Fractured Eden Read online

  Chapter 5

  Aaron heard a horse trotting behind his house.

  He swallowed the last drop of home-brewed coffee and walked out the back door, his shoes slipping along the dew-moistened grass. Behind the fence, a horse and rider loomed in the early morning light.

  “Hello.” Grant Belkin’s voice echoed around the pasture as he dismounted his horse. He strolled over to Aaron’s backyard fence. “I noticed my cattle were over in this part of the pasture. I thought I’d see if you were still home.”

  Aaron leaned against the fence. “You’re up early.”

  “I’m a cowboy.”

  “How long have you run this ranch?”

  Grant looked over at his cattle. “A few years now.”

  “Do you have family to help you?”

  “A daughter. She’s married and lives in California.” He rubbed his horse’s face. “Cancer took my wife two years ago.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  A few of the cows mooed.

  “You keep the herd healthy and then sell them?” Aaron said.

  “I used to.” Grant put his hands on top of the fence.

  Startled, Aaron stepped back. His eyes are like lasers, Aaron thought.

  “What are you running from, Doc?”

  “What?” Aaron touched his jaw. “I …” He sighed and looked down. “I’m not sure.”

  “Ever’body runs from something now and then. You’re lucky. Sometimes there’s no place to run to.” Grant mounted his horse. “What brought you to our neck of the woods?”

  “I just want to plant my roots and run a decent medical practice. I’ve heard a little bit about this part of the country. I’m told it’s pleasant and relaxing.”

  “Pleasant and relaxin’?” Grant pulled on the reins and turned his horse. “It can be.” He looked back at Aaron. “Stop by my place sometime, and I’ll show you around the ranch.”

  “I will.” Aaron watched him ride away. He stood by the fence until he could no longer hear Grant’s horse.

  Aaron shook his head. Who is he to ask if I’m running away from something?

  “Are you okay?” Aaron said to Stella as she walked into the clinic.

  “Sorry I’m late. I overslept my alarm. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

  “Neither did I. Let’s face it. We both have a neurotic problem with drug abuse patients.”

  Stella smiled. “So we’re both neurotic. Got a pill for that, Doc?”

  Aaron shook his head. “No pill. No magic wand.” He pointed to his temple. “We’ve got to rewire our brains.”

  “Now, how do we do that?”

  “Practice and time. It takes effort, and maybe some counseling.”

  Stella sighed and looked out the window. “So we have to take on the demon again, face to face.”

  “That’s one way to look at it. We’ve got to stay confident. Others have overcome this. We can, too.”

  “I’m not looking forward to that day.”

  He looked down as Stella walked away. “I sound like I know what the heck I’m talking about,” he said under his breath.

  Later in the morning, Aaron opened the door to a patient room.

  “Good morning, Cristal and Marley Brighton.” Marley is looking great today.

  Marley had one leg folded under her, so that she sat on her foot in the chair.

  That is one flexible woman. I don’t think my knee could ever bend like that.

  “Cristal wanted to tell you that she’s better,” Marley said.

  “I’m glad to hear that.”

  Cristal held up something.

  “What have you got there?” Aaron said.

  “Genie.” Cristal hugged the light green plush character.

  “That’s her favorite character,” Marley said. “She saw it in a children’s book at her day care center.”

  “Interesting. Why do you like Genie?”

  “He can give me a flying carpet if I want one.”

  Aaron nodded. “I’d like to have one of those.”

  “Then I could fly real high and find my daddy.”

  Marley stroked Cristal’s hair. “She really misses her father.”

  “And … and I’ll save my third wish for when I grow up.”

  “That’s smart. Have you already made your first two wishes?” Aaron said.

  “Yeah. One was for my daddy to come home.”

  “That’s a good wish. What’s the second one?”

  “I want to talk with the cows like Mr. Belkin does.”

  “Mr. Belkin talks to his cows?”

