Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Doctor Xavier Lofton stretched in his desk chair, wondering when the crick in his neck had gotten quite so pronounced. The movement caused him to glance at his desk clock. It was well after six in the evening, he noted with some surprise. He’d gotten so caught up in his case files from that day that he’d failed to notice the time passing him by.

With a conflicted frown, he glanced down at the papers before him and then at the clock again. He wasn’t quite finished with everything, but… no. He needed to go home. He needed, as his parents and siblings were constantly reminding him, to seek a little more balance in his life.

Work, after all, wasn’t everything, not even work as important and fulfilling as serving as doctor to the wonderful small town where he lived.

He did love his work, but he recognized that his family was right, for all that it was tempting to dive back into paperwork so that he knew everything was squared away with his patients…

With a rueful headshake at his own stubbornness, Xavier stood, reaching for his coat as he shut down his computer for the night.

Even in winter, Xavier almost always walked to work. This was one of his favorite things about Whale Harbor—nearly everything was within a walkable distance. He typically took a pause in the middle of his walk, as this gave him a second to gather his energy anew and provided a moment of peaceful reflection something that he knew, as a doctor, had significant benefits to physical and mental health. He, like many others, was guilty of filling all his ‘down time’ with things on his to-do list, which never seemed to be finished. The bench in downtown Whale Harbor, however, was a perfect reminder to take a break, take a breath, and enjoy just being alive.

He sat happily when he reached his favorite bench. What he’d once instituted as a reminder to slow down was now a happy opportunity to do so. He paused and looked out over the streets…

A woman was walking on the far side of the street, someone he didn’t recognize. Except, wait, he did recognize her, sort of. He’d seen her walking just the other day. He didn’t know her name though, and that was rare for the town doctor in a little place like Whale Harbor.

He was surprised to note that he wanted to know her, and not out of any sense of doctorly obligation either. Despite having a job that led to a lot of face-to-face time with other people, Xavier was not always the most outgoing person, something his sisters regularly chided him for, arguing that he’d never meet someone to share his life with if he only saw people in a professional capacity.

When he saw this woman walking, however, his calculating brain didn’t wonder what signs or symptoms of this or that condition she might be showing. Instead, his gaze caught on her chestnut hair, casually contained in a messy bun. It was pretty, that hair, where it appeared from beneath a warm woolen cap. She was dressed well for the weather, and he approved of her choice to wear a coat that actually kept her warm, rather than one that was fashionable. Though he knew that being cold didn’t actually make you sick, something of the caretaker in him cringed whenever he saw someone wearing a stylish coat that no doubt left them shivering.

This woman, however, looked capable and no-nonsense, moving along the sidewalk with purposeful strides. It made him feel oddly curious, watching her like this. Where was she going? When did she get to town? Was she here to visit, or to stay?

He drew in a deep breath. He was getting ahead of himself. Maybe he should start by just asking her name. That would be a normal thing to do, right? He could just walk up and introduce himself. That was something people did. Or… would he be bothering her if he interrupted her walk? Maybe she was going somewhere important. Maybe she was in a rush.

In the end, his mental dithering made the decision for him. By the time he decided that he could call out a polite, “Excuse me,” and see how she responded, she was gone, around the corner of an intersection up ahead.

It was odd how deflated Xavier felt at recognizing his missed opportunity. He lingered on the bench for a few minutes, wondering if she would return this direction, before deciding that she would definitely be bothered by him waiting around for her. Maybe he’d run into her again sometime. That’s all he could hope for.

Xavier stood and continued his journey home, not sure what to make of his suddenly strange mood.

When he reached his house, he immediately began to feel better, however, as his beloved dog, Coco, was waiting at him at the window. When she saw him coming, she let out one happy yip and disappeared from view. When he opened the front door, she was sitting on the welcome mat, her tail thumping the floor with loud thwap s.

“Hi, Coco,” he greeted, smiling as the well-mannered dog approached to sniff him cheerfully.

Adopting Coco had been part of his project to stop being so wrapped up in work all the time, and it had turned out to be one of the best decisions he’d ever made. Coco was a rescue dog. She’d been about three years old when he’d adopted her after she’d been found living on the streets in a Boston suburb. The volunteers at the dog rescue had guessed that she was part beagle, part some other breed. Without DNA testing, they’d told Xavier, there was no way of knowing for sure.

Xavier didn’t care what Coco’s genetic profile was though. He knew what really mattered: that she was one hundred percent perfect.

She was also one hundred percent ready to go out, depending on the way she was nuzzling Xavier’s knees and then looking hopefully toward the door, giving him the classic ‘puppy dog eyes’ that meant, most of the time, that she got whatever he wanted.

“Okay, okay,” he said, laughing. He hadn’t even taken his coat off, so he might as well. “Let’s go get some exercise for you too, huh, girl?”

When she saw him reaching for the leash, she yipped in excitement, dancing in place as she tried to contain her energy long enough for him to connect the lead to her collar.

