Run: Beginnings (2 page)

              Natalie straightened her spine, although it didn’t do her much good against such a giant. “I am so! I’d already been practicing for two years before I took over Dr. Cadwell’s clinic.”

              The man gave her dubious look. He seemed unsure that she was experienced enough to use a can opener let alone run a medical practice. “If that’s the case,” he said with enough doubt to make Natalie sigh, “then that’s quite a job. Doc Cadwell’s place has been falling apart for years.”

              Natalie nodded and pointed at the piece of paper. “Hence, my long list of supplies. I need to get that place in decent running order before winter really hits. I’ve never had to live through snow and I don’t plan on having it fall through my roof for my first year.”

              The man’s eyebrows nearly hit his hairline at her words. A neat trick, Natalie mused considering his broad forehead. “And you think you’ll be able to do all those repairs singlehandedly?” he asked.

              “Of course I can,” she huffed. “I’ve done a rotation in neurology where I literally had a man’s brain in my hands. I think I can handle a few nails and a hammer.” Natalie tried to say this with as much confidence as possible. It was really for her benefit as much as the man’s. In such a small remote town, she hardly expected an overflow of available contractors living nearby. She would just have to do the best she could till spring rolled around and she could hire someone from a larger town over.

              The man, towering over her, gave her a dubious look. Despite the disaster with the step stools, Natalie tried to make herself look like a competent handywoman. With a sigh of surrender, the man stuck out a large, well-callused hand. “I’m Eric Mitchells. Looks like I have some rooting around for you to do today,” he said with a warm smile.

              Natalie shook Eric’s hand, marveling at how her own hand was completely swallowed in Eric’s larger one. “Wait here and I’ll get you set up. I don’t want you to be rearranging my
entire
store,” he said with a teasing wink.

              Natalie felt her cheeks immediately flush red.

              Within thirty minutes, Eric had tidily gathered all her supplies and had even packed them into her truck, wrapping everything in a waterproof tarp. After Natalie paid, Eric stopped her with a meaningful look. “Always ask for help if you need it, Doc. I’ll be here.”

              Natalie felt her heart skip a beat. How could this man have such an effect on her? She had only just met him!

              “I will,” she murmured before walking quickly out into the rain and the welcomed coolness of the air.

Chapter
Two

              “This time, be careful where you put your hands in the kitchen!” Natalie chided gently as she walked Mrs. Snow back towards the front of the clinic.

              The sixty-year-old women smiled and nodded. “Thank you again, Dr. Evers. My hand already feels better!” she said, lifting up her bandaged right hand which she had burned by carelessly touching a hot pan. The forgetful old woman looked around the clinic hallway, as if waiting for something to magically appear. “Now my glasses….”

              Natalie suppressed a smile and gently tapped against the lenses that were resting on Mrs. Snow’s head. “Ah!” the lady cried as she pulled them down onto her nose. Nearby Nurse Marcia grinned and shook her head indulgently.

              Handing over Mrs. Snow’s chart to the nurse, Natalie went back into her small office in the back corner of the clinic. It had just enough space for a rickety desk and chair. There had been no computer when she had arrived but luckily Natalie had had her laptop. She was slowly trying to digitize as much of the work in the clinic as possible. But it was slow going, considering the clinic had been relying on the traditional paper and pen methodology for nearly sixty years.

              Safely hidden away in her office, Natalie gave in to a tired yawn. She had been up all night trying to refit the doors in her home. She had felt they were the first priority since the ill fit allowed chilly blasts of Canadian wind to breeze through the home.

              Thinking about her recent adventures—fixing a house, taking over a new practice, moving to the wilderness—Natalie could hardly recognize her life. It had been such a sudden change from just a few months ago.

***

              “Why would you go to some place so damn far? Lowell? Where the heck is that? I’ve never even heard of it!” Amber had demanded, her hand resting over her large taut belly. Natalie had done a round in obstetrician
and
pediatrics but her friend Amber had to be the fastest growing pregnant belly she had ever seen. Only five months in, and her friend’s tummy was a huge taut drum.

              Natalie stirred her iced tea as she leaned back on Amber’s plush couch in her immaculately kept living room. She didn’t know how her tidy friend would handle the messy business of motherhood. The thought of it made Natalie smile into her tea.

              “Well, I doubt you or I know all the cities in Canada. It is a big country, you know,” Natalie teased.

              Amber glared at her. “Don’t you try to be smart. What I mean is, why am I not at least hearing names like Vancouver or Montreal or some place big!”

              “Well,” Natalie said, looking down at her drink, “Lowell is just outside of Vancouver.”

              “Eight hours north through heavily wooded mountains is
not
‘just outside of Vancouver’ and you know it,” Amber snapped. She looked at her friend and sighed helplessly, saying in a gentler tone, “Don’t run away because of Michael.”

              “It isn’t because of Michael!” Natalie said a little too hurriedly. Flipping back a thick curl, she said more calmly, “It’s a great opportunity, Am. I’ll be running my
own
clinic!”

              Amber raised a brow. “I know I’m just a fat old housewife and soon to be stay-at-home mom so what do I know
but
I’m pretty sure working at UCLA Medical is several steps more prestigious than running a backwoods clinic in Canada.”

              Natalie couldn’t help but snort at her friend’s perceptiveness. “Well maybe I don’t want to go the major hospital route,” she said vaguely. “Maybe I want to work in a more intimate setting.”

