Love On Anchor Island: An Anchor Island Novel

boys got quality time with her parents. Sometimes Alex wondered if she’d wanted to prevent them from following in their father’s footsteps. If that was the case, her youngest got the message, while the oldest missed it entirely.
“Why won’t you listen to reason?” his father snapped.
What an ironic question. “Dad, I have to go. My patient is waiting.”
Alex hung up the phone, well aware that he’d not given a specific time for his visit to Callie Edwards. Hands clenched at his sides, he breathed through the stress and frustration, as he had since learning the technique in middle school. The constant pressure applied by his father had put Alex on edge throughout his childhood. When he’d acted out in eighth grade, getting into three fights in less than a month, Mom had gone against her husband’s wishes and put him in therapy.
He was grateful to this day. The pressure had continued through high school and well into college, but once he’d announced his decision to go into medicine, the situation had improved. They would never be close, but his relationship with his father eventually grew less combative.
Moving to Anchor Island had obviously not been a popular decision, but he’d meant what he said. Alex liked his life here. In three short years, he’d built a practice and a life. That his own happiness meant so little to his father proved that he’d made the right decision by stepping out on his own. Snagging his coat off the hook near the door, Alex put the call out of his mind. A patient needed him. That’s what really mattered.

Chapter Five
They had just gotten Callie back to her room when the doorbell rang.
“Are you expecting someone?” Henri asked as she tucked the blankets around Callie.
The exhausted woman rolled her head from side to side on the pillow. “I don’t think so, but if it’s a well-meaning neighbor, please tell them to come back another time. Like, in six months.”
“We’ll do that,” Henri said, nodding for Roxie to get the door and send away whoever was there.
As she hurried down the stairs, the bell rang again. Someone needed to learn a little patience.
“Incoming,” screeched Cecil from his perch. “Intruder approaching.”
Callie had explained that her pet had once been part of a circus act. That must have been some act.
“Coming,” she called so the visitor wouldn’t ring the bell again. “Callie is—” she started but went silent upon seeing Alex on the doorstep.
He looked… different. Tense. Guarded. Roxie was more accustomed to seeing this expression in the mirror, not on the jovial doctor next door.
“Hi,” he said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
She didn’t expect to see him either. “They didn’t have anyone to stay with Callie today, so I got the job. She said she wasn’t expecting anyone. Did she know you were coming?”
“I told her I’d stop by, but I didn’t give a time.” Alex slid a hand in his pocket, and Roxie noticed the black bag in his other hand. “Can I come in?” he asked.
“Oh, yeah. Right.” She stepped back. “Sorry.”
There was something about the other, more laid-back version of Dr. Alex that made it easy for Roxie to give him a hard time. But all she wanted to do right now was ease the lines around his eyes and make him smile. A clear indication that she’d lost her bloody mind.
“Is she upstairs?” he asked as she closed the door against the cold.
“Yeah. Second door on the left.”
He gave a quick nod. “I know.” Without another word, he disappeared up the stairs, and Henri appeared a minute later.
“He kicked me out,” she said. “Also, he’s cuter than I remember. Are you sure you don’t want to hit that?”
Want to and willing to were two very different things. “I’m on a no doctors diet.”
“Ah.” Henri strolled into the kitchen, and Roxie followed. “So the last douche canoe was a doctor.”
“Bingo.”
She pulled two glasses from the cabinet. “That doesn’t mean all doctors are bad. I dated a doctor once. A surgeon.” Reaching into a small fridge on the right side of the kitchen island, Henri pulled out a bottle of wine. “She was great with her hands. Is white good?”
Roxie didn’t realize they were drinking. “White works for me. You seem to know your way around here. How often do you visit?”
“I was here for a while back when Cal first moved, though she lived somewhere else then. I guess that was about six years ago now. I’ve popped in several times a year since. The plus of being a writer is that I can do it anywhere.”
Henri handed her a full glass and motioned for them to relocate to the couch. Once seated, they enjoyed their first sips in silence, but Roxie was curious about something.
“Callie said earlier that this island puts people together. So how have you avoided getting paired up for such a long time?”
Eyes softening, Henri pursed her lips. “I was paired up on Anchor once. Yvonne was gorgeous and ridiculously brilliant. Too good for me, I’m afraid. We had a fabulous seven months before she took a job back in her hometown of New Orleans.”
“You just said you can work anywhere. Why not follow her?”
Swirling the wine in her glass, she replied, “She didn’t ask me to.”
Now Roxie felt like a jerk. “I’m sorry. I should learn to mind my own business.”
“No worries. I said everyone deserves a happy ending. That doesn’t mean we all get one.”
A depressing thought.
Heavy footsteps from the stairs let them know the checkup was over. As Alex stepped into the living room, neither woman left their seats.
“You look like you could use a drink,” Henri said. “We’re having wine. Want some?”
“No, thank you. How much did Callie do today?”
Roxie looked to Henri, who returned an oh shit look. “Not much,” she said. “Why?”
“Her blood pressure is the highest it’s been all week, and she can barely keep her eyes open. Fatigue is normal this far into the pregnancy, but she