If Sarah hadn’t had to deal with some psychological trauma of her own the year before, she might have said survivor’s guilt was totally illogical. But she couldn’t say that anymore. Mental reactions weren’t logical, but they happened, and they could destroy the lives of those suffering through them.
Quickly leaving the exam room, Sarah ducked into her small office and changed out of her scrubs, pulling on a pair of jeans and a purple short-sleeved shirt. After grabbing her purse and slipping her feet into a pair of sandals, she walked quietly through the hallway, wanting to get out the door before she encountered Elsie again. Kristin was drawing routine labs, but it wouldn’t take long.
I can’t believe I’m sneaking around like a criminal in my own office.
Taking a deep breath as she left the building, she let the scent and feel of the coastal town soothe her soul. Amesport was just big enough to have everything she needed but small enough to still be quaint. Her office was in the center of town, and the area was alive with activity, as it always was during the tourist season in the early afternoon. The humidity made her shoulder-length blonde hair start to curl up at the ends, taking on a life of its own, but she ignored it. She wasn’t about to go back into the office to look for a hair clip, and she was getting used to the Maine weather doing crazy things to her hair. As she headed for her compact four-wheel-drive vehicle, she wished she had the time to walk through the town square. She could desperately use a latte from Brew Magic, the local coffeehouse, and she liked strolling down Main Street. Most of the time she walked to work, but she’d driven today, knowing she was going to have to drive out to the peninsula.
Sarah drove slowly through town, mindful of the tourists and beachgoers, thinking about her new patient. She knew very well why she’d gotten Dante Sinclair as a patient. Her practice wasn’t nearly as busy as the other physicians in town because she only saw patients on an outpatient basis, and she had only been here for a year. If she had a patient who needed to be admitted to the small local hospital, she turned their care over to one of the other doctors. She had more time than the other physicians to check in on Dante Sinclair at his home, something that was required due to his current condition. Besides, he was a Sinclair, and she’d heard about the wealthy Sinclair family from the first day she’d hit town. Grady Sinclair was looked at with awe because he actually used his wealth and power to help improve things in the town of Amesport. And everyone knew the story of how Grady had saved Christmas for the youth center. Now that he had married the director of the Youth Center of Amesport, he was considered a local hero.
It was hard to believe that Grady Sinclair had once been considered an antisocial beast. But that certainly wasn’t true now, and Grady’s wife, Emily, had actually become Sarah’s patient and friend, initially switching to Sarah’s services because she preferred a female doctor for routine exams. Sarah liked Grady, and he was very nice and down-to-earth, considering he was a billionaire and came from a family in Boston that had been obscenely wealthy for generations.
What kind of guy is a billionaire and becomes a cop, a homicide detective in Los Angeles?
Sarah’s brain worked rather like a computer, trying to analyze data, but she came up empty every time for the answer to that question. She had a genius IQ, but what Dante Sinclair had done was just . . . irrational.
He’s a patient just like any other. I certainly don’t need to concern myself about his unusual career choice.
Sarah left the city limits, shaking her head, wondering why her brain was even curious about Dante Sinclair.
Maybe it’s because I spent the entire weekend listening to messages and pleas from his colleagues, siblings, and friends.