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

  As she walked away, I panicked. “Ms. Thorne?”

  She turned around. “It’s Taylor now. I got my name changed back after the divorce.”

  “Oh.”

  “But I’d rather you just call me Savannah.”

  I came towards her. The pull was magnetic. I couldn’t keep myself away from her.

  “I know it’s none of my business, but what have you done about Trey’s father?” I asked.

  “You’re right,” she said. “It is none of your business.”

  “I’m sorry. It’s just that I’ve dealt with these cases before. I’d like to help. For Trey’s sake.”

  She shut her eyes in frustration. “Dr. Cole.”

  “Preston.” I got close enough to smell her perfume.

  “I’m not comfortable discussing this in public,” she said.

  “Then let’s discuss it in private.” I wanted to kiss her so badly it was killing me.

  “Mommy!” Trey called from a few aisles over. I saw him with his grandmother.

  “I have to go.” She turned her back to me and steered the shopping cart towards her son. Her purse dangled on her shoulder. It was a large bag with a wide opening. So I slipped my business card inside. It was the same one I’d written my private number on. The same one she’d refused in my office.

  “Savannah,” I said.

  She looked over her shoulder at me.

  “Call me if you ever need anything.”

  She didn’t say a word. Just turned around and left me standing there.

  I stood there like a fool and watched her walk out of my life again.

  FOR THE REMAINDER OF the weekend, I was on-call. I didn’t mind, because it took my mind off things. Like the fact that I was a single thirty-five-year-old divorcée with a crush on my patient’s mother.

  I tried to get her out of my head. Women were bad news. I should have learned my lesson by now.

  But I was a glutton for punishment. That’s why I kept checking my phone, hoping she would call.

  Some men might steer clear of a single mom. But I saw how strong she was, raising a child by herself. I’d always wanted a family, so dating a woman with a kid was no problem. As long as she would give me a chance...

  What was wrong with me? I was a grown man, already contemplating taking Savannah out on a date. I wasn’t even sure if she liked me. Since the divorce, I’d revisited my old insecurities. I’d been working through them as of late, but it was a struggle to keep them at bay. Maybe it always would be.

  On Sunday night, I took Dad out for dinner. We saw each other at work, but that wasn’t the same. I worried about him sometimes. Once we lost Mom to cancer, his spirits had taken a nose dive.

  “I’m getting old, son.” He winced as we took our seats, touching his hip.

  “I told you to take the day off,” I said. “I’m here. I can handle it.”

  “I know. But I’ll be retiring soon and then what will I do with myself?”

  He had a point.

  “I ran into a patient at the store today. Do you remember Savannah Taylor?” I asked.

  He looked off in thought.

  “Blonde hair. Green eyes. Really tall. She was a patient of yours years ago. Now she has a son.”

  “Oh, yes.” He folded his hands. “Savannah Thorne. Her son, Trey, is a patient.”

  “Well, she’s divorced now so it’s Savannah Taylor again. She brought her son in for a check-up and I found bruises on his body. The boy said they were from his father.”

  Dad’s gray eyes widened. He had no tolerance for child abuse.

  “You think the boy is telling the truth? It could be a bully at school.”

  “It’s his father,” I said. “I questioned Trey myself.”

  “Well, if the problem persists, Child Services will get involved.”

  “I know. But Savannah seems like a good mother. They shouldn’t penalize her, too.”

  Dad eyed me as the waitress brought our salads. “Is it just me or do you seem a little more concerned about this patient than usual?” he asked.

  “You know how I feel about children. Trey’s safety is important to me.”

  “The decision is up to her. If the father is harming the boy, he should be kept away from him. But Savannah has to make the call. Divorces are nasty business.”

  I leaned in to the table. “I offered her my help, but she won’t take it.”

  “She is the boy’s mother. I’m sure she’s looking out for him. But maybe she has to handle it her own way.”

  I nodded, picking at my salad with a fork. “I just wish I could help them.”

