“I’m doing my best. Now that Dan is gone, there’s nothing more important than this baby. I have to make sure a part of his father goes on.” She settled her palms on the baby bump. “You can put your own maternal instinct on a back burner because I called the doctor for permission. He said it’s okay to be out of the house as long as I’m taking it easy. If I get wild and end up behind the counter, Brady has orders to pick me up bodily and take me home to solitary confinement.”
Jill laughed. “So it’s your big brother’s day to watch you.”
“Every day is his day, poor guy.” The sadness in her eyes deepened. “He’s running the parlor right now, until the baby is born and I’m back on my feet.”
“He’s a really good guy.”
Jill had often wondered why she hadn’t fallen for Brady O’Keefe in high school instead of Buddy Henderson. The only good thing that jerk had left her was C.J. Other than that, it was a lot of bad memories and no desire to fall in love again. Ever. The one time she’d even thought about it, the doctor took off and she wasn’t in the mood to test the theory about third time’s the charm.
“It doesn’t hurt that Brady owns a successful business of his own. He can structure his time to give me a hand, but he’s really stretched thin.” Maggie was looking at the door. “Speaking of good-looking men...”
Jill knew by the expression on her friend’s face that she was looking at Blackwater Lake’s newest doctor. She hadn’t seen him since the incident by the lake a few days ago. Thinking about it afterward, she’d been unable to decide if he was a good, softhearted guy or an interfering jerk who wasn’t going to be around and had no emotional investment in whether or not C.J. became a responsible adult.
When her friend started to wave him over, Jill protested, “No.”
Maggie’s eyebrow rose questioningly. “Oh, really?”
“What ‘oh, really’?”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I’ve known you too long. What’s up with you and your newest tenant?”
“Who says anything is? Can’t I just not want to talk to him?”
“Not unless you have your eyesight checked and your head examined,” Maggie said, her gaze tracking him as he moved farther into the crowded room. “He’s gorgeous and seems really nice. I know everyone in town hates his guts because of what the last doctor did to you, but I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt.”
“Only because he’s got an ice-cream obsession and is a good customer,” Jill retorted.
“That doesn’t hurt. But, for goodness’ sake, he’s a bachelor without children and is here to support the football team. That gets a check mark in the ‘pro’ column.” The sadness in her eyes deepened. “Danny loved playing football for Blackwater Lake High. It was his idea to do this annual fundraiser, and I’ll defend anyone who is here to support it.” Unexpectedly a small smile turned up the corners of her beautiful mouth. “And by the looks of it he’s not just buying for himself.”
Jill turned and followed her friend’s gaze, noting that there were four kids with Adam in line. Reading the body language, she could see that he was relaying questions and answers from volunteers behind the counter and the boys giving their orders. When each sundae was ready, he handed it over to the child.
“Wow,” Maggie said.
“What?” Jill turned back to her.
“He’s buying the Mag-nificent Mocha and the Dan-dee Delight, the two most expensive things I have.”
Jill knew her husband had created and named them after the two of them. She also knew Adam was trying to win over the community and wondered if this was a bribe or he was being extra nice to Maggie. She hated being that cynical. It would be shallow, self-centered and just plain wrong to compare what she’d experienced to Maggie’s incomprehensible loss, but something had died inside Jill, and a couple of men were responsible. Now she looked at everything involving men through a magnifying glass made of skepticism.
“I hope the kids don’t get sick,” Maggie said, watching the boys juggle their treats over to a table while the doctor paid the bill. “Now Adam is looking around for a place to sit.”
“Are you going to do a running commentary on his movements all night?”
Maggie folded her arms and rested them on her ballooning belly. “Someone took a crabby pill. Maybe you need something to sweeten your disposition.”
“If you’re suggesting ice cream, I’ve already had mine.”
“Finishing C.J.’s doesn’t count.”
Jill automatically looked for her son and saw him in a far corner with Tyler Dixon and his dad. There was a part of her that always breathed a sigh of relief when she could see him happy and healthy.
“I may have finished his, but that means we both took one for the team.” The comment made her friend smile, and that was enough to sweeten her disposition.
“Hello, ladies.”
“Adam.” Maggie’s voice was dripping with friendly and topped with welcome. “Why don’t you pull up a chair?”
Even if Maggie hadn’t announced him, Jill would know that voice anywhere. It was deep and rugged and seemed to have a direct line to her heart, kicking up the beat until surely everyone in the noisy, crowded room could hear.
Jill saw the mischievous gleam in the other woman’s eyes. It momentarily blocked out the sad, and for that she was grateful. When he moved into her view she said, “Hi, Adam. Join us.”
He glanced from one to the other. “You two looked serious about something. I don’t want to interrupt any soul-baring confessions.”
Jill was doing her level best to keep this guy from searing her soul and wanted to tell him he was absolutely interrupting them, but had a bad feeling Maggie wanted him to sit down. There was probably no way to avoid it, so she sweetened her disposition and aimed all that sugar in his direction.
