Page 9 of A Future in the Bay

“Yes,” Gwen said, even though it was essentially a lie. She wasn’t excited—eager, maybe. She felt too nervous about things going right to describe her emotions as excited. “Are we all ready?”

“Oh, definitely. We were all ready yesterday. Everything’s sanitized, everything’s well-stocked. We’re all set.” Heidi gave Gwen a cheerful smile, but Gwen could see the young blonde woman’s intelligent eyes glittering with sympathetic perception. She had a feeling that Heidi could see straight through her and she knew exactly how nervous she was.

“Great.” Gwen returned her smile briskly. “What does our schedule today look like?”

Heidi looked at the clipboard she was carrying. “Our first patient is at two o’clock, and we have seven more after that, scattered throughout the afternoon.”

Disappointment flopped in Gwen’s stomach. “So few?” she asked, crossing her arms and lifting her shoulders a little. “Is the schedule always going to be this empty, I wonder?”

“I wouldn’t worry about it.” Heidi hugged her clipboard in a relaxed manner, and Gwen noticed that there were tiny pictures of kittens printed on the fabric of her scrubs. “This is a small town, and you’ve only just arrived. Once word gets out about your practice, people will come more often. I mean, it’s only the first day. Word of mouth hasn’t done anything for you yet.”

“True.” Gwen turned to look out the window onto the sidewalk. People were strolling past, but none of them seemed to be looking at the clinic with any interest. “Maybe we need a bigger sign.”

“How about some flowers along the windowsill?” Heidi suggested. “Or a window box? That might draw people’s attention to the building.”

“That’s a great idea. And we could paint the name of the practice on the window,” Gwen said, her mind racing with excitement as she had the idea. “In white letters. Something elegant but big enough to be noticeable.”

“Sounds great to me!” Heidi smiled cheerfully. She was still only in her mid-twenties, and always seemed to have energy and enthusiasm.

Gwen smiled at her gratefully, but she still felt uncertain about everything. Her body seemed to be humming with restlessness. Painting the name of the practice in the window and going out to buy flowers were great ideas, but she couldn’t do either of them at the moment. She could leave the clinic briefly if she needed to since there were no patients scheduled for hours, but she didn’t want to leave for long or go very far in case there was a walk-in appointment.

“I’m getting coffee,” she announced suddenly. “What would you like?”

“Oh! Sure! Thanks.” Heidi grinned. “How about a Frappuccino?”

“You got it. I’ll be back soon.”

“I’ll hold down the fort till you get back,” Heidi said, saluting Gwen playfully.

Gwen smiled, glad that at least one of them was still in high spirits. She grabbed her purse and stepped out the front door of the clinic into the spring sunshine. The wind that day was chilly as usual, but she could feel that the sunlight was warmer than it had been. There was a fragrance of flowers in the air, and she took some deep breaths as she walked along the sidewalks of Blueberry Bay.

She reached her car, which was parked along the street about halfway down the block. She climbed into it, pulling up her GPS on her phone to look for a coffee shop.

“Oh,” she murmured, pleasantly surprised to find that there was one a very short drive away and that it had five stars. “Tidal Wave Coffee, huh?”

She drove to the coffee shop, glad that she could go somewhere close by and not take much time away from the clinic. She felt antsy, and even without patients scheduled for the morning, she wanted to be there. She told herself that she felt that way because they might get a walk-in, but in the back of her mind she knew that she wanted to be there because it felt like the only way to try to control her situation at the moment.

As she drove, she marveled at how small the town was. She turned onto a street that led up to the water, and she could see where the buildings ended and the ocean began. Her previous drives through the town had showed her how small it was in the other directions as well.

All of the shops surrounding her were well cared for and quaint, and the people walking around seemed to be comfortable in their surroundings. There was a homey, wholesome atmosphere about the place—it was the most “small town” small town that she’d ever been to before.

It seems like a nice place, she thought, glancing at the library as she passed it.It seems like the people here care about this place a lot.

But it was so small. What if it was too small for her? What if all of her workdays were like this, with hardly anything to do? She felt she would be unhappy without enough work. She worked hard—she always had. She was great at applying herself to challenges and overcoming them. If that went out of her life—if her job suddenly became easy—wouldn’t she become unbearably bored?

She thought about how her ex-boyfriend, Ron, would laugh if he saw her there in such a small town. He’d probably say it was the size of a shoe box—she’d heard him talk about small towns that way before. She could just picture the slightly condescending smirk on his face as he questioned her choices. She squared her shoulders as she drove, determined to not be bothered by what she knew he would be thinking, but the truth was that she was also doubting her choice to come to Blueberry Bay. What if it had been a mistake?

She took a deep breath, telling herself firmly that she came there for a reason. She’d needed a change of pace and she knew that the town could use another doctor. She was determined to run her clinic in Blueberry Bay with the same professionalism that she would have had for any other clinic.

In another minute, she arrived at her destination. She parked outside of Tidal Wave Coffee, taking note of what a cute place it was—she couldn’t help feeling a little charmed by it. She got out of her car and went inside, where she was immediately greeted by the rich, earthy aroma of coffee.

She inhaled the smell eagerly and stepped up to the counter to order. There was a man standing behind it who looked as though he’d just come out of the ocean. His wavy, long dark hair looked as though it was still drying after coming into contact with salty waves. He gave her a big smile even though they were total strangers. “Hi. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” Gwen said curtly. “I’d like a Frappuccino and an americano. Both larges, please.”

“You got it.” He smiled at her again and began to start on the drinks. Gwen noted that business was apparently slow for everyone that morning—although there were a few people sitting at tables in the open area behind her, there was no one waiting in line after her. The man with the wavy dark hair moved at a reasonable pace, but she wished he would put a little more speedinto it. Just because he wasn’t in a rush didn’t mean that she wasn’t, she thought with a squirm of frustration.

The man seemed to notice the way she was pressing her lips together, but instead of speeding up, he started to talk to her again.

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