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Chapter 113: Relaxation
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Diagnosis: Love Chapter 114: Busted part 3
EMMA"Well, I'm never going to forget this day, that's for sure." Standing in the kitchen with me, chopping vegetables, my mother reached for her glass of wine and took a sip. "I mean, honey, that was just . . . the look on your face when you opened the front door. And then poor Deacon comes out of your room, and there's the both of you, looking just a mess, and there's still candles and music and that table in the middle of the room . . .""You know, Mom, I was there." I closed my eyes, mortification still fresh. "And that happened, like, three hours ago. Believe me when I say it's too soon for me to laugh about my parents nearly walking in on me with . . ." With my knife, I pointed toward my back deck, where we could hear the men's voices. Deacon and my dad were manning the grill, because my father claimed that was a necessary part of male bonding, and he wanted to get to know Deacon. As he'd passed by me in the kitchen, picking up a spatula and oil, Deacon had murmured in my e
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 115: Back on the menu
DEACON"What do you think he's going to do?" It was early in the morning, and outside Emma's cabin, I could hear the sounds of the world waking up. The sun was rising, and birds were chirping. In the far-off distance, I heard a rooster crowing at a neighboring farm. Inside the cabin, though, it was quiet and peaceful. I lay in Emma's bed, my arms wrapped around her as my chest pressed into her back. "Who?" I asked, although I had a good idea about what she was asking."Ted." Emma rolled in my arms to face me. Her hair tangled and fell into her eyes, giving me the perfect excuse to brush it away and wrap one silky strand around my finger. "Mmm. I don't know." I stretched, dropping onto my back and easing her head onto my chest. "But I did what I did very intentionally. I followed the advice of a very wise naturopath who often tells me that giving patients a choice, even if it's between two things they don't really want, offers a sense of autonomy. Makes them feel like partners
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 116: Peace
DEACON"Gone?" I replied dumbly. "He . . . died?" I knew it was a possibility. He'd been in the ICU for a while, and there was always the chance of a pulmonary embolism, or something we hadn't picked up yet, or even a heart attack . . ."No. He left. There was some kind of kerfuffle with Mrs. Wilkie-it wasn't anything serious, just an alarm they couldn't get turned off-and then just now, Andi went in to take Ted's vitals, and the bed was empty. He'd disconnected all the IVs, the oxygen . . . his bag isn't in the closet." "Oh." I stood there for a few moments, frozen to the spot. "Okay. Well, I guess that was his way of giving me his answer on treatment, huh?" Darcy laid her hand on my arm. "I'm sorry, Deacon." Mira sighed. "I am, too. For all that I didn't want to hope Ted would do the right thing, I guess I did, after all. I wanted him to stick around long enough to give Anna and Jimmy some peace. But that's not going to happen." "It's okay." I managed a smile. "Really, Mira
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 117: Happily ever after part 1
EMMA"And now I'd like to say a few words." Standing on the front porch of Anna and Jimmy Girard's farmhouse, my dad grinned broadly at Deacon and me. Next to me at the small table for two we shared, Deacon snickered. "Is this where your father tells embarrassing stories about you?"I elbowed my new husband in his ribs, making him go ooof. "Behave yourself. There are no embarrassing stories about me. I've always been the model of perfection you see here before you." Deacon skimmed his lips down the side of my neck. "Em, I love you beyond the telling, and to me, you're perfect. But the rest of the world probably doesn't see either of us the same way.""Hmmm. Why is that, do you think?" I turned my head to smile up at Deacon. "Why can't they see that we're the smartest, the kindest, and the most amusing two people on earth?" "I guess they're just not looking with the same eyes we are." His arm tightened around me. "Now shhhh. Dr. Baldwin's talking."I rolled my eyes. "Suck up
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 118: Everything happens for a reason
NOAH"Good morning. Noah Spencer. Wow." The man standing behind the large oak desk wagged his head even as he reached across to shake my hand. "I have to admit, I can hardly believe I'm standing here in my office talking to you. I'm a big fan."I let him pump my arm a few seconds as I managed a smile. "Is that allowed? I thought guys like you had to be . . . you know. Neutral. No biases or anything like that." Father George rolled his eyes. "I'm a priest, Noah, not a saint. Also, there aren't any rules about cheering for our favorite teams. It's not like I have any special inside sway to make my guys win. It's all up to Spirit in the Sky." He grinned. "Now, that's not to say that I haven't lifted up my share of petitions for Tampa on big game days. But I'm comforted by knowing that there are lots of ministers, priests, rabbis and imams-among other clergy-asking for favor for their teams, too. It all balances out, I think. Someone's got to win, and someone's got to lose, and in the
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 119: Closure
NOAH"I can only imagine. How did you cope with that?" "The only way I know. I just keep on putting one foot in front of the other. I've buried myself in football. I work out every day. I do whatever the team asks of me. I smile in public. And then I come home to an empty house, to the place where I see my dead wife around every fucking corner, and I get through the night time hours until I can leave again." I rubbed my hand over my forehead, where the seed of a headache was beginning to blossom."Have you thought about moving? It might be the kindest option for yourself," Father George remarked."No." I shook my head. "If I move away, I lose the last piece of Angela that I have left. Sometimes I can still smell her perfume in the closet. Or I'll dig into the back of the freezer and find a loaf of banana bread that she made and froze for me before she went to the hospital. Or-" I choked a bit. "I go into the room that was going to be the nursery for the baby we never got to concei
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 120: Origin story
ALISON"Hey there! Alison Wakely, right? Come in. Sit down." Closing the office door behind me, I approached the small seating area. The therapist was perched in a wing chair, her shoes off and her feet curled alongside her. She was young-probably a year or two older than me. My previous doctors had been in their forties or fifties, but since Brooke Slater came highly recommended and had agreed to see me despite a full patient load, I wasn't going to complain."Thanks." I glanced at the love seat for a second before I decided to settle in the wing chair opposite Dr. Slater. "I heard you joined Dr. Johanson's practice." She smiled. "He took care of my family for over ten years, and then my insurance company changed and we had to move to a group right outside Tampa. It's a pain in the ass, and I really miss that personal touch you get from a small-town family practice. Dr. Johanson even made house calls when my babies were small. He was a treasure." She sighed. "But you're not her
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 121: Heartbreak
ALISONI'd known it was coming, but still, the hurt stabbed into my gut like a sucker punch. I straightened, planting both feet on the floor to center myself before I answered her."Okay. What do you want to know about Tom?" "How did you meet?" "Ahhh . . ." I ran the tip of my tongue over my front teeth. "He was a fellow in the program during my last year of residency. All of us were in awe of him because he was so incredibly intelligent and very intense. We used to joke that he didn't really exist outside the med center. He didn't fool around, he didn't make small talk, and he wasn't interested in our personal lives. But even so, we all respected the hell out of him. He was a genius." "Sounds a little intimidating." "Totally. But one day, he asked me to help him with a study he was launching. I was shocked that he even knew my name, but he called me Alison like we were old buddies. Of course, I said yes. The other residents were jealous as hell, but I didn't care. Getting sp
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