The Doctor and the Single Mom

by Teresa Southwick

  Every night Adam walked up the steps to the porch that led straight to her front door and bypassed it for the stairs up to his place. The difference tonight was that it was harder than normal to head for the stairs and not stop to knock on that door.

  Behind it Jill and C.J. ate dinner, laughed and talked. It should be the little guy’s bedtime, but maybe he got to stay up a little later on Friday night since there was no school the next day. Now Adam knew what it was like to hang out with them.

  He knew what it was like to make love to her.

  Temptation pulsed through him, but he tamped it down and took the stairs two at a time. He unlocked his door and flipped the light switch on the wall just inside. There was a small table where he usually dropped his mail, but he couldn’t do that because he had forgotten to stop and get it.

  “Damn it.”

  Turning lights on, he went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. After twisting off the cap, he took a long pull of the cold brew. It did nothing to smooth out the edges of his aggravation or the emptiness in his belly.

  He yanked open the freezer hoping a complete microwavable meal in a box would be there. Since he hadn’t been to the market, it would take a loaves-and-fishes miracle to accomplish that. The best he could do was a couple slices of ham on stale wheat bread. He slapped a sandwich together and ate it standing up. Not nearly the gourmet quality of hot dogs and mashed potatoes, but it took care of the hunger if not the gnawing emptiness.

  He needed to do email and, beer in hand, headed to his second bedroom that was used as an office. On the way he heard a knock on the door. A couple of thoughts flashed through his mind. If there was a medical emergency, someone would call.

  It was too late for C.J. to be there and Jill wouldn’t let him come upstairs, per their agreement about not giving him ideas. She wouldn’t be there, also per their agreement. He opened the door and saw Jill standing there with a big box in her hands.

  Adam had never been happier to be wrong. “Hi.”

  “This wouldn’t fit in your mailbox, so the postman left it with me. Mail, too.” She nodded at the envelopes on top.

  “I’d have come down to get this.” He took the box from her and set everything on the table beside the door.

  “No problem. I thought something that heavy might be important.”

  “Books.” He liked to read, but lately that was more about filling up the long evenings than pleasurable leisure time.

  “Okay. Well, I heard you come home and just wanted you to have your mail. Landlady duty fulfilled.”

  “Right. Thanks. You should get back to C.J.”

  “Actually, Ty asked him to sleep over since tomorrow is Saturday.”

  “Ah.” Adam nodded. “So Cabot has the boys.”

  “He took them to the high school football game,” she explained. “The kids love that. They get to run around like wild Indians and fit right in with the Blackwater Lake High mascot, which conveniently happens to be an Indian. Cabot gets to watch the game and relive his glory days as star quarterback.”

  “Yeah.” He hoped the boys had been running around and were not aware of what had happened on the field at the beginning of the game.

  “What’s wrong, Adam?”

  “Just a bad day.” He finished the last of his beer, then held on to the bottle and stared at the label.

  Jill was half turned away from him, leaning toward the stairway, poised for a quick escape. Her body language all but screamed that she really didn’t want to be here. There was reluctance in her voice when she asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

  “Wouldn’t do any good.”

  “You’re sure?” She took a step back.

  “It’s just frustration. Comes with the territory.” But when that territory could be different, it was damned hard to let go of the restlessness and discontent. “I’m okay.”

  “You don’t look okay.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah, really,” she said. “Your mouth is all pinchy and tight. There’s a look in your eyes like you want to put your fist through a wall.”

  “Interesting diagnosis, Dr. Beck. I thought medical school taught me how to assume an indecipherable poker face.”

  “Not so much. Either you need a poker face refresher course or whatever happened that made your day really bad got to you more than it normally would.”

  “Probably all of the above.” He blew out a long breath.

  “Now you’re scaring me.” She studied him carefully. “Did you lose a patient?”

  “No,” he said quickly.

  She was shaking and the cold air made white clouds of her breath. “Then why the bad day?”

  “Something happened at the football game.”

  “Oh, no—” Shivering cut off her words.

  “Come inside before you freeze.” He curled his fingers around her upper arm and tugged her forward.

  “O-okay.”

  He shut the door and said, “I’d offer you wine or hot tea, but they’re only on my grocery list and not actually on premises yet. Beer?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “Then the best I can do is a seat on the couch in front of a fireplace without a fire.” If he’d known, he’d have made one.

  “I’ll take it.” She moved farther into the room and looked around. This was the first time she’d been inside since showing him around. “Love what you’ve done with the place.”

  “Really? It’s just furniture. I haven’t had time to decorate—” He saw the teasing in her eyes. “Oh. That was sarcasm.”

  “Just a little.” She sat at the far end of his brown leather sofa. “Tell me what happened at the game.”

  “I’m surprised you haven’t heard. It’s all over the local news.” He sat down, too, but left as much space as possible between them. Feeling the warmth of her skin would likely bring on temptation that would jeopardize their fragile understanding. “One of the football players, Jimmy Kowalski, broke an ankle. Or I should say a linebacker on the opposing team did it for him.”

