What Matters Most (5 page)

“Expect to be elated.” She rested her head against the back of the leather seat and closed her eyes. “Five blocks north and four blocks to the east, and we’ll be there.”

He eased the car away from the curb and headed for Blake’s. He didn’t feel the need to talk and, apparently, neither did she. He liked that. The sun slipped behind the clouds just as he drove up to the restaurant.

“I think we’re in for some rain, and that means it’ll be busy at the clinic tonight,” he said. “I intend to get a service to clean the office, but I haven’t found one I like that’s willing to work out here.”

“One of the problems with workers, cleaners or anyone else is how to secure the drugs,” Melanie said. “Would you consider putting a safe in your private office?”

“I hadn’t thought of that. You’re suggesting that someone might break in to look for drugs?” he asked her.

“In that neighborhood, it’s something to consider.”

In the restaurant, they found a table near the window. He hadn’t expected luxury, but the neat, attractive setting pleased him. Glass covered the white tablecloth, and a bud vase held a pretty flower. They ordered the pastrami sandwiches, which arrived quickly, and she seemed to hold her breath while he bit into his.

“Well?”

“Fantastic,” he said. “The best I’ve ever tasted. The coffee’s great, too. By the way, give me a bill for all that stuff you bought.”

She handed him a receipt for thirty-seven dollars. “The coffeemaker cost twenty-four dollars and tax,” she said. “I didn’t have time to check around for something cheaper.”

He had to remember that they thought differently about money and value. However, since she seemed anxious that she’d spent too much, he said, “Twenty-four dollars? At that price, we’ll be lucky if it works.”

“It worked fine today,” she said.

He didn’t believe he’d ever seen anybody enjoy food the way she enjoyed that pastrami sandwich. She finished the sandwich, drank the remainder of her lemonade and smiled the smile of a satisfied woman.

“We’d better get back,” she said. “We have a lot to do before five o’clock. We don’t want the patients to think that because they’re poor, they’re not entitled to our best.”

The thought that came to mind brought perspiration to his forehead. The thought lingered, and when he set the coffee cup into the saucer, his hand shook.
She’s the perfect complement to me.

“We’re not going to let them think that, but right now I’m enjoying this sandwich, and I don’t want to rush.”

“Would you think it nosy of me if I asked what you did with your afternoons before you opened the office down here?”

“Nosy? It’s a good question. I can’t remember, at least not accurately. I guess I wasted a lot of time. Occasionally, I played golf, went to the club, went horseback-riding and found other ways to pass the time. Unless there was an emergency with a patient, my work day was over at one o’clock in the afternoon. If I was at home, I’d read, usually medical information. Why’d you happen to ask that?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “You’re so low-key. I never have enough time.”

“I can’t afford stress, Melanie. A surgeon needs a clear head and steady hands, so I try not to carry a bigger load than I can handle.” His cell phone rang. “Excuse me.” She moved as if to leave the table, but he stopped her by putting his hand on hers. “Ferguson.”

“Darling, where on earth are you this time of day? Can you meet me for a drink? Dad’s sponsoring a cabaret theater, and we want you to join us. Your name will guarantee its success.”

He listened for a minute. “Sorry, I can’t go into that now. I’m in a restaurant, and I am not alone.” He pushed his chair back from the table and listened for a minute. “I told you that I am not alone. We’ll finish this some other time.” Jack hung up the phone.

“I’m sorry,” Melanie said. “I could have left.”

“No way. I said as much as I wanted to say. I realize that that person is a source of stress.” Elaine had begun to annoy him, and she had overestimated her importance in his life. Growing up, his parents had controlled him with their love and by appealing to his logic, not by telling him what to do and keeping tabs on him. He took the check, walked around to Melanie’s chair and helped her up. She seemed surprised, but she’d get used to it.

At four o’clock, they had completed the files and computerized them. Melanie looked down at Jack’s feet, clad as they were in only socks, and asked him, “What happened to your shoes?”

He grinned in that devastating way of his, and she told herself not to let him get to her. “Melanie, the first thing I do when I get inside my house is kick off my shoes. I like to be comfortable, and shoes and clothes make me feel like a harnessed horse. A necktie is an abomination.”

