The Road to Rose Bend, Naima Simone [jenna bush book club .TXT] 📗

off the words that had been ready to tumble so easily from his mouth. I remember how tired—and cranky because she was tired—Tonia would get.

Oh dammit.

The memory of leading his wife to their bedroom and cajoling her into lying down by offering to nap with her pummeled him with meaty fists, leaving him emotionally bruised and his lungs constricted.

Where had that come from? Why would he think about her here of all places? Now? He swallowed, panic scraping his throat. With...Sydney?

“Cole.” A hand on his upper arm snapped him back, centered him. He focused on her face, not realizing until that moment that he’d shifted his gaze over her head and stared blindly at the far wall. “You’re right. I am a little tired. Would you mind if we called it a day?”

She was giving him an out. Again.

And this time, he accepted it.

Because that crack into his past had him open, raw. And bleeding.

“Are you sure you’re okay? Do you need anything before I leave?” he asked, his voice rough. Jesus, he felt like he was seconds away from flaming out. He had to get out of here.

She nodded, her pretty eyes solemn.

“I’m good.”

He returned her nod, his jerkier.

“Moe has my number if you need,” his throat closed on me, “anything,” he rasped.

He didn’t wait for her reply. Twisting on his heel, he strode across the room and exited through the door without glancing back.

And tried to convince himself he wasn’t escaping.

He failed.

CHAPTER FIVE

“SINCE YOU JUST had an appointment with your OB-GYN last week, we don’t need to do an exam today. So, I’ll see you here in another two weeks for your five-month checkup,” Dr. Kelly Prioleau said, tapping the screen of the tablet she held. Wow, her dad’s clinic had stepped into the twenty-first century. How ’bout that? “And since you mentioned not having an early noninvasive prenatal test, you can find out the baby’s sex during the ultrasound, too. If you’d like.”

“Oh, I’d like,” Sydney agreed. “The pregnancy was surprise enough. I don’t need the baby’s sex to be one, too.”

The lovely Black woman with the short, gorgeous twists and wide smile laughed. Just another reason Sydney liked her father’s new partner. Well, that and she could take a joke instead of getting all judgy, and her bright, popping red lipstick. The doctor obviously had style.

And a wonderful, warm confidence that had immediately set Sydney at ease when she’d entered the doctor’s office this morning. In the time since she’d left Rose Bend, her father had hired the woman who appeared to be in her late thirties as a partner. Sydney couldn’t help but think her mother had something to do with that. As in laying down an ultimatum—cut back on work or else.

Luke Collins was a dedicated and great doctor...and a workaholic. At least, that’s how Sydney remembered him. Aside from the hospital, the Rose Bend Family Practice was the only clinic in town. The residents adored him, and most would rather see him before going to the larger, more impersonal hospital. Which meant the chairs filling his waiting room were never empty.

The thriving practice provided more than its fair share of patients, and as Dr. Prioleau had assured Sydney, she was kept much busier here than she’d ever been in her bigger, fifteen-plus medical group in Charleston, South Carolina.

Regardless, Sydney was glad the other woman had made the move because it meant her father wouldn’t be checking her cervix.

Yeah, she’d always desired to be closer to her father but not that close.

“I definitely respect that.” Dr. Prioleau smiled, pushing back her chair and rising from behind her desk. “If you don’t have any more questions, I look forward to seeing you in a few weeks.”

Sydney stood from the visitor’s chair and shook the doctor’s extended hand. “Thanks, Dr. Prioleau. I’ll see you then.”

She exited the spacious office, the doctor beside her. As soon as they entered the lobby, a tingle started at the nape of Sydney’s neck, marching over her skin like an army of fire ants. She didn’t glance behind her to verify, but it seemed as if every eye in the packed waiting area was trained on her. No doubt, in the span of seconds—as long as it required to tap out a text or make a covert phone call—most people would know she’d visited her father’s office.

This—the avaricious curiosity and gossip—she hadn’t missed about living in a small town. There’d been a certain freedom and peace in living in a city the size of Charlotte. Except for her small circle of friends, anonymity had meant she could be whoever she wanted without comparison to who she used to be. No judgment. No condemnation.

Dr. Prioleau patted Sydney’s hand one last time. “I’ll see you soon, but remember, if you have any questions, concerns or feel any discomfort, please don’t hesitate to call or come in, okay?”

“Got it.”

Seconds later, Sydney stepped outside the clinic. The late morning heat warmed her upturned face, and she closed her eyes, breathing in the clean air. Fresh coffee and the scent of pancakes from the diner down the street. The sharp taste of acrylic from the workers painting the dentist’s building next door. And underneath it all, the faint, nebulous fragrance of home. Even though she’d lived in Charlotte for eight years, even with her complicated feelings about this place, that particular fragrance had always been missing.

Sighing, she headed toward her car. Just as she hit the key fob to open her doors, her cell buzzed against her hip.

“This better not be you, Katherine,” she grumbled, pulling the phone free.

Katherine Rhys owned Grant Resources, the organization Sydney worked for as a contractor. The company posted requests from agencies and corporations seeking grant writers. In the five years she’d been working with Grant Resources, Sydney had written more than a fair share of successful grants. But she’d informed Katherine that she wouldn’t be accepting any jobs for the next few weeks while she settled into a new—or