Chapter 1
Lauren
Ilovethedays when I start on a new case, working with someone new, and being able to help them. I love this case even more because this is the first time I’m working at Oakside.
While I was in school, I volunteered and assisted a disabled veteran. That experience made me want to work with injured vets as a career and now is my chance.
The patient I’ll be working with lost his sight serving his country, and I’ll be helping him learn to navigate the world again. I can’t think of a more rewarding job.
Plus, I’ll be helping him set up with a Seeing-Eye dog, and I love anything that allows me to work with dogs. If I were guaranteed a dog as well trained as the dogs I work with, I'd get one in a heartbeat, but the job doesn't allow much time for training.
I've been working with the hospital on the details and setting up this patient's room, and today, I’m finally meeting him. As I'm going over the details from the hospital, I barely glance at the name. I walk into his room and stop short.
I don't need to look at the name on the file anymore because I’d know that face anywhere.
Gavin.
My high school sweetheart and the only man to thoroughly own and crush my heart. The only man I’ve ever loved is sitting in front of me as my new patient. How the hell did this happen?
We broke up after we graduated from high school. Since I was going away to college, and he decided to join the military, he said he didn't want to do the long-distance relationship thing. The last time I saw him was the day before he left for boot camp. Then nothing. Not a letter or even a friend mentioning him since.
I begged him not to break up with me and tried to show him how we could make it work. I said I’d go to school wherever he was stationed, but none of it helped. He walked away from me that day, and I haven't seen or heard from him since. Maybe if he’d known fate was going to send us a little twist, he wouldn't have walked away so easily.
Neither of us knew then, and there's nothing we can do about it now.
Instead of entering the room, I turn and head right back to Lexi's office downstairs. I collapse on her couch and take a minute to gather my thoughts.
Lexi may be the owner of Oakside and my boss, but she’s also my friend. Now that she’s pregnant, her husband has added this couch for his pregnant wife.
"I can't do this," I tell her.
"Oh, I know some of these men can be resistant to help, but stick with it. They'll open up slowly. He just got here, so he's still coming to terms with losing his sight. The transition from the hospital to here is difficult, with a new place and new people."
"It’s not that."
Lexi is quiet for a moment, and when I look over at her, she’s turned in her chair to face me.
"Then what is it?" Noah, Lexi's husband, asks as he steps into the room.
"Gavin is my ex-boyfriend from high school," I tell her because she knows the story of Gavin and me. One girl's night with a bunch of wine led to me spilling my guts. It’s great to have someone to talk to and share.
"The Gavin?" she gasps.
"The one and only."
Judging by the look on Noah's face, he has an idea of who Gavin is. I'm sure Lexi will give him the rundown, as those two have absolutely no secrets from each other. They're the kind of couple everyone wants to be, but few are lucky enough to find a partner like Noah.
Noah is the reason Lexi started Oakside. He, too, was injured in the line of duty but had no place to continue the healing process. Lexi wasn't going to let that happen to anyone else if she could prevent it.
"You know you're not going to like what I have to say," Lexi says after a moment.
"I hate pep talks. I was hoping for the pity party today," I grumble.
"No pity party. You might be the best person to get him through this. You know Easton and Paisley's story. No one could reach him until Paisley. She was the one person from his past he clung to. And from the sounds of it, you might be that one person for Gavin."
I know she's probably right, and besides, who in their right mind is going to argue with a pregnant woman? But it doesn't mean I'm happy about it. I don't know if I’m Gavin's person to help him pull through, but I do know I'm not willing to give up on him.
"Do you want to come for dinner after work and tell me all about it?" Lexi asks.