by Cheryl Wyatt
He smiled at her. Next she raised gloss and ran it across her lips. “I, uh, should go sit with Lem while you get ready,” Mitch stammered.
She continued the face-paint ritual. “Is he going with us?”
“Not today, he said. I invited.” Mitch went to sit with Lem.
Four minutes later Lauren emerged in a pair of pink sporty shorts and a trendy rhinestone-scrolled T-shirt.
“Impressive. I only see you move that fast in emergencies.”
“This is an emergency.” She patted Mitch’s cheek in passing to put her satchel in his truck. “I forgot to pack a swimsuit.”
“No stores’ll be open this early, carrottop,” Lem said.
Her shoulders slumped. “That’s right. I forgot this is the country. That makes me really miss city living.”
A bad feeling hit Mitch. “Kate’ll be there. See if she has one you can borrow,” he suggested as he opened the car door for Lauren.
Mitch felt Lauren’s eyes meld to him as he watched traffic and maneuvered accordingly.
At a red light, he extended his cell to her. “Call Kate.”
“You’re bossy.”
“Nope. Just pining to see you in a swimsuit.” He laughed.
She socked his arm. Hard. He deserved it. But laughing with her and seeing her face flush that adorable red was worth it. “You’re beautiful when you blush. It becomes you,” he said tenderly.
* * *
“I’m not sure about this,” Lauren said to Kate a little later as she viewed herself in the hallway mirror of Mitch’s lakeside home. Nita napped on his couch, ice water at her side.
“It looks fine,” Mitch assured.
Kate nodded. “It’s very modest. But if Mitch strokes with you wearing that, you’re running his code and not me.”
They shared a laugh on the walk to Mitch’s dock to meet Ian. He stared across the lake beneath hands shielding the sun.
Mitch approached. “What’s so interesting?”
“I think that’s the army medic who helped us that first crazy day at the center.” Ian indicated a man and woman skiing in playful circles on matching wave runners out in the middle of the lake.
Mitch squinted. Sure enough, the man resembled Caleb. “Let’s invite them to hang with us today.”
“First we have to service your other wave runner. It needs oil. Also, your grill needs propane before we can cook.”
“Plus I need to talk to Lauren about how I feel. Not leave her in the dark like I left you.”
Ian chuckled. “Hey, I apologize for my outburst last month. Being negative and instilling doubt. I was tired and feeling sorry for myself instead of happy for you. Just had an off day. Don’t take anything I said seriously. I was way wrong.”
“I don’t know, Ian. Maybe not on everything. We’ll see.”
“What do you mean?” Ian moved close. “Everything’s all right with you two, huh?”
“It’s going better than I ever dreamed it could.” He cleared his throat. “I—” Mitch coughed into his hand “—think I love her.”
Ian’s forehead inclined, and his eyebrows disappeared beneath his ball cap. “There’s no think to it. You either do or you don’t.”
Mitch straightened. “I do. Really, really do.”
“Whoa. Wow. That was fast. She know?”
“Not yet.”
“When you gonna talk to her?”
“Today sometime.”
“You know how trauma goes. Better get the time while the getting’s good. Never know when cases will roll in and the current crew might call us in.” He took keys and burger tongs from Mitch. “I’ll man the jet ski and the grill. You go man your future with the girl.”
“Thanks, Ian. I appreciate your support. Especially in light of…everything you’re going through.”
Ian scraped the charred grate. “Hey, what are friends for?”
“Getting gook off my grill.” He indicated Ian’s motions.
Ian laughed. “You’d do the same for me on all counts. Not that the tables will ever turn. I got off to a rocky start. You two’ll be great together. You have God on your side.”
“So do you, Ian.”
His motions slowed, and he peered up at Mitch with an expression of such absolute anguish, Mitch didn’t know what to do. “I don’t know anymore, man.” Ian struggled to snap out of it, then nudged Mitch. “Go. Get your girl before I knock you down.”
He left Ian, now laughing. Or trying to. God, let him know You haven’t abandoned him. That his life still harbors good things.
Vest applied, Mitch approached the table where the ladies talked leisurely. “Hey, beautiful, will you have this ride with me?” He extended her life vest like a romantic invitation.
She stood like a blooming rose. “Thought you’d never ask.”
Mitch helped her on the jet ski, then fired up its engine. “I think Caleb’s on the lake. We’ll invite him over in a bit.”
“Good idea!” Her hands came around his shoulders as he sat. Oh, yeah. He could stay like this all day. But, alas, the lady wanted to ride. Mitch revved it, and Lauren squealed in his ear.
“Ow,” he said, then laughed. But he enjoyed her giggles as he sped to full throttle, veering sharp left. She responded by holding him tighter and laughing hysterically. So he cut as far to the right as possible without dumping them in the water.
She scooted suction-cup close, held on for dear life and laughed like crazy. He loved the carefree, uninhibited sounds.
“Little detour.” Mitch took a scenic route to his dock. “Having fun?”
“Yes, but I thought you were inviting Caleb?”
“I’m waiting for Ian. He went to get propane for the grill and juice for the other jet ski.” Mitch assisted her onto the dock. “Also, I need to talk to you. I’m going to be direct and share my feelings. Hints aren’t getting across.”
