A Heart to Heal Read Online Free PDF Page B

into a fat, ugly toad. Instead he looked even better than he had in high school. Now his bronze skin covered the sculpted muscles of a man, not a boy. He had his own practice and from what she’d learned, everyone in town loved him. He became a pillar of society, and she became a tainted woman.
    Pushing back the frustration that always came when she thought about what could have been with Devin, she got up from the table and put the dishes in the sink. Her ankle would prevent her from painting today, but she could unpack her bags this morning before going to the library to look for a job. She doubted Peaches and Roxanne would show up before noon and if she could get most of her unpacking done by then, she’d be long gone before they came looking for her. Although it was only a matter of time before they caught up with her and she’d have to face them, and Tony.

Chapter 4
    Devin swung his car into the side parking lot of his office at 8:30 the next morning. His receptionist Anna’s blue minivan, and his nurse Lisa’s red Malibu were already in the lot. He breathed a sigh of relief as he cut the engine and jumped out of the truck. His rounds at the hospital had taken longer than he’d expected. With a glance at his watch he entered the building to prepare for his first patient at nine. Memories of being there the night before with Shayla were fresh as he walked down the hall to his office. Instead of proving that seeing her didn’t affect him at all, he’d acted jealous and condescending. It was no secret Shayla didn’t care about his opinion, yet he still felt the need to lecture her.
    She was probably sitting at home now calling him a pompous ass, or was on the phone with one of her friends in Atlanta laughing at him. He hoped she didn’t call Tasha and tell her about it. The last thing he needed was for his friend Jared to know he’d lost his cool. While he was happy to give his friends advice when it came to women, he preferred to keep his relationships — or lack thereof — to himself.
    He entered his office and sat in the leather chair behind his desk. Unlike other doctors he knew, his office wasn’t adorned with family pictures of a wife and children. The only embellishment to the bookshelf filled with medical texts and his degrees on the wall were a few potted plants Anna insisted he needed and some awards received over the years. A stack of faxes with the results from various patient labs samples sat on his desk. He reached for them as he flipped on his computer and waited for it to boot up. He was shuffling through the results of his first patient when Anna came in.
    â€œYou’re here. Lisa and I were wondering what was keeping you.” She said placing a steaming cup of coffee on his desk. Anna was in her late fifties, but still had the smooth skin and toned body of a woman in her thirties. Whenever someone complemented her on her good looks, she always grinned and said it was because her husband made her so happy. Her dark eyes sparkled with curiosity behind stylish red glasses.
    With a sinking feeling he guessed what was going on beneath her salt-n-pepper cropped hair. “Rounds took longer than usual. I’ll make my patient follow up calls during lunch.” He said taking a sip of coffee. He sighed with satisfaction; besides Annie’s ability to keep his office running smoothly, he kept her around because she made the best coffee.
    She leaned against the desk and grinned. “I wondered if you were up late last night.”
    He stopped shuffling through the lab results and looked at her from the corner of his eye. “Why would I be up late?”
    Annie waved a hand and shrugged. “I thought you may have been busy, that’s all.”
    Not buying it, he flattened his hands on the desk and raised an eyebrow. “Why don’t you ask whatever question is bouncing around that head of yours?”
    â€œHe’s here. Did you