“We were just chatting,” she said to him. “Nothing important. Sit with us.”
“Okay.” A faint look of surprise flitted across his face just before he grabbed a recently vacated chair from a nearby table. He pulled it over and sat. “How’s the mother-to-be?”
“Doing nothing, as ordered, and teetering on the edge of insanity,” Maggie answered.
He laughed. “Apparently the edge agrees with you. Glowing is an understatement.”
Definitely he was being extra nice to her, Jill thought. “Is that your official medical opinion, Doctor?”
“It is.” Then he studied her. “And you look like a woman who could use a day off.”
When he turned his baby blues on her, she felt the effects just short of her soul. Then the meaning of his words sank in. Tired? Bags under her eyes? She looked like something the cat yakked up?
Glancing at her best friend’s amused expression, Jill knew Maggie knew what she was thinking. Before she could decide how to sugarcoat her response, Mayor Loretta Goodson stopped beside the table.
“Hi, Jill.” Her Honor was a tall, slender, attractive woman who made the mid-forties look like the new thirty. Her shiny, shoulder-length brown hair was stylishly cut in layers and her jeans, white blouse and navy blazer struck just the right balance between friendly elected official and professional businesswoman. As far as anyone knew, she’d never been married and when she looked at the pregnant lady, there was a mirror image of sadness in her gray eyes. “You look good, Maggie.”
“I feel good.”
The mayor nodded, then extended her hand to Adam. “We haven’t met, Doctor. Mayor Loretta Goodson.”
“It’s a pleasure,” he said.
“How are you settling in?”
He hesitated just a second before responding, “Making a change is always a challenge.”
Loretta nodded. “Folks in Blackwater Lake pride themselves on loyalty.”
“And they’re good at it,” he said wryly.
Jill knew it was a veiled reference to everyone in town freezing him out to protect her.
“Their attitude will change. Doing physicals at no charge for the football team helps,” the mayor said. “And it’s important for everyone to accept you. I was elected to grow the tax base here in town, and to do that we need to attract business. People work in businesses and they’ll need services, like health care.”
Now Jill felt really guilty and personally responsible for hindering town expansion. On her account Adam was being treated as if he’d already screwed up just for being a doctor who rented her apartment.
The mayor smiled at him. “It occurs to me that you might want to do a booth at the Harvest Festival next month.”
“I don’t make quilts or pickle cucumbers,” he joked.
“Health screenings were more what I had in mind.”
“Taking blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes checks. Eye exams,” he said, thinking out loud.
“We could set you up between the pumpkin pies and corn dogs,” she teased.
“That’ll make folks love me,” he said ruefully. “A terrible warning.”
Loretta laughed. “Just a healthy reminder. It would be great exposure and a good way for people to get to know you.”
“Sounds like an idea, Madam Mayor. Who should I talk to about setting it all up?”
“Calvin Johnson.” She pointed out a man across the room who had his arm draped across one of the teenage football players. “I’ll take you over there right now and make introductions.”
“I’d like that. I actually came over here to give you a donation for the team,” he said to Maggie. “Give me a couple minutes and I’ll be back with a check.” Then he looked down at Jill. “See you later.”
Speechless, Jill smiled and nodded, then watched him walk away. The information about contributing his medical expertise to the kids was new, unexpected and something the last doctor hadn’t done. She understood that the money he’d spent tonight was about buying town approval and it was for a good cause. But free physicals was time-consuming, not to mention above and beyond the call of duty. That made it awfully difficult not to respect the gesture. And like him for it.
It was a disconcerting realization. How could she hold out against the new doctor who went out of his way for the high school football team and was extra nice to a pregnant war widow? What could a girl do to put up a defense against a man like that?
Somewhere between talking to the mayor and sweetening her disposition, Jill had misplaced the hostility that was her best weapon.
Chapter Four
Adam drove home from the clinic along Lakeview Road, and it hadn’t been called that for no reason. The street curved around the lake and the view was pretty spectacular. Hence the name. The thing was, no matter how difficult his day, looking at the sparkling expanse of water and the tree-covered mountains of Montana seemed to suck out the bad mood and pump up his spirits. At least that part of his career move had gone according to plan. As for the rest, time would tell.
He stopped at the two side-by-side Quonset hut-shaped boxes on the road leading to the house and retrieved his mail, then pulled into the driveway and parked beside Jill’s small, older, gas-efficient car. Somehow it suited her, he thought, copper-colored and compact. But her curves were the kind that kept him up nights because his imagination tried to fill in the blanks of what it would feel like to explore her.
After turning off the SUV, he headed for the house. Rounding the corner, he spotted C.J. sitting on the front step with a baseball glove beside him. His bony elbows dug into his knees, and his face rested in his hands.
Adam stopped in front of him. “Hey, champ.”
“Hi, Dr. Adam.”
“What’s going on?”
“Nothin’.”
“You didn’t get sick from all that ice cream you ate last night, did you?”
The boy shook his head.
