Rescuing The Reluctant Groom (Windy City Romance 5)

by Barbara Lohr

  “Everything all right, son?” Washing his hands at the garage sink, his father studied him.

  “Sure. Of course.” In the Kirkpatrick family, the boys didn’t have heart-to-heart talks with their dad. Big Mike doled out advice with a liberal spoon. But as far as Seth knew, Malcolm was about the only son who really opened up with their father. Connor and Seth, and Mark and Joe kept things to themselves. Soon after that, Seth left.

  His mood worsened as the day wore on with no word from Selena. A heart patient, two accidents on the ice and then the type of injury he really hated. Domestic dispute. When he showed up at the apartment, the young woman on the kitchen floor had not run into a cupboard. That was pretty clear. She was bleeding from the head, her arm at an odd angle, and she was crying. The cop took notes while Seth and Sissy stopped the bleeding and got the gurney ready.

  “Must have left that cupboard open last night,” the young woman mumbled, disoriented and frightened. He suspected a broken jaw, the way she was talking.

  “Yeah, right.” Seth exchanged a glance with the cop. How often did they hear this?

  Of course, he had to be working with Sissy Hanson. Life wasn’t bad enough today. He’d been giving her a wide berth.

  Despite her insistence about the cupboard, the woman agreed to go to the hospital. She couldn’t walk and was having trouble speaking. The nurses in the ER took over from there.

  “So, do we get a lot of these?” Sissy asked him on the way back to the EMS Limited offices.

  “Get used to it.”

  Usually all smiles, Sissy wasn’t taking this well. She was young and from what he could see she was just testing out the EMT role. Wanted to see if it was a good fit. Her little girl giggles might be a big turn on for some guys. Not him. Now Selena? She would’ve been reading that girl in the apartment the riot act, telling her to move out. Sissy looked horrified. He gave her three months on this job before she bailed.

  The next call was in a northern area of Oak Park. Sirens wailing, they tore up Harlem Avenue. Dispatch said a neighbor had found an older woman unresponsive. Like a lot of the buildings in this area, the redbrick apartment had probably been built in the 1940s. Grabbing their bags, Seth and Sissy dashed inside and raced up to the third floor. A young woman who said she was their neighbor was trying to give CPR to an older woman stretched out on the living room floor. Her husband hovered above the two, looking like he might pass out himself. The young woman glanced up. “Henry called me. I took this class…”

  “I’ll take over from here, ma’am.”

  The victim’s face was ashen and she was about his mother’s age. Seth got to work with chest compressions and rescue breaths, trying to ignore the fact that this patient could have been his mother. When he paused and checked for vitals, he detected a faint heartbeat. In the background, he heard Sissy comforting the husband. “Now, see, everything will be just fine.”

  Not exactly what a tech should tell a family member and he’d have to talk to her. “Let’s get her to the hospital.”

  Sissy helped him move the woman onto the gurney and they were out the door, taking it easy on the narrow stairs. The neighbor would follow with the husband.

  While they were lifting the gurney into the back of the ambulance, the husband came close and squeezed his wife’s hand. “Vicky, honey. You’re going to be all right, okay?” Her eyelids fluttered open and she tried to smile.

  Seth had been at this for a while. Still, this guy got to him.

  “We gotta get going, Seth, right?” Sissy whispered.

  “Just give him a second.”

  The wife squeezed her husband’s hand. “I’ll be fine, Harry. Fine.”

  “You better be.” Watching the old guy fight back tears was painful. “You know, we got bingo Friday night.”

  Nodding, the lady squeezed her eyes shut.

  “Okay, let’s hit the road, sir. Gotta get your wife to the hospital. You drive, Sissy.”

  Seth hopped in next to the woman and Sissy climbed behind the wheel. As he worked with his patient, Seth wondered who would comfort him if anything ever happened. Only his family? For the first time ever, his family didn't feel like enough.

  The case seemed to be working like clockwork when the woman coded. Not that unusual and he grabbed the paddles. Once. And again. And again. Nothing worked. Nausea roiled in his stomach and panic screamed across his chest.

