and I just took in a rescue horse from a farm near Pepin. What about you?”
“Everything’s good. I’m looking forward to having my kids in school next week. Even Ben’s looking forward to getting back to teaching. I mean—” She cast a worried glance at Annie.
Annie was quick to brush aside the woman’s concerns. “I know exactly what you mean. Eric used to get as excited about the start of a new school year as he looked forward to the end of the previous one. It’s a thing with teachers. Please tell Ben I said hello.”
“I will, for sure. Have a seat,” she said to Annie and CJ. “Isaac, can you climb up here for me?”
He nodded, and scrambled up onto the examining table.
“My goodness, you’re getting tall. What is your mom feeding you?”
Isaac giggled.
Annie watched from the edge of her seat, worried he could tumble off the high table if he didn’t sit still. She felt her sister’s hand curl over hers, silently reassuring.
“Are you looking forward to school next week?” Stacey asked.
Isaac nodded vigorously. “I’m gonna be in second grade.”
“Are you? So is my daughter, Melissa.” She held up a digital thermometer. “I’m going to slip this in your ear so I can take your temperature, okay?”
More nodding. “I know Melissa.”
“I thought you might.” The thermometer beeped. She looked at the digital display and then showed it to Isaac. “See those numbers, little man? Perfectly normal,” she said, noting them on his chart.
This offered Annie no relief. Fever was not a symptom of a concussion or, heaven forbid, a brain hemorrhage. She knew because, even against her own better judgment, she had looked them up on her phone while CJ had driven them to the clinic.
“Would you like to stay up here?” Stacey asked Isaac, handing him a couple of small coloring books that came with a colorful assortment of animal stickers. “Or jump down and sit with your mom?”
“I’ll stay up here.” Isaac opened one of the books. “Do I get to keep these?”
“You sure do.” Stacey turned to Annie. “Dr. Woodward’s just finishing up with another patient and then he’ll be right in to see you.”
“Thanks,” Annie said. She stood and moved to stand next to her son in case he started to feel light-headed, which was one of the symptoms they had to watch for.
Dr. Woodward. Paul. They had all known one another for most of their lives, although she and Eric hadn’t seen much of Paul since he’d left for college and then went on to study medicine at one of the universities in Chicago. He had stayed there and had been practicing at a big-city hospital ever since.
Eric had always been a man of action, a little impulsive, even. By comparison, Paul studied the angles, thought things through. Eric’s spontaneity had been tempered by his friend’s careful consideration of everyone and everything around him. She was beyond relieved that Paul was here. If anyone would take extra-special care of Eric’s son, it would be his best friend.
“See, Mom? This book’s got dinosaurs. This one’s Diplodocus. That’s one of the plant eaters. Can I really take these books home with me?”
“Stacey said you could so, yes.”
Isaac peeled the sticker off the sheet and stuck it to the matching shape on the coloring page. This was a good sign. His fine motor skills wouldn’t be so precise if his vision was blurred, another of the worst-case-scenario symptoms. She smoothed his hair and listened to him chatter about each dinosaur as he applied stickers to the page. Brontosaurus, Stegosaurus, Tyrannosaurus rex. Then he opened the second book.
“Jungle animals,” he said. “Is this a parrot?”
“I think that’s a macaw. Parrots have smaller beaks.”
“Maca-a-a-w,” he said, peeling and attaching the sticker to the page. “Caw, caw, ca-a-a-w.”
The door opened. “Someone told me there was a little boy in here who’s fallen off a horse. I wasn’t expecting a crow.”
Isaac giggled. “Uncle Paul!” He held up a hand and Paul high-fived it.
“Annie. How are you?” Paul asked.
Annie took one look at him and felt her spine soften. He opened his arms for her and she melted into them. She had forgotten how it felt to lean on someone, rest a cheek against a hard chest, breathe in a male scent with just a hint of woodsy aftershave. She pulled away. She should not be having inappropriate reactions to one of Eric’s best friends.
He moved his hands to her shoulders, leaned in and kissed the cheek that had just sought comfort on a shoulder that was broader than she remembered.
“Oh, Paul. It’s so good to see you. You have no idea.” She looked into eyes that were not green, not brown. Hazel, she decided. She had never noticed the color before. Now she was sure would never forget them.
The tip of her nose turned pink—she could feel it. Her face didn’t turn red the way a normal person’s did. Only her nose. Anytime she was embarrassed or flustered, or whatever it was she was feeling at that moment, she ended up looking like Rudolph on a bender. To cover it, she brought the fingertips of one hand to the bridge of her nose.
“Good to see you, too.” He kissed her again, on the forehead this time, and turned to Isaac. “And who is this young man?”
“I’m Isaac.”
“No way. Isaac Larsen’s a little guy about this tall.” Paul demonstrated by holding out his hand.
“Grandpa says I’m growing like a weed,” Isaac offered, setting aside the sticker books.
“Your grandpa’s right about that. Are you taking good care of your mom?” Paul asked, offering his hand to Isaac.
“Yup.” Isaac accepted the handshake and gazed up at him. “I feed our dog and help bring in eggs from the chicken coop. Me and my dad used to do that, but he died.”
Annie’s breath caught in her throat.
“I know.” Paul’s tone was solemn. “I still miss him.”
Listening to their exchange made Annie’s chest tighten. Although they hadn’t seen much of Paul in person, she had known he and Eric kept in touch, mostly by email and the occasional phone call. Of course Paul would miss him. After the funeral she should have done a better job of staying in touch.
“So, tell me about horseback riding.” Paul took a seat on a wheeled stool that brought him to eye level with her son.
“Auntie CJ’s giving me riding lessons.”
“That’s pretty cool. English or western.”
“Western.” Isaac’s enthusiasm was contagious. “I’m gonna be barrel racing at the junior rodeo and when I’m bigger I’m gonna be a real cowboy.”
Paul laughed, then exchanged a quick smile with Annie before he turned his attention back to her son. “What’s your horse’s name?”
“Zephyr.”
“Good name for a horse.”
Annie forced herself to stop hovering and took the chair next to CJ, who was rolling her eyes.
What? Annie mouthed.
CJ placed a hand over her heart and pretended to swoon, and it was Annie’s turn for an eye roll. Behave!
“Can you tell me what happened this morning when you were riding Zephyr?” Paul asked.
“I fell off.”
“You did? Is Zephyr a bucking bronco?”
Isaac