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“If you had checked your phone you might have known. I wanted to show Bill where you were staying. He’s been asking about you.”

I’m sure he has. “I’ll talk to Cole,” I said.

“How’s it going with him,

anyway?”

Part of me wanted to tell her that I was finally no longer a virgin. She’d be excited. She’d probably send me flowers or something. But she’d also be prying and want to know details, and I didn’t feel like getting into it with her. And she’d also probably try to somehow claim that she was responsible for the whole thing, that if she had never called me that night to tell me about all this simmering sexual tension between him and me that it wouldn’t have even happened in the first place.

“It’s good,” I said. “We’ve been hanging out a lot.”

“Well, I think it’d be nice if you guys came down here to visit at some point. It would go a long way in terms of you and Bill patching things up between the two of you, too.”

“Why do you think I want to patch things up? I’m actually all set if I never see him again.”

“Oh, come on, Allie. Let’s try to be an adult about this, can we? Bill isn’t going anywhere, so I think it’d be good if the two of you could try to put whatever you seem to think happened in the past, okay? I did talk to him about what you said. The accusation you had against him.”

“You did?” I asked, unable to keep the surprise from my voice.

“I did. And quite frankly, he had no idea what I was talking about, which is what I expected. It was so long ago that I don’t think you can really expect to have an accurate memory of it, either. You were probably upset about something—do you remember how turbulent your teenage years were? And he was just doing what any normal father would do, and that was comfort his child. You’ve always had an overactive imagination, and I’m sure that you took it to mean something that it didn’t.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but then I decided not to. There was no point in getting into an argument with her; this wasn’t going to go anywhere. I knew this even before I had told her, which was why I hadn’t wanted to tell her in the first place. But she was crazy if she thought I was just going to pretend like none of this ever happened, and that we were all going to just come down to the city and hang out with them for the day, like we were one big happy family or something.

“You know what, Mom?” I said finally. “I’m actually happy right now. I am happy with the way my life is, where I’m living, and what I’m doing.”

“I’m glad to hear that!” she said. “You’re acting like I’m actively trying to sabotage you or something. I’m not, Allie. I am happy for you. I just don’t see why you don’t want to come down here and spend a little time with us here, let Cole see what your life was like in the city. Don’t you want to share that with him?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t.” I hung up the phone.

Chapter Twenty

Cole

Once a month, I made house visits. This was an arrangement that the doctor I had taken over the practice from had with some of the patients who preferred not to make the drive to Chapin, patients that would not otherwise see a doctor. These visits took me to the more rural parts, deep in the woods where the houses were spread out, sometimes by half a mile or more. A lot of the people lived as off the grid as they could, and even coming to town for a doctor’s visit was more than they wanted to do.

My first stop took me deep into the woods, near the foot of Bear Claw Ridge. The house was really a log cabin, set deep in the pine trees. There were two cars parked in the gravel driveway when I got there, and there was a woman getting out of one of them.

I recognized the woman as soon as I go out of the car, but by then, it was too late to get in and drive away. Plus, I had to see the patient, Mr. Geary. But what was Sam’s sister doing here? For a second, I couldn’t remember her name, but then it came back to me: Shannon.

“What are you doing here?” she asked when she saw me, her eyes narrowing.

I regarded her. “I could ask the same of you.”

“I’m Mr. Geary’s home health aide.”

“You are?”

“I just started a few weeks ago.”

“I’m his doctor.”

“I didn’t know that. I don’t know if I should even be around you right now. I don’t know if that would be a good idea.”

“If you’d feel more comfortable waiting outside while I go in with Mr. Geary, you can. But that’s not necessary.”

She was giving me a wary look. “I’m not sure about that.”

“I think we can be professional, don’t you? I’d like to think that everything that has happened is in the past now and that we can all move on.”