Radclyffe - Love On Call

Mari told her. “It’s a little apartment, but it’s nice. You?”

“I’m out in the country with Presley and Harper.”

“You’re living with them?”

Carrie tipped her head from side to side. “Well, technically Harper is living with me and Presley. We were there first. The hospital had actually rented the place for Presley, and I was going to stay in town, but it’s this big old rambling farmhouse with plenty of bedrooms, and it just made sense for us to live together. Plus, the house comes with a housekeeper whose cooking will make you cry. Wait till you taste Lila’s muffins.”

Carrie made swooning noises and Mari laughed again. She’d never met anyone who seemed to take such unconcealed pleasure in life. She envied her new cousin that ability.

“Anyhow,” Carrie went on, “when Harper and Prez got involved, well, you know how that goes. Pretty soon Harper was spending almost every night there.”

Mari didn’t know how that went, but she wasn’t going to say so. She’d never gone any further than kissing, and not very much of that. She’d shared a room with her sister and, until she’d gotten sick, they’d shared pretty much everything. Talk of sex wasn’t one of them. Selena had a serious boyfriend, but she lived at home and Juan lived with his parents too. Mari doubted they were having sex. Selena was even more religious than their parents and had declared from the time she was twelve that sex before marriage was a sin. “Is it weird, living with your boss?”

“Oh no. Prez and I have pretty good boundaries. The only real problem is that she wants to work all the time, and I refuse to talk about business before we get to the office.” Carrie laughed. “Well, I try not to, anyways, but it’s just natural for her. She’s always thinking about what she needs to do, and since she’s always twenty steps ahead of everyone, there’s always a lot of that.”

“Sounds like she’s lucky to have you.”

“Oh, she is. But she knows it. And I love my job.” Carrie laughed. “Anyhow, I’m going to be moving into Harper’s in a few weeks. At least I hope it will be that soon. Harper’s planning to have it renovated—add another bedroom and bathroom in case my family comes to visit or something.”

“Is it in town?”

“Oh no. It’s right smack-dab on the Rivers plantation. I call it a plantation, it isn’t really, although it looks a lot like Tara.”

Mari struggled to follow the quickly swinging conversation. “Tara? You mean like in Gone with the Wind ?”

“Yeah, you know, the big white house with the columns and the gables and the sweeping porches and the acres and acres of green? That’s what the Rivers family’s homestead reminds me of. Harper’s place is like a quarter of a mile away—it used to be a caretaker’s house, a hundred years ago, I guess. It’s got its own little barn and a garden. Do you garden?”

“You mean flowers? Um, no.”

“Actually, I meant vegetables. You know, tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers. That kind of thing.”

Mari couldn’t keep from smiling, although she didn’t feel the slightest bit humorous. “Oh my God, no. I grew up right in the heart of the city. The only things coming out of the ground that weren’t parking meters were the occasional trees that the city planted, and they were so puny they hardly qualified as trees. My family lives in a row house, and my mother sometimes put a window box with flowers outside the front window, but she took care of keeping them alive.”

“You’ll have to come and see the place,” Carrie said. “I’ve pretty much talked Harper into letting me oversee the renovations, since I’m gonna be living there and she’s way busy at work.”

“Of course,” Mari said automatically.

“Great! We’re having a get-together at our place tomorrow. You’ll have to come and then I’ll take you on a tour.”

“Ah, I—”

“Oops—there’s my page,” Carrie said when a short, barrel-chested guy in a team shirt yelled and waved in their direction. “Come on.”

Carrie vaulted up a narrow aisle between the rows of benches toward the top of the bleachers and Mari hurried after. The stands were surprisingly crowded with men, women, and children talking, eating, and laughing. Sundown was at least two hours away and the air shimmered with heat.

“That’s Presley next to Abby,” Carrie said, pointing as she climbed, “and Harper’s sister Carson and her little boy next to her.” Carrie paused one row below Abby, next to Abby’s son and the Rivers girl, who Mari had first seen at the pizza place with Glenn. “Hey, move down, you two. This is my cousin Mari.”

Dutifully, the teens inched down and slid closer together to make room on the end.

“Thanks,” Mari said as she settled beside them.

“Hey—gotta go warm up,” Carrie announced to the world in general. “Everybody, meet Mari, my cousin!”

“Your cousin?” Presley said, obviously surprised, as she held out a hand to Mari. “Hi, I’m Carrie’s roomie, Presley.”

“Nice to meet you,” Mari said to the hospital CEO. Roomie was right.

“Yeah, neat, isn’t it?” Carrie squeezed Mari’s shoulder. “See you afterward for victory pizza. Bye, everybody. Look after my cuz.”

Mari blushed at being the sudden focus of attention, but could hardly be annoyed. Carrie was just too damn sweet.

Abby’s son turned and held out his hand. “Hi, I’m Blake Remy.”

The pretty young girl, who had the same classic features as her sisters along with a glorious head of thick cascading golden tresses, grinned around him. “Margie Rivers. Hi.”

“Hi,” Mari said.

Abby leaned down, a hand on each of the kids’ shoulders. “Ms. Mateo is one of our new PAs.”

“Oh, you can call me Mari,” Mari said.

“Cool,” Blake said. “Margie and I are going to be volunteers in the ER.”

“That’s great,” Mari said.

Blake glanced back at his mother. “Right, Mom?”

“Presley and Harper have approved.” Abby turned to Mari. “Blake is going to start with us on Monday for four weeks, then Margie.”

“Actually,” Margie said in a bright, clear voice, “Blake and I were thinking that we should do our rotations simultaneously, because that way we’ll get more out of them. Dr. Valentine is okay with both of us starting in the middle of August at the vet clinic and working until we go back to school, and then maybe on weekends.”

“Weekends.” Abby looked back and forth between them. “We’ll have to see how your grades are before I’ll agree to that.”

Blake made a face but didn’t argue.

“As for the two of you rotating together, I don’t see why not. You can both start on Monday morning. Seven a.m.”

Blake winced. “Seven?”

Abby smiled just a little triumphantly. “We start at seven, which means you should probably show up around ten of.”

Blake glanced at Margie. “Can you pick me up? Just until I get my license.” He looked over his shoulder at his mother with a truly angelic smile. “And a car.”

Abby merely shook her head. “Those negotiations are ongoing. What are you driving, Margie—something safe? Not a motorcycle.”

“Oh, totally.” Margie’s face glowed. “Harper gave me her old truck for as long as I keep it running and put gas in it.”

“I’ll help with that,” Blake said instantly.

“Fine,” Abby said. “Mari and I will be your supervisors in the ER.”

“Cool,” both kids said at once.

Abby squeezed Blake’s shoulder and sat back while Blake and Margie made plans in excited whispers. Mari tried and failed to imagine her own parents interacting with her the way Abby did with Blake and his friend, firmly in charge but listening to them, as if their opinions mattered. A year ago she might not have noticed, or at the most been surprised or curious. Now she was the tiniest bit jealous, and even more than a little sad.