Rescue Me: A Bad Boy Military Romance Read Online Free PDF Page A

there's a brand-new welcome mat with an envelope resting upon it. Schoolteacher writing is scrawled across it with my name. I open it up and a key falls into my hand along with a small note.
     
    Ella,
    Welcome back to Buxwell. The town pitched in to get your house ready. We'll help out with the clinic, too, this weekend. We hope you find your accommodations welcoming. We sure are glad to have a doctor again and even more happy that it's you.
    There'll be a proper homecoming in a few days or so, but until then, consider this your welcome home present.
    Best,
    Tanya Stockton
    Mayor
     
    I grin. So my old history teacher managed to make it into her dream position of town mayor. Good for her.
    I take the key in my hand and insert it into the door. It creaks open. The cottage is only two rooms and a loft. There are simple furnishings, but it feels like home. Someone's even turned on the window unit AC and I rush over, sticking my face into the little ribbons that are tied to it.
    They blow in my face and tickle me, but the air feels so good and fresh I don't care. After a few minutes, I take a look at the place. There's a simple but adequate kitchen, and I see my little fridge is filled with casseroles from top to toe. I climb up the tiny switchback staircase to the loft. There's a queen-sized mattress covered in a vintage, handmade quilt and fresh sheets. There's a small window up here, and someone's attached a little fan to one of the open shelves on the vertical walls under the dormers.
    I hate to say it, but this place really does feel like home right now.
     

CHAPTER SEVEN
    ELLA
    I'm woken up the next morning by a knocking at my door. I reach for my phone to check the time. The sun isn't even out yet, so I know it's early. Five am early. Oh, boy. I pull myself out of bed and nearly trip over my open suitcase. I didn't have the energy last night to even begin to unpack. I shuffle around in the dark for a pair of pants to go under the big t-shirt I've slept in. I nearly fall down the unfamiliar staircase and make a note to at least put battery-operated lights on this thing until I can memorize the tread depths.
    The knocking gets more insistent.
    "Just a minute!" I yell, still groggy.
    I pull open the front door to see a familiar, tawny face in front of me, her dark hair swept up into a sleek ponytail. She has her arms around the shoulders of a five-year-old boy who looks exactly like her. His lip is bleeding and he has a goose egg swelling on his forehead. 
    "Hey, Ella," Alexa says to me sheepishly. "Sorry we meet like this after all this time."
    I shake my head and bring her into a big hug. "Oh, it's good to see you," I say earnestly. Then my doctor mode kicks into high gear. "And who is this?" I crouch down to smile at the little boy, who has dried tear streaks on his chubby little cheeks.
    "This is my son, Teddy," she says. "He fell off the top of his bunk bed about half an hour ago. I wanted to bring him to you and see if there's anything you can do?"
    I look at the clinic bathed in moonlight behind her and remember the place is filthy. "Come in here," I say, walking into my living room and turning on all the lights. "Hang on a second." I run upstairs to grab my doctor's bag with basic provisions.
    When I come back down, Teddy is perched on the sofa next to his mom. "Okay, Teddy, let's take a look, alright?" The little boy sits patiently with his hands crossed in his lap while I look at his pupils and his lip. "Did he knock any teeth out?" I ask Alexa.
    She shakes her head. "No," she says.
    "You had quite a fall, didn't you? I might have to stitch you up a little bit." I look around the living room and see a little teddy bear on the rocking chair in the corner. It's an odd decoration, but I guess someone thought it might be a homey addition to the living space. I'm grateful for it. I hand it to Teddy. "You see this guy? He was all stitched together, too. That's what I'm going to do with your lip, alright? It might pinch