Angela Hunt - A Time To Mend

As if she’d read his thoughts about the boyfriend, Jacquelyn quietly left the room and walked out to the reception area. When she came back a few moments later, she carried a yellow sticky note. “A message from Craig,” she said, a frown settling between her delicate brows. “He says he came, he waited, he had to leave. He had an important appointment at four o’clock.”

Jonah glanced up. “Is that a problem?”

“A little one.” She smiled tentatively. “I hate to bother you, Doctor, especially after all you’ve done today for me and Bailey. But we’re stuck.” She tucked her hands into the belt at her waist. “Without a car, I mean. I guess I could call a cab, but I don’t know how I’ll get Bailey into the backseat.”

“There’s no way you can carry this dog by yourself,” Jonah pointed out. “And Bailey still doesn’t look very steady on his feet. I’ll call a taxi and take you both home. I jogged over to the lake, so I’ll need a cab to get home, anyway.”

Her face was firmly set in deep thought. “That’s asking too much. I need to stay here and clean up the mess we’ve made. I should move Bailey to the waiting area so I can sterilize and prep this room, and then I have to make a list of all the meds you gave him so I can submit and pay the bill.”

She suddenly smiled and tilted her sleepy-cat eyes toward him. “And since I can’t afford your hourly rate, Doctor, just forget about doing anything else for me. Bailey and I can hang out here until Craig is done with his appointment. I’ll call him at five or so. He’ll come and pick us up when he can.”

He laughed, honestly amused by her detailed sense of integrity. “Forget it. Don’t bill yourself for anything,” he insisted, turning toward the sink. “Practically everything I used was a free sample. Don’t worry about it.”

His gaze came to rest on her questioning eyes, then his instinct for self-preservation forced him to turn away.

What was he doing? Acting like a fool, again. He ought to leave her and take a cab back to his apartment. He could spend the night surfing the Internet, and he needed to check out some recent stats from a Johns Hopkins project…but it was a holiday and he did need to relax.

Maybe, just this once, nothing bad would happen.

He cleared his throat. “I’ve never walked out on a patient without making sure that he or she was resting comfortably, and I don’t intend to start now. Really, I’d love to see you home…unless you’d really rather wait for—what’s his name? Craig.”

A spark of some indefinable emotion lit her eyes at the mention of the boyfriend’s name. She smiled to herself, then crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. “There is no way of knowing how long Craig will be. Are you sure you wouldn’t mind taking us?”

He turned the faucet and began to scrub his hands. “Absolutely sure, that is if Craig won’t mind. I wouldn’t want him to get the wrong idea.”

There. In one statement he’d told her that he meant nothing by his offer and given her the perfect opportunity to laugh and say that Craig was her brother, her cousin, or some casual friend she barely knew…but she didn’t.

“Craig would understand,” she said, her smile fading a little. “A ride home is…no big deal.”

Jonah forced a smile as he shut off the water and allowed his hands to drip into the sink. “Well, you’re going to need help carrying the beast to the waiting room so we can clean up in here. By tomorrow morning, not even the county health department will be able to tell that we’ve treated anything other than Homo sapiens in this clinic.”

Her pensive expression softened into one of fond gratitude as she moved toward the cabinet containing the cleaning supplies. “I will never be able to thank you enough, Dr. Martin. What you did today…well, I wouldn’t have expected it from any doctor. You really surprised me.”

“Nurse Wilkes,” he said, smiling wryly as he reached for a paper towel, “sometimes I surprise myself.”

The cab pulled up in front of one of the older, dignified homes Jonah had often admired along the lakefront. Wide stuccoed pillars lined the edge of a gleaming wooden porch where a swing for two drifted lazily in the afternoon breeze. Jonah paid the taxi driver and together the two men hoisted the huge mastiff from the vehicle’s backseat.

Bailey, still a bit wobbly on his feet, had to be half urged, half carried up the front steps, but as soon as Jacquelyn and Jonah got him into the house the dog perked up and trotted gratefully to an old blanket by the fireplace.

“He knows he’s home,” Jonah observed, watching as the dog curled up for a nap. “And I have to admit, it’s nice to see a dog by the fireplace.”

“Even if we hardly ever have a fire,” Jacquelyn answered, dropping her keys on a small desk as she passed through the foyer into a cheery kitchen. “Let me get you a cold drink, Doctor Martin. It’s still as hot as blazes outside and carrying Bailey is no easy job.”

He paused, weighing the heaviness of his past experience against the unwelcome prospect of another night alone in his apartment. Why shouldn’t he stay for a few minutes? He had planned to walk back to his apartment from here, and it would be nice to enjoy a cold drink before setting out. This meant nothing. Jacquelyn Wilkes had a boyfriend; she certainly wasn’t interested in him. In fact, as soon as her gratitude for his help wore off, she’d probably pick up her quiet crusade of aversion right where she left off.

“I’ll take a Coke, if you have one,” Jonah answered, following her into the kitchen. “Thanks for the offer, Nurse Wilkes.”

“Nurse Wilkes?” She wrinkled her nose as she gracefully stepped to a cupboard. “After the day we’ve had, don’t you think you can call me Jacquelyn? Dr. Kastner does.”

He pressed his lips together, uncomfortable with this new level of intimacy. “If that’s what you’d prefer.”

“I prefer. I don’t want to hear any more of this ‘Nurse Wilkes’ stuff. It’s Jacquelyn. Or Jackie. Whichever you like better.”

“Which do you prefer?”

She paused. “Funny,” she said, slowly opening the cupboard door. “No one’s ever asked me that. My father calls me Jacquelyn, pronounced the French way—you know, Zhock-leen. My brother calls me Jack, and Craig calls me Jacquelyn.”

The boyfriend. He was someone significant, or she wouldn’t have mentioned him. Jonah felt his reserve begin to thaw. He forced a smile. “And what does Bailey call you?”

Amusement flickered in her eyes. “Mom.”

She pulled two glasses from the cupboard, then stole a glance at his face. “It’s okay to smile, you know, neither Bailey nor I will bite you. Why so formal, Doc?”

He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “I’m not always. You yourself said I was too informal with the patients.”

“But not with your nurses.” She held the glasses for an instant, watching him, then smiled and pointed toward the refrigerator. “Ice would be a good idea, don’t you think? Why don’t you get it while I dig some Cokes out of the pantry?”

He came forward and took the glasses from her, feeling a bit like an alien in hostile territory. Since entering the house her spirit had unfurled like a blooming rose, while at the threshold his courage had begun to shrivel. Soon there’d be nothing left of him but a Cheshire cat smile…unless he got out of here. Fast.

“Don’t go to any trouble for me,” he called, looking toward the pantry into which she had disappeared. “I just remembered that I really need to go over some figures for a research study. I promised some colleagues out in California that I’d send my analysis—”