Prognosis for Happiness

By Carolynn Carey

Gwen Meyer may be a full-fletched pediatrician now, but when Hollywood plastic surgeon Trevor Kendall comes back to small-town Brook Haven to critique her care of his five-year-old niece, she reverts emotionally to that nerdy girl in high school who used her acerbic wit to keep Trevor from getting too close to her. Unfortunately, the attraction she'd felt for him then is just as strong now, some fourteen years later. And even more unfortunately, she feels no more equipped to handle him now than she did when they were teenagers.

Trevor Kendall may have been voted "Most Likely to Succeed" when he was a student at Brook Haven High, but he hadn't been able to break through the hard shell Gwen Meyer wrapped around herself to keep him at arm's length. Now, when he returns to Brook Haven at the frantic request of his sister to check on his little niece, he's both surprised and pleased to discover that five-year-old Abby's pediatrician is none other than his old nemesis from high school. Gwen doesn't appear to like him any more now than she did then, but he's determined to crack through her shell and see what makes her tick. Problem is, what he discovers under that shell may very well turn his world upside down.

Can these two strong-willed individuals with career paths that have taken them in opposite directions ever find common ground to deal with their feelings from the past and more importantly their hopes for the future?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Carolynn Carey
• Release date: Dec 8, 2014
• ISBN: 9781502233387

Carolynn Carey

Carolynn Carey is the award-winning author of twenty-five books. In addition to her contemporary novels, she writes Regency romances. Several of her books have won or finaled in national contests such as the HOLT Medallion, the National Readers’ Choice Award, the Maggie, and the International Digital Awards. Carolynn lives in Tennessee where she spends her days writing, reading, knitting, and watching for text messages about the amazing exploits of her only grandchild. To receive notification when she has a new book coming out, sign up to receive her newsletter. For more information or to contact her: www.CarolynnCarey.com [e-mail]

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

No one should be subjected to such unpleasant news at seven o’clock in the morning, Dr. Gwen Meyer reflected, her teeth clenched as she strode down the hallway toward the nurse’s station. Unfortunately, the hospital administrator, James Oakes, had just confirmed the rumor that had been circulating for the last couple of days.

The famous Dr. Trevor Kendall would soon be making an appearance at Mayhew County Memorial Hospital in Brook Haven, Tennessee. And although Mr. Oakes hadn’t come right out and told Gwen so, she had no doubt that Dr. Kendall was coming to town to critique her work with his young niece.

Striding up to the nurse’s station, she slapped her folders down on the counter, closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath, consciously tuning out the familiar hospital clatter while she composed herself. There was one tiny blessing. Trevor Kendall wouldn’t remember her. How could he? She’d been about as inconspicuous as bland wallpaper back in their high school days.

Since then, she’d trained herself not to remember him. Not to remember those days when he’d been the high school stud and she’d been the high school nerd, days when she’d craved his attention and feared it at the same time.

She bit her lip and concentrated on how she’d handle their upcoming confrontation. She was positive he wouldn’t remember her, so she’d face him and pretend he was nothing to her. That he’d never been anything to her. That she could barely recall him from fourteen years ago.

A concerned voice sounded right beside her. Good morning, Dr. Meyer. Are you all right?

Startled, Gwen opened her eyes, then forced a smile for the CNA who stared at her with a worried frown. I’m fine, Vicki. Just taking a quick mental break.

You’re sure? You look a little pale. Is the heat getting to you?

Gwen widened her smile. No, I’m okay. Really. After all, this July is no hotter than usual. She hurried to change the subject. Have you seen Ella Whitaker this morning?

She was in room three twelve a few minutes ago. She’s passing out the morning meds.

Thanks. Gwen glanced at the chart on top of her pile. The Bellon boy was in room 312. He’d suffered a broken arm and a possible concussion when he fell out of his tree house. She’d checked him last evening and he’d been doing well. If he continued to progress, she planned to release him tomorrow.

