Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Allison

Much to my disappointment, Jackson left before I could say goodbye. Shortly after asking me to take over, Fiona came back into the bedroom looking as refreshed and energetic as ever. I slipped out, planning to talk to Jackson, but he was gone.

After there was truly nothing left to be done and even Fiona was getting ready to leave, I reluctantly packed myself up and headed toward home. A car pulled out of Trudy’s neighborhood behind me and followed as I wound my way through town, heading toward the highway. My nerves prickled with fear. I stopped using my blinker and sped up, trying to put some space between us. The car sped up too, keeping pace.

When I got to the lonely road where I lived, I contemplated driving straight past my house and taking the loop back to Jackson’s apartment. But then I rolled my eyes, realizing what my brain was probably doing. I missed Jackson, so it was probably just inventing an excuse to see him again. Russell was dead. There wasn’t a threat anymore. I was safe, and it was just a coincidence that someone was taking the same route as I was.

When I turned into my driveway and the other car kept going on the main road, I breathed a sigh of relief and shook my head, annoyed at how very silly I had become.

Tuesday morning brought gray skies and the threat of rain. It felt fitting for a day when Jackson would be putting his father to rest. With the exhaustion of yesterday finally setting in, I had to force myself out of bed. All I really wanted to do was pull the covers over my head and sleep. But I had only canceled my afternoon patients for the funeral. Everyone expected me at the clinic for the morning slots.

For about three minutes, I debated about calling in sick. But I knew if I did and Beverly found out I went to the funeral, I would never live it down. She’d make sure every patient I had knew I had lied. So I finally groaned, threw the covers off, and rolled out of bed. After a much needed cup of coffee, I admitted to myself it was good that I was staying on routine—for my own sake as much as my patients.

Right now, I needed to feel like things were as normal as possible. With everything that had happened, it felt like things had changed between me and Jackson. He was putting distance there after all. I could feel it. It felt like something was missing in my life without our normal routine.

I shook my head as I turned the shower on to get the water heating up. I didn’t miss our routine. I missed him . I missed my best friend. And it killed me that I wasn’t sure I was going to ever fully get him back.

I went to my dresser to grab fresh underwear, but I paused when I opened the drawer. Something was off. I wasn’t sure what at first, but I quickly realized what the problem was. I organized my underwear drawer by type. But today, some of the pieces were in the wrong sections. One of my strapless bras was stuck in with my sports bras. And unless I was mistaken, my panty section looked…sparse. I could almost swear some of it was missing.

Had Mike gone through my underwear drawer while he was here? The thought made me shudder. He was absolutely gross, and I was so glad he had left town.

I closed the drawer, hit the shower, and tried to put all of it out of my mind. There was no reason to worry.

I almost believed it by the time I walked out the door to head to work.

When I got to the clinic, Beverly was waiting for me outside my office. “Morning,” I said, raising my thermos of coffee to her.

“Good morning, Dr. Bell,” she said in the most respectful tone I’d ever heard come out of her mouth. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”

“Sure,” I said as I unlocked my office door and motioned for her to go on in. “Have a seat. What’s up?”

She sat and fiddled with her fingers, looking down at the ground. “Well, this isn’t easy for me, but I guess I’d like to apologize to you.”

I blinked rapidly, wondering if I had heard her correctly. “You’d like to…apologize?”

“Yes.” She looked up with genuine remorse on her face. “Trudy Hamilton is my best friend. She called me last night and told me what you did for her. How you drove her home in your own car, even though she was a mess, and stayed there with her. How, even though you’re a doctor and Fiona isn’t, you let Fiona run the show and followed her orders.”

“Fiona knows a lot more than I do about delivering babies. It made sense to let her take charge.”

“Yeah, but”—she swallowed hard—“I think what I’m trying to say is that… Maybe I was wrong about you.”

“Thank you for saying that,” I said softly. “Beverly, I’d like for us to have a good working relationship. I’m here for at least two years. We might as well get along, right?”

