Page 2 of Coming For Her Curves
Remorsefully, I shake my head.
He stands up and puts his hands on his sides. “What is this about, Ryker? Do you need more money? We can renegotiate your contract.”
I lean back in my chair. “I don’t need more money. I’m ready to retire, Greg. It’s time.”
He shakes his head. “Look, emotions are high. We just won the national championship. Wait a few days and then we can talk about this again.”
I stand up and hold my hand to him. “I appreciate what you’re doing. I really do. I want to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, and I will wait a few days to announce, but my mind is not going to change. I’m ready to retire. I’m not coming back.”
CHAPTER 2
IZZY
I’m standing behind the nurse’s station, and Caroline is smirking at me. We’ve been best friends for most of our lives. We met in elementary school. We were best friends growing up. We even went to nursing school together. I helped her with the death of her husband years ago, and most recently she’s helped me deal with finding out my husband cheated on me, which is why he’s now my ex-husband. Caroline is usually more laid back, but right now she’s practically beaming with excitement. Like really excited and I’m not sure what’s going on. I should probably be nervous. I hold a file to my chest. “What’s up?”
She is practically bouncing on her feet, and she can barely contain herself. She leans in. “Ryker Kirby announced his retirement.”
I feel a jolt. It’s just an automatic feeling that rolls through my body, but I try to hide my reaction. I watched the Lonestar Thunder game the other night, and Ryker had the best game of his career. There’s no way he’s retiring.
“I don’t care, Caroline.”
She laughs and leans against the cabinets in front of me, blocking me from opening them. “Really? You don’t care that the man you’ve loved most of your life just announced his retirement?”
My mouth falls open, and I shake my head. “It’s none of my business.”
Caroline laughs. “First of all, we’re best friends, and I know you. You care, so you can quit acting like you don’t.”
I shrug. “I don't care. I haven’t seen him in twenty years.”
Caroline shrugs and looks at her short, painted nails. “So you don't want to hear about the gossip rags and what they're saying?”
“Nope. Don't you have patients to help?” I ask her, trying to get her back to work and off the topic of Ryker Kirby. It was twenty years ago that I told him I wanted to end things. And I’ve regretted that decision at least once a day since.
She stomps her foot. “Isabel Curtis, is that you? Where is my best friend? There’s no way you’re not excited about this.”
I gently shove her aside so I can get to the cabinet. “It’s none of my business, Caroline. I’m sure he has his reasons for doing what he’s doing, and they don’t have anything to do with me.”
She puts her hand on the wall next to the cabinet. “Oh yeah, there’s something else. You sure you don’t want to know?”
I slam the cabinet shut. “Nope.”
I turn to walk away and get three steps when Caroline drops the bombshell. “He did an interview, and they asked his plans for the future.”
My feet stop moving, and my head drops between my shoulders.Don’t ask. Don’t ask.I repeat the words over and over, but I can’t stop myself. “What did he say?”
She walks up to me. “He said that he was moving to Whiskey Run. He said—” She silently claps her hands together. “He said that he has something unfinished that he needs to take care of.”
My mind starts to whirl, but I rein it in quickly. I’m not the naïve girl that believes in forever anymore, and there’s no way that Ryker Kirby even remembers me after all this time. He’s not going to quit his job and move back to Whiskey Run for some girl he knew twenty years ago. “Caroline, that could be anything. His dad still lives here. He’s a patient here. Maybe he wants to be close to him. Don’t try and figure out what some man is thinking?—”
“Some man? Some man? He was our friend, Isabel. He’s not just a stranger on the street.”
I roll my eyes. “Well, I’m not going to speculate on why he’s quit his job or why he’s coming here of all places. I’m sure he has his reasons.” I point at the closed door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a patient waiting.” I point at her. “And I’m sure you do too.”
I don’t have a break for another two hours, but when I do, I slip off to the break room and pull my phone from my pocket. I do a quick Internet search, and the feed is full of news about Ryker’s recent retirement. I click on the first one and do a quick scan. The baseball community is shocked. Some people are really mad, making threatening remarks. Some people are supportive, and some people are speculating on the reasons why.
A few different theories are discussed. Some say it’s drug rehab, which makes me mad. Anyone who would think that doesn’tknow Ryker. Some say he has a gambling problem, which is ridiculous because he’s always been one of the most responsible people I know.
I go down the line and see a video. Before I can talk myself out of it, I click on it and watch, staring at Ryker as I do.
