She gritted her teeth. ‘For your info, Dr Great-Idea, you’ve discovered the next major problem. The inventory.’
Standing a head above the top shelves, he frowned at her. ‘I dropped by not too long ago. I saw plenty of merchandise.’
‘Oh, we were stocked all right. Unfortunately, most of the products were outdated. I had to throw out nearly everything, including the ointment you’re looking for. Just this morning, I found a bottle of aspirin that should be displayed in a museum.’
Suspecting his response would be to ‘order more’, she continued. ‘From the way this place looks, an unsuspecting person could easily think he’d wandered into someone’s attic or a flea market, not a drug store.’
She rose and hobbled to the front where she plucked a Sorry board game off a bowed shelf and blew the dust off the lid. ‘See what I mean?’
Not allowing him time for rebuttal, she pointed to a row of stuffed animals. ‘The poor teddy bears aren’t brown any more. They’re a dingy shade of gray.’ She patted one bear’s back and a dusty cloud drifted upwards.
‘So Earl’s attempt to diversify with a gift shop wasn’t a marketing success. Try something else.’
She took a few steps and leaned against the counter bearing an antique cash register, frustrated by her unsuccessful attempts to make him study his surroundings with her realistic eye.
‘Even if the building was in top form and the inventory was all brand new, I still don’t have any manpower.’
‘Yeah, let’s talk about your lack of manpower,’ he said with obvious disdain as he skirted the racks to stand within arm’s reach. ‘I may not have a business degree, but even I can see that if you need a labor force, you shouldn’t fire your only employee.’
In Jenny’s experience as a pharmacist, being on the receiving end of a physician’s vitriolic tongue was nothing new. She’d run into doctors like him before, men—and a few women—who wielded their authority with a heavy hand and on a regular basis. This time, however, she could voice her feelings without the fear of a reprimand from her superiors.
‘For your info, Herb Kravitz resigned.’
‘Forced into it, most likely. Wasn’t he dusting properly?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she snapped, stiffening her spine at his sarcasm. ‘The rumors are wrong. Herb wasn’t forced out of his job. Why would I purposely let him go when I needed him?’
He shrugged. ‘Who knows? Out with the old, in with the new? Or maybe if he quit, you won’t have to dig in your pocket and shell out severance pay.’
A bitter taste filled her mouth. ‘You’re bound and determined to think the worst of me, aren’t you?’
‘Just calling it like I see it.’
‘Then take my advice, Dr Kimball. Get your eyes examined. I don’t like the position I’m in any more than you do, but Herb refused to follow my suggestions for operating more cost-effectively. He was very unhappy about taking orders from a woman, especially one who’s younger, so he left.’
Herb Kravitz had asked for a raise yesterday and, after hearing her refusal, he’d voiced his unflattering sentiments in the most blunt terms possible. He’d expected a portion of the business in exchange for the sweat he’d poured into the place and had been sorely disappointed.
He’d balked at seeing a novice enjoy the fruits of his labors. Rather than work like a plough horse for her and her tight-fisted aunt, he’d decided to cut his losses and leave while he was young enough to do so. At forty-eight, he shouldn’t have trouble finding a job where he’d be appreciated and well rewarded. Or so he’d said.
According to the records, her uncle had compensated the portly fellow well, paying Herb a more handsome salary than he’d paid himself. Having just seen the estimates for the most pressing building repairs, and knowing that her aunt had wanted to cut his wages, not increase them, Jenny’s options had been—and still were—limited.
‘Then hire another pharmacist,’ Noah remarked. ‘One who doesn’t have a problem with a female being the boss.’
She struck a thoughtful pose. ‘Well, gee whiz. Now why didn’t I think of that?’ Then, in her normal tone, she added, ‘I’ve looked for a pharmacist, but haven’t found anyone interested. In the meantime, promise or not, no pharmacist means no pharmacy.’
‘What about a locum?’
