Sweet Mischief’s Rollercoaster Romance

Maja took the diploma, examining it closely, and realized it was real. "Sorry, I'm just used to being careful," she admitted.

Dean nodded. "I get it. That injury on your back isn't exactly a paper cut."

While recuperating at Willow Creek, Maja gradually regained her strength and could finally walk around. She was eager to leave, but Dean, ever the caring healer, persuaded her to stay a few more days to make sure she was truly okay.

During her time there, Maja discovered that Dean was basically the village's go-to guy for everything.noveldrama

If someone's fence needed mending, Dean showed up with his toolbox. If a neighbor's cow wandered off, Dean would be out with a lantern in the middle of the night looking for it. If anyone needed help, their first stop was Dean's door. He was known as the local doctor, but half the time, he was helping out with things that had nothing to do with medicine.

Yet, when it came to animals, he was always the first to help. Sick pig? Dean would come by and give it a shot. Dog covered in fleas? He'd sort it out. Chicken acting weird? Dean would check for bird flu. Strangely enough, he'd hardly ever treated people—at least, not until Maja showed up.

She couldn't help but ask, "Wait, am I your first real patient?"

Dean chuckled, a little embarrassed. "You're definitely the first one I've had to actually use a scalpel on."

Maja was getting ready to leave again when someone knocked on the door, shouting in the local accent, "Dean, you home?"

"Uncle Adam, yeah, come on in!" Dean called back, opening the door for the older man.

The man stepped inside, surprised to see a woman there. He glanced at Dean, eyebrows raised. "Is this your girlfriend?" he teased, clearly jumping to conclusions.

Maja didn't understand the local language, so she just looked on, but Dean quickly explained, "No, she's just a patient, Uncle Adam. What's going on?"

The older man, clearly anxious, quickly explained why he'd come.

Dean grabbed his medical bag. "Um..." He realized he didn't know Maja's full name, but just smiled and breezed past it. "I need to go check on someone. It's a bit far, so don't wait up. There's food in the kitchen, help yourself."

"I'm actually feeling better now. Maybe it's time for me to get going," Maja said.

She'd already decided that if she made it through all this, she'd find a way to pay Dean back for saving her.

But Dean insisted, "Hang on till I'm back. Let me take a look at your wound one last time before you go."

With that, he was out the door. "Keep an eye on the place for me, will you? No one else is around, and you never know when someone might try to sneak in."

"Hey, wait—!” Maja protested, but Dean was already walking away, medical bag on his shoulder, following the older man down the road. She wanted to leave, but found herself staying put.

It was a two-hour walk to the patient's house. An elderly man had twisted his ankle while gathering firewood in the hills, so they'd called Dean to set the bone.

Back at Dean's place, Maja waited for him to return.

She'd planned to borrow his phone, only to realize there wasn't one. "There's no phone here?"

Dean laughed at her look of disbelief. "We're pretty old-school out here. Most people have never even seen a cell phone. If you want to call your family, I can help you next time I go into town."

Maja shook her head. "That's alright."

She never imagined she'd end up somewhere like this.

With the house quiet and empty except for herself, Maja finally had a moment to think about her next move.

Going home was out of the question-it would only put her family in danger.

Was her younger sister really pregnant with Conner's baby, or was it all just a lie to trick her?