              Amber reached out and gently touched her friend’s arm. Despite what her friend had said, even pregnant, Amber had still retained the litheness of her naturally model-like figure. Her arms were still slim and her body still quite slender, minus her huge belly. In high school, they had looked like the odd pair—the tall and beautiful Amber with the short and pudgy Natalie. But they had had a friendship of deep understanding that had withstood the test of time. Natalie knew she could always rely upon Amber no matter what.

              “Be honest with me, Nat. This is your
life
we’re talking about here. Don’t let what happened with Michael take away everything else you’ve worked so hard for.” Amber’s clear blue eyes glittered with sincerity and warmth.

              Natalie’s own soft brown eyes creased in gratefulness for her friend’s concern. But she could feel the burn of quickly mounting tears. She tried not to focus on her friend’s glittering wedding ring. The symbol of her friend’s happiness and contentment in love. Something she thought she had had until…until….

              “I think this is the right time for me to try and experiment a little,” Natalie said, a little gruffly as she tried to clear her voice of emotion. “I’m still young enough. Plus, these hips might finally feel at home in the freezing Canadian Rockies than down here by the beach and sand.” Natalie laughed, trying to insert some levity into the conversation.

              Amber snorted. “You’re gorgeous and the sooner you realize it, the sooner Michael will be banging his head against the wall as he sees all the men lining up to take you out. But if you think this is really what you want to do….”

              “It is.”

              “Even though you’ll be so far away from home?”

              “I’ll have a phone and my laptop always.”

              Amber sighed. “And as long as you don’t forget your godmother duties,” she said, rubbing her belly.

              Natalie grinned. She leaned forward and also rubbed her friend’s belly. “I’ll be here bright and early for your baby shower and will spoil your little baby rotten.”

              Amber slowly allowed a reluctant smile to cross her face. “Then I guess we need to go shopping for some winter clothes.” She held Natalie’s eyes for a beat before the two girls dissolved into giggles.

              That night, lying in bed, Natalie had wanted to cry at how touched she had been by her friend’s unwavering support.

***

              But regardless of all her bravado, it
had
been hard adjusting to life in Canada. After flying a thousand miles north from Los Angeles, Natalie had gotten off her plane in Vancouver and had been driven eight hours in the dead of night into a small town that was surrounded by thick woods and mountains. Being from a city, Natalie had never seen so much nature in one place.

              She only met Dr. Cadwell for a few hours. All of his belongings had already been packed and shipped to his family in Nova Scotia. Small and elderly, his stooped little form did nothing to diminish his friendliness. “I trust this practice will be in good hands, Natalie,” he had said as he had enveloped her smooth youthful hands with his large aged ones. Although she had never met the man, Natalie had felt moved that he would trust her with such a legacy. She had smiled and nodded.

              “I will do my best, sir.” And that was the attitude she tried to maintain. Even when she had found the drafty house and the rickety car. Even when she had seen the small clinic, perhaps the tiniest she had ever seen, with its one exam room. Even when she had had her coffee freeze overnight from the poorly insulated windows and doors. She had been tempted to call Amber and to moan about the workload that had been left for her. But she knew that was a slippery slope. It was better to just buckle down and put her nose to the grindstone. And although it was hard to wake up with cold cheeks and frozen coffee, the sheer amount of work pushed her thoughts away from anything that left her homesick or heartbroken. She hardly had time to think about Michael when she had to worry about her car starting in the mornings.              

“Dr. Evers?”

              Natalie looked up from her reverie to see Nurse Evelyn standing outside her office. Dr. Cadwell had opened this clinic nearly sixty years ago and the staff had changed very little since the beginning days. The clinic boasted three nurses and one part time receptionist. All of them were older than Natalie. She could tell upon arrival that they had had their suspicions about the young new doctor.

              Natalie understood their wariness. After all, it wasn’t as if she had been a close relation of Dr. Cadwell’s. She was only in their town because she possessed a medical degree. But as soon as the first patient came in through the doors, the staff quickly realized that despite her youth, she was just as competent as the old doc had ever been.

              The town quickly grew warmer towards the new doctor as well. They appreciated her energy and the new practices she instituted into the clinic, revitalizing the sleep little clinic into something modern and up to date.

              “Yes?” Natalie answered with a smile. She already knew she’d be taking home a pile of charts to finish during dinner. And that was if she could finish refitting the doors before bedtime. She really didn’t want to keep sleeping among layers of sweaters anymore. Natalie hoped Nurse Evelyn didn’t have any more work for her.

              “Anne Michael’s cancelled her appointment and Donald Pritchert rescheduled for next week,” the nurse informed. “And since it’s really pouring right now with only forty minutes till we close the clinic….”

              Natalie immediately pounced on it. It was already so cold with just rain. She knew that once real winter hit, it would start snowing. She had to get as much of the house repaired as possible while
also
balancing the medical charting that she was trying to move over onto a digital format. “Yes, let’s close for today. No one’s going to risk coming in at this weather.”

              Nurse Evelyn grinned. She winked as she replied, “As you say, Doctor.” The nurse made a move to leave but turned back around. “Oh and Nurse Patty and I had some soup and roast leftover from home last night,” she said, referring to the other middle aged nurse on duty today. “We thought just in case you didn’t feel like cooking tonight, we’d pack it up for you.” The nurse turned away before Natalie could say anything.

              Natalie grinned as she watched Nurse Evelyn walk away. The entire staff knew the condition Dr. Cadwell’s house was in. She had
n’
t asked for help and the nurses seemed to sense her determination to settle in all on her own. But even still, Natalie had magically found a packed space heater waiting for her in her office one afternoon and consistently packed foods for her at the end of every shift. Whether she had noticed it or not, Canada was suddenly beginning to feel just a bit more like home.