Jenny shook her head. ‘No luck there either. Uncle Earl had a hard time finding a replacement when he took a rare but well-deserved vacation. Most aren’t willing to come to the plains of Springwater unless they receive an extremely lucrative incentive. That’s how he hired Herb in the first place.’
The silence seemed to last a lifetime as Noah’s piercing gaze rested upon her.
‘What do you expect the people of this town to do?’ he finally asked in a clipped voice. ‘We have a lot of elderly people who, for one reason or another, can’t hop in a car and travel thirty minutes one way to fill their scripts.’
‘I know it will be a hardship. When I get back to Grand Junction, I’m going to find someone who’ll want to establish a pharmacy here. That’s the best I can do.’ She cleared her throat to hide the husky quality of her voice. ‘For what it’s worth, my decision didn’t come easy.’
‘Your “best” isn’t good enough.’
Jenny refused to show how much his accusation hurt. ‘You don’t play fair, do you, Dr Kimball?’
He stepped closer. ‘I’ll tell you what’s not fair. It’s not fair for old Mr Samuels, who’s blind from diabetes, to figure out how he’ll purchase his insulin. Try to explain to Betty Lancaster, who hasn’t driven in twenty years and has no family in the area, how fair it will be for her.’
‘I know it will be inconvenient—’
He scoffed. ‘Inconvenience is when you’re in a hurry and have to run across town for something you forgot. “Inconvenient” doesn’t even begin to describe the problems people will face.’
Her anger rose to match his. ‘I’m sure this will only be temporary.’
He folded his arms, his feet planted apart in a warrior’s stance. ‘And what if it’s not?’
She didn’t answer, unwilling to consider the possibility. If only she’d known of Earl’s troubles before now. But she hadn’t and now she had to deal with the situation as best she could.
Jenny hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud until Noah asked, ‘Would it have made a difference to you?’
His accusatory tone raised her hackles. ‘Yes.’ In spite of her reluctance to involve her uncle in her personal problems of a year ago, if she’d known how much he’d needed her, she would have considered other alternatives, made other choices.
They’d both apparently suffered from an over-abundance of pride.
Whatever Earl’s excuse for being so close-lipped about his problems, shame had prevented her from divulging her tale. He’d done so much for her over the years, and she’d hated to admit her failures. Nor had she wanted him to see how badly her professional self-confidence had eroded.
Unfortunately, the same stubborn pride that had carried her through school had cost her dearly. She’d lost precious time with her uncle, not to mention the opportunity to salvage his beloved pharmacy from ruin. If she’d returned twelve months ago, perhaps this particular chapter of her history would have had a different ending.
‘I understand you worked here in the summers.’
Puzzled by his new tack, Jenny answered warily, ‘Yes, I did.’
‘And didn’t you go to pharmacy school?’
The direction of his line of questioning became clear and she went on the offensive. ‘I’m sure you’re aware of my degree, so why are you asking?’
‘Doesn’t your education mean you’re qualified to step into your uncle’s shoes? Or Herb’s, for that matter?’
Her reply stuck in her throat and she studied a brown patch on the ceiling until she could choke out the words. ‘It does, but I won’t.’
‘Why not?’
She hesitated, hating to tell Noah what she had
n’t been able to tell her uncle. ‘Because I’m not a pharmacist any more.’
CHAPTER TWO
IF NOT for the tense atmosphere, the shock on Noah’s face would have been humorous. Jenny had startled him with her explanation and she doubted if he was often surprised to the point of being speechless.
‘What do you mean, you’re not a pharmacist any more?’ he asked. ‘Did you lose your license?’
‘No,’ she said quietly. She’d changed professions before her life had come to such an unthinkable situation. ‘I’ve been teaching school for the past year. Chemistry.’
‘What happened?’
Jenny wasn’t ready to go into detail. Hard-as-nails Noah Kimball wouldn’t have understood, especially since he went out of his way to think the worst where she was concerned. He clearly saw life in terms of black and white, good and bad, right and wrong. Little, if anything, fell in between.