  Nothing worked. Had he been too busy with his own stuff?

  “Heart probably just not that strong,” the nurse told him later as he stood there in the ER, watching them take the husband back. “Sometimes there’s nothing you can do.”

  That night after he punched out, he drove down to Selena’s neighborhood near Wrigley Field. Even though getting to her place often took an hour from Oak Park, he’d never asked her to move in with him. They’d swapped keys but avoided that next step. Had it been her or him? The windows of her second floor apartment were dark. Using his key, he let himself into the foyer and climbed to the second floor. The tiled hallway smelled of pizza and dry radiator air. He propped her suitcase against the door.

  For a second Seth stood there, tapping the key against his palm. She could be awake, reading in bed. But after that last run, he felt unsteady. What could he say that could fix this?

  Nothing. Nothing he ever said was right.

  Feeling like he had a forty-pound pack on his shoulders, Seth left. No use making this worse. In the old days, she would have welcomed him inside. He'd tell her about today because she knew just how this felt.

  If he could talk to her about someone else's problems, why couldn't he tell her about his childhood? He had to try.

  Chapter 10

  Selena sat in the Purple Frog, listening to Whitney Houston belt out a song about loving somebody forever. She knew how that felt. Could have written the song. Since her return from Savannah, she’d been avoiding Seth. She didn’t answer his calls and tried not to read his texts.

  Tried but wasn’t always successful.

  Heck, she knew some of them by heart.

  Why did you leave so early?

  And later...You mad or something?

  Then much later...How can I make this right?

  The waiter brought a basket of peanuts. “Friend’s coming,” she told him. After all her time with Seth, it felt strange to be waiting for another man. Thank God that cute waiter wasn’t around. She couldn’t be responsible for her actions tonight.

  The peanuts felt salty and gritty in her fingers. She crushed the shells one by one and popped the peanuts into her mouth. They felt like marbles. How could peanuts not have any flavor? Still, she went through the motions. Chewing and swallowing gave her something to do.

  As usual, the Purple Frog was crowded and she saw a few people she knew. Only two blocks from the hospital, the place was a hangout with good food and background music everyone recognized. Gary Rice was easy to spot when he came through the door. Selena stood up and waved.

  Heads turned when the young obstetrician eased through crowd. A few of the nurses waylaid him, eyes clinging when he continued to Selena’s booth. By tomorrow, the hospital hotline would have the two of them married. Lean and loose limbed, Gary was a runner. A couple times she’d joined him on an early morning run and they paced themselves along the paths that skirted the lake. The running kept him human, Gary always joked. The guy was easy to work with. Women loved him because he was a good listener. If any of their natural childbirth patients had a problem and a caesarean was needed, the midwives called one of the OB/GYNs from Logan’s practice. Gary often took the call.

  Shedding his leather jacket, Gary slid into the booth across from her and ran a hand through his chestnut curls. Just like McKenna always said, the man was eye candy. “Cold out there. Spring coming soon?”

  “Just a rumor.”

  He grinned. Now that the word was out that she’d broken up with Seth, men looked at her differently. Or was that her imagination? Before, the guys at work had been poli
te but distant. Now interest sparked in their eyes. They stopped her in the halls, hunched closer and talked longer. One radiology tech had even dropped off coffee last week.

  What did it matter? She felt like a jukebox that played one tune.

  Seth Kirkpatrick.

  “You look terrific in purple,” Gary told her, signaling to the waiter. “Maybe OB should change the color of its uniforms.”

  “The catalogues call the color lilac but it’s purple to me.” She fingered the V-neck. This cozy, fuzzy number might be Seth’s favorite but no way was she tucking it away in a drawer. The waiter arrived and they ordered a pitcher of beer and some burgers. At least Whitney Houston had given way to something upbeat by the Avett Brothers.

  Gary and Selena traded work stories and she felt the knot at the back of her neck loosen as they talked. At least Gary knew Seth and their history so she didn’t have to fill in the blanks.

  “Make any progress with the new OB unit?” she asked.

