Page 59 of The Reading

“Oh, c’mon,” she scoffed. “People judge all the time.”

“So, that makes it right?” I could feel a headache coming on. “You don’t know me beyond the few words that we’ve spoken, but it’s enough to not like me?”

Rachel let out a deep sigh. “I just don’t understand why Ellen’s here,” she said. “She’s not invalid or on too many medications for you to keep track of. Hell, you’re a goddamn doctor. If anyone could take care of their parent properly, it’d be you.”

“Well, if you’re done judging me unfairly, I’d be more than happy to explain why my mother lives here,” I snapped.

“It’s not any of my business,” she retorted, and I wanted to strangle her.

“But it’s your business enough tojudge?”

“Fine,” she bit out like a spoiled toddler. “Explain away.”

I was going to strangle her with my bare hands.

*****

Rachel~

Was it wrong to judge? Absolutely. Were his reasons any of my business? Not at all. Did he owe me an explanation? Not in the least. However, I cared about Ellen enough to overstep.

Taylor Mannis stepped closer to me-if that was possible-caging me in between my car and his hard body. “When my father passed away, my mother went into a deep depression,” he said, and my heart immediately ached for Ellen. “Not deep enough for me to put her on medication, but anyone with working eyes could see that she was heartbroken. For six months, I had to watch her fade into herself because she didn’t know how to exist without him. Now, while I can appreciate my parents’ epic love story, it wasn’t fun to see her not know how to be anything without him at her side.”

Okay…so, maybe I was beginning to feel a little small

“When I was finally able to get her to snap out of it, I was terrified to go to work, leaving her alone so fucking much.” The man was on a roll, and the more that he spoke, the more embarrassed I felt. “And when she had to start getting on medication for high blood pressure and anxiety, yes, my first thought was to get her the best nursing care available. However, that’s not what she needed. Like you’ve so eloquently stated, she is still very capable of taking care of herself most days.”

“Taylor-”

“But hiring a private nurse still left her alone all day with only one other person to tend to her,” he went on, really on a roll. “What if the nurse I chose was mean? Or didn’t care about my mother’s broken heart? Or abused her? Or any of the fucking things that people stress over when picking out a babysitter for their kids, a nurse for their family members, a tutor, or any of that shit?”

Taylor ran a hand through his dark brown hair, and I could see it trembling a bit, and that’s how I knew that he was beyond pissed off at having to explain himself to me. I stared up at his handsome face, and it was an awful feeling to know just how wrong I’d been.

“My mother didn’t need a nurse,” he spat. “She neededfriends. She needed to get out of the house and resume living life again. She needed to rejoin the living, Rachel. Was she expected to live out the rest of her life with her son as heronlyfriend? Was she expected to do nothing but interact withonlyher nurse all day?”

“Look, Tay-”

“So, aftermonthsof searching for places that might suitherneeds-not mine-I did a tour of this place, interviewed every fucking doctor that worked here, sat down with the goddamn board, then after throwing the weight of my name around, I finally sat down and talked to my mom about it.” Taylor let out a low growl. “It only took ten minutes of telling her about the place before she was ready to pack up and move.” I tried not to wince. “Evensherecognized where her life was headed, and she was brave enough to do something about it.” Taylor slapped his hands on his hips. “So, no, Rachel. I didn’tdumpmy mother here because I was too busy with whores in my bed or didn’t want to bother with her.Wemoved her here because she needed to do more in life than just miss my father.”

There weren’t enough words in the English language to describe how awful I felt. I had judged Taylor in the worst way, and not just him. Instead of asking my charges how they felt about living at Crystal Gardens, I had assumed that they’d all been placed here like disposable furniture. I always imagined that I would be taking care of my father in his old age, so…so I was pushing what I thought was right onto other people, and I’d never been more wrong.

I felt wretched.

In all honesty, even if he had dumped Ellen here, it wasn’t any of my business. My business started and ended with my patients. My responsibility was to them and their care. No one needed my opinion on the whys and hows.

“Dr. Mann-”

“Oh, I’m Dr. Mannis now?” he snapped, and he seemed more upset about that than anything else. “Do I need to get my mother a new-”

“No!” I quickly cried out. “No.” This time, my voice was calmer. “This is just…I’d like to leave Ellen out of this…mess.”

“I agree,” he bit out.

Before I could say anything more, he muttered some more stuff under his breath, then turned around and storm back to wherever he had come from, leaving me feeling like shit.

Chapter 3

Rachel~

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