Authors: Julie Lessman
“I suppose that’s fair enough,” Nicki said with approval. “So … that’s one of two problems resolved.”
Lacey lifted her head to stare at her cousin, face in a bunch. “And what’s the other?”
The edge of Nicki’s lip crooked. “Duh, Einstein—your dad?”
A slow grind of a groan rattled from Lacey’s throat as her head plunked back. “Don’t remind me.”
“Well, somebody has to before Mamaw sets you down for ‘
the
talk.’
”
The talk.
Lacey couldn’t help the squirm of a smile, quite sure she and Nick had heard ‘the talk’ dozens of times over the years.
“My lands, girls, grudges hurt you more than the person you refuse to forgive, so you may as well get it over with so we can enjoy our popcorn and a movie. Remember, the devil is just a spit away, looking to ruin our evening, so what’s it gonna be?”
“I know,” Lacey said with a sigh, “I’ve been waiting for her to say something since it’s been two weeks already, and I haven’t made a move yet.”
“Well, she’s getting ready to, I promise. She’s already asked me twice now if you’ve said anything about contacting your dad, and she had that hell-or-high-water look she gets, you know when she gums her lips till they disappear and her eyes burn like a laser?”
Lacey smiled. “Oh, yeah, I’ve actually had nightmares about that look, not to mention the heaping-coals talk, so I suppose I’ll need to do something soon. Although at the moment, Mamaw’s burning look sounds a whole lot better than frostbite, which is what I’m up against with Daddy when he freezes me out.”
“Ah, yes, the good old ‘heaping-coals concept,’” Nicki said with a sage nod of her head, “killing them with kindness.” She shot Lacey a wicked grin. “I always did like that Biblical principal, especially envisioning my enemy’s hair on fire.”
Lacey chuckled. “Yep, I’ve charred a few heads myself when I was younger, but I doubt that was what Mamaw had in mind.”
“You know, Lace,” Nicki said, her gaze suddenly pensive, “maybe your dad won’t freeze you out. I mean, eight years
is
a long time for a man to mellow, so maybe he’s ready to make amends too.”
“Ha! When you-know-what freezes over,” she said with a twist of her lips. “‘Freeze’ being the operative word. Especially since I did the same to him after Mom’s funeral, refusing to answer his calls, emails, and letters, even being snotty enough to return all envelopes unopened, just for spite.” She shook her head. “No, Nick, this confrontation with Daddy will be the hardest thing I’ve ever done and chillier than taking a dip in an Antarctica ice pond.” An involuntary shiver iced her spine. “Brrr … turns me blue just to think about it.”
A low-throated chuckle rumbled from Nicki’s mouth as she angled toward the sun, a smug look on her face. “Well, then I guess it’s a real good thing you’re into the Bible these days, Alycia Anne, isn’t it?” She opened one eye to give Lacey a smirk, making her laugh when she attempted a wink. “Lots of lovely coals to keep you nice and warm.”
“Hey, wait a minute …” Jack paused with great drama, head angled as he placed the stethoscope below five-year-old Tyler Foster’s chest, eyes squeezed tight while listening to the little boy’s lungs. “Did you have animal crackers for lunch, because I hear a lion growling in there.”
Tyler giggled and shook his head, glancing at his mom who sat in a chair across the room, his little sister Sophie tucked on her lap with a thumb in her mouth.
Jack tousled his hair. “Well, okay then. I think you’ll be good as new in a few days, Ty, as long as Mom feeds you plenty of popsicles, Jell-O, yogurt, and ice cream to soothe that sore throat, okay?”
A mischievous grin skimmed across Tyler’s lips while Jack rolled back on his stool, arms folded across his white jacket to address his last patient for the day. “Just one thing left to take care of, then, sport—you want a dinosaur, teddy bear or giraffe?”
The little boy stared wide-eyed, the flush in his face deepening from something other than fever. “What do you mean?” he asked, hope in his eyes coaxing a soft smile to Jack’s lips.