“Right.” She nodded. She hesitated, then spoke again. “I’m sorry if I misjudged you. I just thought that, since you were from the city, you’d think you were better than all of us. And you were this pretty little blonde thing looking like you’d stepped out of a fashion magazine and not really having any experience, and well, we all knew you’d, you know, ‘pulled strings to get the job,’ and—”

“Whoa,” I said, holding a hand up. “I did not pull strings to get this job. I’m not even sure where you heard that.”

“Oh,” she said, blushing. “Well, maybe assumptions were made. And then when I saw you, I thought the rumor must be true, that you really were the kind of woman who’d sleep with someone just to climb the ladder, but…”

I was completely taken aback. “Actually,” I said, “I’m here because I wouldn’t do that.”

“What?” She gave me a confused look.

I put my elbows on the desk and rubbed my temples, suddenly feeling even more tired than before. “Beverly, I was offered a much more prestigious job back in Memphis, making twice what I’m getting paid here, I might add. But when I went to my final interview, I found out that the offer was contingent upon me sleeping with the department head. I said no, and he said I’d never work there and threatened to blacklist me in Memphis. That’s why I had to uproot my life and take a job somewhere else. Because I’m not that kind of woman.”

Beverly stared at me in shock. “Really?”

“Really.”

She swallowed hard, tugging at the collar of her shirt like it was making her uncomfortable. “I guess that rumor really got twisted around, although I’m sure you can understand why.”

“Not really.”

“Well, everyone knows about your mama—” Beverly started, but she cut off when she saw my face. She took a deep breath and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m genuinely sorry, Dr. Bell. I misjudged you in more ways than one.”

“Wait,” I said. “What do you mean everyone knows about my mama?” A wave of nausea rolled over me. There had been little comments about my mother, but I hadn’t paid them too much attention—until now. I had a sinking feeling that I was about to find out the real reason people had shunned me when I first arrived in town.

Beverly just stared at me like she was afraid to speak. “You mean, you don’t know?”

I shook my head.

“Dr. Bell, I don’t…” She trailed off like she didn’t know how to tell me.

“What is it? What does everyone but me seem to know about my family?”

She shifted nervously in her seat. “You’re aware that your daddy liked to play cards, right?”

I nodded. “Yes. It’s one of the reasons we left him.”

“Well, your daddy didn’t always have the money to pay his debts,” she said, biting her lip.

“Right. Mama had to work long hours to make up for it all.”

Beverly nodded slowly. “Your mama ‘worked’ to pay off his debts.” She stared at me, like I still wasn’t understanding.

But then I did. I felt the color drain from my face. “Beverly,” I said, my voice trembling. “Are you suggesting my mother was a prostitute?” It couldn’t be true. Could it? I flashed back to my childhood memories, remembering her sadness as she’d get dressed up and leave for work long after everyone else was home for the night. I wanted to throw up.

“Not a prostitute,” Beverly said, holding her hands up in defense. “Not exactly, anyway. But it was common knowledge that if your daddy owed more than he could pay, he’d, well, offer something he could give.”

My stomach clenched as the nausea threatened to win. “You mean…” I couldn’t even voice it.

She just nodded.

“I need a minute alone. Please.” I had a patient scheduled first thing, and I had to somehow pull myself together so I could do my job.

She nodded. “I’m sorry, Dr. Bell. I didn’t realize you never knew. Everyone else did.” She looked like she was going to be sick too. She got up and slowly walked to the door. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad your mama left. And I’m sorry for what she went through.”

She slipped out and left me alone in my attempt to process a million memories through new information.

“Alright, Beverly, I’m heading out,” I called that afternoon as I locked up my office after finishing my last patient’s chart.

She appeared around the corner, still looking timid after our earlier conversation. “I heard about the funeral. Give Jackson my condolences. I imagine this is a strange time for him.”