  “I don’t know where she got that,” Marley said.

  Cristal looked up at Marley. “Mommy, I’ve heard him talk to the cows.”

  Marley patted Cristal’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m sure you’re right.”

  Cristal nestled Genie in her arms and rubbed his turban. “And sometimes they talk back.”

  Aaron smiled at Marley, and then looked at Cristal. “I might ask Mr. Belkin about that. I’d like to learn to talk with cows, too.”

  In the hallway, Marley turned to Aaron. “I don’t mean to meddle, but I wonder if you could look into something?”

  “Sure.”

  “A family lives down the street from my house. The Taggetts. You met Wanda at the diner, remember?”

  Aaron nodded.

  “Sid is her husband, and Race is her son. I’m worried about them. I hear that Sid is very ill, and no one seems concerned. Could you look in on them?”

  “I will.”

  Marley smiled. “Good.”

  He watched Marley as she and Cristal walked out the front door of the clinic.

  I have to get to know her better.

  A few minutes later, Stella approached Aaron in the hall. “A drug rep is here to meet you. I know him well. He’s sharp, but a little strange.”

  Aaron nodded and Stella returned with a well-groomed man, medium height, thin and angular.

  Aaron offered a handshake, and the man responded with a fist bump.

  “Hi, I’m one of your local drug reps. I cover middle East Texas.” He rocked up and down on his heels.

  “That’s a big area.”

  “It sure is. I put a lot of mileage on my car, but I enjoy the job.” He lifted his briefcase to the hallway counter. “It’s great to have a doc around here again.”

  Aaron smiled. “Do you have any freebies today?”

  “Sure, always.” The rep laid writing pens and pads out on the counter. He aligned the pens in a level parallel row and stacked the pads in a flush pile.

  He stood back and admired his work and then launched into a spiel about an antibiotic he was promoting for the treatment of sinusitis, bronchitis, and ear infections, rocking on his heels as he spoke. After he finished, he rubbed his hands with an antiseptic wipe.

  “I’ll keep your antibiotic in mind, when it’s indicated,” Aaron said. The rep handed Aaron a few drug samples and discount coupons for patients.

  “Are you a runner?” he asked Aaron.

  “Not now, but I need to get back into jogging.”

  “Great. There’s a 5K run coming up soon. I’ll get the information to you.”

  “That may be just the incentive I need.”

  The rep turned to Stella. “Was that Marley Brighton I saw driving away from here?”

  “Yes.”

  “I haven’t seen her in a while. I was in school with her husband, Forrester.”

  “Lucky you,” Stella said.

  He laughed and turned to leave. “See you next time.”

  Aaron watched the rep use hand wipes after he walked out the front door.

  Stella knocked on Aaron’s office door.

  “Come in.”

  She and Juliana stepped inside.

  “I called the hospital this morning,” Stella said. “Preston was admitted last night. Maybe he’ll kick his addiction this time.”

  “Some addicts recover, right?” Juliana said.

  Aar
on nodded. “People can overcome addiction, with the right help. It can take a long time.”

  After a few seconds, Aaron looked up.

  “Okay, Doc, I have to know,” Stella said. “Are you seeing someone?”

  Aaron laughed. “Give me a break. I just got here.”

  “Everybody needs somebody. You should know that.”

  Aaron sighed. “I thought I had somebody.”

  “Ah. She hooked up with someone else, did she?”

  Aaron’s face reddened. “With her personal trainer.”

  Stella nodded. “I’ve heard that story before. What if she comes back to you?”

  “It wouldn’t work.”

  “So is that why you moved away?”

  He frowned. “That’s one reason. I couldn’t go to work anymore. I felt like I was the butt of a joke. I had to get out of there.” And some bastard doctor complained about my patient care.

  “Well, there’s a church not too far from here with a singles group. You should check it out. Or maybe there’s a social club at the hospital for medical people.”

  “I appreciate your interest, but I’m okay for now.”

