An Appointment (Summer in New York Book 4) Read online

  “Shh.” Dr. Cole put his hands on my shoulders. “Just calm down. We can discuss this in private.”

  Before I could protest, he led me around the corner to his office and shut the door. “Please, take a seat.”

  “I’d rather stand.” I glared at him like a lioness, ready to attack.

  “Do you have to be so defiant?” He sat down at his desk. “Please, Mrs.—”

  “First of all, it’s not Mrs. And secondly, where is my son?” I plopped down in a seat across from him.

  “It’s not Mrs.?” He gazed into my eyes.

  “No,” I said. “Not anymore.”

  Something in his dark eyes softened.

  “Now, where is my son?”

  Chapter 2

  Preston

  My alarm went off the same way it did every morning. A loud buzz that got louder every second. It sounded that way at least. Like a train getting closer on the tracks, and all you can do is stand there and wait, hoping it doesn’t plow you over like a mule in the field.

  I looked at the ceiling and hit snooze. Then I glanced at the empty spot beside me. After the divorce, I’d been a nervous wreck. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. It took everything out of me. And my ex-wife drained what was left. She broke my heart and then left me with a jarring mortgage and a quarter million in debt. Turns out, giving your wife a credit card isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

  I’d loved her. Because I was unfortunate enough to be one of those guys who actually cared. I had a conscience. I had a heart. It had proved to be my greatest weakness so far. I kind of hated myself for it sometimes.

  But that was years ago. Things were different now.

  I’d tried the dating thing. But after you’ve bound yourself to someone in every way humanly possible, it’s just not the same. So I hung it up all together. I’d never been a player, and I wasn’t about to start now. I just didn’t have it in me to use a woman. Because that was exactly what she had done to me.

  And that just felt like another way she would win.

  She’d gotten enough out of me. And my soul wasn’t on the market. Not anymore.

  So I’d settled into the life of a bachelor. Well, a celibate bachelor. Exciting stuff, I know.

  But being alone wasn’t so bad. In fact, it was actually pretty nice.

  I had the bed to myself. I watched every Yankees game. I ate junk food when I wanted and drank beer.

  I never had to compromise.

  But it also sucked. Because last Wednesday, I saw her.

  She was with him. While I shopped alone in the grocery store, she hung on his arm and stroked his hair. She looked at him the way she used to look at me. And it nearly killed me.

  A little boy came running up. Her son. His son.

  The one thing I’d always wanted. The one thing I’d never been able to give her.

  I went home and got drunk. And then I thought about all the reasons why she was a terrible wife. She’d never really loved me. It was the truth I’d hidden from myself. Call it self-preservation, denial.

  I’d always known something didn’t feel right. The way I’d always bent myself to her will, caving at the last second, giving her whatever she wanted. I’d been crazy about her, and she’d used that against me.

  If only I hadn’t gotten lost in those brown eyes. Or asked her to dance when she noticed me.

  One thing was for certain, she’d put me off brunettes forever.

  Once I got tired of lying in bed, I made myself get up and go for a run. There was a park near my condo. Yeah, condo. Because guess what? She got the house. Abigail. The woman I’d been a fool to love.

  When I got back, I took a shower and drank a shot of green juice. I’d started cooking breakfast for myself, now that I lived alone. To my surprise, I really loved it. I made an omelet and ate it with wheat toast and an avocado. Who says you need a woman to eat well?

  I was one of those doctors who actually maintained a healthy lifestyle. I hadn’t always been Mr. Health. But after taking nutrition in college, my eyes had opened to a world of good food and fitness. My body felt better than ever. But my heart, my soul... well, they were still in a heap of ashes on the floor.

  When I made it to the office, I ran through my list of appointments for the day. Dad was my role model, but he was getting up there. He couldn’t be a doctor forever. So I’d been happy to step in at the practice he’d established when I was a boy. Plus, it meant I got to live about thirty minutes away from Abigail. Somehow, that still hadn’t prevented me from seeing her the other day. I hoped it never happened again.

  Trudging to my next appointment, I tried to think about something else. I was tired of that woman invading my brain, even on a good day. Maybe marriage wasn’t for me. But children always had been. Learning that I was the reason Abigail hadn’t been able to conceive had destroyed me. Sometimes, I believed that was the real reason she left me. Not the plastic surgeon with the yacht. Who knows?

  Despite everything, I had an amazing family. Supportive parents who’d been there for me at every turn. If I couldn’t be a father, then a pediatrician was the next best thing. It still tore me to pieces on a daily basis—the reality that I’d never be able to have a child of my own. But I had to learn to be grateful for the life I had. Otherwise, I just might crawl in a hole and never come out.

  I knocked on the door before I walked in to see my next patient. My whole body went up in flames when I saw a blonde bombshell sitting with a little boy in her lap. She was wearing a dark red blouse, black skirt and high heels. I must have been imagining things, because her rose-stained lips made me think of warm beaches and red wine. She may have been a mother, but she looked like a beauty queen.

  “Hello there,” I said. That wasn’t the way you greet a patient’s mother. But it was a reflex.

  She glared at me. I’m talking death glare. But that made her look even hotter.

