by Lexi Blake
The quizzical look on her face was quickly replaced with one of complete horror as she realized what he was talking about. “Dad!”
She turned her chair and stormed out.
Armie smiled as he watched her go, and he thought about how to get the two women he loved under the same roof. Maybe he could show her how good a family they could be.
* * *
• • •
She had nothing. Absolutely nothing. She was in her mid-thirties and she had absolutely nothing to her name. She didn’t even have a shitty trailer to call her own. How the hell had she ended up here?
She used to have nice things. Oh, she’d worn scrubs to work, but on her days off she’d worn designer clothes and one of her precious two pairs of Louboutins. She’d carried a Chanel bag she’d scrimped and saved for. The apartment she’d shared with Brock had been beautifully furnished. She’d left most of that behind when she’d left him, but she’d thought somewhere down the line she might fix up her dumpy bayou home.
And it hadn’t been so dumpy. In the beginning it had seemed like a trash heap, but slowly she’d found small treasures—books she’d wanted to read, records to listen to, a book of recipes to try. All gone.
A thumping tail told her she wasn’t completely alone. Peanut was sitting beside her, his head up, big doggy eyes staring at her like she knew what the hell she was doing. She had to buy dog food. And a bowl. And a bed. And everything. Did she even have the money for that?
“Lila? Are you all right? That was our last appointment of the day.” Mabel stood in the doorway, her purse on her shoulder. “Is Lisa coming to pick you up? Hon, you can come home with me. I might even have something that fits you.”
Only if Mabel used to be about four inches taller. She hadn’t even thought about what she’d do for clothes. She had two sets of scrubs here at the clinic. They would have to do until she could go shopping. Where would she go shopping? At least she still had a car. Not that she’d used it much lately.
“Thanks, but I think I’m going to stay here and make a couple of lists of things I’ll need.” She knew Lisa would come get her, and she would likely be more than willing to go and shop, but she couldn’t face her sister right now.
She wondered if she could stay here. There was a perfectly nice on-call room. It wasn’t normally used because the clinic wasn’t open twenty-four-seven, but there was a cot and a bathroom with a shower. There was a fridge and a microwave in the break room.
The bell that let them know someone was at the entrance chimed through the clinic.
It might be her sister. She’d told Lisa she would call when she needed help, but Lisa wasn’t all that great at listening. She moved toward reception, Mabel and Peanut trailing after her.
A familiar young woman stood on the other side of the glass doors, bags in her hands and a stroller at her side. Hallie Rayburn smiled and Lila opened the doors.
“Hey, Hallie. Is everything okay with your mom?” Neither Hallie nor the baby had an appointment. She’d heard Janice was doing well now that she was home from the hospital, though she wasn’t happy about not being able to pour butter over all her vegetables. She’d gotten an earful about fried chicken not being on the list of acceptable foods Lila had given her.
“She’s okay, though I will admit she was easier to deal with when I could tell her I was hungry to get her off my back for a while. Now that she’s on the heart-healthy diet, she’s all about getting in my business. But I’m here for another reason. Me and Seraphina went around and got you some things we thought you might need. Dixie told us you were back in the clinic after last night, and we figured you wouldn’t have time to go shopping. It’s nothing much but it should cover the basics.”
There were a couple of big bags sitting by the stroller. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“Oh, it was a ton of fun, and once people heard we were going, they pitched in with some cash. The insurance might take a while, so we all know you’ll need a few things. It can be hard to get adjusters out here quickly. Besides, we got to drive into Houma to go to the new superstore there. I know it’s not anything special, but they have the basics. We got you jeans and undies and bras. I know it sounds weird but I’m excellent at discerning bra size. My husband says I was a perverted man in my last life. You’re a thirty-four B.”
She was. Lila nodded, still trying to figure out what was going on.
Hallie grinned, obviously pleased with herself. “There’s shampoo, conditioner, and Miss Marcelle threw in some anti-frizz gel. We got you some makeup, too. You’re definitely a fall. That was the color palette I got you. I also bought you socks. Socks are important. I hate it when my feet are cold.”
They’d bought her makeup? She didn’t know these women very well, but they’d gone out of their way to ensure she had little comforts? “This is very nice of you.”
“Well, you saved my baby. You also saved my momma’s life. It happened recently enough that I’m still grateful, so bask in the attention, Doc. And there’s also the fact that you’re here. I know I wasn’t easy on you that first day, but I feel better about Gracie’s future knowing that you’re here and you’re going to do everything you can to make sure she stays healthy. If you hadn’t taken over the clinic, we would have to drive an hour to get any kind of care. Thank you.”
The world went watery. No one outside of her siblings had ever done something like this for her. She looked down into the bags. There were jeans and T-shirts, a package of plain white cotton undies and two bras. And there were socks. Fluffy, pink-and-purple unicorn socks.
Nothing designer or flashy. Nothing that said I’m successful.
A whole lot that said someone cares about me.
