Summer of Love Marie Ferrarella (easy books to read in english TXT) 📖

Everett read between the lines. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to ask you for a favor back if that’s what you’re thinking,” he assured her. There was another moment of awkward silence on her end and then he said, “All right, if I’m going to be there tomorrow morning, I’ve got a few things to see about between now and then. See you tomorrow,” he told her.

Everett hung up before she had a chance to thank him again.

Lila slowly returned the receiver back to its cradle. “Well,” she murmured, still feeling somewhat numb as she continued to look at the receiver, “that at least solves some of my problem.”

She was still one doctor down, but one out of two was a lot better in her opinion than none out of two, she told herself. She could definitely work with one.

In the meanwhile, she needed to get the list of patients prepared for the doctors who were coming in so that they could start making those house calls.

Lila looked down at the various names and addresses she’d already jotted down. The number of people who were just too ill to get to a local clinic on their own was astounding, and growing rapidly. Some of the people, she thought, were probably exaggerating their conditions, but she couldn’t really blame them. The free clinics were always positively jammed from the moment they opened their doors in the morning. Waiting to be seen by a doctor was exceedingly challenging when you weren’t running a fever. Sitting there with a fever of a hundred or more and feeling too weak to win a wrestling match against a flea was a whole different story. If she were in that position, she’d ask to have the doctor come to the house, too.

Oh, who are you kidding? You could be at death’s door and you’d drag yourself in to see the doctor because you wouldn’t want to inconvenience anyone.

Lila smiled to herself as she gathered her things together to meet with the physicians who were volunteering their time today.

The silent assessment rang true. She’d rather die than to surrender to her own weakness, Lila thought, going out the door.

Lila was exhausted.

Having stayed late, reorganizing supplies and hustling all over the city to beg, borrow or threaten to steal more vaccine serum as well as arranging for more lab tests to be done, she had finally dragged herself home after midnight.

Too tired to eat, she still hadn’t been able to get right to sleep—most likely because part of her kept thinking about having to interact with Everett after she had summarily rejected him the last time they had been together.

But she had finally dropped off to sleep somewhere around 1:00 a.m., only to wake up at 4:30 a.m., half an hour before her alarm was set to go off.

She lay there for several minutes, staring at the ceiling, telling herself that she had half an hour before she needed to get up, which meant that she could grab a few more minutes of sleep.

She gave up after a couple more minutes, feeling that there was no point in trying to get back to sleep. She was wired and that meant she was up for the day.

With a sigh, she got up, showered and dressed. A piece of toast accompanied her to her car, along with a cup of coffee that would have been rejected by everyone except a person who felt they had no extra time to make a second, better cup of coffee.

Sticking the thick-sludge-contained-in-a-cup into a cup holder, Lila started the car.

There had to be a better way to achieve sainthood, she thought cryptically to herself as she drove to the Foundation in the dark.

The streets were fairly empty at that time in the morning. The lack of light just intensified the pervasive loneliness that seemed to be invading every space in her head.

Snap out of it, damn it, she ordered. He’s a doctor and you need a doctor in order to help out. And that’s all you need.

However, ambivalent feelings about seeing Everett again refused to leave her alone. They continued to ricochet through her with an intensity that was almost numbing.

He’s not Everett, she silently insisted. He’s just an available doctor who’s willing to help you. That’s what you have to focus on, not anything else, understand? Don’t you dare focus on anything else. She all but threatened herself.

It helped.

A little.

Arriving in the parking lot located behind the Fortune Foundation building, she found that there were only a few vehicles that pockmarked the area at this hour. Apparently the Foundation had a few early birds who liked to come in and get a jumpstart on the day and the work they had to do.

As she made her way toward the entrance, she saw that one of the cars, a navy blue high-end sedan, had someone sitting inside it in the driver’s seat.

As she passed the vehicle, the driver’s side door opened and Everett stepped out. A very casual-looking Everett wearing boots, jeans and a zippered sweatshirt with a hood.

She almost hadn’t recognized him.

Her heart suddenly began to hammer very hard when she did.

“I got here early,” he told her, nodding at Lila by way of a greeting. “Traffic from Houston wasn’t too bad this time,” he explained. He saw the way she was looking at what he was wearing. He looked down at his attire himself, just to be sure that he hadn’t put anything on inside out. “I didn’t want to look intimidating,” he explained. “Someone told me that three-piece suits make some people nervous.”

The way he said it, she felt as if he was implying she was the nervous person.

You’ve got to stop reading into things, she upbraided herself. Out loud she told him, “You look fine. We need to go in,” she said, changing the subject as she turned toward the building. “I need to get a few things before we head