  “I’m Dr. Cole.” I offered to shake her hand. And then I got another glare.

  “No, you’re not,” she said.

  “Excuse me?” I smiled, because there was no way she could actually be that rude.

  We quickly discovered that she’d been expecting my father. It hadn’t been the first time a patient had noted the obvious difference. But all of the other parents had been fine with my presence.

  “I can get him if you’d like,” I offered.

  “No.” She closed her eyes. “That won’t be necessary.”

  Once she cooled down, I washed my hands and tried to talk to her son, getting on his level. But he seemed very nervous. From my experience, that was never a good sign.

  While I checked his breathing on the examination table, something sounded off. So I listened again, eventually having to resort to feeling his chest and back. After gaining his mother’s permission, I unbuttoned Trey’s shirt. To my horror, I found bruises practically all over the poor boy’s body.

  As a doctor, I’d witnessed the effects of abuse in the family before. Thankfully, it was nothing I’d ever experienced myself. But I’d had my fair share of children with questionable marks. It was an issue I was very passionate about. That’s why I turned my anger on his mother immediately.

  “Can you explain this?” I asked her, furious.

  “Explain what?”

  “Explain these bruises on his body.”

  When I showed her, she looked horrified. But I’d seen mothers fake it before. So even though there may have been some truth to her emotions, I couldn’t write her off completely. I picked up the boy and headed for the door.

  “You don’t think I did that to him? Do you?” she cried.

  I couldn’t answer that. Because I didn’t know.

  Ignoring her, I gave Trey to a nurse and whispered a brief explanation. She knew what to do. I felt better already, knowing we could question the boy in privacy. As with any child, I just wanted him to be all right.

  But the mother raised holy hell, crying and screaming. If I didn’t do something, she would
cause a bigger scene than she already had. She was a feisty little thing, fighting me tooth and nail to get to her son.

  To calm her down, I led her to my office where we could talk privately. I’d answer whatever questions she had. But her son would remain with us until he could be questioned. If she had harmed her son in any way, I would report her to child services. I never wanted to see another bruise on his body.

  “Please take a seat.” I gestured to the chair across from my desk.

  “I’d rather stand.” She was smoldering.

  “Please, Mrs.—”

  “First of all, it’s not Mrs. And secondly, where is my son?”

  “It’s not Mrs.?” I’d never thought she was a single mom.

  “No,” she said. “Not anymore.”

  She’d experienced the pain of divorce. Just like me.

  “Now where is my son?”

  “He’s with one of my nurses. We need to question him in private to see if there is any abuse going on in the home. Domestic violence is something I’ve seen the effects of often, Ms. Thorne.”

  “Just call me Savannah,” she sighed, looking at the walls.

  “Once Angela is done, I will take you to him.” I loved the color of her eyes. A rare green.

  “Thank you.” She pouted, raking her eyes over my face. “Dr. Cole.”

  “My father is Dr. Cole.” I extended my hand. “Feel free to call me Preston.”

  She hesitated, looking at my hand. Then she checked my other hand for a ring. Her green eyes landed on mine, and I smiled. She leaned forward to shake my hand, but she didn’t look too happy about it.

  “I didn’t put those bruises on his body.”

  I studied her face, scouting for signs of deception. “Then who did?”

  “I don’t know.” She stood up and paced the floor, hands on her waist. “He’s been fine at school.”

  “Children his age are bullied all the time.” As a wormy pre-pubescent, I’d experienced it firsthand.

  “But Trey loves school,” she said. “He has friends.”

  “What about his life outside of school?” I asked. “Who does he spend time with?”

  She thought long and hard. When her eyes met mine, I knew she had an explanation.

  “What?” I asked. “Who are you thinking of?”

  Just as she opened her mouth, there was a knock on the door. Angela.

  “Excuse me for a moment.” I stepped outside my office and shut the door.

  Angela walked down the hall and led me to Trey. I peeked into the room and looked at the boy. He sat in a chair with his hands beneath his legs. His head was down.

  “He said it was his father.”

  “What?” I turned to Angela. All she could do was nod.

  “He’s very upset,” she said. “He had a hard time talking about it.”

  “Let me talk to him.” I put my hand on her shoulder. “I know what to say.”

  Angela left us alone and I went into the room, shutting the door behind me. “Hi, Trey.”

  His head stayed down.

  “Do you mind if I sit down?”

  He adjusted his glasses. “Okay.”

  I pulled up a chair and looked at him across the table. “How long have you had glasses?”

  “A few months.”

  I plucked my reading glasses out of my breast pocket and put them on. “I’ve had these for years.”

  He peered up at me. “You wear glasses, too?” he asked.

  “Since I was about your age,” I said. “I even broke them once. On the playground.”

  “How?”

  “A boy at school. He took my glasses and stepped on them.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess he didn’t like me.” I lowered my voice. “I didn’t like him either.”

  “What did you do?” He was so adorable. He had his mother’s eyes. To be honest, he looked just like her.

  “I grew tall and strong. When I became a man, it never happened again.”

  “I can’t wait to grow up,” he said.