In the meantime, she was eager to ask her friend Ella if she’d heard about the doctor who had put his Hollywood practice on hold to come back to the small city where he’d cut such a wide swath while in high school.

Not that Ella had known either Gwen or Trevor during their high school years. Ella hadn’t moved to Brook Haven until she married Connor Whitaker, Gwen’s first cousin. But of course as a nurse at Mayhew Memorial, Ella would have heard about the doctor from Brook Haven who’d become plastic surgeon to the stars. Everybody in town thought of Trevor as the local boy who’d made good.

Aware that Vicki still watched her, Gwen struggled to keep her contempt for Trevor from being reflected on her face. The last thing she needed was for her colleagues at the hospital to become aware of her antipathy toward Trevor. No doubt everyone else would admire him. After all, he was probably foregoing thousands of dollars in Hollywood fees to come back to Tennessee to help with the care of his little niece.

Gwen decided she’d succeeded in hiding her emotions because the CNA’s frown faded. Then she looked down the hall. Here comes Ella now. She must be finished with the morning meds, which means I’d better get to work. Vicki walked away just as Ella stepped up beside Gwen.

Ella’s eyes shone with excitement. I guess you already know who’s coming to town. I hear he’s as handsome as some of those movie stars he’s nipped and tucked. Didn’t you go to high school with him?

Gwen barely refrained from rolling her eyes. If Ella was excited about Trevor coming to town, everyone at the hospital likely felt the same. She tried to affect a disinterested tone. Yeah. We were in high school together, but that was the extent of it. Trevor ran with a different crowd than I did.

But didn’t you graduate the same year?

We did. Gwen hoped her short answer would communicate her reluctance to pursue the conversation. Her hopes were in vain.

If you graduated the same year, you must have known him fairly well. After all, graduating classes at Brook Haven High aren’t that huge.

Gwen considered trying to change the subject but then decided she might as well get everything out in the open. Look, Ella—

Ella didn’t appear to hear. Her eyes glazed over and she heaved a sigh. I can’t believe Trevor Kendall is coming here, to Mayhew Memorial. Did you know that a music producer from Nashville contacted Trevor’s mother, asking if she thought Trevor would consider making a cameo appearance in a music video? She isn’t supposed to tell which singer the producer was representing, but she said it’s someone who is exceptionally famous.

But why would they want Trevor in a music video? He isn’t an actor.

Are you kidding? He may not be an actor, but his face has been all over the tabloids and those entertainment TV shows. He’s almost as famous as some of the stars he associates with.

Gwen set her teeth. I wasn’t aware of that. Well, I’d better get started on my rounds. See you later. She picked up her stack of charts, but Ella grasped her arm.

Oh my heavens. I just realized that you probably aren’t all that thrilled about Trevor Kendall coming to Mayhew Memorial. I hear his sister wants him to collaborate with you about little Abigail’s medical problems.

Gwen felt her cheeks growing hot. Desperate to hide her anger from Ella, she looked down as though to examine the charts she held in the crook of her arm. Unfortunately, she couldn’t keep her voice steady when she responded. Tina Kendall Taylor is absolutely the most overprotective mother I’ve ever known, but if it will make her feel better to have her plastic surgeon playboy brother look over my shoulder, then I’m all for it.

Ella grinned, then grabbed a chart and vigorously fanned Gwen with it. Cool off, girl, before you become a victim of spontaneous combustion.

Gwen jerked the chart out of Ella’s hand, then reluctantly returned her friend’s grin. You’re right. I have to stay cool and keep reminding myself that this will be a short-term collaboration with another physician to alleviate the worries of the mother of one of my patients.

Phrased that way, it didn’t sound so bad. At least that’s what Gwen tried to tell herself.

AFTER FINISHING ROUNDS at the hospital, Gwen hurried across town to her office. She and two other doctors made up the Brook Haven Pediatric Group, and being the only pediatricians in town, they stayed busy.

