on one side, so the elephant's trunk is pointing down." She gestured toward the tapestry. "It's bad luck if it's not upright all of the time."

The man's eyes sparkled with amusement as he shoved his hands in his pockets, giving her an appraising look. "A friend brought that for me as a gift," he said. "How do you know about what it means?"

"I've been to India for work. I'm a photojournalist, and I work for…"

She trailed off, realizing that she didn't, in fact, work for them any longer. She was unemployed, and she had no idea when she would get to do the job she loved again, in the capacity that she used to do it in.

Especially now that she'd been reckless, and potentially badly hurt herself.

Her injured leg. That was why she was here, not to make small talk with a handsome man who had surprisingly good reflexes. She snapped back to reality, seeing that the man was still standing across from her, and studying her with a smile.

"Have you been here before?" she asked, feeling a tiny bit of annoyance creeping in. "I know it's late, but I feel like I've been waiting a long time, considering this is an emergency. Does it always take so long?"

The man chuckled. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting, Ms. Stoker. Doctor Spencer Thorpe, at your service."

Margo blinked in surprise, staring at him. She'd expected the doctor to be an old, weathered man. She definitely hadn't expected—this.

What was such an attractive, young doctor doing in Evergreen Hollow?

"Can you tell me what happened?" Spencer stepped toward the table, gesturing for her to lie back as he tugged up the torn leg of her jeans. "I heard the employees from the ski slopes brought you in."

Margo nodded. "I just needed to get out and get some fresh air for a bit. So I went to check out the ski place, and they said it was getting late, but I figured as long as I didn't stay out too late it would be fine. But then it got dark faster than I expected, and I slipped, and—" She bit her lip, suddenly feeling as if all of it sounded ridiculous. "I think it's broken."

"It definitely looks like it," Spencer said sympathetically. "It's not an uncommon injury, out there on the slopes. Happens all the time."

"I feel like an idiot," she moaned, wincing as he touched her leg, examining the break. "I should have known better."

"Not at all," he assured her. "It can really sneak up on you, this time of year. Gets dark faster than you expect. And even experienced skiers can have an accident."

"I should have listened when they told me it was getting too late to go out," she mumbled, staring up at the ceiling. What was she going to do?

"Sometimes you just need some fresh air." Spencer smiled at her reassuringly, and Margo felt herself relax a little. Surprisingly, he was doing a remarkably good job at putting her at ease, despite the entire situation.

"Have you been here long?" she asked, changing the topic and trying to distract herself from the pain in her leg.

"About a year. I took over the practice when my father couldn't run it any longer. Can you move your toes?"

Margo tried and managed to produce a small wiggle. Spencer nodded, watching her closely.

"My guess is that it's a break," he told her. "We'll get you fitted with a brace for now, and if an x-ray shows that there's a fracture, you'll likely need a cast."

She felt a drop in her stomach at that, but it wasn't as dramatic as she would have thought. She couldn't believe how much better Spencer had made her feel, just chatting with her through the examination. He was definitely cut out to be a doctor, she thought, just as she looked up and saw Caroline and Nora walk in.

"How bad is it?" Nora asked, at the same time that Caroline spoke up.

"What were you thinking, Margo?"

She felt the small bubble of comfort around her instantly pop. She was pretty sure she knew exactly what they were thinking—that she had been reckless and impulsive, and what else should they have expected? Her life, to everyone in Evergreen Hollow, was unpredictable and chaotic, and she just knew they were judging her for doing something so irresponsible when her life was already coming apart at the seams.

"I thought it would be fine." She bit her lip. "I just needed to get out and work out some things. I obviously didn't think I'd break my leg."

"Of course not," Nora said soothingly, but Margo saw the look she exchanged with Caroline, one that was obviously worried, and Margo let out a long breath.

Nothing about this was going as planned.

Several days later, once the fracture had been confirmed by an x-ray and the swelling had gone down a bit, Margo sat in Doctor Thorpe's office again, feeling frustrated and helpless as he got her leg set in a cast and gave her a list of instructions.

Bed rest at first, no weight on it, no overdoing it.

Her frustration welled almost to a point of feeling like panic. In a matter of days, she'd gone from a globe-trotting job to now not being able to even go down a set of stairs without help. She felt trapped, and it didn't feel like a coincidence that something had happened to make her feel that way here in Evergreen Hollow.

"You ladies can get her home all right?" Spencer asked, glancing over at Nora and Caroline, who had accompanied Margo for her return visit. They both nodded. "All right. Take it easy," he warned Margo. "It's not too bad of a break, but it could be if you don't let it heal up right."

She nodded, sitting up and taking the paperwork he handed her. Despite the pain of her broken leg—thankfully numbed a bit by the painkillers he'd given her before setting it—and the overall awkwardness of the reason for her visit, she found herself wishing she could stay and talk with him for a little longer.

But what would be the point of that anyway? she asked herself as she hobbled out to Nora's car, a new SUV that Nora had said she'd bought shortly after finding out she was pregnant.

There wasn't any reason to stay and chat up the town doctor, no matter how handsome he was.

She wasn't staying in Evergreen Hollow any longer than she had to.