  “Don’t wish your life away, Trey. You’re only young once.”

  The corner of his mouth twitched, as he repressed a smile.

  “You know I’m a doctor, right?”

  He nodded.

  “That means I’m here to help you. If someone is hurting you, you can tell me.”

  “Daddy told me not to tell,” he said.

  “What happened?” I asked. “I won’t tell anyone.”

  “I spilled my cereal,” he said. “He didn’t like that.”

  “Did he spank you?”

  “He yelled at me, so I tried to run. He grabbed the back of my shirt.” He touched his collar. “I fell and he kicked me.”

  “How many times did he kick you?” I asked. “More than once?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You’ve done a very good job, Trey. Thank you for talking to me. Would you like to go with Nurse Angela?” I opened the door where she greeted him with a smile. “She has a lollipop waiting for you.”

  He seemed to be comfortable around Angela. So he followed her down the hall, while I returned to my office. Savannah was pacing nervously, biting her nails. She looked so beautiful when she was worried.

  “Did you talk to him?” she asked. “What did he say?”

  I shut the door and stood in front of her. It was clear to me that she had no interest in sitting.

  “He said it was his father.”

  She put her hand over her heart and backed into the wall. “He was just with him this weekend.” Tears welled in her eyes as she gasped. “I thought Kevin loved Trey. I never thought he would do something like this.”

  She broke down right in front of me, falling over. I caught her in my arms before she hit the ground. She cried in my shirt, digging her nails into my back. I felt so bad for this poor woman. In that moment, I wondered what it would be like to hold her in my arms forever.

  “Shh.” I rubbed her back. “It’s okay. We’ll figure this out.”

  She sniffled and leaned back in my arms, looking up at me. Our eyes met, and my heart skipped a beat.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, drying her eyes. “I should go.”

  “What about Trey?” I grabbed her arm. “I can help.”

  “You don’t even know me. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to see my son.”

  So she was stubborn ‘til the end. I nodded and led her down the hall, smoldering the whole way.

  Trey was sitting with Angela. There was a yellow lollipop in his hand. “Mommy!”

  Savannah ran the rest of the way and knelt down as he jumped in her arms. She cried and stroked his hair, rubbing his small back. I stood there watching them together. It made me miss my mother.

  “Are you okay?” She touched his cheek.

  “Yes, Mommy.”

  She hugged him for a long time before she finally stood up. Then she went to collect her things from the examination room. I pulled out a business card and wrote my private cell number on the back.

  When Savannah came in the hall, I handed it to her. “If you ever need anything.”

  She looked at the card and then flashed those green eyes up at me. “No, thank you. I’m not interested.”

  I sighed. “Savannah, I have experience with this. I can help you.”

  “I don’t want your help.” She took Trey’s hand and led him down the hall. Away from me.

  The little boy looked back at me and waved. That broke my heart a little. I waved back.

  It felt like I was saying goodbye to my own son.

  Chapter 3

  Savannah

  It took all I could to keep from crying in front of Trey. I drove straight home and put him to bed. He whined, but he needed to rest. Thankfully, he dozed off after twenty minutes of fighting it.

  I went to my bathroom and turned on the shower. Then I stripped off my clothes and sat down, letting the warm water wash over me. It hurt so much in my chest.
I wanted to kill Kevin.

  How could I confront him about this? He had power. His position. His father’s.

  What could I do? I knew he would deny it. I knew he would try to take Trey away from me.

  But I would not let my son be around that. I don’t care if Kevin was his father.

  Today, I’d lost my job and discovered my son had been abused by his father. Trey only had a few days of school left before he was out for the summer. With no income, I’d have to sell the house. It terrified me. If I had no way to support Trey, Kevin could take him away from me. I wouldn’t let him.

  I got out of the shower and called my parents. I couldn’t break the news to Mom on the phone. But when she invited us to stay with them for the weekend, it felt like a godsend. I would break the news to her and Daddy then. In the meantime, I had to figure out how to move forward from here.

  The next day, I packed Trey’s lunch and dropped him off at school. Then I spent the day filling out job applications, floating my resumé around in as many places as I could. By the end of the week, I’d heard nothing and began calling in favors. Except all of my work connections had been through Kevin. And since his father had gotten me the job that I’d just been fired from, it felt like I was at the end of my rope.

  In many ways, I actually needed Kevin. He could get me a job. He could provide for Trey.

  But then I’d have to ignore the bruises on my son’s body. There was no way that was happening. I’d have to do this the hard way. And I didn’t even care. As long as my son was safe.

  On his last day of school, I picked Trey up and drove straight to my parents’ house. He was so excited to see his Grandpa and Grandma that it made me smile. When I pulled into the drive, Daddy walked out to greet us. Trey jumped in his arms while they talked about all the fun things they were going to do this weekend.

  “Hey, Daddy.” I gave my father a hug and held on a little longer than normal. When I started tearing up, he leaned back to look at my face.

  “What’s wrong, darlin’?” he asked.

  Mom came out next and pulled me into her arms. I cried some more while they grew tired with worry.

  “Why don’t we go inside?” Daddy said. He unloaded the car and took Trey to the kitchen.