She certainly hadn’t expected that. “Gosh, you must be uncomfortable most of the time. It’s a wonder you aren’t a radical. Oh, dear. I broke this tube. I’m sorry.”

“No problem. You’ll get the hang of it. What makes you think I’m not a radical-type? My father and certain of my friends probably think so.”

“Why would they think that? Most radicals don’t drive a Town Car.”

“They don’t approve of my opening an office here. My father is pretty close to being outraged.”

“I’m sorry. I think he should be proud of you. What does he do?”

“My dad’s an internist, physician to the rich.”

“Come now,” she said. “I’ll bet I wouldn’t find poor people lounging in the waiting room of your Bolton Hill office.”

“That’s true, but I have treated patients there from whom I didn’t expect payment, and I’d do it again.”

She couldn’t help looking at him then. His voice had a plaintive tone that said he could hurt. Without thinking, she placed her hand on his bare arm. “I think you’re wonderful, and I know your mother is proud of you.”

“You’re right. She was.”

“Oh, Jack, I’m…so sorry. I know what it means to be without a mother. Sometimes it’s…” She shook her head, wishing the subject hadn’t come up.

He finished it for her. “Sometimes it’s pure hell. My dad’s been good to me, but he doesn’t easily show affection. And every kid needs that. He also thinks he knows best. And since I’m thirty-four years old, I’m damn sure
I
know best.”

“That’s part of being an adult.” She looked around. “I wish we had a shower here,” she said.

“All right. I’ll call the architect and have him draw some plans for a shower. It’s easy enough to enlarge that bathroom. If you want anything else, just tell me.” His voice dropped a few decibels, but she knew he was not trying to seduce her. “I’ll drive you home if you want to shower,” he said

“I don’t think there’s time, but thank you. My uniform is in the closet. I’ll manage to get clean.” She changed into her uniform. Refreshed, she found him sitting on her desk, drinking coffee.

“I made enough for you. It’s good. I can’t believe that pot only cost twenty-four dollars.”

“I’m sorry to tell you that it is definitely the quality of the coffee and not always of the pot that makes the difference, Doctor.”

“A minute ago, you called me by my name for the first time. Do your best to remember it.”

“Yes, sir. Back to bossy, eh?”

Jack tried to remind himself to keep his thoughts straight. He’d been thinking of Melanie nude in the shower less than twenty feet from his office, and he imagined steam jutting from his ears. But when she came back to the waiting room dressed in her white uniform, switching his mind back to an employer-employee relationship wasn’t much of a stretch.

Her smile was a warm and loving thing, natural and spontaneous, and he enjoyed seeing it. She sipped the coffee and smiled. “Thanks for this. It really hits the spot.”

“You are welcome. Tell me, Melanie, why do you have so much trouble calling me Jack? You did it once, and I suspect that was because you saw that my defenses were down.”

She looked at her watch, glad to focus anywhere but on him, and said, “You have twelve minutes to change and put your shoes on.”

“Twelve is all I need. And don’t think we won’t get back to that question.”

“Don’t forget your shoes,” she called after him, because she enjoyed needling him and he didn’t seem to mind.

Twelve minutes later, he presented himself for her inspection. “How’d I do? I brushed my teeth, too.”

Her eyes sparkled with amusement, and she walked up to him with a wide grin on her face. “You did? Let’s see.”

He hadn’t previously seen that side of her, and excitement raced through him. Without thinking, he grabbed the hand that seemed headed toward his lips. “Be careful, Melanie. It wouldn’t take much for me to step over the line. And if I ever do that, there will be no turning back for either of us.”

“I…Jack…” Her gaze fastened on his mouth, and then, with what he witnessed as a display of awesome willpower, she forced herself to look away from him. He released a deep breath in relief.

“Sorry,” she said. “I tease too much.”

Jack made himself grin, although he was far from amused. “Let’s get these folks in here.”

Melanie walked into the waiting room, smiled and a chorus of voices sang, “Hi, Ms. Sparks.”

She called the first patient, got the chart from the file and took the patient in to see Jack. “How are you at drawing blood?” he asked Melanie in an aside.

“I’m not an expert, but I’ve done it. Want me to?”

