Bachelor CEO (McDaniels #1)

The Doctor’s Little Miracle

PROLOGUE

For Chandy McDaniel, life as she knew it was officially over. She wrapped her arms around her waist and tried to fend off the winter chill that had enveloped Chenille, Iowa, and her heart. She stood on the icy sidewalk, the wet slush from last night’s snowstorm soaking through her tennis shoes. She didn’t care. Nothing mattered when her seventeen-year-old heart was breaking.

“It’s going to be okay. I’ll write. Phone. Hey, don’t cry.”

Justin McCall, her boyfriend ever since eighth grade, crooked his finger and lifted her chin. “You know I love you. Nothing’s going to change even though I’ll be in Chicago. I’ll come back this summer. That’s only five months from now. You’ll see. Everything will be fine. We’ll be together like we planned. This is just a detour.”

Chandy blinked back tears. “It’s our senior year. Couldn’t you have stayed? Finished high school in Chenille?”

“You know I wanted to. But my mom said no. She needs me. She can’t raise Derek by herself. We wouldn’t be going to Chicago if my uncle wasn’t there. He’s promised to help out.”

Justin’s father had died suddenly of a heart attack, and the small life-insurance policy wasn’t enough to make ends meet. Despite community support, the situation was dire. Mrs. McCall had been struggling with twelve-year-old Derek’s behavior, and she had no family nearby to help. The closest was her brother in Chicago.

Chandy knew she was being selfish in wanting Justin to stay. But ever since the tall, shaggy-haired jock sitting in front of her in first-hour history class had turned around and pierced her with those baby-blue eyes, he’d been the only guy for her.

He wrapped his arms around her and then drew back. “Hey, I have something for you. Don’t open until Christmas.”

The holiday was four days away. He reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a small wrapped box. He closed her bare, cold fingers around the present. “Promise me you won’t peek.”

She nodded and fought back tears. “I promise.”

“Good.”

Justin’s lips smiled but his eyes were sad. Behind them the front door slammed as his mom and younger brother exited the house. Justin’s uncle had already driven away with the U-Haul truck containing all the McCall family’s worldly possessions. As his mom and brother cleared the porch and headed to the car, the house was a silent and empty testament to the death of a dream. Icicles hung from the for-sale sign.

Mrs. McCall loaded Derek into the back of the aged SUV and called to her older son. “Justin. We have to go. It’s a long drive. I’m sorry, sweetie. He’ll write.”

She gave Chandy a sympathetic smile and, with a shiver, climbed into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

Chandy and Justin had said their goodbyes last night, parked on the old Quarry Road. There, wrapped in each other’s arms in the back of Chandy’s car, they’d let the engine idle and the heat blow as they’d made love for the very first time. They’d always planned on waiting until they were married, but neither had ever expected this separation. They’d had it all laid out. Graduation. College. Marriage. Jobs at McDaniel Manufacturing. A house. Dog. Kids.

She failed to contain the tears, and they streamed down her face and froze to her cheeks. “I love you.”

“Ditto.”

Justin used the words Patrick Swayze had said in Ghost, the movie out a few years back that they’d claimed was their movie. He kissed her gently and then stepped away as his mother honked the horn twice. Chandy held his hand, and he stretched his arm out behind him, finally losing her fingertips as the distance between them grew too great. Her arm fell to her side and Justin waved once as he climbed into the car.

Chandy remained rooted to the sidewalk, her lips quivering and nose running as Mrs. McCall backed out of the driveway. Justin gave her another sad wave, his face pressed to the glass as the car drove by. At the end of the block, the SUV made a turn on Cedar Street and disappeared from view.

It was the worst moment of her young life. As Chandy stood there shivering, she held on to the hope of dozens of letters and long-distance phone calls, the hope that somehow they’d bridge the gap. That their love would survive.

She never saw or heard from him again.