âI am saving up to get a place of my own.â
âYou can save faster if you take me up on my offer to come work at the clinic,â Dan reminded her.
Sheâd been considering itâand leaning toward saying yes.
The fact that working with the handsome, sexy doctorâwho appeared to be unaware of just what kind of signals he was setting offâwas a good opportunity for other reasons was something she chose not to explore at the moment.
Placing her hand in his, she said, âOkay, Doc, youâve got yourself a deal.â
She intended for it to be nothing more than two people shaking hands. Instead, she had the feeling she was opening the floodgates for something else.
She pulled her hand away as if sheâd touched fire.
Because maybe she had.
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to Forever. Itâs time for Tinaâs story. You didnât think Iâd forget her, did you? Tina was the reason her sister even discovered the townâand what her heart was missing. When we first met Tina she was a very confused single mother whose babyâs father had just tried to kill both of them. The Tina who eventually emerged from that emotional train wreck became a stronger, more centered person, focused on her son rather than herself and her admittedly horrendous choice of a male companion. As we get back to her now, she is busy building up her life, getting an accounting degree and making plans for herself and her son. But the best-laid plans of mice, men and heroines are often led astray and the very handsome bump in Tinaâs road is Dr. Dan Davenport, a man who comes with his own secret baggage to become Foreverâs first doctor in thirty years. Is he just an obstacle, or something more? Come read and find out.
As ever, I thank you for reading (where would I be without you?) and from the bottom of my heart, I wish you someone to love who loves you back.
Best,
Marie Ferrarella
So this is Forever.
The thought echoed like a not altogether quiet mantra in Dr. Daniel Davenportâs head. He stood on a ridge, staring down at the South Texas town with the somewhat ironically prophetic name of Forever.
Forever.
It sounded like a prison sentence.
Dan had pulled his newly purchased navy blue Mercedes sedanâa car he now realized was woefully out of step with the surrounding terrainâover to the side of the road for one last moment by himself. A last moment in which he still hadnât put on the mantle of commitment, making himself one with the town that eagerly awaited his arrival.
Well, technically, they werenât awaiting his arrival, he thought wryly. They were waiting for Warrenâs. But that wasnât about to happen. He would have given his own life to make Warren appear, but the man was now in a place where his presence could not be won by bartering and promising everlasting servitude. He knew that for a fact because heâd tried. Tried praying and pleading, promising to do whatever was needed of him if only Warren could be spared.
But Warren was gone.
Gone because, at the last moment, heâd managed to prevail upon his younger brother, managed to physically drag him away from packing up all his belongings in preparation for his journey to Forever. Instead, heâd gotten Warren to agree to go out for a night of celebration.
After all, they had both just finally graduated. Graduated everything: medical school, internships, residencies. Everything. They had done it, taken all the necessary steps that finally, finally brought them to this new threshold shimmering before them. They had jumped all the hurdles, completed all the tasks and marched proudly into the winnersâ circle where they were both decorated with the well-earned and still, even in this day and age, enviable title of Doctor.
He and Warren had made the journey together despite the fact that he, Daniel, was a year older. It had taken him a year to figure out what he wanted to do with himself after heâd graduated from college, so heâd started medical school late, making it into those rarified waters by the skin of his teeth.
Dan sighed, shaking his head. It was all a blur now, but heâd been a carefree devil in that last lifetime. Brilliant but frivolous. So much so that of all the schools heâd applied to, heâd only gotten back one positive response. All the schools that Warren had applied to had come back with positive responses.
Everyone wanted Warren.
And why not? Warren was everything a future doctor should be. Smart, kind, dedicated. Selfless.