  Stella furrowed her brow. “I don’t know about that.”

  Midafternoon, Aaron walked into a patient room. A tall, thick-chested man stood from a chair and extended his hand.

  “I’m Boots McCorkindale.”

  Aaron shook his hand and nodded. “Mr. McCork—”

  “Folks call me ‘Dale.’ ”

  Aaron stopped his handshake. “Okay, sure. Dale, how can I help you?”

  “I need a refill on my medications. I’m diabetic, and it’s good to have a doctor close by again.”

  Aaron unwound his stethoscope and listened to Dale’s heart and lungs. “Are you doing well with the diabetes?”

  “Yep. No problems. You from the Northeast?”

  “Connecticut.”

  “You’ll need to get into the good food around here, especially authentic Tex-Mex food and real barbecue. Makes me hungry thinking about it.”

  “Don’t worry. I plan to sample all the restaurants.”

  “I don’t think of some of the Tex-Mex places as restaurants. The best ones are sometimes just little hole-in-the-wall shacks. Not much on the decor, but don’t let that fool you. The food will have you a-howling like a coyote.”

  Aaron laughed. “I guess that’s good.”

  Dale nodded. “You’ll see.”

  In the hallway, Dale turned to Aaron. “I run the car dealership down the road.”

  Great. A car salesman, Aaron thought. I got ripped off by one of you guys once.

  “I’ve got a great deal on a pickup truck that would go well with your Volvo.”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  “You’re in Texas now. You need a pickup truck.”

  Aaron frowned as Dale walked away. Can I really trust you, Mr. Car Salesman?

  Stella discharged the last patient on the day schedule, and then she closed and locked the rear door of the clinic.

  Aaron walked up to her near the front door. “I think I’ll drive over to Wanda’s place. How do I get there?”

  Stella pointed at the road in front of the clinic. “Turn left out of the parking lot and drive straight. This road dead-ends at her house, right on the edge of the Big Thicket.” She looked at him. “Are you going for any special reason?”

  “I’ll ask if there’s anything I can do to help her husband. Do you want to come with me?”

  Stella shivered. “No, thanks. I steer clear of that weirdness.”

  There’s that word again.

  Stella touched his shoulder. “I mentioned her son to you before. Sometimes he’s at the house. He works at the local cemetery, and as far as I can tell, he doesn’t have any friends.”

  “You told me the husband is an invalid?”

  “The word is he stays in bed most of the time. He used to be a real Casanova and played around on Wanda a lot over the years. Until six months ago or so.”

  “Should I call first?”

  “I don’t know if we have a number for them.” Stella walked to the registration desk, opened a drawer, and rifled through some files. “It looks like they had a land line once, but the number’s crossed out. There’s not a cell phone number listed. I can check the computer records, if you want.”

  “No. I’ll just drop by.”

  “Good luck.”

  Aaron drove away from the clinic and passed by the alcoholic Rocky Donnigan’s trailer home on the right. He came to the intersection with the road he lived on and glanced at Marley Brighton’s house across the road to the left, then continued straight through the intersection and parallel with the Grant Belkin Ranch on the left. A house loomed into view, and he eased toward it until the road ended in a round, dirt cul-de-sac in front of the house, which was set back from the road about twenty yards. Aaron parked his car in the cul-de-sac and walked through a muggy mist up a dirt driveway, stepping over potholes.

  Scraggly weeds threatened to choke off the sparse grass wilting in the yard. Broken splintered remnants of bushes lined the ground along the front of the house, which was one story with dark brown wood and opaque curtains hanging inside the windows.

  Aaron climbed front steps that rose between two thick columns to a bare porch that extended across the front of the house. He pressed a doorbell but didn’t hear any sound, then waited half a minute or so and knocked. Sweat streaked down beside his eyes.

  “Go away,” a voice said after his second knock. “We don’t want anything.”

