The Magnificent M.D. Read Online Free PDF Page B

Sam’s here everything will be fine, isn’t that what you think?” Mattie demanded. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe he has changed. I just don’t want to see you get hurt again. That boy was trouble from the first moment I laid eyes on him and don’t you forget it. You say he’s changed? I’ve got to see that for myself. If he comes, that is.”
    â€œHe will come,” Hayley insisted. He had to come. She had to make it up to him. Explain what happened. The money Grandpa spent on his education was a start, but she had to do her part. Try to make him see they’d had no choice. Because she was to blame for what happened as much as her grandfather.
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    After another trip around the block, Sam finally parked and walked up the sidewalk past a neatly trimmed lawn to the old house with impatiens blooming brightly in the window boxes. Was that Hayley’s touch? Engraved on a plaque on the door was his name. His name? How could that be? Who knew he was coming in time to engrave something? He reeled backward. How in the hell…?
    Hayley opened the door before he’d even knocked. She was wearing trim designer jeans and a sweater, and she looked like the cat that swallowed the canary. Damn her for the smug smile on her face.
    â€œWhat the hell is this?” he asked, pointing to the plaque.
    â€œIt’s your name. It’s your office. Do you like it?”
    â€œIt looks permanent,” he said with a frown.
    â€œOh, no,” she said lightly. “I’ll have it sanded off and another name put in. As soon as we get our permanent doctor.”
    â€œHow did you find the time to have it made? Don’t tell me you were so confident you had it engraved before you even left for San Francisco?”
    â€œLet’s just say I was hopeful,” she said, her eyes sparkling. She’d won and she knew it. “Come in and look around. I made some changes after Grandpa died. He would never let me touch a thing.”
    â€œStubborn old coot,” Sam muttered.
    â€œThink what you want, but he was the last of the old-time doctors. Made house calls and never turned anyone away.”
    â€œNot even me,” Sam said under his breath.
    â€œHello, Sam,” the nurse said. She was sitting behind her desk against the far wall as if she hadn’t moved in sixteen years. Maybe she hadn’t. Her tone was as frosty as ever, her uniform just as starchy. She’d put on a few pounds, but her expression was the same, stiff and stern and definitely disapproving. He felt as if he was eighteen again, coming in to be patched up for one last time.
    â€œHello, Ms. Whitlock.”
    â€œI never expected to see you here again,” Mattie said.
    â€œThat makes two of us,” he said.
    â€œThink you can take Doc’s place, do you?” she asked.
    â€œNow, Mattie,” Hayley cautioned. “No one will ever take Grandpa’s place. But Sam has very graciously, very generously agreed to fill in for him. For a while.”
    Gracious…generous? That was typical Hayley. Putting a positive spin on everything. Refusing to recognize reality. Except for one thing. The reality that the town bad boyfrom the wrong side of the tracks could not end up with the town princess and live happily ever after.
    â€œFor a short while,” he said firmly. “I’ll be out of here and out of your hair in six months.”
    â€œHumph,” Mattie said with a sniff. “What made you come back at all?”
    Sam glanced at Hayley, who gave an almost imperceptible shrug. Was it possible that she and her grandfather were the only ones who knew about the scholarship? He hoped so.
    â€œThe fresh air. The fishing. The golf. The friendly people,” he said.
    Mattie raised her eyebrows. “I’m no stranger to sarcasm, young man,” she said. “I suppose Hayley told you I’ll be your assistant. Where you come from you probably have a group of