“We went by the pet section, too. We figure Peanut’s stuff didn’t survive, either,” Hallie explained.
They’d bought food for her dog.
“Hey, the waterworks are starting early,” a deep voice said. Armie. Armie was here and he looked so big and safe.
She threw herself into his arms and wrapped herself around him. “They bought me socks.”
“Does she not like socks, Sheriff?” Hallie asked.
Armie held her close. “I think she likes socks a lot. I bet it’s been a long time since anyone but her siblings tried to take care of her.”
That was wrong. She brought her head up so she could look him in the eyes. “You take care of me.”
The softest look came over his face. “Yes, I do, chérie. It’s all I want to do.”
She pulled away and turned to Hallie, wiping her tears. “Thank you. And please thank everyone who helped. I can’t tell you what it means to me.”
Hallie hugged her. Lila didn’t hug patients. She didn’t do the get-close-to-people thing because people often let her down.
This wasn’t a high-powered ER where the patients would come and go and she would barely remember their names. She would know these people, come to care about these people, and that was so scary to her.
She’d come to this town to hide away, but it was going to force her to change. She’d gone into medicine because it had seemed like the best way out of the poverty of her childhood. It had made her feel smart and strong and powerful. It had been something to conquer.
She would have to be more here. She would have to continue for different reasons. She would be a primary care provider because these people were her neighbors, her community.
Her family.
She hugged Hallie and somehow despite everything that had happened, she felt larger than she’d been before.
Hallie and Mabel left a few minutes later, seeming to understand she needed some time to settle down. She was left alone with the man she was falling in love with. She hadn’t thought this would ever happen to her. She’d thought she wasn’t capable of feeling so much for anyone outside her family.
What would it feel like to m
ake a child with this man? Another thing she’d never wanted before she’d met him. With Armie by her side, she might be able to do all the things she’d been too afraid to do.
He stared down at her. “I was coming over to take you out to dinner and try to convince you to come home with me.”
“You want me to spend the night?”
“I want you to move in.” He set his hat down on the counter and looked ready to plead his case. “I know it hasn’t been very long. I get that we’re probably moving faster than we should, but I also believe that things happen for a reason.”
“My house burned down so we could move in together?”
“No.” He was incredibly cute when he was flustered. “That didn’t come out right. I guess what I am trying to say is sometimes things happen and we have to react to them. And my first reaction was to hold you as close as I could and take you back home with me. Well, not my first reaction. My first reaction was to go and find Bobby Petrie and that brother of his, throttle both of them, and leave them for the gators. But I didn’t do that because I’m trying to be less violent. So I’m going with my second reaction.”
“Which is to haul me back to your lair.” God, she was crazy about him.
She seemed to stump him. “Not like that. It’s your choice . . . You’re screwing with me, aren’t you?”
She nodded.
“You’re coming home with me.”
Again, all she had to do was nod.
He moved into her space. “I want you home with me and so does Noelle. I want you in my life and my bed every single day.”
“Yes.” She was taking the leap. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t worked everything out. All that mattered was being with him.
His face split in the most beautiful smile. “Yes?”
“Yes.”
He crowded her and she found her back up against the reception desk, his hands on her hips. “I like it when you say yes to me.”
She let her hands move up to his broad shoulders. She was going to live with him. It made losing her house easier to take. She might have lost a house and gained a family. “I intend to say yes a lot.”
He lowered his head to hers and his lips were about to close in, when there was that chime again. And someone pounding on the glass doors.
“Doc! Doc! Stop kissing the sheriff and let me in.” Zep Guidry stood outside, his sister standing with him holding a small cooler.
“Lila, Zep is an idiot who thought he could trim the branches better than the local landscape guy,” Sera yelled through the door.
“I was trying to save Momma some money,” Zep argued.
“You were trying to charge her yourself, you ass.” Sera shook her head and held up the cooler. “He’s not so good at trimming branches, but he successfully trimmed off his pinkie finger. I’ve got it in here.”
Lila rushed toward the door because that was going to be a challenge. “Come on in. How clean was the cut?”
“Oh, he did a great job on it,” Sera said with a sigh, passing over the cooler. “It’s perfectly clean. Be careful, though. Momma freaked out and I think she and Miss Marcelle might show up to perform a ritual or something. You might have to work around that.”
“I can handle it.” She started to lead Zep back.
Armie sighed and sat down. “I’ll be waiting here.”
It was good to have someone waiting, and even better to know he would be waiting to take her home.
chapter fourteen
Armie came awake to the smell of coffee and the sense that all was right with his world. Damn, but he loved waking up and knowing Lila was somewhere in the house. She almost always woke up before him. He was going to have to set an alarm because he was missing precious time with her.
In the two weeks since she’d moved in, she’d had a definite impact on his household.
The best thing she’d done was get Noelle out more often. She’d gently pushed and prodded his daughter into going to church with her. Of course that had meant he’d had to go to church. That wasn’t a ton of fun, but Noelle had spent time with the youth group and had even gone out to the movies with some friends she’d made.
