Outside The Lines

by Kimberly Kincaid

  “Mom. I hope you’re enjoying yourself.” Blake pushed up the sleeves of his light blue button down shirt before gesturing to the happy crowd. Despite the fact that they hadn’t spoken directly since he’d left her in the staff lounge without a goodbye, she had to be pleased at the obvious success of the event.

  “Actually, I’m not.”

  The denial snagged every last ounce of Blake’s attention, and he winged his gaze to meet hers.

  “The carnival is a massive success. We’re poised to break every charity fundraising record the hospital has ever set.”

  “Yes,” she agreed, straightening her already pristine white linen jacket as she watched the crowd happily milling past. “But you’re unhappy, and I’ve played a large part in that. As important as this hospital is to me, it means quite little compared to you. It’s difficult to enjoy even a successful event knowing I’ve made such an error.”

  Blake’s jaw unhinged. “I… I’m not sure what to say.”

  “I understand this comes as quite a surprise, but I’d like the chance to try and explain, if you’ll let me.”

  He nodded, because words were simply out of the question, so his mother continued.

  “I confronted Jules eight years ago because I was worried you were making a mistake. We’d already lost your brother, and…” His mother’s features softened uncharacteristically as she said, “I was concerned we’d lose you as well, only in a different way, and I made a terrible error in judgment.”

  “Yes,” Blake agreed, unable to help it. “You did.”

  “I didn’t realize how much it would hurt you. But I misjudged Jules, and she has more than proven herself, even if I was too blind to see it. And for that I am sorry.”

  Her voice didn’t waver over the apology, although it brimmed with genuine emotion, and recognition panged through his gut.

  In her own weird way, his mother had been trying to protect what was left of her family.

  Blake let out a shaky breath. “I’m still mad that you confronted her eight years ago instead of talking to me, and it’s going to take some time for me to completely come to terms with that. But Jeremy’s death hit us all really hard. While I don’t agree with what you did, I understand why you did it.”

  “Thank you.” His mother’s eyes shone bright with unshed tears, but she didn’t try to hide them. “I do love you, Blake, even though I haven’t been very good at showing it. I haven’t taken very good care of my health, burying myself in work to forget the past. But watching you spend all those hours in the emergency department to do the same, it’s made me realize that some things are more important.”

  “I work hard to take care of people,” he argued, but hell if he could make it stick.

  “And you are an excellent doctor. But it’s time we both started taking better care of ourselves, too. Both inside and out.” She reached down, squeezing his hand with deceptively firm fingers. “I hope you’re able to work things out with Jules.”

  The hollow feeling in Blake’s chest multiplied, but he did his best to stuff it down. “Thanks, Mom, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. While what happened eight years ago between you two probably didn’t help, Jules made her choice then, just like she’s making it now.”

  “Hmm.” She tilted her head, the brim of her white sun hat brushing his shoulder as she gave up a wistful smile. “Then perhaps today will be more successful than you think.”

  Before he could ask her what the heck she was talking about, the charity coordinator’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker, announcing the bachelor and bachelorette auction at the main stage. Blake walked his mother to the podium, and as badly as he wanted to slink into the early afternoon shadows to watch the festivities from afar, his name was first up on the auction block. While he wanted to earn enough money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to be respectable, the faster the gavel landed on his final bid, the better. There was an open shift in the emergency department starting at seven, and with any luck, he’d be up to his shoulders in scrubs and splints by seven-fifteen.

  “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to welcome you to Brentsville Hospital’s first annual bachelor and bachelorette auction to benefit this year’s charity, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.”

  His mother’s voice flowed over the crowd, punctuated by smatterings of cheers and applause as she thanked the various sponsors and volunteers for the event. A large crowd of mostly twenty and thirty-something women was rapidly growing in front of the stage, boosting Blake’s hope that this would go without incident. For a brash, impulsive second, his eyes scanned the crowd, flickering with that same shot of hope that had filled him two days ago.

  But then his mother called his name, and Blake had no choice but to auto-pilot to the stage.

  “First up, we have one of Brentsville Hospital’s finest emergency physicians, Dr. Blake Fisher.” She read a brief bio, then continued. “The opening bid is one hundred dollars.”

  “One-fifty!” shouted Mia, waving up at him from the crowd. Blake made a mental note to help her out with the next belligerent drunk who needed an IV.

