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them more often for my Alzheimer’s trial study.”
    Vivian perked up. “Alzheimer’s study?”
    Reece nodded. “Yes, I have a trial running now with some medication therapy and electrotherapy with EEG monitoring for brain activity. I just started it.”
    “Have you found all your participants?” Vivian asked.
    Reece frowned and cocked an eyebrow. “Why are you so interested?”
    “Don’t get on the defensive. Alzheimer’s is not my specialty. I was merely making conversation.”
    Reece stared at her in disbelief, but then relaxed. “Yes, my trial is currently full. There is a large pool of people suffering from early onset Alzheimer’s who are more than willing to participate.”
    Vivian tried not to show her disappointment, but really it was to be expected. Alzheimer’s trials filled up quickly.
    “So not interested in Alzheimer’s, but here to take Dr. Brigham’s job?” he asked.
    The question caught her off guard. “Who told you that?”
    “I’m not obtuse, Vivian. I know that’s why you’ve come back to Nashville. Why else would you leave Mannheim’s practice?”
    “For your information, I outgrew Mannheim’s practice. I wanted to branch out and expand my horizons further. Start my own trial, perhaps, and I couldn’t do that in Munich.”
    “Why Nashville?”
    “Why does it matter?” Vivian snapped. She didn’t want him to know about her mother. No one needed to know that, but really if her mother hadn’t been so sick she wouldn’t have come back.
    “It matters. So, why Nashville?”
    “Why not?”
    “Only because you were so hell-bent on leaving. You left like a thief in the night. I don’t even remember getting to say goodbye. All I got was a note.”
    She saw the anger in him. The hurt. She couldn’t blame him. She knew leaving like that would hurt him. It was a burden that she had to bear to protect herself.
    The one time he’d really opened up ever, just after their first time, he said words which stuck with her to this day.
    “I’ve lived a life of constant change. I want permanence. I want roots. Roots here in Nashville.”
    He wanted something she didn’t and couldn’t give him.
    “I thought past was in the past? Focus on the now, remember?”
    Reece stood up, his expression hard and cold. His jaw clenched tight. “Right. You’re right.”
    “I’m sorry my coming back is hard on you, Dr. Castle, but I’m here to stay and we have to work together so I suggest we make the best of it.”
    “Fine.” Only she had a feeling it wasn’t.
    “Fine,” she said.
    “It’s not like you’ll be here that long anyways,” he snapped.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” It was like a slap to the face. Reminding her again that she’d left him behind, making her feel the guilt more keenly than ever.
    Reece shrugged. “I mean once you don’t get the job, Dr. Brigham’s job, you’ll leave.”
    “Who says I won’t?”
    “I wish I had your confidence, but you’re going against tough competition. Old money, connections, things you don’t have here.” It was as if Reece was using all her old fears to scare her now. To get her to leave. Well, she was stronger now.
    Vivian crossed her arms. “I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge. And even if I don’t get it, who says I’ll leave?”
    Reece snorted. “You will. You’ll move on to greener pastures. Isn’t that what sharks do?”
    The words haunted her because that was what Dr. Brigham had taught her. That was how she’d acted for so long as she’d fought to get surgeries as a resident.
    “I’m not a shark.”
    Not anymore.
    She cleared her throat. “I’m here to explore the potential of a trial on autism, if you must know. One I couldn’t start in Germany. Just part of my working here was working with you on this case because I am one of the best diagnostician neurosurgeons in Europe, next to Mannheim.”
    He smirked. “So you’re not after Dr. Brigham’s job?”
    Vivian shook her head. “Yes,