Barefoot in the Sun (Barefoot Bay)(26)

“You didn’t exactly see me,” she admitted. “I hid on the floor of the car.”

“What? Why?”

“Why do you think?” She let out a dry choke. “I didn’t want to see you or explain you or…” She waved her hand. “You were with your wife.”

“What do you mean, ‘explain’ me?”

“To my friends.”

“They don’t know you have ex-boyfriends?”

“Of course they do, and they would want to know why we broke up and why I was…” A basket case for the next two hours. “So how exactly did you get involved with this clinic?”

She saw him react to the change of subject, but he let it go. “Well, Raj is pretty persuasive, as you will no doubt see,” he said with a laugh. “And he happens to be one of the smartest physicians I ever met. He started IDEA himself because he was so sick of the bureaucracy of hospitals and administration and all the red tape and medical crap that gets in the way of saving lives.”

His voice was deep with emotion as he shifted into another gear.

“So you left Mount Mercy to work with him.”

“I couldn’t resist. I’d been drawn to everything the clinic was doing and knew if I didn’t move when I had the opportunity, it might never come along again. Gene therapy is so exciting, Zoe. It’s a complete game changer in cancer research.”

“What exactly is it?”

“It’s the injection of vectors full of viruses into cancer cells to fire up immune systems and angiogenesis that can…” He slid her a look. “I’m losing you, huh?”

“Not at all.”

“You’re staring at me.”

How could she not? Impassioned Doctor Oliver was even sexier than regular hot-as-sin Oliver. “No, I’m just impressed and happy for you. Everyone should find what turns them on so much.”

He gave her a grateful smile. “But not everyone in my life was thrilled with the decision,” he said. “Starting with my ex-wife, continuing to her father, and ending with my son. I gave up a lot for my passion, but it was worth it.”

She considered that, looking out the window at the deep-blue water of the Intracoastal and curling her fingers around his hand to feel his strength.

His father-in-law was the CEO of Mount Mercy Hospital and, although Zoe didn’t know it for a fact, she’d bet her last dollar he had been in line for that job. “So the decision to take this new position broke up your marriage?”

“Not exactly. It was the proverbial straw that whacked an already crippled camel.” He let go of her hand to downshift and instantly scooped it up again, as if he couldn’t stand a second without touching her. Zoe tried really hard not to let that little gesture worm its way into her heart. Tried, and failed.

“To be honest, nothing happened overnight,” he continued. “I pushed at the hospital for change and a budget for advanced research, trying to use my position in administration but hitting the brick wall that happened to be Adele’s father. All the while, she and I grew farther apart.”

She swallowed, hating that she had to ask the next question. But she had to. “Were you ever…close?” In other words, did you love the woman you married five weeks after I left you?

The question hung in the wind, getting heavier as each second he didn’t answer ticked by. “We tried,” he finally admitted. “We got married because it seemed like the right thing to do and I was…”

On the rebound? She didn’t have the nerve or heart to ask.

“Anyway, I tried. She tried. It didn’t ever…” He puffed out a breath. “I never got over you.”

“Oh.” It was all she could manage under the suffocating weight of that confession.

“She knew it. She knew I was seeing you when she told me she was pregnant, and she thought that I gave you up to marry her.”

But he hadn’t. Zoe had taken off before they had any chance. “You didn’t tell her I left town and we…lost touch?” Speaking of bad euphemisms.

“No, I didn’t tell her that,” he said. “I didn’t want her to have horrible doubts about me. It was bad enough we had to get married. I didn’t want her to be completely miserable.” He pulled into a small parking lot behind a glass-and-metal three-story building, sliding the gear into Park but making no effort to get out.

She mulled the confession over. He hadn’t been totally honest with his wife, but that reminded her that under all that authority and confidence and sex appeal was a guy who deeply cared about people.

“If she thought I married her because I couldn’t find you, then I knew that she’d never believe in our marriage.” The statement made sense, and a surprising wave of sympathy for Adele Townshend rolled over Zoe. No woman should have to marry a man who was in love with someone else, no matter how rich and bitchy she was.

“But we didn’t really have a chance,” he continued. “I never really loved her, I mean, not the way I…”

Loved you.

She swallowed and nodded, understanding why he couldn’t even say it.

“Anyway, we faked a life for the sake of Evan,” he said, the words so softly she barely heard them over the hum of the engine he had yet to turn off. “At least we did until neither one of us could fake it anymore. And at the same time, I was so far removed from the reason I got into medicine in general and oncology in particular. This opportunity came up”—he gestured toward the building and the small sign that said IDEA near the door—“and I grabbed it. A chance to start over in a new city, a chance to do hands-on medicine again, a chance to break ground. And, of course, a chance to save lives.”

“And she wouldn’t relocate?”

He shrugged. “We were pretty far gone by then. Separate bedrooms, separate lives. Evan was the only thing even remotely keeping us together, so we worked out a custody arrangement when I left about eight months ago. Christmas, spring break, two weeks in the summer.”

“Ugh. That’s not enough time. So much for a chance to relax and have fun.”

He gave her a tight smile and quick nod. “Don’t I know it. But she surprised me with a trip to Europe this summer, and so I have this chance to be with him.” His smile relaxed into a genuine grin. “And learn from the Mistress of Fun.”

She winked. “I’ve been called worse, big guy.”

He switched off the ignition and, as he unlatched his seat belt, she reached over to touch his hand, the words bubbling up. She owed him an apology. Not just for leaving without an explanation, but for longer-lasting effects.

“I’m sorry if I wrecked your marriage.”

He smiled, but his eyes were dark and sad. “You didn’t, Zoe. But you broke my f*cking heart.”





After a tour of the facility—which was surprisingly large, with multiple labs, in-house patient-care suites, a twenty-four-hour nursing staff, and a state-of-the-art surgery center—Oliver took Zoe into a conference room to meet with his partner.

Wiry, energized, and one of those keenly intelligent people who instantly make you feel at ease and yet in awe, Raj Mahesh was the perfect complement to Oliver’s rationale approach to everything. Raj was the dreamer; Oliver made things happen.

And they were both very good doctors.

As Oliver brought his partner up to speed on the case, the other man’s interest ratcheted from mild to wild. His clipped British-and-Indian accent couldn’t hide the fact that the case electrified him and was exactly the opportunity they’d been looking for.

In a way that revealed none of the complex history of Pasha’s life, Oliver let Raj know this was a patient who’d received absolutely no treatment by choice, leaving her free and clear of all other medical input.

“I’m deeply sorry for your aunt,” Raj said to Zoe. “Please forgive me if I sound enthusiastic, because, of course, this is painful for you.”’

Zoe nodded, seeing the honesty in his jet-black eyes. “I’m willing to do anything to help her.”

“Gene therapy isn’t anything,” Raj said. “It’s everything.”

“How many times have you done the kind you’re proposing for my aunt?”

“We’re not proposing it yet,” Oliver replied quickly. “Just thinking that she might be an excellent candidate. She doesn’t strike me as a patient who could handle the standard treatments.”

Zoe closed her eyes, a mix of relief and terror. “That’s exactly what I think.”

“And the other options are a ridiculously expensive trip to Switzerland for basically the same treatment, or peptide receptor radionuclide therapy,” Raj said.

Zoe gave him a blank look, and he waved away the obvious question of what that was. “It wouldn’t be right for someone her age. But to answer your question, I’ve done the procedure in Europe, but not here. However, we’ve done so much preliminary work for this, growing the vectors and planning for the possibility of finding the right candidate for the treatment.”