Summer of Love by Marie Ferrarella (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

“No, it acts like a soldier that keeps the flu away,” Everett told him. “You don’t want to get sick like your mom and your brother, do you?” Everett asked. “Someone’s got to stay well to take care of them.”

Andy looked torn, and then he sighed. “I guess you’re right.”

“Good man,” Everett congratulated the little boy with hearty approval.

Lila set down the bottles of water as well as several pudding cups and bananas she’d brought in. “Attaboy,” she said to Andy. “If you like, I’ll hold you on my lap while Dr. Everett gives you that shot.”

She didn’t wait for the boy to answer. She gathered him up in her arms and held him on her lap.

“Okay, Dr. Everett. Andy’s ready.” She felt the little boy dig his fingers into her arm as Everett gave him the flu injection. She heard Andy breathe in sharply. “You were very brave,” she commended the boy.

“I’ll say,” Everett said, adding his voice to praise the boy. As he packed up his bag, he looked around, concerned. “Is there anyone who can stay with the kids until Mrs. Quinn is well enough to take care of them?” he asked Lila in a low voice. “I don’t like the idea of just leaving them this way.”

“Mrs. Rooney comes by to stay with us sometimes whenever Mama has to go out,” Andy said, looking from the doctor to Lila as if to see if they thought that was good enough.

“Do you know where Mrs. Rooney lives?” Everett asked Lila.

“I think that’s the woman next door,” she told him before Andy could respond. Shifting Andy off her lap, she rose to her feet. “I can go and knock on her door,” she volunteered.

“We’ll go together,” Everett told her. When she looked at him quizzically, he said, “You shouldn’t be out there alone.”

In a low voice, she told Everett, “I’ve been dealing with people in this neighborhood and places like this neighborhood for several years now. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“No,” Everett agreed. “I don’t ‘have to.’ But since I’m here, I’d feel better going with you,” he told her, adding, “Humor me.”

Instead of answering him, she looked at Andy, who was rubbing his arm where he had received his vaccination. “Andy, do you know if Mrs. Rooney does live next door?” she asked.

Sniffing as he blinked to keep big tears from falling, Andy nodded. “Uh-huh, she does.”

Lila smiled at Everett. “Problem solved. I’ll just pop in next door and ask the woman to keep an eye on this family.”

She glanced at her watch. They had spent more time here than she’d anticipated. She was glad that it had gone so well for Everett, but they did need to speed things up.

“And then we’re going to have to get a move on,” she told Everett. “Otherwise, we’re not going to get to see all the people on my list unless we work through the night and possibly into the next morning.”

He hadn’t thought that there were going to be that many houses to visit. But as far as he knew, Lila had never been one to exaggerate.

“Then you’d better find out if Mrs. Rooney is willing to stay with Andy and his family,” he urged.

That went off without a hitch.

After getting the woman to stay with the Quinn family, Lila drove herself and Everett to the second name on her list.

Again she was treated to observing Everett’s bedside manner. She was completely amazed by how easily he seemed to get along with children. Not only get along with them but get them to trust him and rather quickly.

She smiled to herself as she recalled worrying that he might frighten the children because he’d be too stiff or too cold with them, but that definitely didn’t turn out to be the case. Right from the very beginning, she saw that Everett knew exactly how to talk to the children.

Moreover, he acted as if he actually belonged in this sort of a setting.

Talk about being surprised, she mused.

As they drove from one house to another, Lila found herself wondering what these people who had so little would think if they knew that the man who was administering their vaccinations, writing out their prescriptions and listening so intently to them as they described their symptoms was actually a millionaire’s son with a thriving, fancy practice back in Houston.

She laughed quietly to herself. They’d probably think that she was making it up because Everett seemed so down-to-earth, not to mention so focused on making them feel better.

As she continued observing Everett in setting after setting, Lila could feel her heart growing softer and softer.

It became harder for her to regard Everett in any sort of a cold light and practically impossible for her to keep the good memories at bay any longer.

Everett had grown into the good, decent man she had, in her heart, always felt that he was destined to become.

“How many more?” Everett asked her as they drove away from yet another house.

He and Lila had been at it for a straight twelve hours, stopping only to pick up a couple of hamburgers to go at a drive-through. They ate the burgers while driving from one patient to the next.

Keeping her eyes on the road as she drove, Lila smiled at his question. She didn’t have to pull out her list to answer him. “That was the last house on my list.”

“No more left?” Everett questioned, thinking that she might have accidentally overlooked one or two more patients.

“Nope, no more left,” Lila told him. She flashed him a relieved grin to underscore her words.

“Wow.” Everett leaned his head back against his headrest. “I was beginning to feel like we were going to go on with these house calls forever.”

She laughed. “Does feel that way, doesn’t it?” She spared him a glance as she came to a stop at a light. “Bet you’re sorry now that you returned my