Kat Martin - Scent Of Roses

Zach paused in front of them and a slow smile appeared on his lean, dark face. “Ms. Conners. Welcome to Teen Vision.”

She tried to keep her gaze on his but it drifted down to his sweat-covered chest. A wide thatch of curly dark hair stretched across it, arrowing down into the waistband of his faded jeans. He was powerfully built, lean and hard-muscled. She forced herself to ignore an unwanted tingle of awareness.

“Sorry,” Zach said, following the line of her gaze. “I didn’t realize we were going to have company. I’ll go get my shirt.”

Elizabeth fixed her eyes on his face. “Don’t bother on my account. I’ve got to get going shortly. I just came by for a tour and to say hello to Raul.”

Zach turned and looked out toward the pasture. “I’ll go get him.”

“I’ll go,” Sam said. “I want to talk to Pete for a minute and the two of them are together.”

“Pete?” she repeated as Sam walked away.

“Pedro Ortega. He prefers to be called by his American name. He and Raul have struck up a tentative friendship.”

“He’s a good boy…Raul, I mean.”

“Kind of surly. A little bit rough around the edges, but they all are when they first get here.”

“Raul is different. He’s special.”

One of his dark eyebrows arched. “If he’s won you over, he must be.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means you were always smart and even back in high school you had a way of seeing people for what they really were. I know that from personal experience.”

She felt the heat creeping into her face. “That was a long time ago.”

“I owe you an apology for the way I behaved that day at the café. I wasn’t a very nice person back then.”

“But you are now?”

He smiled, a flash of white in his handsome face. “I like to think so.”

“I like what you’re doing for these boys.”

“I was one of them once.”

Her gaze lit on the tattoo on his left arm, a coiled snake with the words Born To Be Wild tattooed in red below the image.

“I thought about having it removed,” he said. “But I left it there to remind myself how different my life might have turned out.”

Elizabeth eyed him with suspicion. Zach talked a good game, but Carson didn’t seem to trust him and she wasn’t about to leap to conclusions.

“Here comes Raul,” she said, relieved to see the boy walking toward them, thick-chested and broad-shouldered, as tall as Sam but weighing a good deal more. “It’s been nice talking to you.”

“I still owe you for that day at the café. Maybe sometime you’ll let me make it up to you.”

Not likely. “Sorry, I’m afraid my schedule is really full, but thanks for the offer.”

Zach’s mouth inched up at the corner. “I remember now what it was I liked about you, Elizabeth Conners. You’re not afraid to tell it like it is.”

Elizabeth made no reply. She’d been cautious in high school. After Brian, she was far more cautious now. Turning to Raul, she led him over to a picnic table in the shade of another tree and they sat down and started talking.

She was glad to see the boy, glad to hear the enthusiasm that remained in his voice. Only once did her mind stray from the conversation to the dark, mysterious man who had returned to his work on the barn.

The results of Maria’s CAT scan came in on Monday. A phone call from Dr. Zumwalt’s office relayed the news that there was no sign of lesions, hemorrhaging, a tumor or any other abnormality. They could do more testing, of course, but the doctor strongly believed the problem was mental, not physical.

“So you’ll call Mrs. Santiago with the news?” Elizabeth asked the office nurse. A perk of her job as a family counselor was cooperation from the medical community. She had wanted to know if there was a problem so that she could be there with Elizabeth if the results came back positive.

“I’ll call her right away.” The woman hung up the phone and Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief. The feeling was short-lived. Whatever was wrong with Maria had not gone away. At least it appeared to be psychological, not physical. She hoped Dr. James would be able to help.

As soon as Michael’s patient left the office, Elizabeth went in to see him. “No brain tumor,” she said simply, having kept the doctor up to date on the Santiago girl’s progress and gaining his agreement to help if necessary.

“I’ve got a cancellation this afternoon. See if she can come in around three o’clock.”

“Thanks, Michael.”

He raked a hand through his sandy hair. “I like the Santiagos. They’re hardworking, really good people. I know it hasn’t been easy for them.”

Not for Maria, married at fifteen, or Raul, who’d been in and out of trouble for years. “No, it hasn’t. I’ll see if she can come in.”

Driving her husband’s battered old blue Ford pickup, Maria arrived that afternoon right on time. Elizabeth walked into the reception room to greet her and they sat down on the dark brown leather sofa. The area was small but cozy, with an overstuffed chair that matched the sofa, an oak coffee table and an end table with a shiny brass lamp. A stack of magazines sat on the coffee table: Redbook, Better Homes and Gardens and a couple of tattered issues of Family Circle.

“How are you feeling?” Elizabeth asked Maria, who sat with her hand cupped protectively over her belly.

“I am fine, a little tired, is all.” She looked pretty today, in pink slacks and a pink-striped maternity blouse, her black hair drawn back into a single long braid.

“Sleeping any better?”

Maria sighed. “If you are asking if I have heard any more voices, no, I have not. Besides, Miguel has been home in the evenings before it is time for bed.”

“Well, at least you’ve been able to sleep. Let’s see what Dr. James has to say about what’s been going on.”

Maria stood up from the sofa. “Will you…will you come in with me?”

“I think the doctor would rather talk to you alone.”

“Please?”

Elizabeth looked up to see Michael James standing in the doorway.

“It’s all right, Maria. If Ms. Conners is free, she is welcome to sit in for a while.”

Maria cast a hopeful glance at Elizabeth, who nodded, and all three of them went into the doctor’s office. The women sat down in front of his desk and Michael took a seat in the leather chair on the opposite side. He slid a pair of tortoiseshell reading glasses up on his nose and scanned the information in the manila folder on the desktop.

When he finished, he took the glasses off and set them down on his desk. “Let me start by saying that Ms. Conners has told me a little about what you’ve been experiencing, Maria. I’m sure it’s been very disconcerting.”

Maria glanced at Elizabeth and the doctor realized she didn’t understand the word.

“I’m sure it’s been extremely upsetting,” he said. “Having an experience like that is bound to be difficult.”

Maria nodded. “Sí. I have been very frightened.” She gripped her hands tightly in front of her.

“Before we get into a more serious discussion, let’s start with something simple. I have two brief tests I’d like to give you. Just answer each question honestly, yes or no, then we’ll see where we are.”

She nodded, seemed to brace herself. For the next fifteen minutes, the doctor asked questions from the first sheet of paper he picked up, questions that would reveal symptoms of depression.

“All right, Maria, here we go. For the past few weeks or months, have you been excessively worried about work, family or finances?”

Maria shook her head. “No. Miguel is doing very well at his job, and Raul, he is doing very good, too.”