Page 1 of Fractured Reunion

CHAPTER ONE

Dr. Aaron Monroe froze when he recognized his ex-wife, Maggie Dall, off to one side of the large conference room of the very fancy Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. What in the world was she doing there?

Silly question. Obviously, they were both attending the same medical conference. But he hadn’t seen Maggie in two years.

Two years, one week, and five days, if he were being honest. The worst day of his life, the finalization of their divorce, was etched in his memory forever.

Maggie laughed at something, tucking a strand of her long, dark curly hair behind her ear. His heart clenched, making him wonder for the millionth time if Maggie had found someone else.

Maybe even remarried.

Started a family.

The sting of regret was sharp. Their marriage had ended over their inability to have children. Maggie had walked away, and Aaron had let her go.

But he hadn’t recovered from their split. And doubted he ever would.

Oh, he’d told himself to get over her. She was the one who’d left him. He’d tried to move on, had even left his position as a pediatric cardiac surgeon at Johns Hopkins to return to Milwaukee to be closer to his family. His dad’s heart attack had been the primary motivation for the move.

But he’d also thought it would be the best way to avoid running into Maggie as she worked for Johns Hopkins too.

Ironic to run into her here in their hometown.

She moved toward the doors leading outside. For reasons he couldn’t name, he quickly crossed the room to follow. Even though there were plenty of conference attendees that he could use as a buffer, he wanted to talk to her.

To see if she was remarried.

He hadn’t noticed her name of Maggie Dall on the list of attendees. Maybe once he knew for sure she had remarried, he would also be able to move on with his life.

“Maggie?” He pushed through the door. The bright autumn sun flickered off the yellow and gold leaves on the trees.

Maggie turned to face him. Her brown eyes held his gaze, but she didn’t look surprised to see him. He was one of the conference presenters after all. She couldn’t really pretend to not have noticed his name and professional photo on the website.

Was that why she’d come? To see him?

Don’t go there, he silently warned. Yet he couldn’t quite squash the surge of hope when he saw her name tag read Maggie Dall.

“Hi, Aaron. How have you been?” Her polite tone put his teeth on edge. A quick glance at her left hand revealed she was not wearing a ring.

Which didn’t mean much these days.

“I’m doing well, thanks.” That was a big fat lie, but there was no sense dredging up the past. “How about you?”

“I’m good.” The stilted conversation could not have been more awkward. “I heard you relocated to Milwaukee. How do you like working at Children’s Memorial?”

“It’s great.” Why on earth had he followed her outside? This chitchat was pure torture. “My dad had a heart attack in the spring, and while he’s doing fine now, I decided it was time to be closer to the family.”

“Of course, you’d want to be near them. I’m glad your dad is doing okay.”

Maggie had always liked his family, which made it that much worse when she’d walked away from their marriage. Aaron was the oldest of six, and they all worked in the medical field in some way. Except for his brother Alec who was a police detective. They often teased Alec that his lack of being a doctor was why he’d married a physician named Jillian.

“Well, I just wanted to say hi.” He forced a smile as if seeing her wasn’t ripping his heart from his chest.

“Aaron—” She was interrupted by a loud crash. He looked to the right, horrified to see that a large truck had T-boned a city bus.

Without hesitation, he ran toward the scene of the crash. Maggie quickly joined him.

“Get back! We’re doctors! Call 911 and get back!” He shoved gawkers out of the way to reach the bus. Peering through the door, he could see the driver was bleeding from a cut on his head, but otherwise, he was conscious. When Aaron pounded on the door, he opened it.

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