Prognosis: Romance (Doctors in Training 4)

“My uncle died a few years ago in a car accident. Aunt Beverly and Kelly live an hour south of Little Rock, but they spend quite a bit of time with Kelly’s doctors here. I see them occasionally when they’re in town, though it’s been a few months since we’ve had a chance to get together.”

“Your poor aunt.” Shannon’s expression was even more sad now. “She’s had to deal with a lot of tragedy, hasn’t she?”

“Yes, she has.”

“Are she and your mother close?”

“Not really. She’s several years younger than my mother and—well, Aunt Beverly has never gotten along with my father. So I haven’t spent much time with Kelly, especially since our grandmother died and she was just a little girl then.”

He hadn’t talked about his family or his background so much with anyone, and especially on such short acquaintance. Shannon had a way of finding out things from him that he usually kept to himself. Most people weren’t as persistent in penetrating what he thought of as the Stillman family reserve.

“If you’re finished, we should probably let someone else have our table,” he said, deciding there had been enough dissection of his childhood. “Would you like to go hear some music? The piano bar across the stre

et is always lively.”

Though she stood obligingly, she didn’t look particularly enthusiastic about his suggestion. “Could we just walk some more, instead? I guess I’m not in the mood for lively tonight.”

He wasn’t, either, for that matter. They wouldn’t be able to talk in a noisy bar and he was enjoying talking to Shannon. But maybe it was time for him to take charge of the conversation, he thought as he walked out of the burrito restaurant beside her. Shannon had a way of leading him into areas he wasn’t really comfortable discussing.

He couldn’t help wondering if she, too, would rate his communication skills as “needing improvement.”

A welcome breeze wafted off the river as Shannon and James strolled the Sculptural Promenade that wound along its bank behind the River Market pavilions. The Junction Bridge, a one-hundred-year-old former railroad bridge that had been converted to a pedestrian walkway over the river to link Little Rock and North Little Rock, loomed ahead of them against the darkening sky, but they weren’t interested in climbing the steps or taking the elevator to the top.

With the twin cities skylines spreading on either side of them and a few other couples taking advantage of the perfect weather to stroll ahead and behind them, Shannon and James focused on each other during their walk. Shannon freely admitted she was trying to get to know him better—she wasn’t sure what James’s goal was. He asked a few questions about her, but they were rather superficial, maybe because he didn’t want to encourage her to get too personal with him in return. It seemed to make him very uncomfortable to share too much of himself.

Remembering his vague description of a childhood filled with “educational and cultural” opportunities, but little fun, she suspected that explained why he seemed to be more of an observer than a participant in life. He was pleasant, congenial, very good company—but there was most definitely a wall surrounding his emotions.

“We’ve talked a lot about my birthday-party business,” she said as they leaned against a railing overlooking the flowing river. “Tell me more about doctoring.”

He chuckled at her wording. “What do you want to know?”

“Do you like it?”

“For the most part. I haven’t actually practiced medicine yet, of course. Not on my own, anyway. Students are closely supervised. But I’ve seen enough to believe I’ll find it a challenging career.”

She turned to face him, studying his profile in curiosity. “That’s important to you? To be challenged in your career?”

“Of course.” He seemed a bit surprised by her question. “Isn’t it important to everyone?”

“Not necessarily. Some people like having a job that doesn’t require too much of them. A job where they can put in their hours, then leave it all at the office when they go home to their private lives. I doubt that many of those people are drawn to medical careers, though,” she admitted.

“You aren’t like that or you’d be content with your toy-store job and not interested in starting your own business,” James pointed out.

He was trying to direct the conversation to her again, but she wasn’t having it this time. “Infectious disease. That’s a very challenging specialty, isn’t it? Trying to match symptoms with possible diseases?”

He nodded. “The diagnoses are usually evident, but occasionally a more difficult case comes along. Patients who don’t show typical symptoms, who don’t seem to fit the established checklists.”

“Are you the type of person who gets bored easily?”

He shrugged in lieu of an answer.

“Success has always come relatively easily for you, hasn’t it? Grades and awards and such, I mean. I mean, you’re not even quite thirty and you already have a Ph.D and almost an M.D. I bet that’s why you’re looking for a career that isn’t cut and dried.”

He frowned. “I’ve had to work for the grades and degrees I’ve gotten. No one gave them to me.”

“I didn’t say you haven’t worked for them. I said they’ve come relatively easy, especially compared to some people, I’m sure.”

He shrugged again.