Sending a wink Sophie’s way, Jack fished two balloons out of his coat pocket and held them up. “I mean that not only do I have a degree in medicine, Mister Ty,” he said in his deepest doctor voice, “but I have a degree in balloon animals as well, so you and little sis over there each get to pick one.”
Sophie—all of three maybe—grinned up at her mother before she offered Jack a shy smile, confirming for the one hundredth time that day that he had chosen the right profession. Even after thirty patients, he felt more energized now than he had with his first exam of the day, handling everything from well visits and immunizations, to pinkeye and the flu.
“Okay, Ty, how ’bout you pick first, then I’ll give Sophie a turn, all right?”
“Cool! Can I have a dinosaur?” Tyler said, jiggling his legs while they dangled over the edge of the examination table.
“You bet.” Jack went to work, fingers flying until a purple dinosaur appeared, eliciting a gasp from the little girl’s mouth.
“Wow, that’s way cool!” Tyler held it up, examining the dinosaur from every angle.
“What do you say to Dr. Jack, Tyler?” Mrs. Foster prodded her son with a kind smile.
“Thank you, Dr. Jack,” he promptly said, never taking his eyes off the dinosaur.
“You’re more than welcome, Tyler. And how ’bout you, Soph?” Jack rolled over to Sophie, stretching a pink balloon while he assessed her with a quizzical smile. “You know, I think you
may
just be a teddy bear kind of girl, what do you think?”
Laying her head on her mom’s chest, she nodded slowly, a trace of a smile blooming behind the thumb in her mouth.
“All righty, then …” Jack twisted and turned the balloon in record time, creating a pink teddy bear that coaxed a grin to her face. Reaching back in his pocket, he pulled out a pink ribbon with hearts and tied a tiny bow around the bear’s neck, giving Tyler a wink over his shoulder. “Gotta have a bow, of course, since this is a girl bear, you know.” He handed the bear to Sophie and grinned outright when she dropped the thumb from her mouth to grasp the bear with both hands, a look of wonder lighting her face.
“Sophie …? What do you say?”
“Thank you,” the little angel whispered, and Jack swallowed a lump of emotion, almost feeling guilty for taking a paycheck.
“You’re welcome, Sophie.” He lightly tapped her nose before retrieving his prescription pad to write Mrs. Foster a scrip for Tyler. He handed it to her along with two small packets of yogurt raisins. “To feed the balloon animals, of course, when they get hungry.”
“Of course,” she said with a broad smile. “Thank you so much.” She rose with Sophie in her arms, latching a good-sized sack purse over her shoulder. “You know, I’m almost ashamed to admit this, but I was a bit worried when they told me Tyler’s regular pediatrician was out sick.” She shook her head, a smile breaking free. “But I have to say, Doctor, you’re wonderful!”
Embarrassed by her praise, Jack spun around to whisk Tyler off the table in an airplane whirl, eliciting a chuckle from his mother’s lips. “Goodness, I hope you plan to have a slew of kids of your own someday, Dr. O’Bryen,” she said with a look of approval, “because you’re a natural.”
Heat singed Jack’s collar as he led them to the door. “Well, that’s my plan someday, Mrs. Foster, but till then, I get a kick out of taking care of great kids like yours.” He tweaked Tyler’s neck, causing the little guy to giggle and squirm. “Do what your mom says, Ty, and you’ll be good as new in no time, okay? And remember—lots of popsicles, Jell-O, yogurt and ice cream till you’re all better, got it?”
“Got it,” Tyler said with a nod, following his mom and sister out the door.
Jack returned the little boy’s wave as they traipsed down the hall, grinning when little Sophie gave him a tiny wiggle of fingers over her mother’s shoulder. Contentment swelled in his chest as he strolled back to his office, rolling his shoulders to dislodge a kink. Pausing at his door, his euphoria popped faster than an overblown balloon animal at the mountain of paperwork piled high on his desk.