He nodded and handed her a needle. “Easy now. That’s it.” He told the girl to make a fist and gave her a dancing monkey to distract her. “Slant it a little bit more,” he said to Melanie. “Good. Perfect. Fill the vial.”

“You’re a great teacher,” she told him later. “I’ve never been around anyone who shows as much patience as you do. It’s really refreshing.”

He stared at her. Would she say such things if she didn’t mean them? The women he knew used flattery as social currency, and he’d long since found it distasteful. But he didn’t believe Melanie was that type. “You’re generous with compliments,” he said, “and my ego loves it.”

He had worked with nurses ever since he’d finished medical school. He’d liked some, disliked others and been indifferent about a lot of them. But this woman was different. Her professionalism at no time overshadowed her compassion and femininity. She separated the nurse from the woman, yet the nurse had her personality and value system. She would never believe how much he admired her.

He went back to the girl and patted her shoulder. “I’m going to give you some medicine that requires an injection.”

Her eyes had a glazed look. “Will it hurt?”

He rested a hand lightly on her shoulder, hoping to communicate to her that he cared. “It will sting a little, but afterward, you can have some ice cream.”

He named three flavors, and after she chose cherry, he gave her a shot of penicillin and told her mother to bring the girl back the following Tuesday.

“I can’t be certain until we get the results of the blood tests,” he told Melanie later, “but from what her mother tells me, it wouldn’t surprise me if she has sickle-cell anemia. She has the symptoms. If that’s the case, at first she’ll need better care than I can give her. I’m not up on some of these diseases. I wish I had an internist here.”

“You want to give the best health care, but until you came here, they would spend hours waiting in an emergency room. Many would become dispirited and leave without treatment. You’re a godsend to these people, and someday they’ll let you know it.”

His heart seemed to expand. “
You’re
a godsend, Melanie. With you here, I can’t possibly become discouraged. You won’t let me.” He smiled to lessen the impact of his words.

“What’ll we do if your hunch is right?” she asked him.

“Good question. I’ll do some research to see what our alternatives are.”

It was probably going to be a bad night. He knew that when he got tonight’s tests results, he would find that at least four of his patients were seriously ill. “I’d better call your taxi,” he said to Melanie at nine-fifteen. “You’ve had a very long day.”

“So have you,” she said.

Every muscle in her body screamed for rest; she had been exhausted before the first patient arrived. However, she didn’t feel like going home. Intuition told her that her father would be on the warpath, and she didn’t have the energy to face him.

“What do you think of Mrs. Lacey?” she asked Jack, postponing the time until they closed the office. She’d been concerned about the patient’s breathing.

“Doesn’t look good. She has an accelerated heartbeat, and her lungs aren’t clear. She may need an ablation, but that may complicate her condition. I phoned one of my colleagues and asked him to give her an MRI and a CT scan tomorrow and let me know what he finds. She could get them at the hospital, but I don’t want to wait that long. I think she’s headed out of here.”

“But she’s got those three little kids, and she’s a single mom.”

“I know. Life’s hard sometimes. We’ll do all we can for her. Hey, don’t…We’ll take care of her. Melanie, for goodness’ sake.”

She turned her back to him and wiped the tears that rolled down her face. “Those children are in for it. The worst thing that can happen to a child is not to have a mother. It’s—” The day Melanie came home from school at nine years old and discovered that her mother had died flashed through her mind, and her shoulders shook uncontrollably.

“Don’t. Please don’t cry. It will be all right.”

Jack’s hands locked on her in a steely grip. “Swee…Melanie, please…I…” He turned her to face him, and he folded her in his embrace. Her arms eased around his shoulders and locked. The sensation of his long surgeon’s fingers stroking her back and her hair sent tremors throughout her body. “It’s all right. I know how you feel, because I feel the same. Being without your mother is hell.” She relaxed into the comfort of his arms, soaking up the warmth and tenderness that she needed so badly. His grip on her tightened, bringing her back to reality. The worst thing she could do would be to fall for this man. And, oh, how hard she would fall! She willed herself to pat his shoulder and step back.

He released her immediately, but when she didn’t look at him, he gripped her shoulder. “Look at me, Melanie,” he said, his voice stern and unrecognizable. “Don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy being in my arms. Tell me you think it was a mistake or that you wish it hadn’t happened. But don’t dismiss your feelings.”