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My dad sighed. “I think you coming home is part of God’s timing and His plan for you.”
My hackles went up at the mention of God. Of course I believed in God. I prayed sometimes, and in the military, I’d had experiences making it clear that God guided and directed me. After losing Greg, it had been hard.
“You okay, son?”
“I am, Dad. I’m just not sure about my relationship with God right now, I guess. It’s hard for me to believe there’s a plan for everything.”
My father nodded. “I get that. I want you to know that there is. I believe you will see God’s timing and plan in your life. I know it.”
I decided to let him believe that. “Okay, Dad.”
Chapter Ten
Ella
Throughout the rest of the day, Mercy forced me into conversations about the Armstrong family. She caught me up on everyone in the family and what they were doing. She went on and on about how good Noah looked. Apparently, his mother had told her that even though he had dated, he’d never gotten serious with anyone. Then she talked about Clint and how it was weird that he had been at my house. Apparently, she didn’t agree with Damon that the matter was private.
After work, I relieved my stress with an eight-mile run and the solace of my classic rock music. I ate ramen for dinner and decided to finally deal with the clutter in Grandma’s living room. After a quick trip to the store for boxes and bins, I proceeded to box and bin things up until the wee hours of the morning. I had trash bags too, but I could never throw anything away.
The next morning, I arrived at work feeling a little grumpy. I was not in the mood to talk about Noah … or Clint.
Mercy approached me, holding out a coffee. “I won’t talk to you about anything you don’t want to talk about today.”
It was a peace offering, and I took it. Then I smiled at her. It was uncomfortable to talk about the past and about theArmstrong family, but it was part of the package of living in this town. Between the police force and the search and rescue, the Armstrongs really kept things running here. “Thank you. I will take the break.”
I checked in and put my stuff away. We started talking about Mr. Henry and another person who had checked into the hospital the previous night. We were going over some new policies and procedures the hospital wanted us to put into place when Mercy got a phone call from the school.
With a sigh, she turned to me and covered the phone speaker. “Megan is in the office. I have to go pick her up.”
I grabbed her coat for her. “I’ll check you out.”
I was gathering up some paperwork and getting things organized when I looked up and saw just the person I didn’t want to think about or see today: Noah. He was walking with his father, who looked much better than he had a couple days ago when he had first come into the hospital for his heart attack.
I plastered on a smile. “Good morning. I guess you guys have an appointment with Dr. Chavez?” I tapped the computer screen and found that they did.
Noah’s father moved to the desk and then he reached out to me. It was more than a little awkward, but I took his hand.
He smiled at me. “Thank you for the care you gave me while I was here.”
His words touched me and reminded me of exactly why I’d taken this job. My love of nursing gave me the chance to help people. “I was glad to.”
I looked past his father and toward Noah. He had his phone out and was studying it, looking nervous. Suddenly, because he wasn’t engaging with me, I wanted to talk to him. “Good morning, Noah.”
Startled, he looked up, and then a slight smile met his lips. “Good morning, Ella.”
There was intensity in his words. It was strange that despite my reluctance to talk about it with Mercy, I wanted a conversation with him. I wanted him to tell me everything about himself and his family. But I dismissed that thought. I had to get over Noah. I’d thought I’d been over him for all these years, pushing him to the edges whenever he’d come up in my thoughts, but in the past couple of days I couldn’t find a suitable distraction from this man. I couldn’t make anything of this interaction since he was leaving. I still hadn’t changed my mind about forgiving either of us.
Noah and his father sat, and I went back and told the doctor they were here. Dr. Chavez wasn’t from Refuge Falls. He’d only been here a couple years. From what I could see, he was a kind man and a great doctor, making him an asset to the town. He told me to place them in exam room two, which I did. It wasn’t as awkward as I thought it would be.
I tapped on the iPad and asked Mr. Armstrong all the questions I needed to for the doctor, yet I was well aware that Noah was watching me, seemingly unabashed. I wanted to ask him if he’d found out anything about Jason and Trent and who was really responsible for the broken arm, but it didn’t feel right.
I excused myself and went to let the doctor know they were ready. I was semi-relieved when the doctor went in by himself, and then I wasn’t surprised when he called me in to run another test on Noah’s dad. After doing the blood test and having some small chitchat about the food drive that Noah’s mother was apparently helping with today, I told them goodbye and left the room.
After awhile, their appointment ended, and I got them checked out. They were almost out the door when I saw Noah pause and then double back. My heart rate sped up, and I braced myself.
He reached the desk and asked me, “Do you want to get a slice of pizza tonight? The pineapple anchovy ham pizza we like?”
Instantly, I said, “No. Sorry. Thank you.” I couldn’t go out with him. Had he forgotten he was going away soon? It would never work with us. It just wouldn’t.