“The kiss got across.” She giggled.
“Well, yes, but that was probably impulsive.”
“You regret it?”
“Absolutely not. I crave it.” He stayed his gaze on her eyes and not her lips. Kissing would get nothing else accomplished. “I’m trying to tell you how I feel and where I see this going. And by that, I mean all the way to the altar.”
“Wow. Did not expect that.” She smiled, but sadness overtook it. “My life is in Texas. There’s a lot you don’t know, lots to consider.”
He bent his forehead to hers. “So let’s phone the bank Monday during business hours. For now, I’d love an answer.”
“Depends on the question.”
He laughed. “You somehow have me wanting to propose at this point, but for now, I’ll settle for you admitting your feelings.”
“I’m only here for the summer.”
He leaned back. “Seriously, Lauren. Summer’s all you got?”
She sighed. “Mitch, I care for you. A lot.”
He grinned smugly. “Lem says you love me.”
“I never told him that!”
“He says you don’t have to.” He turned superserious. “If you love me, I’d like to hear it from you.”
She dipped her head and murmured into his shoulder—something that sounded like three magic words.
“What?” he asked.
She tipped up her face and flashed eyes no longer embarrassed. “I said I love you, too.”
His eyebrow arched. “How much? Past Texas?”
“We’ll see.”
“Not the answer I was looking for.” Still, he didn’t want to push too much and end up pushing her away. “Let’s see if Caleb’s around. He must live on the lake.”
“Have you thought about asking him to work for you if he’s going to be around?” Jet ski started, they rode away
from the dock.
“I like how you think.” Mitch rounded the bend, glad to see Caleb and the girl still frolicking in the waves. Only now they rode one jet ski together. The pair turned at their approach.
“Having trouble?” Mitch indicated the ski, dead by the dock.
“Hey, Doc Wellington, sir!” Caleb heartily saluted Mitch.
He smiled and waved Caleb’s hand down.
Caleb indicated the limping ski and grinned sheepishly. “I ran it out of fuel. This is my sister Bri.”
“Hi,” Bri said shyly.
“This is Lauren.” Mitch grinned. “My nurse and girlfriend.”
Caleb laughed. “That’s convenient.”
Everyone chuckled. Lauren’s face beamed through her blush. He wound fingers through hers. She clasped back and smiled.
“We’re having a cookout. I have an extra jet ski and fuel. You two are welcome to join us,” Mitch offered.
“Really?” Caleb turned to his sister. “Want to?”
Bri eyed Mitch and Lauren tentatively.
“It’s no imposition,” Mitch assured.
“We’d love for you to come,” Lauren added.
“This is the decorated military surgeon who founded the trauma center,” Caleb explained when Bri remained leery.
Decorated? Word must travel fast, is all Mitch could figure.
“Oh, cool!” Her face lit then fell. “I wish your center had been here sooner.” She eyed her brother with intricate care.
Caleb hugged her shoulders before facing Mitch. “Our mom just had a heart attack. She’s on a transplant list but doesn’t have much time. Dad is gone. So I’m on military medical leave and Bri is renovating the lodge our mom owned.”
Lauren’s face showed compassion, probably because the siblings faced losing both parents, as she and Mitch had.
“I know that lodge. It’s been closed awhile,” Mitch said.
“Mom’s health declined. She couldn’t take care of it,” Caleb said. “Bri wants to reopen it so she relocated here.”
“Lauren’s also relocating,” Mitch said. But when Lauren stared down and didn’t speak, another caution railed Mitch.
Wait. She’d mentioned there being things he didn’t know.
Days had been hectic. He’d been so busy with the center, hiring and other agendas, plus courting her, he hadn’t taken much care to ask how the Texas red tape was rolling.
What new piece of information was he apparently missing?
Yet the bigger question: Was the problem reconcilable?
Or insurmountable?
Chapter Twenty
How could she tell him?
Lauren couldn’t. Not without crying. The assessment she’d had on the building was far less than she owed. Also, her ex was using legal leverage to bind her to her agreement against his sister’s wishes.
Mitch motioned Caleb. “I’ll take you to get some gas for your downed ski while the ladies get acquainted.”
At his retreat, emotions tossed over Lauren like waves. Aggravation over her unwise financial choices. Dismay at Mitch’s unrealistic expectations of her to simply pull herself up by her bootstraps and ditch her obligations. It wasn’t that easy.
It also wasn’t the time to angst over it.
Lauren set aside her own struggles and focused on Bri. “I’m so sorry about your recent loss and struggle.”
Bri fiddled with her swim vest. “Every day I look into the brave eyes of my mother and search for what to say.” She peered up, as if Lauren were the life vest and Bri sinking. “What do you say to someone who knows their only chance to live means someone else must die?”
Lauren spontaneously crossed the dock and pulled Bri in. “You say everything you never have and everything you’ll wish you had once they’re gone. I never had that chance.” Lauren choked up. “God can help.”
Bri leaned on Lauren’s shoulder. “I hope.”
“I know.”
