The Doctor's Undoing (Doctors in Training 3)

The winter-bare rice and soybean fields that made up so much of the northeast Arkansas scenery gave way to the outskirts of Jonesboro, the largest city in the area. Ron pointed out the university where he’d obtained his undergraduate degree as they passed. “Go, Red Wolves.”

She laughed and shook her head. “Go, Bears,” she insisted, naming her own college team.

“Are there any old friends you’ll want to see while you’re in town?” she asked, following that line of thought.

He shrugged. “Not really. I still have a couple of friends from high school in the area, and a few college buddies scattered around, but there’s no one in particular I want to see today. To be honest, I feel closer to Connor and James these days than anyone from my past. Even Hardik, to an extent. I guess it’s that bond forged by getting through those first hellish two years.”

“I know what you mean. As much as I still love my old friends, I consider Anne my very closest friend now. And you and James and Connor, of course. I’ll always treasure the time we’ve spent together.”

He slanted a frown in her direction. “Not sure how I feel about being just another name on that list.”

She flushed a little. “I didn’t mean it like that. Of course you’re special to me apart from the study group.”

“Hmm.” He looked ahead again as they left Jonesboro behind and entered the outskirts of a smaller, more rural burg. The road now was an uneven two lane lined with small frame houses and mobile homes and a few newer-looking brick homes.

Downtown Hurleyville showed evidence of a once thriving little community now victim to a changing economy. The old buildings that had once held clothing and fabric and furniture and hardware were now either vacant or filled with secondhand merchandise and dollar store wares. She supposed the locals drove into Jonesboro to the shopping malls and super-stores there for their purchases. Ron pointed out the old train station that had long since been abandoned to nature.

Crumbling old towns like this always made Haley a little sad. She loved nothing more than to visit one of the many rural towns in Arkansas that had reclaimed their heritage and managed to revitalize their old downtowns with new attractions. Perhaps Hurleyville’s administration would figure out some similar strategy in the future, she suggested.

Ron shrugged. “We’ve had the same mayor for almost as long as I can remember. He’s content to just watch the town die, apparently, and no one seems to have the time or energy to contest him. My dad actually considered running against him a couple of times, but he’s not exactly a pillar of the community, himself.”

He braked to allow a couple of farm-equipment trailers to pass, then made a left turn onto a rutted asphalt road. They drove past a pasture full of cattle, another that held a few horses, and then a mobile home on concrete blocks with broken t

oys scattered across the yard.

Considering the way Ron had spoken of his home, she was rather surprised when he finally pulled into the driveway of a tidy buff-colored brick and off-white siding ranch house styled similarly to her parents’ home. The grass and flower beds were brown for winter now, but she saw signs that flowers bloomed around the house in the summer. The concrete driveway looped around the house and she could see a large garage in the back, surrounded by vehicles of all different makes and models.

“It looks like your dad’s car repair business is thriving.”

“Yeah. He does a good job. Folks around here can’t always afford new vehicles, so they depend on Dad to keep their transportation running. He works on farm equipment, too, sometimes. Tractors, mostly.”

Climbing out of his car, she studied the surroundings again while he retrieved the basket of candies and a large bag of wrapped Christmas gifts from the backseat. Ron might not have grown up in luxury, but it looked as though the family hadn’t exactly lived in abject poverty, either. She imagined they had struggled at times, but then so had her own family. Neither of them had been raised in the financial comfort Anne and James seemed to take rather for granted.

Anne and James weren’t obnoxious about their privileged backgrounds, but Haley always sensed that neither quite understood what it was like for their families to have to worry about whether they could pay the light bill from month to month. Her family had been in that position a few times, and Ron’s probably had, too, while his dad had established his auto repair business. It was another bond between them, she supposed, despite the other differences in their childhoods.

Ron drew a deep breath as he looked at the unassuming house. And then he turned to Haley with a crooked smile. “It’s not too late to change your mind.”

Shaking her head in reproach at him, she reached for the candy basket. “Let’s go see your family.”

Ron didn’t bother to ring the bell at the front door, but turned the knob and stepped inside, motioning for Haley to accompany him.

“Hey,” he called out in the small entryway. “I’m here.”

At first glance, Haley noted that the inside of the house was as neat as the outside. A few inexpensive prints hung on the white painted walls, and three red silk poinsettias in craft-store-decorated pots were arranged on an old-looking sideboard in the foyer.

The smells wafting into the foyer from the back of the house were mouthwatering. Haley could hear children squealing in another room, Ron’s nephews, she assumed. All very homey and welcoming.

A short, comfortably padded woman with tousled, collar-length hair the same sandy color as Ron’s bustled out to welcome them. “There y’all are. We were wondering what was keeping you.”

“We’re exactly on time, Mom.” Ron leaned over to kiss his mother’s cheek. “Something smells great.”

“It should. I’ve been cooking for three days getting everything ready for today.” Carolyn turned to Haley with open curiosity. “Hello. Since my son hasn’t bothered to introduce us, I’m Carolyn—we don’t bother with the Mr. and Mrs. part here. You must be Haley.”

She hadn’t even given Ron a chance to introduce them, but he didn’t bother to protest, merely smiled wryly.

“It’s very nice to meet you, Carolyn. Thank you for having me today.”

“Haley made Christmas candies for the family, Mom.”