  “Yeah, it’s coming along. How about you? What are your thoughts about the new unit?” Why had she never noticed Gary’s sparkly blue eyes? Maybe because she was so wrapped up in Seth’s brown eyes. For the past two years she'd worn blinders.

  “Well if it were me, I wouldn’t want to be pushed through the halls after just having a baby. I can't wait for the new unit where a woman can labor and deliver in one room.” Then her throat closed. Today a husband and family felt out of reach.

  The beer and burgers arrived and Gary filled their frosty mugs. That delectable grilled scent awakened her appetite. She’d been surprised when Gary stopped by the office late yesterday and asked if she wanted to hang out at the Purple Frog tonight. She figured why not. Gary was an unthreatening choice. Besides that, he was terminally cute.

  “So you and Seth—that’s over?”

  “That would be a yes.” Selena could feel her cheeks flush, like she'd just told a major lie. She took a deep gulp of cold beer, choked and sputtered. Gary handed her napkin. Blotting her eyes, she pushed on. “And you’re not dating Mindy anymore? That surprised me.”

  “You have a dimple.” Gary shifted on the vinyl bench seat. “Never noticed it.”

  She fingered her right cheek. “Right. So, you’re ignoring my question?”

  His face flushed. “Yeah, Mindy and I are history.”

  “Want to talk about it?” But she knew the answer. What guy wanted to talk about his feelings?

  “Guess we just weren’t meant for the long haul. At least not for each other.” A shadow passed over Gary’s handsome features, like clouds darkening Lake Michigan.

  “It happens, right? At first two people connect but over time, they find out they can’t go the distance together?” Her voice slowed. Maybe she’d never understand why.

  Crunching some peanuts in his hand, Gary tossed them into his mouth one by one. “I think so. I mean, I’ve been dating for a while and probably so have you. But when it comes to, you know, the one you want forever, I kind of fall back on what I know, which would be my parents. I want what they had.”

  Thinking back, Selena wanted so much more. “What would that be?”

  “Doing stuff together. Liking a lot of the same things so there’s no grumbling. At least, that’s what I saw growing up. On Sunday mornings they’d do the crossword puzzle together in the newspaper.” His lips tipped into a smile, like these were pleasant memories. “From the trips they took to the long walks after dinner—they liked a lot of the same stuff. They felt education was really important so they started college funds for all three of us. Wasn't easy. We hardly ever ate out and rented movies instead of going to the theater. How about you?”

  Did having a cold ham sandwich at the edge of the cherry grove count as eating out? Lifting her hamburger bun, she poured more ketchup on her caramelized onions and blue cheese, trying to collect her thoughts. Their backgrounds were so different. “My parents always had common goals, especially when it came to us.”

  “How many kids in your family, Selena?”

  “Five. Three of us went on for higher degrees. I chose healthcare.” She was good at skimming over the details.

  “Is that why you became involved with Midwives in Action and the summer mission trip to Guatemala?”

  Ah, she loved talking about the program she’d started. “Right, I've been given opportunities those women will never have. Time to spread the wealth around.”

  Enough about her. She took a big bite of her burger. The blue cheese and onions tasted rich on her tongue. Over the past few days, her diet had gone out the window. For some reason, her appetite had come back tonight. After swirling a sweet potato fry in the ketchup, she started to nibble. When she looked up, Gary was staring at her, chewing with a dollop of mustard at one corner of his mouth. Reaching out, she captured the mustard with one fingertip and he blushed.

  “Maybe that’s why my parents never took us out in public.” He ran one hand over his chin with a wry smile. “How did you end up in Chicago?”

  “Wanted to see what the big city was like.” Her skin still prickled when she remembered how excited she’d been the first time she glimpsed downtown Chicago from the Skyway. “All the tall buildings.”

  For a few seconds they ate quietly. With Seth, the silences had always felt comfortable. But with Gary? She’d have to get used to this. Her only consolation was that this must feel strange to Gary too. “How does it feel to be sitting here with someone else besides Mindy? Strange?”

  “Yep, you bet.”

  “So when you date someone, what are you looking for?”