  “Ms. Taggett, I met you in the diner. I’m Aaron Rovsing, the new doctor in town. I just stopped by to say hello.” He dabbed his face with a handkerchief.

  Aaron heard a creak and a slit opening appeared in the door. He could make out part of a face in the opening. “You shouldn’t have come. We don’t want visitors,” the face said.

  I smell something from in there, like urine, he thought. “I’m available if you or your husband or son needs medical help.”

  “We don’t need any help,” she said and slammed the door.

  Aaron backed away from the door and retreated down the front steps.

  It sounded like her, and the face is the same face I met in the diner.

  He heard running footsteps, trotted over to the corner of the house, and peered around the side. No one was in sight. From behind the house, a group of blackbirds beat their wings and scattered into the tall trees that hovered over the back yard. He crept about halfway along the side of the house and stopped as he heard a door creak open at the back and then a voice from inside the house.

  “Have you been camping out all this time?” a woman said. Aaron couldn’t make out the response. “You need to check in with me more often … Have you been to work? I want to know where you go … Remember, I always take care of you. Don’t walk away from me.” Her voice became inaudible.

  She must be talking with her son, the cemetery worker, Aaron thought as he hurried back to his car. Why is she refusing to let me examine her husband?

  Aaron drove to the happy hour bar that he’d discovered several days before.

  Good, he thought as he saw an empty bar chair next to Red.

  “Have a seat,” Red said, swirling his brandy.

  “Cabernet, right?” the bartender said.

  Aaron nodded. “Good memory.”

  “How do you like Texas so far?” Red said.

  “It’s a change.”

  “I’m sure this place is a bit different from the big cities you came from.”

  “Well, for one thing, I’ve never before lived right next to a ranch.”

  “Ah, there’s nothing like the scents and sounds of a ranch.”

  Aaron laughed. “You’re right about that, but I rather like it.”

  “Have you traveled around much in Texas?”

  “Not really.”

  “There’s a place you should see. Terlingua.”

  “I’ve heard of it. It’s south
of here, right?”

  “Near the border with Mexico.”

  “That’s a long drive.”

  “It feels like a different world down there. You can isolate yourself if you want. There are long stretches of empty wilderness.”

  “Why have I heard of Terlingua?”

  “Interesting folks live around there, and you can find some unique Texas art.”

  Aaron cocked his head. “Maybe creative people go there for the solitude.”

  “Yep. Some people are there to escape from their old life. Like when I was in the Caribbean some years ago. A few folks on the islands had no interest in what was going on in the rest of the world. They were there to drop out and start a new life. You can do that around Terlingua.”

  “I’ll add it to my bucket list of places to see.”

  Red smiled as he talked about other sights and experiences in Texas.

  “It sounds like there are plenty of places in Texas where you can drop out from the world and start over,” Aaron said.

  Red turned to him. “That’s probably why we’re both here.”

  His eyes. There’s sadness in those eyes.

  Chapter 6

  Aaron clapped his hands. “Okay, Stella. It’s time.”

  He watched Juliana drive away to run a few errands.

  Stella looked up from the registration desk. “Time for what?”

  “Let’s go to a restaurant for lunch. My ‘Thank Goodness It’s Friday’ treat. I’d like to test your black-white theory.”

  “Good idea. I know just the place to go.”

  Stella stepped into Aaron’s car and directed him to a steak restaurant not far away.

  “You check us in at the podium,” Stella said before they left the car. “I’ll join you when they’re ready to seat us.”

  Aaron checked in for two with the greeter, who made a mark on a seating chart and picked up two menus just as Stella walked up.

  “She’s with you, sir?”

  “Yes,” Aaron said.

  Looking back down at the seating chart, he erased his first mark and chose another booth instead.

  Aaron’s eyes widened as he looked at Stella.

  “Honey, it’s all right,” Stella said.

  They were led to a booth at a far corner in the back of the seating area.