‘The stress became more than I could handle, so I resigned,’ she said, speaking nonchalantly of the period in her life which had been so traumatic. ‘I have my teaching degree, so when I heard of an opening at one of the high schools I jumped at the opportunity.’
‘Did Earl know about your career change?’
She studied her sandals as she shook her head.
‘So you quit coming back to Springwater.’
‘My visits dropped off months beforehand,’ she corrected him. ‘I worked six and seven days a week at the hospital and couldn’t get away long enough to make the trip. After I changed gears…’ she hesitated ‘…I couldn’t bring myself to face him.’
‘Earl took great pride in your accomplishments, but he missed you. He wanted more than phone calls and letters.’
‘Don’t you think I know that?’ she burst out. ‘Right or wrong, I did what I thought was best at the time and I have to live with my decision.’
Noah didn’t need to know how much she regretted hiding her new life from her uncle. She’d finally decided to tell him this summer, but if she’d known he wouldn’t live much longer she wouldn’t have waited…He’d always been so healthy and such a conscientious driver. She’d never dreamed he’d be the victim of a car accident while still in his prime.
‘And now you’re making a decision that everyone else has to live with as well.’
His tone rankled her and she lifted her chin. ‘Yes, they do, but it can’t be helped.’
He shook his head. ‘Lady, I don’t know about you, but I think it would be a lot more stressful to deal with today’s teenagers than counting out pills.’
‘Obviously you haven’t worked with overbearing physicians like I have,’ she said sweetly, hoping he understood that she counted him in the group just described.
He cocked his head and gave her a salute. ‘Touché, Miss Ruscoe.’
‘In any case, because Herb has resigned, I can’t run things myself.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Why not? Herb did.’
‘I can’t be here to run things,’ she corrected. ‘I have other commitments.’
‘I thought one of the perks to teaching was the opportunity to loaf away the summer months.’
Her mouth curled with disgust at his misguided view. ‘We loaf when we’re not taking classes, teaching summer school, working on school committees and special projects, or getting ready for the next school year. As for myself, my responsibilities for the next two months are personal, not professional.’
‘Are they more important than helping an entire community?’
Jenny thought of her friend, Susan Fenton, and her daughter, Carrie. ‘Equally as important,’ she said.
‘Haven’t you heard of the saying, ‘The good of the many outweighs the needs of the few?’‘
‘Thanks for the reminder, but you’re forgetting one thing. I’m not the sole owner. My aunt has an interest in this venture, too.’
He raised one eyebrow. ‘Aren’t you willing to fight for what you know is right? Or do you always take the easy way out?’
She winced at the sting of his verbal barb. ‘Selling the business is inevitable—’
‘I don’t care who owns the place,’ he exploded. ‘I object to you leaving the people without a local pharmacy in the meantime.’
‘I’m not happy about it either,’ she snapped. ‘Spending Earl’s nest egg on a losing proposition isn’t a wise decision. I’ve discussed this at length with an extremely competent financial advisor who told me the same thing.’ Tyler Fitzgerald had been a stockbroker before he taught economics and accounting at the high school.
‘Ah,’ Noah said knowingly, leaning against the counter. ‘We’ve finally hit the crux of the matter. You’re more worried about losing your money-in-the-hand inheritance than in investing it to help others.’
She rubbed the back of her neck as she closed her eyes. Not true, she screamed inside. She didn’t want a nickel of her uncle’s—she didn’t deserve it.
He raised an eyebrow. ‘Going on a cruise, perhaps? Or maybe you’re taking a Grand Tour of Europe?’
Her pride reared its head and she refused to argue her case any longer. He hadn’t listened to her defense so far, much less attempted to understand her untenable position with her relative. In the struggle between honoring her uncle’s wishes and appeasing her aunt, her aunt had won.
Eunice Ruscoe wanted her share of Earl’s assets as soon as possible so she could shake the dust of Springwater off her feet for ever. Apparently she’d forgotten that the local dust hadn’t touched her feet for the last fifteen years, not since she’d filed for a legal separation from her husband and moved to Topeka.
