Healing His Widowed Heart. Annie Hemby

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СКАЧАТЬ Rick nodded. “Of course we’ll wait.”

      Clara made a shooing motion at Mason. “Go, go. When you come back we’ll eat and get to know our new houseguest.”

      Mason frowned, glancing over at Lexie. She felt exactly the same way that he appeared to. Not that she didn’t like Mason—he seemed nice enough—but she’d embarrassed herself with him this morning.

      “Go on and clean up before the food gets cold,” Clara told him. “We’ll be waiting.”

      With a sideways glance at Lexie again, neither smiling nor frowning anymore, Mason disappeared down the hallway. Lexie stared after him. He was the tenant who lived here with Clara and Rick? The man she’d hoped to avoid for the rest of the summer?

      She took a seat at the kitchen table and resisted any negative thinking. She’d kept her spirits up all day despite running toward wildfires and landing herself in the hospital. Living next door to a man she’d hoped to avoid the rest of the summer really wasn’t that big of a deal.

      A few minutes later, Mason reappeared, clean-faced and dressed in a T-shirt and pair of jeans. He sat at the table across from her and just the close proximity made her blood pressure rise. Her heart bounced around nervously in her chest. Lexie tried to focus on Clara and Rick instead of the man in front of her. Tried and failed.

      “Let’s pray.” Clara turned to Rick. She extended her hand to him and to Mason on her other side. Mason took her hand and then reached for Lexie’s.

      Lexie swallowed, completing the chain by taking Rick’s hand on her left and Mason’s on her right.

      Rick bowed his head. “Heavenly Father, thank You for the food You’ve provided for us,” he said. “We know that You are our source. Thank You for these friends and family, old and new,” he said, referring to Lexie. Then he prayed for the safety of the town and the firemen as the forest fire raged a few miles away. “Keep us all safe, Lord. You are our protector. In Jesus’s almighty name we pray.”

      Everyone around the table said, “Amen.”

      Then Clara started to pass the serving bowls to the right.

      “She does this every night,” Mason said, serving himself several slices of honey-coated ham.

      “And he rarely misses a dinner. Not unless there’s an emergency. Or it’s his night at the Teen Center.” Clara smiled proudly at him, just as she probably would for her own sons if she had any. Lexie didn’t see any pictures of children in the house, though, so she gathered that the older couple didn’t. “You work at the Teen Center, too?” she asked.

      “Oh, Mason runs the place, dear.” Clara beamed.

      “And I don’t recall okaying any new volunteers lately,” he said, lifting his gaze to meet hers.

      Lexie swallowed. There was a hard tone to his voice that made her uneasy. “Dr. Marcus okayed it with you.”

      “You work with Dr. Marcus?” he asked.

      Lexie got the distinct impression that Mason wasn’t thrilled with her involvement. “Yes. I’m the new doctor who will be assisting him at the free health clinic.”

      She tried to smile. She was happy to be able to officially call herself a doctor. “I just passed my boards. Dr. Marcus was a professor of mine in medical school. He asked me to come to Carolina Shores and help him. He says there’s a big need for medical care here.”

      “Oh, there is,” Clara agreed, between bites.

      “Good medical care,” Mason said, his posture growing stonier by the second.

      Was he implying that she wasn’t good at what she did?

      Lexie shifted uncomfortably. “Of course.” She didn’t want to take offense, but how could she not? Mason was suddenly glaring at her, like she’d said or done something wrong.

      “Just because someone can’t afford medical care doesn’t mean they should get subpar attention from a new doctor, who’s more concerned with wedding planning than medicine.” He set his fork down. “And that goes for the teens in this town, too.”

      Okay, now she could get offended.

      “I’m sorry, but I’m very focused on my role as a doctor.” She’d wanted nothing more since she was six years old, lying in a hospital bed after her first asthma attack. “I graduated with honors from my class.”

      “Dr. Marcus wouldn’t have asked Lexie to come to Carolina Shores otherwise, dear,” Clara said, her brows bouncing nervously. Her fork was suspended in midair as she looked between them.

      Mason wiped his mouth with his napkin, scooted his chair back from the table and stood. “I don’t want to be rude, Clara, but I’m not very hungry anymore. I also need to head back to the fire early in the morning.”

      Clara and Rick exchanged a look.

      “Oh, Mason, can’t you just—”

      Rick moved a hand to cover her forearm, stopping her from continuing. For the entire dinner so far, he’d been quiet except to pray. “Good night then, Mason. Be careful tomorrow,” he said.

      “I will.”

      They watched Mason walk away. Lexie forced herself to take a deep breath. She felt like she’d just failed an exam, except school was over and Mason Benfield’s opinion of her shouldn’t have mattered. But it did. The look of disapproval in his eyes just now stung. She’d been foolish to risk her life this morning, she understood that, but it didn’t reflect on her skill as a doctor. Or it shouldn’t have. Neither did the fact that she’d been planning a wedding for the past year.

      “I’m sorry about that,” Clara said, gaining Lexie’s attention. “Mason gives all the young doctors a hard time. He hasn’t exactly had the best experience with medical people.”

      So he was like 50 percent of the human population who didn’t enjoy going to doctors’ or dentists’ offices, Lexie thought. That was no reason to be rude. She picked up her fork again and continued to eat, making conversation with her new Carolina Shores family. When the meal was over, Lexie retreated to the guest room down the hall, thankful for a soft place to rest her head, and for the fact that Mason had said he’d be leaving early in the morning. She wouldn’t mind not seeing him before she started her own busy day tomorrow—her first at the new health care clinic. She’d also be going to see the teens as planned tomorrow afternoon, whether Mason Benfield approved of her involvement or not.

      * * *

      After a long day at work, Mason walked into the Teen Center the next evening and his whole mood shifted. He loved coming to this place that his late wife had founded. It had meant so much to her when she was alive, and over the years it had come to mean a lot to him, as well.

      He high-fived one of the boys standing off to the side. “Hey, Albert. How are you?”

      “Great, Mr. Mason,” the boy said.

      Mason kept walking, waving at the kids he passed, smiling and giving a high five every now and then. He stopped walking, however, when СКАЧАТЬ