Lila had held his hand as he’d watched them drive off with his daughter. She’d been the one to convince him she had to go out on her own again, and he had to trust her enough to have some kind of a life.
Lila had also been the one who’d sat up with him waiting for her to come home, watching the little signal on his phone that showed him where she was.
“Hey, sleepy head. It’s almost time for me to head out. You on night shift again?”
He rolled over and got his first look of the day. He liked starting the day alone with her and finishing it off the same way. Even when she was asleep when he came in. He’d snuck into bed at four a.m. and she’d turned as though even in her sleep she’d known he was there. She hadn’t opened her eyes but had let him wrap her up in his arms as he’d gone to sleep. “I am. How did last night go?”
“Good. Noelle worked on her history project and then we watched a movie.” She was dressed in scrubs, her hair up in a neat bun that made him want to sink his hands in and mess her up a little. She looked gorgeous right after sex, when she was completely open to him. He’d come to understand that was a side of Lila Daley that was saved for him, a gift to him.
“I’m glad to hear it. My night was all about the damn golf carts. I swear those damn things are a menace. Arnold Butler kitted his out with twinkle lights and oversized tires. He was going fifteen miles an hour and holding up traffic.” And that old man knew a whole lot of rude hand gestures, all of which he’d used on Armie when he threatened him with a ticket.
“We were fine, so you can probably pull Major off sentry duty so you can stop working like a crazy man,” she said pointedly. “You can go back to day shift and let Major deal with the crazies.”
He wasn’t sure about that. He’d had Major or Roxie doing regular drive-bys when he wasn’t at home. So far everything had been quiet. According to the reports he’d gotten, Bobby and Donny Petrie had been getting on their boat every morning to head out into the bay to shrimp and going back to the island at night. “He doesn’t mind. Neither does Rox.”
She sat down on the bed beside him. “I know they don’t, but it isn’t necessary. The arson inspector said his results were inconclusive. Unfortunately, Bill stored gasoline in the garage, and that was right next to the laundry room. I hadn’t even started to explore that garage. I was intimidated by it.”
Because Bill had been a hoarder and his garage hadn’t been filled with cars. He should have checked out the house more thoroughly. “I know. I read the report ten times. I’m thinking about asking for a second opinion. There was an accelerant used, but it could easily have been the gas because while Bill was apparently prepping for the apocalypse or something, he didn’t use safety storage procedures. I’m going to sue that home inspector. I think I’ll sue Miranda, too.”
Lila’s eyes went wide. “Don’t you dare. She sent over the lemon cookies and they were incredible.”
“Those were ‘I hope you don’t sue me because I screwed you over’ cookies.”
“Regret and fear never tasted so good,” Lila replied with a shrug. “It’s fine. The insurance money should come in soon. I don’t think it was the Petries. I think maybe Carrie moving out proved to him that she was too much trouble. Maybe he realized how close he came to doing something that would have ruined his life. He apparently hasn’t even tried to contact her. I spoke to her yesterday and she’s good. She’s in therapy and talking about finding a job. She’s thinking of moving to Dallas.”
He could imagine that a change of scenery would do her good. “I’m glad for her, but I hope she plans on testifying against him. I would hate for him to get away with it.”
“I think she will. Scoot over. I have ten minutes before I
have to leave.” Lila laid down next to him and put her head on his chest. “I think Bobby gets that he’s in trouble and he’ll start looking for another punching bag. You can let up. I know where the shotgun is, and I know how to use it. I’ve also taken self-defense.”
“I’ll think about it.” He hated the idea of someone out there waiting for his chance to get to her, but then, he was likely paranoid. The arson investigator had told him her house had been a bomb waiting to explode. Maybe she’d been damn lucky.
“Noelle’s first PT didn’t go well,” she said, her voice turning careful.
He looked down at her. “She said it was fine. She said the new massage therapist was nice.”
“The physical therapist didn’t think she was trying.”
“The therapist is wrong. She works hard.” She always had.
“I’ll go down today and check it out,” Lila promised. “Noelle told me the same thing. She said it was fine but nothing happened. She seemed very disappointed. Patience is the key here. This could be a long process.”
“That could yield absolutely nothing. You need to be patient with her, too. She’s settled her mind around being strong with what she has. Neither one of us knows what it’s like to be where Noelle is.”
She was silent for a moment. “She was happy when she came home the other night. I think it was good for her to go out with her friends. But I know they asked her again this weekend and she said no. I overheard her on the phone. She said you told her she couldn’t go.”
“I never said that, but I did tell her she could throw me under the bus if she didn’t want to do something.” It made him worry that maybe that night hadn’t gone as well as he’d thought it had. “I’ll talk to her.”
This was their only point of tension. The weeks since Lila had moved in had been some of the happiest he could remember, but he could tell it was starting to bother Noelle when Lila pushed her about the future. He’d saved a couple of dinners by turning the conversation away from where Noelle would go to college, what Noelle wanted to do with her life.
