Organically Yours: Sanctuary, Book Five by Abbie Zanders (love letters to the dead txt) 📕

serious relationships she’d had on one hand, less a thumb and three fingers. There’d been that one guy in college, but they’d parted ways soon after graduation, and more importantly, she hadn’t minded at all.

But the thought of not seeing Doc again left her feeling strangely bereft.

“Kate said something about making Sunday afternoon coffee a regular thing, so I’ll probably see him again.”

“I was hoping you’d say that,” Lottie said. “Mr. O’Farrell has suggested we make our Sunday afternoon visits a regular thing, too.”

“Then, it sounds like our illicit rendezvous will continue.”

Lottie held her shot glass up in toast, prompting Tina to clink hers lightly against it. “Sounds like.”

* * *

As the week wore on, Tina found herself looking forward to her visit to Sanctuary more and more. To coffee and conversation with Kate, Sam, Sandy, and Bree. To sharing her thoughts on recycling kitchen refuse into organic compost with Chris. Mostly, she was looking forward to seeing Doc again.

Unfortunately, only two of those things actually happened. She did enjoy coffee with the women, and she did get to talk compost with Kate’s husband. However, she didn’t cross paths with Doc once.

The week after wasn’t much better. When she was helping Matt gather a soil sample in the old orchard, she caught a glimpse of Doc walking Duke. She waved, hoping he’d come by and talk to her, but he just waved back from afar and kept going.

By the third week, she was convinced she’d messed up big time. It bothered her enough that she felt compelled to bring it up to the others.

“Is Doc still around?”

“Yes,” Kate replied. “Why do you ask?”

“I haven’t seen him around lately. I think he might be avoiding me.”

“That doesn’t sound like Doc,” said Sam. “He’s very easygoing and friendly. I’ve never known him to avoid anyone.”

“Maybe he thinks you don’t want to see him. Did something happen we don’t know about?” asked Sandy.

After only a brief hesitation, Tina decided to forge ahead and tell them what had happened when Doc walked her to her truck. “We haven’t spoken since.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Sam said, nodding.

“I screwed up, didn’t I?”

“I think that depends,” Kate said carefully.

“On what?”

“On what it is you want from him. As far as I know, Doc hasn’t shown interest in anyone since he came here. The fact that he asked you out speaks volumes.”

“As does the fact that he turns into a ghost whenever you’re around,” mused Bree.

Tina considered that.

“Let me ask you this,” Sam said. “Did you say no to Doc because you’re not interested in him in that way or because Doc is part of Sanctuary?”

She was interested, so by process of elimination, it was the latter. “It is a consideration,” she admitted.

“At least you’re honest,” Sam said with a quirk of her lips.

“Was it something any of you considered?” Tina asked them.

Sam was the first to answer. “I was already an outcast as far as the town was concerned, so it wasn’t really an issue for me.”

“Apples and oranges because I’m not a local,” Bree said, waving her hand dismissively. “But I will say that I’ve never really cared much what other people thought.”

“When I first met Heff, I thought I was finally on my way out of Sumneyville, and I didn’t really care what anyone thought,” Sandy said. “By the time I decided to stay, I’d already burned my bridges, so it wasn’t an issue for me either.”

Tina looked to Kate, anxious to hear what she had to say. Kate’s situation was the one most similar to hers.

“I didn’t take it seriously at first,” Kate said thoughtfully. “I knew there were concerns on both sides, but I was optimistic that I could have it all. Honestly, I never thought I’d be forced to choose. It came down to them or me, and in the end, I chose me.”

“Any regrets?”

“Only that I didn’t stand up for myself sooner,” Kate answered. “I do wish things were different with my family, but I’ve accepted that I can’t control what other people do, only what I can do.”

Wise words indeed. Whether or not they applied to Tina’s current dilemma remained to be seen.

“Want my opinion?” asked Sandy.

Tina nodded.

“Talk to Doc. Be honest with him. He’s a smart guy. He’ll understand.”

“We’ve already established there’s interest on both sides,” said Sam. “Now, you need the chance to get to know each other better and see if it’s worth pursuing.”

That sounded like a plan. “Do you know where I can find him?”

“He was out with the dogs earlier. If he’s not hanging around there, then he’s probably back in his trailer.”

Sandy’s eyes lit up. “What if, instead of having dinner with us, Tina took food out to him?”

“Since he asked her out, it might be nice if she was the one to make the next move,” Bree said, nodding thoughtfully.

Kate clasped her hands together. “I like it! What do you think?”

Four pairs of eyes looked at Tina expectantly.

“Why not?”

Chapter Fourteen

Doc

After rereading the same page for the third time, Doc set the book aside and sighed. It was a good story, a mystery/thriller that had received rave reviews, but he couldn’t stay focused. His thoughts were elsewhere.

He looked at the clock. Again. Sunday afternoons had officially become the longest couple of hours of the week—his own personal, in-depth study on the slowing of time.

Because Sunday afternoon was when Tina Obermacher visited Sanctuary.

Is she still around? he wondered. Had she chosen to stay for dinner this week, or had she opted to leave after coffee with the girls, as she had the week before?

It wasn’t as if he could ask. Heff had already given him shit, convinced that Doc’s recent scarcity on Sundays was one hundred percent the wrong thing to do. Heff’s unsolicited advice involved ensuring that Tina saw him often, thus keeping him in the forefront of her thoughts and thus a constant reminder of what she was missing.

Doc’s answer was to remind Heff how he had gone full hermit when Sandy decided