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Chapter 1
Single.
Eliza Young bit the inside of her lip as she stared at the S-word next to the box that represented her current relationship status. She was filling out a liability insurance form for the practice that she was now the sole proprietress of. She’d already filled in her age, sex and a brief rundown of her medical history with no problem, but now she was stuck…staring at a box.
It was a box she’d never thought she’d be checking again. At twenty-seven she had not one but two failed marriages under her belt. She’d always been an over-achiever. She’d graduated from high school with a 4.2 GPA and was accepted into an accelerated dental program where she earned her bachelor’s degree and graduate degree from dental school in just over five years. When she put her mind to something, she succeeded. She lived by Yoda’s mantra: Do…or do not. There is no try. So having both of her marriages end, was not something that she took lightly.
The first had been annulled after only forty-five days and the second dissolution had been finalized in a jarring, whiplash-inducing-swift twelve days after five years of not-so-wedded-bliss.
Two marital unions with two different men that ended for two completely different reasons and only one common denominator…her. There was definitely a pattern developing that she couldn’t ignore and had no plans on testing in the near future, or ever again for that matter.
The only problem was, by nature she was an optimistic romantic…which was evident by her taking the plunge twice before her twenty-second birthday. But she was just going to have to fight against her instinct, since she sincerely doubted that the third time would actually be the charm. She needed to accept the fact that she was partner-less and it looked like she would remain that way till death did she part.
It wasn’t just her poor taste in men or the rose-colored glasses she wore that was working against her. She also had some bad juju that she’d brought on herself nearly a decade ago. She’d never been one to believe in curses or anything like that, but Eliza was starting to believe that karma was real and she’d earned her unlucky in love status on her eighteenth birthday in a cabin at Whisper Lake.
She shook her head as she tried to rid her mind of the night that still haunted her. That night she’d not only lost her virginity but also had a Freudian slip that had sent her running away from her life. Away from her high school boyfriend, her hometown and the only life she’d ever known and into the arms of the first of two men that turned out to be very, very wrong for her. That was a road she had no interest in traveling again…ever.
So yep, she really was single.
Alone.
Party of one.
With a click of her mouse she marked the appropriate box and continued to scroll down the rest of the form before electronically signing and submitting it. She was covered through interim insurance for sixty days, but she wanted to make sure that there were no lapses. Then, she pulled up her action tasks spreadsheet and marked insurance forms off the list. Her eyes scanned the page, one task down, only three hundred and fifty-seven to go.
“Okay,” she whispered under her breath as she attempted to focus only on the next thing she needed to do instead of the big picture. A picture that was so overwhelming she hadn’t come close to wrapping her mind around it. Her head was spinning from the whirlwind that her life had been the past two weeks.
Fourteen days ago, she’d taken public transit to work on an overcast Monday morning a happily married…well, a married woman at any rate. She’d been one of two partners in a successful, cutting edge dental practice in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, built from the ground up by her and her husband, Doug.
Cut to two weeks later, this crisp spring Monday morning she’d walked to work a freshly divorced woman and new owner of a practice built by the man that had filled her cavities and removed her wisdom teeth back in her hometown of Harper’s Crossing, Illinois.
So much had happened so fast. Emotions were swirling through her, but thankfully sadness wasn’t one of them.
She was definitely cried out at this point. Over the past two weeks she’d watched My Girl, Steel Magnolias, Terms of Endearment, Beaches, Love Story, Sophie’s Choice, Marley & Me, Up, The Fault in Our Stars, and Me Before You. All of her current go-to tearjerker movies. Watching sad movies that made her cry was her therapy. It was her outlet to get all of the emotions that were bottled up inside of her out.
Growing up as an only child she’d relied on movies for companionship. The thing about movies was, they were always there for you. They were dependable. Movies were more than just therapeutic, they were her social life. Unlike her ex-husbands, who’d made vows to her, they actually were there through good and bad. Whether she was celebrating success or grieving a tragedy, a movie marathon was always her answer.
As she leaned back in her chair she did her best to hold at bay the panic that was rising up in her like a flash flood. Her thumbs grazed against the pads of her fingers, a nervous habit that she’d never been able to break.
In an effort to distract her mind, she glanced around her office. Her new office. The walls still held pictures of Dr. Lewis’ family. The transition for her taking over Smiles on Riverwalk had been a quick one. In fact, most of the patients were still not aware of the change in ownership.
Dr. Randall Lewis had served Harper’s Crossing and all of their dental needs for over thirty years. As far as Eliza knew, he’d planned on staying at the practice for another ten years at least. But when he’d suffered a mild heart attack a little over a week ago, his wife of thirty-five years had put her foot down and demanded that he retire immediately.
His first call had been to Eliza and it could not have come at a better time. She’d received it after walking out of her divorce attorney’s office. She’d figured it was just her mentor calling for his monthly check-in. Dr. Lewis had kept tabs on her all through school and into her professional life. She’d almost ignored the call, but she’d known that he’d just keep calling. She was glad she’d picked up.
His offer had been a lifeline when she’d felt like she was drowning. Her entire world had been turned upside down and inside out. She hadn’t just walked out on her husband after walking in on him, bare-assed, on top of their nineteen-year-old dental assistant in exam room two. She’d also walked away from her practice. She’d let her ex-husband buy her out of their condo and business because the thought of ever stepping into either place again made her stomach turn. Thankfully, her plan had been to return home right after college, so she was licensed in both states and she wasn’t due for renewal for three months.
So here she was. As of yesterday, she was back in her hometown to start her new/old life. She’d packed up what belongings she’d wanted to take with her and driven straight through the night and arrived at the small duplex she was renting yesterday afternoon. Her parents had left Illinois two years earlier to move to California after her dad retired from his law practice.
They were both very happy in Palm Springs and had sold her beloved childhood home. She’d wanted to buy it at the time, but her husband had talked her out of it because he’d wanted to put all of their resources into the practice they were in the beginning stages of starting. He’d always been on the controlling side, she’d just never expected him to be on the cheating side.
Her feet warmed from the heated fur now covering them. She glanced beneath her desk at the only male she’d ever had a healthy relationship with. Farmer, her Golden Retriever. Farmer had been with her since her freshman year in college and was very in tune with her emotions. She’d named him after Kevin Costner’s character Frank Farmer in one of her favorite movies, The Bodyguard.
One night when she was walking back to her dorm after a late-night study session at the library, a guy had come out from behind a tree and grabbed her. Before she’d had a chance to react, the guy was tackled to the ground by a stray dog. The dog held him by the neck and kept him there until the police arrived. Farmer had rescued her that night and she’d rescued him right back. Since her dorm did not allow pets, she’d moved out to an apartment and he’d been by her side ever since.
Two years ago, she’d gotten Farmer certified as a service dog and he’d started working in her dental office as a dental therapy dog. He’d been a huge success. In fact the pediatric portion of their business had exploded. Kids who had anxiety about being at the dentist immediately calmed when Farmer was beside them.
“Dr. Young, Becca Sloan is on line one for you,” a female voice sounded through the intercom in the otherwise quiet room.
