Lahat ng Kabanata ng Diagnosis: Love: Kabanata 121 - Kabanata 130

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

NOAHI'd known Tampa's head coach for about four years now. When I'd been traded here from Houston, I'd quickly realized that Dale Briars wasn't the fatherly huggy bear that my previous team's coach had been; no, Coach Briars was all business, brisk and no nonsense. But I'd also found out that he was inherently fair-minded. He gave every player the best shot possible, and even when we screwed up, as we were all wont to do, he might have yelled his fool head off at us, but he also made sure we got the help we needed-and a second chance. I hadn't told my team about Angela's illness for quite a while. She'd been diagnosed early in my tenure with Tampa, and since we were just finding our footing in our new home with our new team family, she didn't want me to be known as the new guy with the sick wife. No matter how much I protested, she had been adamant. So for months, I struggled to keep a happy smile on my face. I didn't break down at practice, and I did my damnedest to leave all of

ALISON"All right, I admit it. This place is lovely." I sipped tea from my paper-thin china cup and sighed in contentment. "Tell me why we haven't done this before. Little sandwiches, scones, and three levels of the most delicious pastries . . . this is heaven." "Well, I'd do the I told you so dance, but I'm too busy letting this clotted cream give me an orgasm." Darcy popped a corner of her scone, covered with the fluffy cream, into her waiting mouth. "So good." She moaned her appreciation. Emma and I exchanged indulgent smiles. Darcy had been a fairly quiet, serious, hardworking nurse practitioner when I'd arrived in Harper Springs. But since reigniting an old flame with her football-player first love, getting pregnant and married, she'd definitely loosened up."I wonder if they'd consider catering my bridesmaids' luncheon," Emma mused, nibbling on a cookie. "I planned to do it at the farm, but I don't want Anna to cook-not that I don't love her food, I do-but I'd like it if sh

ALISON"But he's going to be okay, right, Doc? We caught it in time?" I squeezed the bony hands of the woman sitting next to me in the family waiting room on the med-surge floor at Tampa General. "Yes, ma'am, Mrs. Rooney. Thanks to you insisting that your husband come in to see me, and the two of us getting him to the hospital fast enough, I don't expect there to be any complications. Appendectomies are fairly straightforward procedures these days. And since the appendix hasn't ruptured, that's a point in our favor." "Oh, thank you so much, Dr. Wakely. I just don't know what we would have done without you." Tears trembled on her eyelashes. "No other doctor would've opened up the office on a Sunday just to see one patient." "Well, if I'd realized what was going on, I might have just made a house call and saved you the trip. But it's probably good I didn't, since it was easier to get Mr. Rooney here from my office." "That's true. I'm not sure we could've gotten him here in tim

NOAH"Spencer! What's your lazy ass doing laying around when we've got a game this Thursday night?" Coach bellowed as he stalked into my hospital room, and I winced slightly, imagining that other patients up and down the hallway were wondering who'd let a bull moose loose in the hospital. "Sorry, Coach. Looks like I'll have to sit out Thursday night's game, but I hope I'll be back on the field in the next couple of weeks." I answered him with as much confidence as I could muster, even knowing all the while that it was mostly bravado. There was no way I'd be playing football for at least a couple of months. If we managed to get into postseason play, there was maybe a chance I'd be ready to go back, but for now, my doctor was making no promises. "Yeah, so I hear." Coach crossed his arms over his chest and glowered. "That hit got you good. Cruyholder, the guy who took you down-he's been mea culpaing all over the fucking place since Sunday." He shrugged. "Not that there was anything h