  “Oh, no.” Her expressive face filled with sympathy. “Aren’t there emergency medical technicians on hand at the games?”

  “Yeah. They stabilized him on the field and then provided transport to the closest medical facility. I got the call and met them at the clinic.”

  “I don’t mean to be insensitive, but physical contact is part of the game. And the single most important reason C.J. will never play it. But I don’t understand why this got to you so much.”

  “The X-rays showed that both bones in the leg are broken and will require surgery to repair.” Feeling helpless made him angry all over again. “He’s a senior and hoping for a football scholarship because his father is out of work and without one he can’t go to college. All I could do to help was ship him off to the hospital, which is close to a hundred miles away. So, on top of the trauma and pain, he gets plenty of time on that drive to worry about a surgery and its effect on his future.”

  “I can understand a little of what his parents feel.” She slid over and narrowed the space between them on the sofa. “When C.J. cut his chin we would have had to make that drive if you hadn’t been here.”

  “That was different.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I could help C.J. A family practice doctor is sort of a jack-of-all-trades, but orthopedics isn’t my specialty. All I could do was confirm that it was worse than a simple break, immobilize the leg and give him something for pain.”

  “I’d say you fixed the immediate problem. He can’t thrash around, possibly doing more damage. And he won’t be hurting on the way to the hospital.”

  “I hated shipping that kid off.” He curled his fingers into a fist. “The situation really sucks. In a big city everything necessary wo
uld be under one roof.”

  “You could still be in the big city if you wanted. Or go back,” she said.

  “I just get angry when I feel helpless. That’s not what I want.” He saw traces of the wariness she’d worn like a cloak since the first time he’d seen her. Part of her was still protecting herself and probably always would. “The best-case scenario would be for that kid to be here in Blackwater Lake among family and friends.”

  “You really do know this community, don’t you?” She smiled as if he were the star pupil.

  “I’m getting there.” He shook his head. “And what else I know is that this town is into skiing, snowboarding, boating and water sports—activities which aren’t particularly user-friendly to bones. If Blackwater Lake is going to attract development, the scope of medical services has to expand. I know that small-town sensibilities and big-city services are in conflict with the growing pains. And that high school kid is caught in the middle. It makes me mad but there’s no one to be mad at and that’s even more frustrating.”

  “Ginny always says don’t get mad, get even.”

  “Virginia is quite the philosopher,” he said diplomatically. “What does that even mean?”

  “I think in this case it’s about channeling energy into finding a way to change circumstances that you don’t like.”

  “I knew that.” He shrugged. “On some level where I wasn’t too angry to think straight. But in this case change will take time, but mostly money.”

  “So how do you get it?”

  “Mercy Medical Center Corporation needs to approve a position for an orthopedic specialist for the clinic. And Blackwater Lake needs to step up and make the bureaucrats see that. It’s an investment in the future. I need to get involved and make that happen.”

  “See?” She smiled and put her hand on his arm. “No more frowny face. You look better already.”

  “And you look beautiful as always.” Did he really just say that out loud?

  The way her eyes widened said he did. While they stared at each other, the warmth of her fingers penetrated the material of his long-sleeved shirt. It felt too good and he didn’t just mean her touch. Having someone to talk to was a rare comfort, an extraordinary pleasure. He’d been lonely, but that was nothing new for him and wasn’t really a factor in how he felt about her.

  And he didn’t want to lose the privilege of having her in his life. “It’s getting late, Jill.”

  “Yeah.” But she didn’t move.

  “If you don’t go now, I’m going to kiss you. I made a promise not to do that and I need your help to keep it.”

  “Right.” She blinked twice, then stood and hurried to the door. “Good night.”

  No, not good, he thought. Now the scent of her was in his house as well as his head. That was going to make it even harder to resist her than it already was.

  * * *

  Early Saturday morning Jill left C.J. at the marina with Brewster to visit Maggie Potter and her baby girl. And now she was sitting in the state-of-the-art glider chair with the infant in her arms.

  “I love her name. Danielle Maureen. I bet your mom is excited.”

  “She’s been so anxious to be a grandmother and Brady isn’t cooperating.”

  “That’s because he isn’t married and not showing any signs that he wants to be.” Jill snuggled the little pink bundle to her chest and breathed in the indescribably sweet scent of her skin. “I don’t think there’s anything more wonderful than holding a tiny, warm baby in your arms or that special smell babies have.”

  “Oh, she’s made some extraordinarily special smells,” Maggie said, grinning.

  “You’re already a high achiever, Dani Mo.” The little girl continued to stare up at her while valiantly trying to suck on a tiny fist. “She is just more beautiful than I can even tell you.”

  “Really?” Her friend sat on the chocolate-brown sofa nearby.

  Jill met her gaze. “We’re friends, Maggie. I wouldn’t lie about something like that.”

  A new mother’s anxiety had replaced the sadness in her brown eyes. “Even if she was so homely she’d have to wear a bag over her head to go to preschool?”

