Page 11 of Family Bonds- Gabriela & Luca

Her eyes dropped to his hand.

His left hand.

He’d just taken his ring off yesterday. He should have done it so long ago, but he couldn’t. It felt like the final stage of his grief.

He didn’t know and shouldn’t profess to.

But here, no one knew him and it was better to not let assumptions fly. He was coming with a clean slate in his eyes.

A fresh start that he desperately needed.

“It’s a great place to live. Nothing like it was when I was a kid.”

“Did you grow up here?”

“You know what?” she said. “We can chat while I show you around. Or do you know where everything is?”

“I was here two days ago finishing up some paperwork and they walked me around the building briefly.”

It was small and he remembered most of what he saw but knew it’d take some time.

They hadn’t brought him to where his new office was though. They’d get there soon.

For now, it was four hours doing rounds in the hospital.

“That’s good then. We’ll start here on the pediatric ward.” She grabbed her laptop that was sitting on the desk where he’d gone in to meet her. “And no I didn’t live on the island full time as a kid. I lived and went to school in Boston, but we spent breaks, weekends and summers here.”

“From what I can see it’s a great place for a vacation, but I could see where kids might get a little bored.”

“Back then, we did, but there is so much more here now.” They stopped at the nurse’s station. “Everyone, this is Dr. LucaBrewer. The other full-time pediatrician on the island. Like me, he’s living here, but that doesn’t mean he gets called in more.”

There was some laughter to that comment while the nurses went around introducing themselves. Or at least the three in front of him.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” he said.

They walked away to head to the first patient’s room and he heard it again:“He’s cute.”Like he hadn’t been hearing it most of his life at work, at parties, when someone learned he was a doctor.

As if being a doctor automatically meant he should be some old man with wrinkles and a potbelly. Maybe a face lined with decades of stress.

And then, when they found out he was a pediatrician? Suddenly, he was an even bigger catch. Loving kids made him desirable, like it added some invisible stamp of worth.

Maybe that was why he’d kept his ring on for years. He wasn’t ready for anyone to approach, not when most at his old hospital knew the situation and gave him a wide berth. A ring was a warning:don’t try it. Drama ahead.

Still, it didn’t stop people from glancing at the indentation on his left finger today.

Just like he’d done to Gabriela of the expressive hazel eyes and long light brown hair. It was almost straight but had some waves in the bottom lying across her back.

Not a lot of makeup on. Not that she needed it either.

Fresh faced always did it for him.

But he wasn’t looking. Not even thinking of looking.

Yet he couldn’t help noticing. Or having the memory of Zoe in his head that she’d be pissed off he hadn’t moved on.

He didn’t need his parents to remind him of that daily. Not even Zoe’s parents, who he still kept in contact with and were shocked he was moving.

It didn’t feel as if he had a choice if he wanted to do more than just survive.