“You do? You know who I am? I’m sorry I can’t say the same.”
He was clearly annoyed and she didn’t have time for this. “Look, I’m kind of busy today. Why don’t you call my office and my nurse will call you about an appointment time? I’m pretty open for appointments as I’m not open for business just yet.”
“You have a nurse?” he asked.
“Well, not yet, but I’ve interviewed some interesting candidates.”
“I bet.”
Esme frowned. “Have I offended you some way? If I have, I’m really sorry, but again I haven’t opened yet.”
“I’m aware you’re not open yet. Of course, that really doesn’t stop you from poaching patients.”
Esme was stunned. “Who are you?”
“I’m Dr. Ralston. I was the Johnstone family’s practitioner up until about two hours ago.”
Okay, now she was really surprised. “You’re Dr. Ralston?”
“Yes.”
“Dr. C. Ralston?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t get it.” Esme stepped aside to invite him in, but didn’t even get the words out as he wandered inside and then sat on the edge of the waiting-room desk, his arms crossed.
“What don’t you get? I can show you my ID.”
“Dr. Charles Ralston has been practicing medicine in Crater Lake for forty years.” She shut the door, but didn’t lock it just in case this guy was crazy or something. “You guys either have the fountain of youth up here in Crater Lake or someone’s records are incorrect.”
A small smile played on his face, some of that fury fading. “Dr. Charles Ralston is my father. I’m Dr. Carson Ralston. I took over my father’s practice when he retired five years ago.”
“Oh, and I’m the fool who just poached some of your patients. Gotcha.”
“Essentially.”
Esme crossed her arms, too. “So how can I help you?”
“Stop poaching my patients.” There was now a slight twinkle in his blue, blue eyes and he didn’t seem as angry anymore.
“I’m really sorry, but your patient wanted to change. I couldn’t turn them away,” she stated.
“Look, you have to know when you come to a small town you don’t go around stealing the patients of a practitioner who has been here for quite some time.”
Esme raised an eyebrow. “Is that some kind of doctor rule? If so, I’m not aware of it.”
“It’s common courtesy.” He didn’t seem as though he was going to budge until she handed over the files to him. Although, she hadn’t been given the files yet.
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, Dr. Ralston, but when I bumped into Mrs. Johnstone at the general store her twins took a shine to me and she wanted me to be her physician.”
“What do you mean the twins took a shine to you?”
She grinned. “I mean I didn’t scare them like the old, grumpy Dr. Ralston.”
His mouth fell open in surprise for a moment and then he snapped it shut. “Okay, then. I won’t bother you about it anymore.”
“That’s quite the defeatist attitude.”
He shrugged and headed to the door. “If I’m old and grumpy then there is nothing more I can do.”
A sense of dread niggled at her. “What do you know about them you’re not sharing?”
Now it was his turn to grin with pleasure. “Nothing. Just good luck with the twins, but I will tell you that if you take any more of my patients it’ll be war.”
Esme couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you declaring war on me, Dr. Ralston?”
“I believe I am, Dr. Petersen.” He winked, chuckling to himself as he shut the door behind him and Esme couldn’t help but wonder what she’d gotten herself into. She would have to keep her distance from Carson, though in a small town that was going to be hard to do, but she was going to try.
CARSON WAS GLAD that summer was coming, the days were longer, but then he really couldn’t enjoy the extra daylight when he stayed late and he usually stayed late because he didn’t have anything to go home to.
He had a big empty house that he used for sleeping. That was it. He’d built it for Danielle and him. Of course Danielle hadn’t stayed long enough to live in it.
The sun was just beginning to set behind the mountains, giving a pink tinge to the glacier on Mount Jackson. He never got tired of it. He loved Montana and if he did have regrets about his past, staying in Montana wasn’t one of them.
Still, the mountains, the scenery weren’t any kind of companion, but at least the mountains would never betray him and wouldn’t break his heart the way Danielle had done.
As he locked up the clinic he couldn’t help but glance across the street at Dr. Petersen’s clinic. The lights were still blazing. She’d opened at the end of last week, but Carson hadn’t lost any more patients. Most of her patients seemed to be coming down from the resort community and with that new high-end hotel and spa going in there would be even more people coming.
There were a few timeshares that were in operation, but he knew the main lodge was still under construction, as his brother was still taking surveyors and construction workers out on the trails.
Once the main spa hotel lodge opened and the community got its own full-time doctor, a job he’d turned down, then Dr. Petersen might feel a bit of pain financially.
A twinge of guilt ate at him and he felt bad for declaring war on her.
“You declared war on her? How does that even happen?” Luke had had a good laugh over that.
Of course, the last time Carson had declared war on someone was when Luke and he had been kids. Carson had declared war on Luke when he was ten and Luke had been fifteen. Carson had gone about booby-trapping parts of the house. The ceasefire had come when Luke had set a snare and Carson had ended up dangling upside down in a tree with a sign that said bear food.
Their father had put a stop to all present and future wars.
Carson sighed. He hadn’t been thinking that day in her surgery. She got on his nerves a bit and he had been put out that the Johnstone twins had thought he was grumpy and old. He honestly was glad to be rid of the little hellions.
It was the principle of the matter.
In all the years his father had practiced he’d never been called grumpy or old. He’d never lost a patient to another doctor.
There never was another doctor in Crater Lake.
A lot of new families had come into town over the past couple of years. Dr. Petersen was advertising. He’d heard her ad on the local radio station. Perhaps he needed to advertise. Maybe he was a bit too comfortable in his position and he was in a rut.
Carson rubbed the back of his neck.
He should go make amends with her.
He crossed the street and peered inside the clinic window to see if he could catch sight of her, get her attention, then maybe he could talk to her.
Before he knew what was happening there was a shout, his wrist was grabbed and he was on the ground staring at the pavement.
“What