Something Borrowed by Holly Jacobs

Author:Holly Jacobs
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ilex Books

CHAPTER NINE

FINN COULDN’T SHAKE the mental images of Saturday and Sunday. They stuck with him through his week. Mattie touching his hand, placing hers on his as if it belonged there. The younger kids begging for fish and a puppy. Zoe, so angry—so hurt—but responding to him.

Spending the rest of the day with them. Spending the rest of the weekend together with Mattie and the kids, a feeling of familiarity beginning to take hold.

He shook his head. The weekend was over and he had patients to see, and each of them deserved his full attention. He couldn’t let himself get distracted. He pasted on a professional smile, grabbed the first chart that was hanging next to the exam room door, and went in. “Mr. Neils, how are you today?”

“Fine and dandy,” the older man said with a smile.

Mrs. Neils was sitting next to him, holding his hand. She’d been at his side his entire illness.

“We celebrated our fortieth anniversary last night,” he explained. “Forty years married to the prettiest woman in the world. How could I be anything less than fine and dandy?”

Finn wasn’t sure how to respond to that, because as a doctor, he knew that Mr. Neils was anything but fine and dandy, so he settled for, “Congratulations.”

He started his pre-op checklist.

“Do you have a sweetheart, Doc?” Mr. Neils asked.

“No.” He thought about his talk with Mattie. He’d never had time for a real relationship. But maybe that wasn’t all. There was an intimacy that came with relationships, and Finn always felt more comfortable keeping his distance. Apart from his family, his few childhood friends who were the next thing to family, but otherwise?

Even his nieces and nephew. He’d never felt overly connected to them, though he was trying to change that. Trying to be more accessible. If he won custody, he’d have to do better. And since better wasn’t in his lexicon, he’d strive to be the best.

The kids deserved nothing less than his best.

“You should get yourself a sweetheart, Doc. Having someone you love waiting for you at home every night...that’s what makes life worth living.”

“If I find a woman who can measure up to you, Mrs. Neils, I’ll snap her right up.”

The older woman laughed and waved her hand at both of them. “You two are embarrassing me.”

“Sweetheart, you shouldn’t be embarrassed by the truth...you’re a catch,” Mr. Neils said to his wife. “You know, I’m not hoping I make it so I can go back to work and sell one more car, one more truck. I’m hoping I make it so that I can have another night watching the sunset on the lake with you. I want to make it so we can go see our grandkids together next month. I want to make it so we can celebrate our forty-first anniversary next year.”

He turned to Finn. “When a man looks back at his life, he doesn’t think, I wish I’d done more this and bought more that, he wishes for more time. More time for the woman he loves.

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