“Ella?” a voice called.

Glancing up, a doctor I’d never met was standing by the door to the reception area at the doctor’s office. When I met her eyes, she smiled, a hint of a question in her gaze.

I stood from my chair, setting aside the magazine I’d been flipping through. “That’s me,” I said, giving a little wave as I approached her.

After I’d left the hospital from my roll in the ditch, the hospital had automatically scheduled an appointment here for me. This was the one and only general medical clinic in Willow Brook. I hadn’t been here in years. Willow Brook Family Medicine had expanded from one doctor to two, or so it appeared. I’d been expecting to see Dr. Johnson, although by my calculations he had to be approaching seventy at this point.

When I reached the woman, she held out her hand with another smile. “Hi Ella, I’m Dr. Charlie Lane. Please just call me Charlie.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ella, but you already know that,” I replied with a quick shake of her hand.

Gesturing me through the door, she closed it behind us. “Come on back. I understand you’re here to get some stitches removed.”

“That’s the plan. They said it would be up to you to see if they were ready to be removed.”

I followed her into a small room, and she closed the door, gesturing for me to sit in a chair beside a narrow counter against the wall. She slipped her hips onto a rolling stool with an attached table and computer monitor.

As she clicked through a few screens, I glanced over at her. She had to be the youngest doctor I’d ever met, or so I guessed. She had dark hair with a whimsical streak of purple on one side and wide gray eyes behind her glasses. She wore a white lab coat and gave off an air of seriousness.

“Looks like you’ve been a patient here since you were a little girl,” she commented.

“Well, it’s the only clinic in town. I think Dr. Johnson was everybody’s doctor, right? Obviously, you’re new. With you here and all the upgrades, this place is totally different,” I observed.

The entire office had been updated with fresh paint and new furnishings. Charlie nodded and smiled softly.

“I am new here. I actually moved here from Boston. I always wanted to come to Alaska. When I saw this job, I jumped at it. I was actually born in Alaska when my dad was stationed here in the military. My parents moved away before I even started kindergarten, but it’s always been my dream to come back.”

“Are you planning to stay?” I asked.

She nodded, her gray eyes brightening. “I love it here. Willow Brook is ideal. It’s small, and it feels like we’re in the middle of nowhere, but we’re not too far away from Anchorage, so I can get my city fix if I need it.”

“Exactly why I love it here too. Have you survived a winter yet though?”

Charlie shook her head and smiled. “Not yet. Boston definitely has winter, but I understand it’ll be longer and darker here. I’m optimistic I can handle it just fine. Anyway, let me take a look at those stitches. Before we get to that, I have to do the usual and clear a few standard questions.”

At my nod, she quickly asked me a run of questions, checked my blood pressure, weighed me and asked me if anything had changed since the last time I had seen a doctor. She didn’t say a word about my car accident ten years ago. It was a bit of a relief. For a while there, every time I went to the doctor that came up. But it had been long enough now that there wasn’t anything else left to ask.

After that process, she gestured for me to sit on the examining table. Stepping to my side, she carefully brushed my hair back from my forehead to check the stitches. “Looks good. You ready for me to do this?”

“Let’s do it.”

She quickly removed them, so fast I barely felt a thing.

“No bleeding,” she commented as she carefully dabbed the area with antiseptic. “No need for a bandage unless you want one. I’d recommend you use this cream over the scar for a few days,” she said as she handed me a tube of cream. “Be careful when you’re washing your face and things like that. The skin will still be tender for a few more days, but it’s healed up nicely. You shouldn’t even notice the scar once it completely heals.”

“That’s what I was hoping,” I said. “Anything else?”

She shook her head. “Nope. You’re done for the day.”

“Well, it was nice to meet you,” I said as she walked me back down the hall. “I suppose I’ll be seeing you for anything standard from this point going forward.”

With a smile, she nodded, stepping out into the waiting room with me. Once I turned away from her, my gaze landed on Jesse Franklin. Jesse was a friend of Cade’s, and I’d known him for years. While he hadn’t grown up here, his family moved here while I was still in high school after Cade had graduated. They’d become fast friends and stayed in touch even when Cade moved away for a while. “Jesse!” I exclaimed as soon as I saw him. “What are you doing here?”

Along with being a friend of Cade’s, Jesse was also a hotshot firefighter. He flashed a roguish grin. “Just stopping to get my shoulder checked out. I dislocated it last week out in the field,” he explained, rolling his shoulder as he spoke.

He gave me a quick hug when I reached him, ruffling my hair as I stepped away. He was as handsome as ever with his dark amber hair and green eyes that usually held a twinkle. He was like a brother to me. “Good to see you,” I murmured.

“Good to have you back. Your dad and Cade are tickled,” he replied with a wink.

Turning to say goodbye to Charlie, I noticed she’d gone quiet and her cheeks were flushed. Meanwhile, Jesse’s usual teasing demeanor faded when he glanced her way. “Dr. Lane,” he said with a nod. “I’m not late this time.”

Dr. Lane, or rather Charlie as she’d asked me to call her, didn’t seem as relaxed with Jesse as she had with me. In fact, she seemed downright tense.

“I’m hoping you’re going to clear me to go back to duty today,” Jesse added.

Uncertain how to read what was going on, I figured it was best for me to go. I waved goodbye to both of them and slipped out.