“It is,” I agreed, surprised by her perception—and how she really did seem to know every little thing happening in Rosemary Mountain.

She had known secrets about my own family that I had been blind to my entire life. If we were allies, I could actually use her, as I was quickly learning that patients here weren’t always completely honest about their activities.

I gave her a small smile, trying to let her know there were no hard feelings despite what she had revealed, and turned to leave. It was amazing how much easier the day had gone now that we weren’t at war with each other. My patients had been friendlier as well. I’d even convinced one man to try a different path than the opioids he had come in requesting. It gave me hope that I might be able to make a difference here after all, instead of just surviving the next two years.

I pulled my car up to the gravesite, where Jackson and his parents were already gathered with Greg, Janet, and Fiona. Daphne and Emerson pulled in behind me, and back beyond them, I saw Cole’s flashy car turning into the cemetery. It would be just us and the preacher today, a short, awkward service for a man who wouldn’t really be missed by anyone.

I stepped out of the car, feeling chilled under the stark sky despite the summer heat. Graveyards had always freaked me out, and it felt even worse being here today. I couldn’t pretend to grieve a man who’d literally planned to kill me. But I could be here for Jackson and support him.

I went straight to him, wishing I could erase the ghosts in his eyes. There was so much pain there, layered with guilt and embarrassment. All three things I hated for him to feel.

He looked down at me, piercing my very soul with those blue eyes of his. “Thank you for coming,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know if you would.”

“Of course I came,” I said. “I wouldn’t want you to face this alone.”

He tried to smile but failed. “I know this has to be weird for you, considering.”

I gave him a brave smile. “Yes, but it’s not exactly the weirdest thing we’ve ever done in a graveyard together.”

He gave me a strange look, then laughed out loud. “I had forgotten all about that.”

“What had you forgotten about?” asked the woman who had to be his mom. “I’m Jenna, by the way,” she said, sticking a hand out for me to shake. Her smile was warm, and I instantly liked her.

“I’m Allison. You must be Jackson’s mom.”

“I am,” she said, smiling. “But I still want to hear the graveyard story, since it made my son laugh on a day when I haven’t even been able to get him to smile.”

I looked at Jackson, who was grinning despite obvious embarrassment. “You tell it.”

“Well,” he said, flushing furiously. “Some of the older boys at school had told me that if you peed in a mason jar and buried it in a graveyard on the night of the full moon, then waited six weeks and dug it up again, it would have turned to liquid gold.”

“But only if you buried it by the north-facing roots of an oak tree,” I reminded him.

“That’s right,” he laughed, “I had forgotten that part. Anyway, I was pretty determined to score enough money to run away, and that seemed like a surefire way to do it. Allison stole a mason jar from her mama and gave it to me. I, um, filled it. Then we snuck away the night of the full moon to bury it.”

Jenna closed her eyes and shook her head, even as a small smile played at her lips. “Did you ever go back and dig it up?”

He nodded. “Yep. Six weeks later exactly. We dug it up only to find that those boys were hiding behind the bushes, watching. They hooped and hollered and never let me live it down.”

Greg had been listening with a look of amusement on his face. “Any of those boys still around here?”

Jackson looked right at him. “Oh yeah. In fact, I work with one of them every single day.”

“Which one?” Greg asked, obviously surprised.

“Miller.”

“You’re kidding.” This time, Greg was the one laughing out loud. “I should have known.”

Janet stepped over. “The minister just pulled up,” she said, motioning subtly with her head. “Perhaps we should all pretend to be a little more sober.”

“Whatever for?” Fiona demanded, throwing her hands into the air. “It’s not our fault Russell lived his life in such a way that there’s not a sad person here today. If we can find a little laughter, I say all the better for us.”

But I looked up at Jackson and saw the wave of grief pass over him. “Janet’s right,” I said, slipping my hand in his.

He squeezed tight and didn’t let go.