  Dad grinned.

  “What?”

  “I haven’t seen you act like this since you were a teenager.”

  “Well, I’m not getting any younger,” I said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “I’m thirty-five, divorced, no kids. Besides work, what else do I have? I want to do something worthwhile.”

  “Your work is worthwhile,” he said. “You help children every day.”

  “I know. But I want to help Savannah. I want to help her son.”

  “Haven’t you done enough good deeds for one lifetime?” he asked.

  “One more couldn’t hurt.”

  “Then help the boy,” he said. “Growing up in a situation like that, he’s going to need it.”

  I smiled, happy that Dad approved of my plan. If I even had a plan. Savannah had exhibited inconsistent behavior around me. Bold and protective one minute, shy and guarded the next. I had nothing to count on. There was no guarantee I may ever see her again. But I hoped for it anyway.

  “I saw Abigail yesterday. And her new husband.”

  I swallowed, losing my appetite immediately.

  “Leaving you was the biggest mistake of her life. I still don’t understand how she could—”

  “Dad.”

  “I’m sorry, son. I just think she shouldn’t have ended things the way she did. That’s all.”

  “I know.” I barely touched my salad until the main course arrived, feeling sick to my stomach.

  We talked about work and plans for the holidays. Even though they were half a year away. I was an only child, so family get-togethers were infrequent and small. Dad had a brother who lived in New Jersey. We celebrated Thanksgiving with him sometimes. But since my mother’s passing, holidays in general were just hard.

  “Dad?”

  “Yeah?” He cut his steak into little pieces.

  “Do you ever think about Mom?” I asked.

  He sighed, gazing out the window. “I think about your mother every day.”

  “I miss her.”

  “So do I.”

  “Did you ever think about getting married again?” I asked.

  “No.” He raised his eyebrows.

  “How come?”

  “When you love someone the way I loved your mother,” he shrugged. “Nothing can ever compete with that. I don’t want to try. I lived the best years of my life with her. That’s all I’ll ever need.”

  I nodded, realizing that I’d given the best years of my life to a woman who only loved herself.

  “If you were me, do you think you’d still believe in the idea of marriage?” I asked.

  “I don’t know. I haven’t been in your shoes. But I’d like to think that I would.”

  “When she left me, I was so lonely,” I said. “But then I figured out that what we had wasn’t love. She never loved me. Not like I loved her. I swore I’d never go through that again for any woman.”

  “But?”

  I hesitated, drumming my fingers on the table. “But I’m tired of being alone.”

  “You’re a thirty-five-year old man. You’re not supposed to be alone.”

  I cracked a smile. He always knew how to cheer me up.

  “Since I found out about my problem,” I averted my eyes. “I kind of figured that no woman would want to be with me. Women want children. So I have to tell them up front tha
t I can never...”

  “You could adopt. Some women are open to that.”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “I would hate to keep a woman from having a family of her own when the only thing holding her back is me.”

  “So date a woman who already has children. There are plenty of those.”

  My phone went off. I didn’t recognize the number. My heart was beating like a drum.

  “I should take this,” I said, because it was probably going to be a wrong number but it might be Savannah.

  “Go, go.” Dad shooed me away from the table. So I stepped into a hall that was less noisy.

  “Hello?” I asked, on the verge of excitement. Deep down, I was prepared for disappointment.

  “Preston?” a sweet voice chimed.

  “Yes. Who is this?”

  “Hi. It’s Savannah.”

  Chapter 5

  Savannah

  I felt on edge. I had since I’d bumped into Preston at the grocery store. He was just too good looking to trust. I’d learned my lesson with Kevin. I wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. No matter how my body wanted to.

  Preston was so different from my ex-husband. From the day we met, Kevin made me feel ten inches small. He was just so fearless and charming that it took up all the space in a room. Kevin had taken all of my energy, too. Sometimes, I wanted to punish myself for the way I’d let him run my life.

