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Following his instructions, Francine lifted her shirt and he proceeded to carefully examine her tummy, frowning all the while. After asking her a couple of pointed questions, he nodded.“I can’t be one hundred percent sure, of course, but I suspect you have the beginnings of a stomach ulcer. I’d advise you to have a gastroscopy and await the results. If I’m right, there’s nothing to worry about. With the proper treatment you’ll be right as rain in no time.”

Jackie lowered her shirt.“I don’t understand, doctor. I watch my diet—how can I have an ulcer?”

“Do you fret a lot?” he asked, still employing the soothing bedside manner that had made him so popular with his patients.

She gave him a sheepish look.“Lately I have been under a lot of stress. What with moving to Hampton Cove and helping my husband set up a new doctor’s office and trying to find work for myself. It hasn’t been easy.”

“What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a kindergarten teacher. But so far it would seem Hampton Cove has all the kindergarten teachers it needs, and so do all the neighboring towns. I’ve been helping Jaqlyn, of course, but really what I want is to go back to work. I love my job, and I miss it.”

“Why did you move to Hampton Cove, if I may ask?” It was a question he’d asked himself incessantly ever since Jaqlyn had set up shop across the street and started poaching his patients.

“Oh, Jaqlyn felt he needed a change of pace,” she said vaguely. “We want to have kids, you see, and Hampton Cove seems like a wonderful place to start a family.”

“It is,” he said. “And I hope you do.”

She smiled.“You’ve been very kind, Tex. I know you must have felt a certain resentment when Jaqlyn opened an office so close to yours, and took over some of your patients.”

“Of course not,” he lied. “There are enough patients in Hampton Cove to support two doctors. Now do you want me to arrange an appointment for that gastroscopy?”

“Yes, please. I don’t want to tell Jaqlyn just yet. Not until I know what’s going on.”

She got up and placed a delicate hand in Tex’s. “Thank you so much, doctor. I can’t tell you how worried I’ve been.”

“Everything will be all right,” he assured her, and led her out into the hallway and opened the front door for her.

She paused on the doorstep.“What is the best way to deal with stress, doctor? Honestly?”

“The best way, of course, is to tackle the underlying issue. If being out of a job is causing you stress, finding gainful employ will immediately give you relief.”

She nodded slowly.“Tackle the issue,” she said pensively. “Maybe I will do just that.”

And with these words she gave him another grateful smile and quickly walked away. And as she turned down the street, he saw she was furtively glancing over her shoulder.

Chapter 8

Jaqlyn Jones heaved a contented sigh. He was glad now he’d had the good sense of adding a couch as part of his office furniture. Even though he wasn’t Sigmund Freud and strictly speaking had no need for a couch, he’d still managed to convince Francine he needed one so he could take a nap in between some of his more trying patients.

One such patient was now reclining on the couch, where he’d just left her, after engaging in a thorough exploration of her frankly stunning physique.

“Are you sure your wife isn’t going to walk in on us?” she asked for the third time.

“No, she won’t,” Jaqlyn assured her. “First off, she knows better than to disturb me when I’m with a patient, and secondly, I’ve locked the door.” He gave every indication of being proud not only of having had the foresight of adding a couch but also a door lock.

“We shouldn’t be doing this, Jaq,” said his last patient of the day. “I feel guilty.”

There wasn’t actually anything wrong with Monica Chanting, at least not to the extent that she needed daily visits to the doctor, but then Jaqlyn had never bothered figuring out a better way of organizing this illicit affair. Monica was the red-headed and long-legged wife of a landscaper, and when she’d come in for her first appointment had ended up in Jaqlyn’s arms, preparatory to the kind of behavior no doctor should ever engage in with a patient. Both consenting adults, though, they’d decided they enjoyed this daily respite from married life, and had since been conducting a torrid affair.

“I think we have to tell them,” said Monica now, bringing Jaqlyn up with a start and wiping the self-congratulatory smirk from his face.

“Tell who?” he asked, though he had a sneaking suspicion he knew exactly who she meant. This wasn’t his first extra-marital affair, but he’d hoped it would be the first one where he didn’t have to come up with a bunch of excuses of why he couldn’t divorce his current spouse.

“Your wife and my husband, of course. They have a right to know.”

“No, they don’t,” he said immediately.