Page 12 of A Place for Daydreams

I don’t think that’s likely to happen here,she thought with a grin.And that’s fine with me. I’ve dated plenty. I could go for having some quiet in my life.

She’d dated a fair amount of people over the years, although she’d never seemed to find that spark that made her want to settle down with someone permanently. It had all worked out for her in the long run, since her singleness had allowed her to move to a new town easily, and she was glad that she was there in Rosewood Beach. She had plenty of time to focus on her career and enjoy living quietly and peacefully.

In the next moment, there was a soft knock on her office door.

“Noelle? Your next patient is here.”

The receptionist opened the door to Noelle’s office a little and poked her head inside, smiling. Noelle glanced with surprise at her schedule, which she’d pulled up on her computer screen. Shehadn’t been expecting this patient, which meant that they had signed up for an appointment very recently.

“Send him in,” she said breezily, glancing at the appointment information on the screen and seeing that the patient’s name was Dean Owens.

A young man stepped into her office. She was immediately taken aback by the fact that he was so young—close to her own age. It seemed like a strange coincidence that she’d just been thinking to herself that she was unlikely to have any young patients, and then she got one within minutes. He was handsome too, she thought, and looked pleasant. She liked the way his dark brown hair was a little messy, since it implied he was a laid-back person.

“Hello, Dean. I’m Noelle,” she said, standing and offering her hand for a handshake. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, grasping her hand firmly and shaking it. She got the impression that he was a little uncomfortable, and she made a mental note to try to help him feel more at ease.

“So, Dean, what’s going to happen first is I’ll go over some questions with you. All general procedure. We’ll go over things like your medical history, and you can tell me what your goals for physical therapy are. Sound good?”

“Sure.” He nodded. “Sounds good.” He spoke politely, but she got the sense that he was in a hurry to get things underway so that he could get out of there that much sooner.

“My first question is very important.” She paused for dramatic effect, and then said, “What’s your favorite color?”

His eyebrows lifted for a moment, and then he smiled a crooked smile. “What?”

She laughed, pleased that she’d succeeded in lightening the mood a little. “I think it’s important to know my patients. Besides, if I want to color-code my files, knowing everyone’sfavorite color helps me do that. So, what’s your answer to the big question?”

Dean laughed, and she noticed how kind his dark blue eyes looked. “Mmm, maybe red? Or sometimes blue. Like a dark blue.”

“Like your eyes.” She was about to say, but she stopped herself. Instead, she just nodded. “So red or blue. What about we just make things easy and say ‘purple’ for you?”

He laughed. “Sure. That’s fine with me.”

Chuckling, she made a note, feeling glad that she’d gotten him to laugh.

“What’s your favorite color?” he asked, smiling that crooked smile again.

“Oh, me? Hmm, probably pink.” She laughed.

“I can see that,” he said, gesturing to the desk, which had a variety of pink items on it.

She found herself grinning. “But we’re not here to talk about me. Let’s go over the rest of your information. Tell me a little bit about your medical history.” She wondered what it was that he was struggling with, since he didn’t have any kind of visible injury.

He inhaled and then let out a long sigh. “Well, my health has been great for most of my life. I played sports as a kid and throughout high school. I own the local auto repair shop, so I do a lot of physical work on cars. But recently, I started feeling unusually fatigued and achy. Long story short, I went in to get tests done, and they came back with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis.”

She watched his shoulders become tense as he spoke. She could tell that the unexpected diagnosis had turned his world upside down, and her heart went out to him.

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” she said, meaning it sincerely. “Tell me more about what you do for a living. You said it’s physically demanding work?”

“It can be. It involves heavy lifting and being in awkward positions underneath the cars sometimes.” He laughed. “I love it, though. That’s mostly why I’m here. I’m hoping to improve my strength and flexibility so that I can go back to doing what I love. Cars are like giant puzzles, and putting them back together exactly the right way is important, rewarding work. Essentially what I’m doing is keeping the people in my community safe. That means a great deal to me.”

She nodded, noting the passion in his voice when he spoke about his work. Her heart broke as she guessed how devastating it must be for a strong, athletic man like him to have to deal with the weakness and pain that came with osteoarthritis.

“It sounds as though you’re a wonderful mechanic,” she said, smiling at him. “You clearly have a passion for your work. Do you take all kinds of cars at your repair shop? Even older ones?”

He grinned. “Oh, yeah, we fix everything. My favorite was a 1968 Ford truck. We had to take apart the engine and put it back together again with some new parts, which was difficult because we had to search for them because they’re antiques. But we ended up finding the parts we were looking for, and the whole thing was such a fun, rewarding experience.”

“Really? That’s fantastic. I tried to find a vintage alternator once, and it was very difficult.”

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