Page 63 of The Doctor's Simple Life

And I shouldn’t have been. And now I have to tell her this in a way that she’ll hear.

If I have to get on my knees and beg her to listen to me, I will.

“I bought the hospital,” I say, then clear my throat.

“Why the hell did you buythishospital?” scoffs Sienna. “Don’t you have enough to do in your own life? Don’t you have someone else you could torment?”

“I didn’t mean to torment you,” I say, my hackles rising. Then I shake my head.

Arguing with her like this isn’t the right thing to do. Instead, I take a deep breath and hold out my hands. “Please, will you listen to me for two seconds? I have to tell you something.”

“You get two seconds. That’s all.” She folds her arms and glares at me.

I take a little steadying breath. This isn’t quite the reunion I’d imagined in my head. Not that I’d imagined forgiveness and roses, exactly, but I had kind of hoped she’d be more pleased to see me. At least a little bit pleased.

When I told Mikey I wanted to buy the hospital, he laughed and laughed until he was so red in the face that I thought his head was about to explode. “Buy Silverbell General?” he said. “You mean you liked it there that much?”

“Yes,” I said, and it was the most honest thing I’d ever said in my whole life. “Yes, I did.”

It took him a minute to understand what the hell I was saying to him. Then the realization struck him that I wasn’t joking, and his face turned from one of absolute humor to one of absolute rage. “You’re telling me,” he said and then sniffed, “that you are willing to give up a fortune and a respectable career for a hospital in the middle of nowhere, and for what? You’re not a businessman, Reece. You’re hardly about to start your own hospital empire. What in God’s name could you possibly want to buy this hospital for?”

After I hesitated just a little too long, he said, “It’s that girl, isn’t it? You seriously think you can get back in that girl’s good graces by buying her hospital?”

For two months, all I had done was lie about how backwater Silverbell was, so the only thing I could do was tell the truth. All I did was nod, letting that be all the confession it needed to be.

And Mikey understood. He understood that I was serious about Sienna. He understood that I was serious about Silverbell General. He told me that if I was serious about buying Silverbell General, then I could say goodbye to my job in Miami.

So I did. I packed my bag that night and signed the paperwork the next day.

And now I’m here.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” says Sienna as I finish my story. “Why the hell did you give up your job for this?”

“Sienna, don’t you see?” I rush over to her and take her hand. She snatches it away from me, and I throw mine up in surrender. I don’t want to force her into anything. “I haven’t given up a job that I loved. I’ve given up a salary that I loved.”

She scoffs hard at that, and her eyes shine with tears. Now or never. I have to make her see.

“Don’t you understand?” I say, desperation creeping into my voice. “In that month here with you, I was happier than I’d been in years. You were right. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, how much status, how many friends. If you don’t have people who you truly care about around you, then what’s the point?”

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me,” she snaps. “I can’t deal with this at all.” She presses her hand to her forehead, her face draining of all color.

“Sit down,” I say, guiding her to a seat. This time she doesn’t fight me, and I’m glad, because it looks like she’s about to fall over for real.

“This has to be some sort of joke, right?” she says quietly, looking up at me with hurt and confusion in her eyes. “This is some awful prank dreamed up by you and your buddies from Miami just to make our lives here miserable. You really think we’re just little people for you to play with. We’re nothing to you.”

Her eyes fill with tears. I crouch down in front of her, reaching out for her hand again. “Sienna, look into my eyes,” I whisper.

She does, and I take a deep breath. I have to make my confession now, or I never will. “I love you, Sienna. I truly do.”

She chokes out a noise that I can’t decipher, but she doesn’t look away.

So I keep going.

“I know you might think this is out of the blue or crazy, but that person I turned back into when Mike got here… it’s not who I want to be. I’m sorry I let him hurt you. I’m sorry I let myself hurt you. I should never have done that. I guess seeing him again turned me back into that person who wanted approval, but it wasn’t worth it because I lost you.”

Tears really do fall down her face now, tumbling over her pretty cheeks. I want to reach up to wipe them away, but I’ve already done enough today without intruding on her space even more.

“Tell me this isn’t a dream,” she whispers.

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