The sky was painted in the dark purples and lingering orange of dusk as Xavier and Coco made their short walk to the dog park that was only a few blocks away. For the first minute or two, Coco wanted to stop to smell every tree and bush, but once she realized where they were headed, she was on a single-minded mission.

He let them through the double gates to the park and Coco was off like a shot, racing to see the other dogs that were already playing in the fenced-in area. Xavier wound up her leash, sticking it in his pocket before he looked up at the others present.

A slight awkwardness settled over him as he realized that one of the trio of men in the dog park was Rick Maroney.

It wasn’t that Xavier didn’t like Rick. He actually felt quite the opposite. Rick, from the little that Xavier knew him, was a nice, outgoing man. But there was always a moment of weirdness when it came to transitioning between seeing someone as a patient, or the family member of a patient in Rick’s case, and seeing them out in the world, in a social capacity.

It was honestly the one thing that Xavier didn’t love about being a small-town doctor. He liked seeing his patients as real people, of course, but he’d never quite figured out how to be normal when he ran into them while he was buying a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store.

Luckily, Rick proved friendly enough for the both of them. When he saw who had just entered the dog park, he smiled and raised his hand in greeting.

“Oh, Doctor Lofton, hey! Good to see you!”

The greeting was clearly an invitation, so Xavier approached the group.

“Call me Xavier, please,” he said, hoping his smile looked genuine instead of stilted. “I’m out of the office and trying to act like a normal person.”

He cringed inwardly, certain the joke would fall flat. Did that make it sound like he thought he was special somehow? Like doctors were better than other people? He’d had colleagues who’d felt that way over the years, but he’d never subscribed to such thinking…

All three men laughed, putting an end to Xavier’s spiral of worries.

“Cool, Xavier,” Rick agreed warmly. “And this is Dominic Reeves.” The dark-haired man raised his hand in acknowledgement and greeting. “And Liam Hiller.” This man had lighter brown hair, hidden under a Whale Harbor Fire Department hat.

“Nice to meet you both,” Xavier said politely. Was that too polite? He’d spent so much time working over the past several years that he’d practically forgotten how to socialize, apparently.

“Darla’s going to be jealous that I ran into you here,” Rick said, turning back to Xavier. “She was saying we should invite you to hang out with our group sometime, but you ended up here before she could manage it.”

“Are you married, Xavier?” Dominic asked.

“Oh, no,” Xavier said. “I’m afraid not.”

Dominic looked at Rick. “Well, that means we get to keep him for the ‘guys’ group,’” he joked. “Tell Dar you’re sorry, but he’s ours now.”

“Oh, yeah,” Rick deadpanned. “I’m sure that will make her not jealous or annoyed at all.”

The two other men chuckled, although not in an unkind way.

“Are the two of you married, then?” Xavier asked.

This time it was Liam who answered. “No, but I’m dating Claire Boone, and Dominic is engaged to Charity Turner, who owns Seastar Espresso.” Xavier nodded. He, like every other person in Whale Harbor with a taste for good coffee, knew Charity.

“The ladies are all friends,” Liam continued, “so we all became friends through them. Wyatt Jameson is married to Darla’s sister Marty, and Braden Watson is married to their friend Monica, so they’re in too.”

“Okay, okay.” Rick laughed, holding up his hands as if he was keeping them at bay. “You’re making it sound like a hostage situation.”

Dominic arched an eyebrow while Liam hid a laugh behind a hand.

“I seem to remember being taken on some outings on pretty thin information,” Dominic said, voice deceptively mild.

“Okay, but you returned the favor,” Liam pointed out. “You and Charity basically forced me to come to that picnic, remember?”

“Guys,” Rick said in a stage whisper. “You’re going to scare Xavier away.”

But Xavier found himself laughing with far more ease than he typically did in new social situations. He liked these men, he found. Apparently stretching his comfort zone was a good thing, not that he’d ever say as much to his sisters. They’d never let him hear the end of it.

“Do you guys come here a lot?” he asked, finding himself liking the idea. “Coco and I haven’t seen you here before.” He nodded over to where his dog was frolicking with two others.

Rick wobbled his hand in a so-so gesture. “On and off,” he said. “In the summer, we usually take them down to the beach with Dominic’s kids, but it’s too cold now.”

“You know it’s too cold when a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old don’t even want to go to the dog park,” Dominic chimed in wryly.

“And I’m just along for the ride tonight,” Liam added. “Claire is having dinner with her dad, and I’m off shift at the fire department, so I decided to hang with these two.” He clapped his friends on the shoulders.

Xavier smiled. “I thought the number of dogs didn’t add up,” he admitted.

“Yeah, and I hear you have to be pretty good at math to be a doctor,” Liam replied, his face splitting into a smile.

“They do prefer it,” Xavier confirmed wryly while the others laughed.

“Anyway, Xavier.” This was Rick again. “If it’s cool with you, I’d love to get your phone number. Next time we do something as a group, you’re definitely welcome to join.”

“This is the kidnapping we warned you about,” Liam said behind his hand.

Xavier, however, already had his phone in his hand.

“I’d really like that,” he said.

And, he was pleased to note, the words were absolutely, completely true.