  “Two hundred!” hollered a brunette he didn’t recognize. The two went back and forth, raising the stakes to five hundred dollars before Mia tossed up her palms in a wordless approximation of sorry. A few more bids trickled in before the brunette crossed her arms in satisfaction, and even though the concept of going on a date with someone, even a pretty someone, made Blake want to wince, he wasn’t about to bow out.

  “Seven hundred and fifty dollars! Going once… going twice…”

  “I bid two thousand, nine hundred seventy-six dollars.”

  What. The. Hell?

  A collective hush fell over the crowd, and everyone turned toward the back of the throng to catch a glimpse of the generous bidder. She moved slowly toward the podium, the crowd hindering her progress, and Blake’s curiosity multiplied with each step.

  But then he caught sight of the flame-colored hair and sassy ear-to-ear grin that could only belong to one woman, and he realized all at once who the woman was.

  Not just any woman. His woman. The one he loved with every cell in his body. The one he couldn’t live another minute without.

  The one who was headed right for him.

  “Blake!” The crowd parted in earnest, and Detectives Morgan and Blackwell swooped in to escort Jules the rest of the way to the stage. With a quick boost, she was at his side, flinging her arms around him and covering his mouth with hers.

  “I love you. God, I love you so much. And if I have to give all that I have to prove it, right here in front of all these people, then that’s what I’ll do.” Jules turned to his mother, whose knowing smile told Blake she’d been in on this from the start of the auction. “I bid two thousand, nine hundred seventy-six dollars on Dr. Blake Fisher, please.”

  “Sold. With pleasure,” added his mother, and the crowd burst into applause.

  “Did you seriously conspire with my mother to bid all that you have on me?” Blake asked, touching his forehead to Jules’s as he gathered her close.

  She nodded. “I wanted to give you everything, the same way you did for me, and once I told her that, she agreed to help. I love you, Blake. I never stopped loving you.”

  “Well then it looks like we both got what we wanted. I love you, too, Jules.” Blake brushed a kiss over her lips, breaking into a mischievous grin as he led her off the stage.

  “Now meet me in the kitchen in five minutes. I plan to keep you busy for the rest of your life.”

  THE END

  Author’s Note:

  The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is a very real organization that raises money for research to find a cure for this devastating disease. If you’d like more information on the CFF or to make a donation to the organization, please go to www.cff.org

  Jules’s Stuffed French Toast

  Ingredients:

  2 eggs

  ¼ cup milk (not skim, but 2% is okay)

  1 teaspoon
vanilla extract

  1 8-oz. package cream cheese (not fat free! Trust me on this, it doesn’t set up properly), softened

  1 Tablespoon honey (I used orange flavored, but any will do)

  1 teaspoon cinnamon (plus more for sprinkling)

  1 teaspoon granulated sugar

  ½ cup orange marmalade (I just go from the jar and don’t quite measure this— it’s more to taste)

  One loaf brioche, preferably a few days old, cut into an even number of one-inch thick slices

  Cooking spray for the griddle

  Directions:

  Spray a griddle or non-stick skillet with cooking spray and set over medium heat, but no higher. While it warms, whisk eggs, milk and vanilla in a shallow bowl. Set aside. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese, honey, 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sugar together until combined. Spread about 2 Tablespoons (-ish, you can eyeball this, really, but you want a good layer) of cream cheese mixture on one side of a slice of brioche. Repeat process with one Tablespoon (again, approximate, but as long as the ratio is about 2:1, you’ll be great) orange marmalade on another slice of brioche. Put both slices together like a sandwich (cream cheese facing marmalade). Repeat with remaining bread, cream cheese mixture and marmalade.

  Just before cooking (and I do mean just!), dip each side of the “sandwich” in egg mixture to coat the outside of the bread completely, without soaking it through. Place immediately on the griddle. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, or until the bread is golden-brown and firm to the touch, and the cream cheese in melted through. Repeat with remaining “sandwiches”. Sprinkle with a dusting of cinnamon. Serve with fresh fruit or maple syrup. Makes approximately five “sandwiches”.

  Feed to the one you love, preferably as breakfast in bed!

  Also by Kimberly Kincaid:

  Love On The Line

  Drawing The Line

  The Sugar Cookie Sweetheart Swap with Donna Kauffman and Kate Angell (Sept. 24, 2013)