Bri swiped tears from one cheek while Lauren tended the other. “Caleb and I recently started attending church back home. Now we have to find another church here.”
“I’ve started back recently, too. You could visit mine. Refuge Community lives up to its name.”
Lauren calling Grandpa’s church hers revealed how much her heart had detached from Texas.
“I’d like that.” Bri craned her neck toward something behind Lauren. “They’re turning around,” Bri said of the guys.
Lauren noticed. And by the imminent look on Mitch’s militant face, there could only be one reason.
“We have a trauma page.” Lauren surprised herself by including herself in the team. Truly, she finally felt like it.
Bri faced Lauren as the men approached. “I’d like to know you better, since you’re moving here. Could we do a rain check?”
Lauren gulped. What if she couldn’t move here? She got the feeling Bri was so shy, it took a lot for her to reach out. Which meant she needed friends. “Sure,” Lauren said. “I’d like that.”
Mitch waved Lauren over. “Air trauma fifteen out. Coming?”
“Of course. Can we redo the picnic tomorrow at nine?”
“Great plan.” Mitch faced Bri and Caleb. “You guys game?”
“Long as Mom’s having a good day, we’ll be here,” Caleb said. Bri waved as Mitch and Lauren headed to the trauma center.
“Caleb appeared disappointed not to be part of the trauma page,” Mitch said to Lauren as they prepped for the helicopter.
“I noticed,” Lauren said, unable to say much else.
Bri’s excitement over thinking Lauren was definitely moving here was increasingly disconcerting. If Bri was disappointed, Mitch would feel terrible for presuming. Besides that, what was he doing to try to make this work?
Mitch going around telling people she was moving here didn’t solve the real problems keeping her from doing so. He had no idea how binding her contracts were, and how vindictive her ex could be. Lauren fought frustration at the entire situation, but shoved it mentally aside and readied for what they faced. “What’s the trauma?”
“Hang gliding accident. A power line got the better end.”
“Ouch. When you said air trauma, I assumed that just meant the patient was arriving via helicopter.” Adrenaline surged in Lauren, yet not the stark fear she’d been experiencing.
Moments later at the trauma center, a flurry of activity erupted as two gurneys crashed through the doors. “She struck a young male bystander on the way down,” the helicopter pilot explained.
His crewmate nodded. “We didn’t know until we reached her. She got hit with lethal voltage. He has a nasty head laceration.”
“I see that.” Mitch checked the man, conscious but shell-shocked. He said to Lauren, “Get him a CT STAT.”
Lauren nodded and rushed the gurney to the imaging area, holding pressure on the young man’s head as she went.
“Ma’am, where’d he say I am going?”
“To get a CAT scan.” Lauren adjusted his lines.
“Whew. Not the morgue.”
She laughed. “No. Today’s not your day.”
“A scat can you say?” The man rubbed his nose drowsily.
Scat? Lauren looked down. Had his words slurred before? “No. Cat. Scan. Of your head.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t have any cats in there.” He tried to smile past the wince of pain.
Lauren laughed. “We’re about to find out.”
“What hit me?” he asked as she rolled him into the room.
“A hang glider.”
“A person?” He tried to sit up.
Lauren guided him back down, a real feat since he was built like a bodybuilder. “Yes.”
The man strained upward ag
ain. Why? “Sir, stay put for me, okay? You’re hurt.” And becoming combative.
Which could mean a slew of bad medical things.
“What about the other guy? He gonna make it?” he asked.
“She. We’ll do everything we can for her.”
“Whoa. A girl knocked me down? Wow, I feel even worse now. Probably not half as bad as her. I'm sure I fared better than she.”
Lauren had thought that too at first, but now she wasn’t so sure. “Sir, are you feeling all right?”
“Depends. You got night crawlers?”
“Tell me where you are.”
“Eagle Point Bait Shop.”
“Are you kidding me?” Lauren asked because the man had been a jokester. He’d also been more alert before. Not now. His blue T-shirt emblem arrested her.
Eagle Point Sheriff’s Department?
Ice went through her veins. A sheriff’s deputy would know what a CAT scan was.
A horrible feeling hit Lauren that he’d been misdiagnosed at the triage level. She pushed the gurney faster.
This patient was far from stable.
“You have the best fishing lures here. Little pricey, though.”
“Sir, you’re at the trauma center. Don’t you remember?”
“Trauma? Now you’re kidding me.” They reached the room.
“Afraid not.” She upped his oxygen. The imaging tech walked in. “His color does not look good,” Lauren said. “Get a bag.”
The tech’s eyes bugged. The patient’s eyes rolled until all Lauren could see was white. His eyelids and fists violently clenched. His broad chest heaved and he frothed.
“He’s seizing.” She watched his chest a full minute after the seizure ended. “He’s also not breathing. Bring a CPR cart now.”
While Lauren yanked the emergency cord and started resuscitation, the tech ran for a medication cart.
Another tech ran into the room. “I’m new. What do I do?”
Lauren pointed to the loudspeaker phone. “If I can’t stabilize him, I’ll signal you. Call the operator, who will page the code overhead.”
“What’s happening?” The tech snapped close to the phone.
Lauren watched the man for ominous signs.