Gwen was neither the oldest nor the newest in the group. When she had finished her residency five years earlier and indicated her interest in returning to Brook Haven, she’d been invited to join the practice of her childhood pediatrician, Dr. John Coker. Because Dr. Coker was nearing retirement age, they had decided to bring another doctor into the group. After interviewing half a dozen potential additions to their small staff, Gwen and Dr. Coker agreed on Dr. Janice Patterson, who was an experienced doctor interested in moving from a big city hospital to a small town practice. Janice had soon established herself as an excellent doctor who made both children and their parents feel at ease.

By a little after noon, Gwen and Janice had finished the morning’s appointments and settled down in chairs around the table in the break room. Gwen had stopped on her way to the office and picked up a salad, and Janice had brought a sandwich from home. They rarely tried to go out for lunch. Morning appointments frequently ran late, and sometimes emergencies required them to go back to seeing patients before they finished eating.

Dr. Coker was taking a day off and the morning had been busy, so Gwen looked forward to relaxing a few minutes while she and Janice ate and caught up on each other’s news. Janice had two children in college and rarely ran out of family tidbits to share with Gwen.

Gwen stabbed one of the grape tomatoes on her salad and dipped it in Italian dressing before looking across the table at her colleague. So how’s Melissa doing these days? she asked, referring to Janice’s youngest daughter who was a freshman in college.

She called last night all upset because she’s sure she flunked her history test yesterday. I reminded her that she always thinks she’s failed and she almost always makes an A, but that didn’t make her feel any better.

Has she always been this way?

Always. In fact, I tried to remind her that she had felt the same when she was in high school but— Janice paused when the break room door swung open.

Gwen suppressed a sigh and laid her fork down. No doubt one of the staff members was coming to tell them that a person without an appointment had arrived with a child who needed to see a doctor.

Cindy Atkins, their young receptionist, poked her head in the room. Excuse me, Dr. Meyer. You have a visitor.

Just as Gwen opened her mouth to ask Cindy to elaborate, the girl stepped into the break room and pulled the door fully open. Her eyes were wide and her face pink with a blush as she motioned to the man standing in the hallway. Come in, Dr. Kendall.

Gwen looked at the man who stepped into the room and immediately felt the years peel away like a stack of loose pages being scattered by a capricious wind. He had aged, of course, in the fourteen years since they’d graduated from high school, but the years had been more than kind to him.

His dark brown hair was still thick, but the unruly lock that had once flopped onto his forehead had now been tamed by a stylist who obviously knew how to cut hair.

His face had filled out nicely, and the soft curves of boyhood had been transformed into the square angles of an extremely handsome man. His body, too, had matured well. Where he’d once been gangly, so long-limbed that he’d sometimes reminded Gwen of a granddaddy longlegs, now he appeared sturdy and strong and impressive.

She swallowed a sudden excess of saliva. God, but she hoped she didn’t have spinach caught in her front teeth.

His gaze flickered from her to Janice and back to her again. Dr. Meyer? he said, a question in his tone.

So he didn’t remember her. She wasn’t surprised. In fact, she told herself she was relieved. She stood. Yes?

I’d like to see Abigail Taylor’s records.

Gwen felt a slow burn of anger bringing color to her face. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t really glad that he didn’t remember her. In fact, she felt more than a little insulted. She lifted her chin. Do you have written permission from her guardian?

His gorgeous brown eyes widened just a fraction. Abigail’s mother is my sister.

And do you have written permission from your sister to inspect your niece’s records? Gwen realized she was being obstructive, but he absolutely deserved it in her opinion.

He smiled.

She glowered.

He smiled even wider. I wasn’t aware that I would be required to present written permission. I had been told that my arrival was expected.

Gwen pursed her lips and nodded but said nothing.

He grinned in what was an obvious attempt to charm her.