Jenny stared at him with defiance. ‘That’s a good idea. In fact, I may do both.’
A muscle twitched on the side of his face, and she took perverse pleasure in imagining the ache in his clenched jaw.
‘I see I’m wasting my time.’
‘I’m afraid so,’ she said without apology.
He paused. ‘I understand the obstacles you’re facing, but Earl weathered his own share of storms. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way” was his motto. When the local economy was depressed from falling farm prices, he footed the tuition bill for several of Springwater’s college kids. Over the years, at least twenty people benefited from his self-sacrifice.’
The number surprised her. Although her uncle had helped her with her own educational expenses, she hadn’t realized he’d done the same for so many others.
‘And at least three-fourths of them came back to live here after graduation. Earl Ruscoe saw a need and met it, sometimes at great personal sacrifice. Consider that when you dip into the little nest egg he left behind.’
He stormed away, his footsteps like thunderclaps in her ears before the bell tinkled behind him. Jenny sank bone-lessly onto a vinyl-cushioned chair to stare at the prescription counter and listen to the echo of his departure.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
It didn’t take much effort on her part to visualize her uncle’s smiling face peering at her from underneath the PRESCRIPTION DROP-OFF sign. Hearing someone else repeat her uncle’s infamous clichés seemed to drive home his absence.
Do you always take the easy way out?
Dr Kimball’s accusation shook her out of her mental pity party. Maybe if she crunched the numbers, paid Herb’s inflated salary out of her own savings…Maybe she could call a different professional head-hunter for a replacement…Surely there was a solution she’d overlooked, one that wouldn’t require her returning to a profession she’d purposely left behind.
The same profession where mistakes proved costly in terms of human life.
No, she decided. She’d made her decision and people, especially Noah Kimball, would have to accept it.
The bell over the door jingled again. Certain Noah had returned to deliver another salvo, she squared her shoulders and turned to face him.
A familiar brunette entered with a dark-headed youngster at her side. Relieved that Noah hadn’t returned, Jenny greeted her
childhood friend warmly.
‘Mary Beth? Is that you?’
The woman gave her a broad smile. ‘I wasn’t sure you’d remember me.’
‘How could I forget? Uncle Earl always called us his Bobsey twins. His two-for-one summer special.’
Mary Beth giggled. ‘I’d forgotten.’ Her humor faded. ‘I’m sorry we were out of town during the funeral. I would have been here if I’d known.’
‘I understand.’
‘And now you’re closing.’
Jenny shrugged. ‘I wish I didn’t have to, but it can’t be helped.’ Not wanting to dwell on her loss or suffer through a plea to reconsider, she asked brightly, ‘What can I do for you today?’
Mary Beth dug in her voluminous shoulder-strap handbag. ‘I came to get Luke’s prescription refilled.’
Although Jenny had known this moment would come—it was inevitable after Herb had resigned—she’d crossed her fingers that she wouldn’t have to step into her old pharmacist role. She should have realized how ridiculous that hope was.
A feeling of panic rose in her throat, but she pasted a smile on her face. Her past mistakes didn’t matter, she chided herself. Only the present did. Besides, this was a simple matter of counting out a few pills. She could do it. She would do it.
Jenny took the bottle Mary Beth handed her, praying that her friend wouldn’t notice the slight tremor in her hand. ‘Have a seat. It will only take a few minutes.’
Squaring her shoulders, she headed for the half-door separating the prescription department from the rest of the store. Her uncle’s frayed and faded lab coat hung on a hook and she stared at it briefly, daunted by the prospect of what it meant if she slipped it on. Luke’s high-pitched voice a few feet away reminded her that she had a job to do and no one else available to do it.
Resolutely, she donned the blue smock—blue because he’d claimed the color wouldn’t show the dirt as easily as white. Although a month had passed since he’d worn it, she could still smell his familiar Old Spice aftershave. Digging in one pocket, she found a handful of his favorite wintergreen Life-Savers.
Prescriptions and Promises Page 2