  But Preston seemed caring and kind. He didn’t have to do all the talking. Maybe he genuinely wanted to help. But it could just be a ruse. I’d been fooled by a gorgeous man before. I couldn’t risk it again.

  When we made it home, Dad helped us with the groceries. I loved my parents’ house, because they had a nice yard where children could play. Trey ran outside and hopped on the swing set, reminding me of my former self. When I was a little girl. Before Kevin became the master of my universe. Before I let him.

  I went upstairs to take a shower and change into more comfortable clothes. Being at my parent’s house was kind of like being on vacation. Last night, I’d actually slept. I felt safe. It was nice to have a break from the hellish realities of my life. Especially since I still didn’t have a clue what I was going to do.

  After getting dressed, I towel dried my hair in front of the mirror. For some reason, my mind kept going back to Preston, like a rock skipping over a brook. He was tall enough for me to wear heels. And I couldn’t say that about many men. With Kevin, I’d always had to wear flats since he was only an inch taller than me.

  While I was daydreaming, I accidentally knocked something off the dresser. I saw my purse on the floor and knelt down to collect everything that had fallen out. My wallet. My phone. My keys. Trey’s inhaler. A packet of tissues. Lipstick. Mascara. A business card.

  I furrowed my brow, because it looked familiar. That’s when I discovered Preston’s name on the front. There was a handwritten phone number on the back, which I assumed must have been a line that wasn’t work related.

  He must have slipped the card in my purse at the store. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

  He’d first offered me the card at his office. And I’d flat out refused. But now he’d gone against my wishes and given me the card anyway. Without my knowledge or consent.

  Kevin always used to make decisions for me. I’d hated it. It made me feel powerless.

  “Mom!” I padded downstairs and found her in the kitchen. “Look at this.”

  She took the business card when I handed it to her. “You didn’t tell me you got his number.”

  “That’s because I didn’t,” I hissed. “He must have slipped it in my purse.”

  “I knew there was something going on between the two of you.”

  “Going on with who?” Daddy asked.

  “No one,” I said. “There isn’t anything going on with anyone!”

  They stared at me in frozen surprise. Maybe I’d been a little too harsh.

  “I’m sorry. It’s just that since the divorce everyone is always trying to fix me up with someone. Everyone thinks I need a man. Well, I had one and it wasn’t that great. I’m single now and I’m just fine!”

  “Yeah,” Daddy teased. “You sound fine.” He carried a box of peaches out of the room.

  “Preston seems sweet,” Mom said. “What if he likes you?”

  “I don’t want anyone to like me.” That was a lie. I was just too afraid to try again.

  “What about Trey? You said Preston wanted to help. Maybe that’s all it is.”

  I shut my eyes and groaned, ready to rip my hair out.

  “He is a doctor. His father is a good man. Shouldn’t you at least give him a chance?”

  “I don’t even know what I’m going to do yet.” I sat down at the table. “The last thing I need is to get some doctor involved when I don’t have a clue about how to handle my son’s father.”

  Mom pulled up a chair and took my hand. “Not all men are bad, Savannah.”

  “I know that.” I jerked my hand away.

  “Do you?”

  I looked away. “I’m not like you, Mom. I didn’t have this amazing marriage to the only man I’ve ever kissed. I played by the rules. I did everything you said. And he still left me. He still divorced me.”

  “I’m sorry about what happened, sweetie.” She brushed the hair from my face. “But you can’t dwell on the past. If you only think about what went wrong in your life, you’ll never appreciate what went right.”

  “When we got married, I thought I’d end up like you and Daddy.” I broke down, crying over my situation. I felt like such a failure at life. Because my marriage to Kevin had failed. I’d gotten divorced from the first man I’d married. Which means I’d failed right out of the gate. I hated what had happened.

  Mom gave me a hug, rubbing my back. I hated being vulnerable, even in front of her. So I dried my eyes and straightened up, pushing emotion away. Really and truly, I needed to harden my heart.