She grabbed her sunglasses off the table and slid them onto her face.

His grin faded. What’s that about?

Gwen removed her sunglasses. I’m sorry. It’s just that your teeth are so artificially white, I was afraid for a minute I was going to be blinded.

He blinked in surprise, then threw back his head and laughed for a full sixty seconds. When his laugh ended and he looked at Gwen again, his smile was broad and his eyes twinkled. It might take me a minute to place you from your appearance, Gwen Meyer, but I’d recognize that acerbic sense of humor anywhere. Am I going to be lucky enough to be working with you?

Gwen had forgotten how charming he could be. Or maybe she’d just put it out of her mind. Yes, you’re going to be working with me. I’m not sure whether you’ll consider that lucky or not.

His amusement faded and his expression was suddenly all business. About my niece’s records...

Gwen shifted her gaze to Cindy, who still lurked in the hall, staring with rapt admiration at Trevor. When she realized she was the object of Gwen’s attention, she dropped her gaze.

Cindy, would you please bring me Abigail Taylor’s records?

The receptionist nodded and scurried away.

Gwen took the opportunity to introduce Janice and Trevor. The fact that the two immediately began discovering common interests and mutual friends did nothing to improve Gwen’s mood. She was totally irritated with Trevor for remembering her only because of the caustic remarks that she’d addressed to him in high school.

Now that she thought about it, she felt a little bad about the unkind things she’d said to him all those years ago. But she’d figured flattery was the last thing someone with his ego needed. Besides, she would never have guessed that he’d paid any attention to what she said back then, let alone remember the tenor of her remarks all these years later.

After all, he’d been the Golden Boy in high school—good-looking, smart, popular. He’d been senior class president, captain of the football team, voted Most Likely to Succeed—all the stereotypical attributes of the leader of the class.

While Gwen, on the other hand, had been dubbed by her classmates as Miss P & P for Miss Proper and Prudish and although she’d never known for sure, she’d always suspected that Trevor had come up with that nickname for her.

A quick tap on the door interrupted Gwen’s musings. Cindy pushed the door open and stepped inside. She carried a large folder that Gwen recognized as Abigail Taylor’s records.

Trevor and Janice, who had been discussing their mutual acquaintances at Stanford, broke off their conversation when Cindy walked up to Trevor and thrust the folder toward him.

Here are your niece’s records, she said, then blushed a rosy shade of pink. Gwen was tempted to roll her eyes at the girl’s obvious crush on Trevor but refrained. After all, she’d had quite the crush on him herself when she was just a few years younger than Cindy.

Thank you, Trevor said. He flashed the receptionist one of his white-toothed grins and Gwen feared for a minute that Cindy would just melt into a large puddle of bliss right there on the break room floor.

Y-y-you’re welcome.

Cindy stared at Trevor until Gwen cleared her throat. Thank you, Cindy. That’s all for the moment.

Cindy continued to stare at Trevor.

Is someone covering the front desk for you, Cindy? Gwen asked.

Beg your pardon? Cindy took a deep breath and let it out slowly, still gazing at Trevor.

Janice apparently decided it was time to intervene. She walked up to the reception’s side and spoke loudly. The front desk, Cindy. Who’s covering it for you?

Cindy blinked twice. Oh. I guess I’d better get back out there. Thank you, Dr. Patterson. After one final entranced smile for Trevor, she turned and left the room.

Gwen allowed herself an eye roll after Cindy was gone, then wished she hadn’t when she caught Trevor looking at her. Thankfully, Janice appeared to recognize Gwen’s tension and stepped forward, motioning toward a chair at the table. "Would you like to sit down, Dr. Kendall, and look through your niece’s file? I’ve finished my lunch and need to return some phone calls, so you can have my

Reviews for Prognosis for Happiness

[Leena Aluru · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Its a YA book. I didn't like how easily she gave in to all his plans and ideas. She was a complete pushover.