One Day in Apple Grove(3)
Kate sighed as she watched him leave, while Peggy waited for Jack to answer.
Jack finished his pie and the rest of his coffee. “My dad planted the idea. Mitch called me right after I hung up with my dad, and between the two of us, we figured out a way to implement it.”
He reached into his pocket, but before he could take his wallet—or his hand—out of his pocket, Peggy patted his arm and said, “It’s on the house.”
“You won’t make any money if you keep giving away what people will pay good money for,” he warned her.
Peggy and Kate smiled, and he knew there was one more reason why people in town flocked to the diner—the friendly smiles and caring that lay beneath the sisters’ need to spread the news.
“Now you sound just like him,” Peggy said.
He tilted his head to one side and asked, “Who?”
They laughed, drawing the attention of a few early morning regulars. “Old Doc Gannon,” Kate told him.
He smiled. “So what does that make me?”
Kate grinned. “Young Doc Gannon.”
“Hey, wait!” Peggy said, as Jack got up. “Aren’t you going to tell us who is on that list?”
He shrugged. “I thought I gave you enough to talk about this morning.”
“Hot roast turkey sandwich platters are the lunch special today,” Peggy said.
He paused in the doorway. “With cranberry sauce? Corn bread stuffing?”
Peggy nodded.
He’d missed home cooking most of all. “I’ll be back after my noon appointment. Save me some.”
“Doc?” Kate called out.
He paused and glanced over his shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Apple Grove has really missed having your dad taking care of what ails us.”
His dad had told him of his search and finally finding a replacement. Had Doc known the physician wouldn’t stay, leaving the job waiting for Jack when he was ready for it? Knowing his father, he probably had.
“None of us was surprised when his replacement moved on to a hospital in Columbus.”
“It was touch and go there for a while when he first left,” Peggy admitted.
“The hardest part for some of our older residents was trying to find a way to get to the clinic over in Newark,” Kate told him. “Waiting for you to get back, we had ourselves a meeting and were hoping you’d continue one of your dad’s habits,” Kate said.
“Which one?”
“Making house calls for folks like Mr. Weatherbee, Mrs. Winter, and our grandma,” Peggy answered. “It would be a godsend if you could.”
Drawn by the worry in Peggy’s voice, he turned back around. “I plan to add house calls to my weekly schedule.”
She sniffed and nodded. “Thanks, Doc.”
“Welcome home,” Kate called out, as he walked through the door.
“Good to be back.” And he meant it. He had a practice with patients anxious for him to get started, a plan he and the sheriff wanted to implement to minimize emergencies, and had had his first taste of home-cooked heaven. Maybe it wouldn’t take as long to find the balance that had been missing in his life during the long road to recovery. Thinking about the scheduled appointments for the day, he didn’t hear Peggy follow him out the door.
He had just passed the Mulcahys’ shop when he heard her say, “We’re trying our hand at beignets tomorrow.”
He turned and waved. “I love beignets.”
Thinking about the lightly fried doughy goodness sprinkled with powdered sugar, he crossed Dog Hollow Road. When he walked by the Apple Grove Gazette, Rhonda was waving at him from behind the antique printing press. He waved back. It felt good to be in a place where people knew him…he had done the right thing coming back to stay when his dad had retired.
He hoped the folks in town would be able to trust the younger Doc Gannon the same way they’d trusted his dad. Walking up the flagstone steps to his office, he was ready to greet the day. Having gone over his father’s most active patient files the night before, he was confident he’d be ready for whatever medical troubles were in store for him.
“Morning, Doc,” Mrs. Sweeney, his receptionist, called out.
“Morning, Mrs. Sweeney. How’s your cousin doing?”
“Holding his own, Doc.” She sighed. “If only he wasn’t so stubborn and one of his boys would move back home.”
Jack had already added her cousin to the list of those who were on the Apple Grove Health Watch. “We’ll keep doing what we can to make sure he’s taken care of.”
“You’re just what this town needed—just like your dad.”
He smiled. “Thank you.”