He scrubbed his face with his hands, then dropped into the leather chair of his cherry-wood desk in front of the window, grateful for this office that would become a second home. Overlooking a parking lot with a lush park beyond, the ample-sized room was cozy and comfortable, thanks to Shannon, the creative twin with an eye for decorating. Framed watercolors of Isle of Hope—painted by Shannon herself in high school—graced warm, buff-colored walls, the muted blues and greens offsetting the sterile look of framed university and post-graduate degrees. His smile tipped as he eyed a picture of his family on his desk, prominently overshadowed by a separate photo of Cat vamping it up for the camera—her sole contribution to his decor. “Keep this here for any cute single doctors who come in,” she’d instructed, never really intending for him to comply. But he did, nonetheless, because it always made him smile.
“Okay, that settles it—I guess you’re going to have to teach me how to make those stupid balloon animals.” Jack’s friend and rival from residency, Samuel Cunningham, strolled into his office and plopped into one of two chairs in front of Jack’s desk. His white doctor’s jacket hung wide open to reveal a navy polo rather than the crisp tie and button-down shirt that Jack and most of the other doctors wore. He promptly flopped his feet on Jack’s desk with a lengthy groan, head resting on the back of the chair while he peered through shuttered eyes. “I’m working way too hard to get these little rug rats to like me, while all ‘Dr. Jack’ has to do,” he said, infusing a bit of attitude into Jack’s name, “is twist a little latex and he’s a superhero.”
Jack grinned, not even bothering to look up from the notes he was jotting. “Come on, Ham,” he said invoking the nickname that fit Sam Cunningham to a T, “we both know it’s my good looks and dazzling personality that wins them over.”
Sam grunted. “Wins the moms over, you mean.” He sifted a hand through dark curly hair. There was more than a little jest in brown eyes the nursing staff had once labeled as ‘deadlier than melted chocolate laced with liqueur.’ He sighed a dramatic sigh, a totally unwarranted reaction given that Sam Cunningham had been the heartthrob of Memorial the first two years of residency.
Until
their schedules eased up in third year, that is, when Jack decided to focus more on women than books, a pursuit that solidified their friendship. One edge of Sam’s full lips quirked up. “Actually heard the mom of your last patient bragging to old man Augustine about your ‘gift’ with children.”
Signing his name to the last patient’s record with a flourish, Jack finally glanced up, his grin easing towards a false bravado that had been the mainstay of their three-year friendship and rivalry. “I know—crazy, isn’t it?” He plucked a miniature Tootsie Roll Pop from a crystal candy dish on his desk—his mother’s contribution based on his obsession with Tootsie Rolls—and sat back in his chair to peel the wrapper. “You’d think it’d be the immature one in the group, the one who acts most like a kid that they’d relate to, you know?” He popped the sucker in his mouth and crumpled the paper into a ball, thumb-shooting it at Sam in a bull’s-eye that hit dead on. It bounced off Sam’s “classic” nose just as Jack nudged the candy bowl his way. “Sucker?”
“Apparently,” his friend said with snatch of a pop. “I volunteer to assist Augustine on some of his worst cases ever, getting spit and sneezed at and thrown up on in the process, while you’re chalking up points dazzling pretty moms with animal balloons and candy.” He slapped the sucker in his mouth and rolled the wrapper into a perfect spiral before tossing it on Jack’s desk. “And you call
me
the kid.” The stick rolled around in his mouth as he sank back in his chair. “I think I may need to revisit my bedside manner.”
“Nothing wrong with your bedside manner, Sam,” Jack said, slashing notes and signatures across patient records with the same speed with which he devoured the sucker rotating in his mouth, gone in a matter of crunches. “At least according to Jasmine. She says you’ve got one of the best at Memorial.” He tossed several files into an outbox on the corner of his desk and pitched the stick into his wastebasket with a smile, pumping his brows in jest. “Of course a paycheck doesn’t come with
those
types of house calls, Doctor Love.”