  “Oh, please.” Jill stroked the baby, snugly swaddled in a pink receiving blanket. “She’s already gorgeous. On a baby beauty scale of one to ten, she’s easily a twenty-five. How could she miss with parents like you and Danny?”

  And Jill could have smacked herself because the sadness was back in her friend’s eyes.

  “I wish he could have seen her,” Maggie said.

  “Oh, sweetie, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to remind you or make you sad about something so happy and wonderful.”

  “You don’t have to remind me. The memories surround me every day.” She looked at the pine logs that formed the walls of her home. “When Danny built this place, he took extra care with the bedrooms for the two kids we were planning to have, making sure to double insulate so they wouldn’t get cold.”

  Maggie’s house was a log cabin a couple of miles from town, and Danny had done all the work himself. The floors were pine and had brightly colored oval braided rugs throughout. A crocheted afghan in multiple shades of green was thrown across the back of the sofa where Maggie sat. In the stone fireplace, flames crackled and popped, giving the room a cheerful warmth that didn’t reach her eyes.

  Jill effortlessly moved the glider chair forward and backward. She looked into the baby’s big serene eyes that were so much like her mother’s, at least for now. “I believe wherever he is, Danny can see his daughter. He’s her guardian angel.”

  “I know, right?” Maggie scooted forward on the couch. “He sent Adam Stone here to work at the clinic because there would be a snowstorm and I couldn’t get to the hospital.”

  Jill wasn’t sure Danny had sent the doctor, but he was definitely here. And he had been there for her friend. “Everything went okay with the birth, he said.”

  “Normal in every way,” Maggie confirmed. “But Adam was so calm, so steady, that he kept me calm and steady. I know it was a textbook delivery and probably Ginny could have handled it, but I’d never had a baby before. Having a doctor there gave me peace of mind. I’m so glad you were wrong about him leaving town at the first sign of winter.”

  “I was more wrong than you know.” If he’d left, she wouldn’t have slept with him and wouldn’t now be so badly wanting more. “But I wasn’t the only one who misjudged him. The whole town felt the same way.”

  “Not everyone,” her friend reminded her. “I gave him the benefit of the doubt and not just because he’s a good customer. You have to admit that Mayor Goodson never had a bad word to say about him.”

  “Is this an election year?” Jill asked wryly.

  “Never alienate a potential voter. Political rule number one. But it’s more than that.”

  “I know. But I don’t trust him.” Jill thought about Adam and what he’d done. In the spirit of fairness, she shared. “He shoveled snow off my walkway after being up all night delivering this little girl.”

  Maggie’s gasp was teasing. “Clearly he has underhanded intentions.”

  “And that’s not all.”

  “Tell me more.”

  “He prescribed some kind of medication for Hildie Smith that apparently gave her an attitude adjustment. Brew has a twinkle in his eyes and a spring in his step. He pretty much thinks Adam walks on water.”

  “Oh.” Maggie covered her mouth with her hand, faking shock. “Skullduggery afoot.”

  “No kidding.” Jill rolled her eyes. “Just last night I went upstairs to bring him his mail—”

  “Do you go to his apartment often?” Maggie’s eyes sparkled with innuendo.

  “First time since I showed him around. Anyway, I could tell he was upset about something and finally got him to tal
k.”

  “Did it involve flashing him with a little skin?”

  “It didn’t.” Not that time anyway, Jill thought. “He took it pretty hard that one of the high school football players was hurt in the game. Adam couldn’t really help because orthopedics isn’t his specialty and the kid had to go to the hospital so far away.”

  “Yeah, it’s not exactly convenient when you’re giving birth in a snowstorm either,” Maggie said wryly.

  “Turns out Adam is going to work on a plan to expand the clinic and eventually build a hospital right here in Blackwater Lake.”

  “Sounds like a man ready to run out on us at the first opportunity,” Maggie teased. “Watch out for that one.”

  “Okay, I’ll admit my judgment about him is flawed.” Jill thought for a second. “The thing is, he seems very sincere about his long-term plans here in Montana.”

  “You think?”

  “I’m afraid to consider anything where Adam is concerned. I’ve been fooled before and I can’t afford to slip up with him again—”

  “Again? You’re not talking about the last doctor.” Maggie studied her friend. “You slept with Adam Stone, didn’t you?”

  “No.”

  “You’re so lying.”

  “How do you do that?” Jill just shook her head in awe. She hadn’t said anything incriminating, yet her friend had busted her big-time.

  “I know you. Tone of voice. Guilty body language. Pensive frown that means a questionable decision, probably in regard to behavior.” Maggie shrugged. “Was it when you played mail lady and the doctor upstairs?”

  “No,” Jill said. “It was when the doctor shoveled snow for his landlady.”

  “And how was it?”

  “I’m sure it was a lot of work and his back was sore after he finished.”

  “No. I meant the sex and you know it.”

  “Oh. Sex. Actually it was pretty amazing.” The earth moved, Jill remembered. And she saw fireworks. “But he and I agreed that it can’t happen again.”