Poison: The Seaclusion Series, Book One

Chapter 1-3

John rubbed his eyes. It had been a crappy day. It was nearly eight o’clock. Time to go home.

John glanced at the small square building that housed the medical clinic. He shook his head. It still jolted him how small the building was, and how small the town around it was. None of this was anything he’d dreamed of. He’d been working at a large clinic in Portland, Oregon, when he had gotten the call that had brought him to Seaclusion. His brother’s wife had died in a car accident, so John came to Seaclusion to be with him.

At first he’d planned to stay a few weeks to console his brother. That hadn’t been enough time. He’d ended up commuting back and forth to Portland for over a year finishing up his residency. Once that was complete, he’d realized he still couldn’t leave his then nearly suicidal brother. So he’d sought out Harry Everhart for a job. Luke, his brother, needed him here in Seaclusion, more than he needed to be in Portland.

And to John’s surprise he’d started to like the small town that he’d never meant to settle into. The familiarity and the caring he shared with his patients helped take the sting out of not practicing medicine in a busy metropolitan hospital, as he’d once dreamed of doing. Now at twenty-eight years old, being a small town doctor felt right.

John pulled his car into the empty garage. Luke wasn’t home. He worried when his brother was out late. He worried no matter what Luke did. There had been times in the past years he’d been afraid to enter the house for fear of what he’d find. But since he’d decided to stay in Seaclusion, Luke seemed to be marginally better.

Inside the house, he found his cell, which he’d forgotten that morning on the kitchen counter. His mother had called. He’d need to call her back. He’d also missed a call from his girlfriend, Sarah. Good. At least she could help him banish the memories of an adolescent crush gone wrong.

He threw a pizza into the microwave and blinked as the numbers hypnotically counted down the minutes. Same routine. He always got home late. Always ate a frozen, tasteless dinner. And he always wondered where his brother was. Unlike most days in Seaclusion, today he’d been jarred out of his usual apathy by Cassie. How was it possible? How could they end up in another town working for the same clinic? Pressure built in his temples at the thought of her being there tomorrow.

So what if at eighteen he’d thought Cassie was going to be the love of his life? So what if Cassie’s sudden appearance had sent his heart racing and fists clenching? It didn’t mean anything. They had history. Bad history. Didn’t mean he’d ever forgive her. And it didn’t mean he couldn’t control how he reacted around her. Now that the initial surprise was over, he’d make it his day’s goal that she realize how much he didn’t want her there.

Still, what the hell had happened to her? Today standing in his office she’d been a faded, black and white version of the girl he’d once loved. Her hair, once blonde, was now a dirty dishwater color, and her clothes looked as if she bought them from an elderly matron’s garage sale. And yet even looking like that, her voice had sent his guts twisting in half at the sight of her.

Cassie was five years older than him, a fact that had made their long ago relationship taboo. He hadn’t cared in the least, but she’d been adamant that no one could know about them. Today however, Cassie looked ten years older than her thirty-three years. She didn’t smile. She didn’t seem to even comb her hair. The change in her looks and style was drastic and dismal.

Almost as drastic was her strange need to be a receptionist at his clinic. Why was she so desperate to keep this job? Why had she not turned and fled all on her own at the sight of him?

He shook his head. If only he could shake out Cassie and the memories she stirred up. He grabbed the phone to call Sarah. He had to do something other than think about Cassie. Sarah answered, her sexy, low voice perking up when she recognized his. His gut started to untwist as Sarah chatted, and finally some of the stress from Cassie’s presence eased. Sarah asked to come over. John agreed, because anything was better than being alone with memories of a girl he’d spent too many years getting over.

* * * *

John swore under his breath the next morning when he arrived at work and realized Cassie had beaten him there. She said a pleasant hello and asked if he wanted coffee as she flashed him a syrupy smile. He didn’t say a word of response, nor did he glance at her as he walked by and slammed the door to his office. He’d be damned if he’d be civil to her.

The rest of the day, he ignored her. She simply wasn’t there to him. If she spoke, he didn’t answer. If she was in a room, he left it. If she came into a room he was in, he turned and walked out no matter what he was doing. He frowned at her, scowled at her, and only spoke directly to her when he was forced to by the proximity of patients or other employees. She was barely tolerated, and he made sure she knew it.

It was a small office. The chill would get to her sooner or later.

Unfortunately, she didn’t utter a word in protest but went about her work quickly and efficiently. In reaction to his rudeness, Cassie simply avoided him.

John spent a week with her in the office and managed to almost completely avoid speaking to her. Until he looked up one afternoon and his brother was standing at Cassie’s desk.