  “You sound like one of those online dating questionnaires.”

  “Sorry.” So he’d been on those sites? “Just like to get all the cards on the table. Can we think of this as a dry run? In case I do go online?”

  “Sure. Why not? Haven’t tried one yet but you never know. Let’s pretend this is a first meeting. Take your best shot.”

  Hmm, why not? Selena pushed her plate away. “How would it be if I asked guys something like ‘Are you looking for a wine tasting or one fine bottle of wine?’”

  Throwing back his head, Gary roared. A couple in the next booth glanced over. “Good God, Selena, that’ll make any man think twice. I’ve always admired your candor. This is just a beer and a burger, okay? Not a marriage proposal.”

  Her cheeks blazed. “I didn’t mean…”

  Waving away her concern, Gary nodded. “I know what you meant. I guess we all want that fine bottle of wine. I mean, I’m thirty-two and you’re…?”

  “Twenty-seven.”

  “Clock’s ticking?”

  “Is that right?” When did this turn into a therapy session? She reached for another fry, remembered her thighs and stopped. Summer and bathing suits were right around the corner.

  Summer. Summer and McKenna’s wedding. Maybe Harper’s too. Her stomach spiraled into her boots.

  “Don’t sell yourself short, Selena.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Just saying that Seth doesn’t know a good thing when he sees it.”

  “Maybe.” She suspected it was a lot more complicated than that. “Sounds like you’ve had more dating experience. How do you get over someone?”

  Linking his hands behind his head, Gary slouched back. “If I tell you all my secrets, I may have to kill you.”

  “Somehow I doubt that.”

  He studied the beams overhead. “Picture him at his worst moment. The time he got to your place one hour late.”

  “Seth was always on time.”

  “Didn’t he ever wear clothes you hated?”

  “I like the way he dressed.” In fact, she loved those henley shirts pushed up on the corded muscles of his arms. Her fingertips had total recall and she shivered.

  “The time he forgot to shave?”

  The brush of his whiskers? Gary’s grin said he noticed her dazed smile.

  She was being a dimwit. “My turn. How about the time Mindy forgot to shave h
er legs.”

  A reminiscent smile softened his lips. “Oh, but I like to shave a woman’s legs.”

  Her stomach clenched. She knew about that firsthand and the sensation had been mind blowing. Seth could be pretty creative. She tried to shake the memory but her legs tingled. “Or when her roots were growing out?” Didn’t blondes have that problem? Selena was grateful for her dark hair.

  “Everyone’s human.” Gary grabbed a toothpick from the dispenser. “I don’t want to date a perfectionist.”

  Selena thought back. “How about the time you walked into a bar and every guy in the place said hello to her.”

  Gary's eyes lightened. “Ah, now you are talking about Seth. The ladies love him. But nothing ever comes of it. You know that, right?”

  “I guess.” She sighed.

  “Really, Selena. Hate to go to bat for another guy, but Seth never fooled around on you.”

  The lump in her throat felt as big as Wrigley Field.

  Balling up his napkin, Gary tossed it to the side. “Here’s the thing. I’m not ready for anything or anyone right now. Work is busy and I, well, I want to think about things.”

  Where was this conversation heading? She turned wary.

  “At the hospital, I’m fresh meat.” Gary's brows drew together. “It’s starting to freak me out. Nurses are cozying up to me in the scrub room, stopping me for a casual conversation in the hall. Even some of the managers are calling my cell with stupid questions.”

  Selena blinked. “I know how that feels but I suppose it’s worse for a physician.”

  “A doctor of child-rearing age on the loose? It's open season and I hate it. This is a stupid thing to ask and let me know if I’m way off base, but could you be my pretend girlfriend?”

  She cringed. “Don’t know if I like the sound of that. Is that like friends with benefits?”

  “Not at all. I mean, could you be my pretend new girlfriend? We go out a couple times, let the word leak that we’re seeing each other. You’d really be helping me out.” The guy looked so desperate. What was she supposed to say? Her mind started working. There could be advantages in this for her too.

  “But no benefits, right?”