“Sure it does,” Sam said with lazy smile, his brown eyes twinkling with humor. “You should know that better than anyone, O’Bryen.” He paused, head tipping to the side in an obvious goad. “Or is the luscious Jasmine Augustine cutting into
your
house calls?”
Jack’s gaze darted to the door and back, his voice lowering considerably. “Keep your voice down, Sam, will you? Old man Augustine doesn’t even know we’re dating, and that’s the way I want to keep it.”
“I don’t know why. If Jasmine ever gave me a second chance, I’d shout it from the rooftops.” He stood, sailing his stick into the waste can with absolute precision before sitting back down, palms flat on the arms of the chair. “But it appears the lady’s got it bad for you, Dr. Jack, although I’ll be hamstrung if I know why.” He grinned. “Must be the balloon animals.”
Jack’s smile took a slant. “Or the fact you blew it with her in second year by dating other women behind her back.” He punched his schedule up on his laptop.
“Now, see?” Sam sat up. “Explain to me how that’s
any
different from what you’re doing right now, O’Bryen, because I don’t get it.”
Focusing on his screen, Jack made several entries on his calendar, then saved it and shut his computer. He absently cleared his desk before he finally gave Sam his full attention, lounging back in his chair with hands braced to the back of his neck. “Honesty, man, pure and simple. Which separates the players like
you
from the straight-shooters like
me
. I make sure every woman I ask out understands from the start exactly where I stand. After burying myself in books and studies for the last decade, I’m just looking to enjoy life for a while without anything serious, and they all know that. The decision is theirs if they want to go out with me or not. The bottom line? Women appreciate knowing the bottom line.” Jack’s smile tipped off-center. “You should try it sometime, Ham—honesty’s good for the soul.”
Sam cut loose with a grunt. “And bad for the social life. No, thanks, Doc, the last time I opened up and got honest with a woman, I got my heart ripped out and stomped on by a two-timing coed in college, so I think I’ll pass.”
Jack shrugged, thoughts of Lacey suddenly dimming his good mood as he wandered into a cold stare. “Sorry to hear that, Sam, but sometimes that’s the chance we take, and the same for the women we choose to see. But so far, this casual arrangement seems to suit me and everyone I’ve dated just fine.”
“Except for Kathy Watkins.” Sam pierced him with a knowing look, reminding Jack of the sweet pedes nurse Jack had broken it off with after she got too serious.
Rising to his feet, Jack expelled a heavy sigh. “Yeah, except for Kathy, which probably ate at me way more than it did her.”
“I doubt that.” Sam followed suit, stretching with arms high over his head. “Well, one thing’s for sure, Jasmine doesn’t seem too worried about the risk. She stopped in to see her dad during your last appointment, but we both know he wasn’t the reason she came by.”
“Jasmine was here?” Jack felt a twinge in his chest over the way he’d been avoiding her.
“Yeah. Told me to tell you she missed you.”
A low groan scraped past Jack’s lips as he gouged the bridge of his nose, wishing he’d taken it slower with her like he had with the others. But the truth was, Jasmine was his favorite. The one whose company he enjoyed the most. The one who, like Lacey, had a knack for making him laugh and have fun. He put a hand to his eyes.
And
the one who teased and tempted him the most.
Until Lacey.
“You know, Jack, something tells me Jasmine’s in way over her head here, so if you don’t plan to take it anywhere, maybe you should just cut her loose, you know?”
Jack peered up beneath his hand, knowing full well that Sam was right. And yet for some reason, he stalled, not exactly sure that’s what he wanted to do. He cared about Jasmine, he knew that, but since Lacey …
“Chase … lured me with Oreo overloads for the troops, and we both know I can’t say no to temptation like that.”