“Are you okay?”
He nodded.
This wasn’t the never-still, never-silent child Adam had come to know. Something was up with him. “Why are you sitting here by yourself?”
“My mom is doing homework. She told me to go outside and play.”
Homework? A question for another time. “So, how come you’re not playing?”
C.J. shrugged. “There’s nobody to play with.”
And there was the downside of living on Lakeview Road near Blackwater Lake. The land wasn’t developed and there weren’t any kids right next door to hang out with like a tract home neighborhood. The closest house was almost a mile down the road. Even if a kid C.J.’s age lived there, a vigilant mom like Jill wouldn’t be comfortable letting him walk there on his own. Besides being cautious, she was a busy working mom, not a chauffeur, and badly needed a day off.
C.J. looked at him. “Will you play catch with me?”
Adam recognized the pleading in those sad brown eyes so like his mother’s. Memories of all the times his father had come home and he’d asked the very same question came back to him now. But his father, the Nobel Prize–winning economist, was always too busy or tired to play.
“Sure, champ. I’d love to throw the ball around.”
C.J. sat up straighter. “Really?”
He nodded. “Playing catch is one of my favorite things to do.”
The boy jumped up, then froze. “Do you have a mitt?”
“No.” Adam held back a grin. “But if you go easy throwing the ball, I think I can handle it.”
“Okay.”
They stood several feet apart on the grass to the side of the walkway. The sun was just going behind the mountain; it wouldn’t be light for long.
Adam braced his feet shoulder-length apart, bent his knees and held out his hands. “Ready.”
The kid threw the ball wide. “Sorry, Dr. Adam. I don’t throw so good.”
“No problem. Just takes practice.” Moving to the side, he bent to pick up the ball and realized it was hard rubber, not a hardball. He gave it a soft underhanded toss back that was right on the money but fell between C.J.’s hands.
“I’m really bad at catchin’, too.”
“You’ll get the hang of it. Just keep your eye on the ball, champ.”
“Okay.” There was still a discouraged, defeated tone in his voice.
“How was school today?” Adam lunged a foot to his right and managed a bare-handed catch of the ball.
“Not good.”
He tossed it back through the kid’s hands again. “What happened?”
“I didn’t get picked for the baseball team.” There was a world of hurt in his voice. “The yard duty lady told ’em they had to let me play, but I didn’t want to then.”
Adam was angry even though he knew this kind of crap was all part of growing up. This was the part that built character, but it didn’t come without pain. What ticked him off most was that there wasn’t any injectable medication or pill, or words, to make that pain better. Then C.J. threw the ball over his head and he jogged over to pick it up.
“That sucks.” He met the boy’s gaze and said, “Did you say anything to your mom about it?”
“No. When I do it makes her sad.”
“It’s pretty cool that you’re taking care of her.” The little hero already had enough character to be the man in his mother’s life and protect her. She’d done a great job with him on her own. “Was your friend Tyler there when they were picking teams?”
“Nope. He was playin’ soccer.”
“So you like baseball better?”
“Yeah, but I’m not very good at it.”
Adam held his hands out in front of him to give the kid a target for his throw. This time the ball came right to him. “Says who?”
He shrugged. “I
didn’t get picked ’cuz they said I can’t catch or throw or hit very good.”
“Keep your eye on the ball,” Adam said, then gently lobbed it practically into the mitt.
C.J. closed the glove and put his hand over it to hold on to the ball. He jumped up and down. “I did it!”
“Nice job. Way to go, champ. See? It just takes some practice.”
“This is fun!”
It was, Adam realized. Watching a child blossom with a little attention was the most fun he’d had in a long time. For the next ten minutes they tossed the ball back and forth with more drops than catches, but success couldn’t necessarily be measured by runs scored. The kid had his enthusiasm back and some self-esteem, too. If that wasn’t a victory, he didn’t know what was.
Finally Adam realized they’d lost the light and it was time to call it a day. “I think it’s getting too dark, C.J. Better go inside.”
“I can turn on the porch light,” C.J. offered eagerly.
“It won’t be enough.”
“O-okay.” He dragged his feet and moved closer, then looked up. “Dr. Adam?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you need help unpackin’ any more boxes? You got any stuff to put away?”
Adam grinned at the transparent attempt to prolong the hanging out. “Actually, I think I’m all settled. But if I find something I missed and need help with it, I’ll let you know.”
“Got anything to do now?”
“Not really. I just have to go find something for dinner,” he said.
“We’re havin’ my favorite,” C.J. said.
“What’s that?”
“Hot dogs with mashed potatoes on ’em.”
“Sounds good.” To his credit Adam didn’t shudder, although it was probably too dark to see even if he did.
“If you don’t have any food, you can come to my house and eat.”
Adam figured that would go over like mouse droppings in the pantry. Jill had made it pretty clear that he should avoid C.J. and her. “I don’t think your mom would be happy about that.”
“She won’t mind.”
The Doctor and the Single Mom Page 5