  “I’m never getting married again,” I said.

  “Who said anything about marriage? Preston gave you his number. It could be all about Trey.”

  “Well, I’m not calling him.” I stood up and stormed off, acting like a brat.

  Divorce had done strange things to me. Not that I was trying to make excuses for myself. I’d gone from a romantic to a cynic overnight. I didn’t like it. But I didn’t know any other way to be. I was hopeless.

  On Sunday morning, I woke with a pit in my stomach. The weekend was almost over. Tomorrow, I’d have to start making some big decisions. Did I want to move in with my parents? What did that mean for Trey? Did I call Kevin? Tell him I was selling the house? Prevent him from seeing his son?

  I pulled the covers over my head and cried, wishing all of it would just go away. But life doesn’t work like that. You either take the bull by the horns or roll over to the first person who does. If I could write a list and tackle things one at a time, maybe it wouldn’t feel like my head was about to blow off.

  I always kept a notebook with me so I wouldn’t forget what was going on. It kept my head clear. So I flipped to a blank page and grabbed a pen. Then I wrote out a To Do List for getting my life in order.

  It looked something like this:

  THE PLAN

  1. Get a Job.

  2. Find a Place to Live.

  3. Sell the House.

  4. __________

  I didn’t know what to put for the fourth bullet on my list. Protect Trey at all costs? Keep him from his father? File a restraining order? Hire an attorney? Hire a private detective? Hire a bodyguard?

  My heart rate was soaring as I felt blood thrumming in my ears. I’d never really struggled with anxiety until Kevin entered my life. Even now I couldn’t understand how he’d brought me to heel so easily. Maybe I was just a weak person. But that didn’t mean I had to stay weak.

  I closed the notebook and took a deep breath. My life had not turned out as planned. But did that mean I had to be miserable?
I was still young. I had a beautiful boy, parents who loved me. I had something to offer the world. If I recognized that, surely the world had something to offer back.

  I shut my eyes and envisioned the life I’d thought I would have. Then I let it go. I released it out into the universe, pushing away all of my pipe dreams and fantasies. Then I thought of all the things I had to be thankful for. Mom was right. If I never showed gratitude for my blessings, I’d never be happy. That was selfish. That was also a one way ticket to a wasted life. I had to change. And I had to do it now.

  Looking at the notebook, I believed that there had to be a better way. What would a strong woman do?

  I ripped out the sheet of paper and crumpled it into a ball. Then I started fresh on the next page.

  THE FUTURE

  1. Find a Solution to Keep Trey Safe.

  2. Get a Good Job to Take Care of Trey.

  3. Find a Safe, Affordable Place to Raise Trey.

  4. Sell the House to Build a College Fund for Trey.

  I looked at my list and smiled. There was a reason why I was going through struggles. Because of my son, who was the best thing that had ever happened to me. He was worth every bit of pain I’d ever experienced. If it meant I got to have a life with him, then that was all that mattered.

  Seeing my goals in direct correlation to Trey made me eager to meet them. Trey was my main priority. It was my job to protect him, provide for him, house him and educate him. Because there was no way my son was going to be deprived of a college education in the future. He would not repeat my mistake.

  “Mommy.” Trey knocked on the door.

  “Come in, sweetie.” I set my notebook down and patted the bed.

  He hopped up beside me. “What were you doing?” he asked.

  “Just writing a to-do list. Are you having fun with Grandma and Grandpa?”

  “Yes,” he grinned, laying his head against my chest.

  I held him in my arms and fully believed in my plan. It was like a map—what I needed to get us headed in the right direction. I knew I could accomplish these goals. I had to. Nothing would get in my way.

  “Does Daddy know where we are?”

  I hadn’t heard from Kevin since he dropped Trey off last weekend. But I knew he would call. At some point he would want to see his son. He may let six weeks go by. But in the end, he always called.