“I have good genes, and I’m petite, so I pass for a fit person. But I’m actually not. One of the goals in the whole life-change thing was to work less so I could exercise.” She wrinkled her nose. “I hate running.”
“You should take up kayaking, or canoeing, or something that involves the lake. You like the lake, right?”
“I was thinking that. Or even walking on the beach.”
“What happened to the Tigers?”
She paused in unlocking her clinic, her brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
Yeah, that had been a non sequitur from her point of view. “I was just thinking that had also been one of your goals in moving here. You wanted to go to Tigers games. But isn’t the regular season almost over?”
“It’s totally over. I dropped the ball on that one.”
Well, crap. In his quest to fix Nora’s house and build her vaccine van monstrosity, he’d forgotten about the Tigers. He would happily have driven to a game with her.
Whoa. He would happily have driven to a game with her?
That was more than a little weird. He didn’t follow baseball. The last time he’d been to the States had been before Jude was born, when he’d tagged along with Kerrie to a law conference in Cleveland. He hadn’t even been as far as Toronto in recent memory.
She ushered him into the dark clinic, and he followed her to the back, where she had an office.
She rummaged through a bag and pulled out a dress. “So you want to get a hold of Harold? Why wouldn’t you just ask me?”
Right. “I have some bad news.”
She paused, holding a stick of deodorant she’d unearthed from her bag. “Okay.”
Nora struck him as the kind of person who didn’t like things sugarcoated. So he just came out with it. “There’s black mold all over your bathroom. And probably beyond. I knocked out the tile in the tub this morning to see how far it went, and I think it extends past the bathroom. The only way to be sure is to start taking down walls.”
She blinked rapidly as she set the deodorant on her desk. “I thought you were just recaulking the tub.”
Yeah. Even though he’d worn her down on the topic of interior improvements in her house, he’d only done so by downplaying how much he was actually doing. “I’m sorry. I should have called you. But there was a cracked tile. I found a stack of spare tiles in the basement, so I was just going to replace the one. I pulled it up, and…”
“And now I have no tub.”
“Yeah, but more to the point, now you have a house that is not habitable. I think it’s behind the wallpaper in the hallway and your bedroom, too.” She seemed like she was going to argue with him, so he said, “Come on, you’re a doctor. You know you can’t live in a house with black mold.”
She deflated. Actually physically slumped forward in place. It pained him. Probably more than it should have. It wasn’t the end of the world. It was just a rental. But he felt bad that she was going to lose her yard where she could sometimes hear the lake.
“So you were just going to call Harold and not tell me?”
“No. I was going to tell you.” He was. He was just…“I don’t know. I wanted to speak to Harold myself.” He wanted to punch Harold’s lights out, actually.
She flashed him a wry smile. “Well, I guess the upside is I don’t have much to pack.” She looked at her watch. “I have to kick you out now. I do this poor man’s shower in the mornings here now that I’m a ‘runner.’” She narrowed her eyes. “And, Jake, you’re the best, but I’ll battle Harold myself.” He nodded and had begun to leave when she called after him. “Actually, there is one thing you can do, if you don’t mind.”
He turned. Held himself back from saying, “Anything.”
“Let me know if you have any ideas on places to stay short-term. Though maybe I should just go back to the hardware store and ask them.” She rolled her eyes. “They seem to have an answer for everything.”
They would have an answer, but God knew what it would be. He didn’t trust them not to mess up her life. He wanted to invite her to stay at his place while she looked for a more permanent solution. He would clear out his mom’s studio, even, make it into a second bedroom. But that was too weird. He cleared his throat. “Don’t go back to the hardware store. Let me ask around a bit.”
“Thanks. And I’m not picky about anything except that I need a place that’s pet-friendly.”
“About Mick. I actually took him with me on my way out of your place. He’s in the truck. I thought I’d keep him for the day if that’s okay with you? I felt bad leaving him there—the little dude wheezes enough as is.”
“You sure he won’t be in your way?”
“Nah. I’m out at a job site today. Big house with a fenced yard. He’ll have fun.”
“Jake. You are the best. Thank you.”
Her praise warmed him. “No problem. I’ll meet you back here at the end of the day. I actually have an idea regarding your housing situation.”
An idea that was not her becoming his roommate.
Which bummed him out more than it should have.
Black mold.
Nora had managed to mostly put the whole disaster out of her mind—minus a very annoyed lunchtime voice mail to Harold—because the day had been packed. She had not allowed herself to imagine a scenario in which the clinic got going so quickly. But it turned out that the town was hungry for local medical care. Almost everyone she saw gave a little speech about how happy they were not to have to drive to Grand View or even to London to see a doctor. She and Amber had been run off their feet all day, and every time she’d popped her head into the reception area, Wynd was taking a call—and that was how it had been for weeks.
She had wondered if a family practice clinic in a small town was going to be boring. And while it wasn’t the heart attacks and broken bones that had gotten her adrenaline pumping at the hospital in Toronto, she was digging the variety and the ability to get to know her patients. In the emergency department, her job had been to address the immediate problems she was presented with and either admit patients or patch them up and send them on their way. Here, she was going to be able to follow people over time—or, rather, over two years. She had seen a pair of newborn twins the other day and was looking forward to seeing them again at their next checkup.
Wynd stuck her head into Nora’s office, drawing Nora from her thoughts. “Hey, Nora. Eve Abbott and Jake Ramsey are waiting for you out front, and I’m headed home.”
She glanced at her watch. She’d been catching up on charting and had lost track of time. Amber had long since left. “Yeah, okay, thanks, Wynd. See you tomorrow.” Jake she wasn’t surprised about, but she wondered what Eve was doing here. “Actually, hang on a sec, will you?” Wynd came back. Nora didn’t know how to say this. She honestly wasn’t sure it was any of her business. But she’d ordered the flu vaccines for the Anti-Festival earlier in the week, and it had been on her mind. “I wanted to ask you a question. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to. But are your kids vaccinated?”