Time for Love , The McCarthys of Gansett Island, Book 9

by Marie Force

  He wanted to make her smile the way she had last night before things had gone wrong. He wanted to make her laugh. He wanted to make her happy. Making her happy made him happy.

  Reliving the erotic thrill of holding her and kissing her had him hard and trembling with the need for more. He hadn’t felt this way since he’d been newly enamored with Janey McCarthy half a lifetime ago.

  Chapter 11

  On the way to the clinic, he called the island florist, ordered two-dozen stargazer lilies and asked that they be delivered to Daisy’s home later in the afternoon. He’d love to send them to her at work, but that would set the whole island to buzzing, and he didn’t want that for her, especially since she worked for Janey’s mother. He wanted to be mindful of not doing anything to make her uncomfortable, so he tried to think of what to put on the card that wouldn’t give too much away. It occurred to him that he should’ve figured that out before he placed the call. “Just put, ‘Thanks for being you. David.’”

  “Sure thing, Dr. Lawrence. We’ll take care of that for you.”

  “Thank you.” David stashed his phone in the breast pocket of his dress shirt. “Thanks for being you? Jesus, how lame is that?”

  He was still berating himself for the stupid card when he walked into the clinic, where Seamus O’Grady and Carolina Cantrell waited for him. Carolina looked like she’d been in a fight with an angry cat.

  “What happened?”

  “My poor love fell into a thorn bush last night,” Seamus said. He had his arm tight around Carolina, who seemed like she was annoyed and in pain. “She says she’s fine, but she’s feverish and ripped to shreds. I thought she ought to be seen.”

  “Let’s get you into an exam room, Carolina,” David said, signaling for the receptionist. “We’ll get you fixed right up.”

  “Thanks, Doc,” Carolina said. “I feel foolish for wasting your time over some cuts and scrapes.”

  “Let me be the judge of whether it’s a waste of my time,” David said with a smile. He was continually surprised by how apologetic his patients could be for taking up his time with their concerns.

  “Come on, love,” Seamus said, helping her to stand.

  “Would you like me to get a wheelchair?” David asked.

  “Absolutely not,” Carolina said, even though every step seemed to cause her pain.

  By the time he got Carolina’s nasty scratches cleaned up, he was an hour behind on his appointments, so the morning flew by. He treated a case of tonsillitis, sent a boy with a potentially hot appendix to the mainland for immediate treatment and saw three people with flu-like symptoms that had him concerned about an outbreak on the island.

  Victoria found him in his office, standing up as he downed a sandwich between patients and making frantic notes about the patients he’d already seen that day so he wouldn’t forget the information he need to add to their charts. “Crazy morning, huh?” she asked.

  “Most of them are.”

  “Janey was here. I had her on the monitor for an hour. The baby seems fine, but her BP is still a little higher than I’d like it to be. I agree with your plan for complete bed rest, even if she doesn’t.”

  “She’ll do it. She’d never endanger the baby or herself.”

  “I know, but it sucks to be stuck in bed all summer.”

  “Yep. Did you dip her urine?”

  “I did, and the protein counts are up, too.” She handed him the report.

  “Shit,” he said as he reviewed the numbers. “I was hoping this wasn’t what it appears to be.”

  “So was I.”

  “We’ll have to keep a very close eye on her over the next couple of weeks. She’ll need to be on the mainland by thirty-six weeks.”

  “I figured you’d say that, so that’s what I told her.”

  “Good. Glad we’re on the same page.”

  She handed him two other pieces of paper. “Messages from this morning.”

  David scanned the two messages, his heart stopping at the sight of his oncologist’s name on one of them. What the hell did he want?

  “Everything okay?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Knowing his test results had all been fine, he put aside the worries about the oncologist for a moment to deal with a more pressing issue. “Could I ask you something?”

  “Hit me.”

  “I sent flowers to Daisy.”

  “Ohhhh, things are getting serious!”

  “I sent her flowers. I didn’t propose.”

  “One often leads to the other.”

  “Since when?”

  Her smile told him she was enjoying pushing his buttons. She usually did. “What do you want to ask me?”

  “I think what I put on the card is kind of lame.”

  “What did you say?”

  “Thanks for being you.”

  Her wince validated his concerns. “Hmm. That’s not exactly an insult, but it could be better.”

  The choice of words made him smile. He’d been hearing that a lot lately.

  “What’s the occasion?”

  “Occasion? There’s no occasion. I sent her flowers.”

  “For no reason at all?”

  He never should’ve involved her in this, but he desperately needed a woman’s opinion, and she was handy. “There might’ve been a bit of a… development… in our relationship last night.”

  Her dark eyes lit up the way they did when she was on to a big scoop.

  “It’s not what you think,” he said, hoping to shut her down before she got all crazy. “And that’s all I’m saying about it.”

  “Oh my God, you did it! You bumped uglies, did the horizontal bop, the mattress mambo.” She tilted her hips provocatively to make her point, not that she needed visuals to make her point.

  “Victoria, I swear to God—”

  She surprised the shit out of him when she squealed and leaped into his arms. Thankfully he caught her and kept his balance, or they both might’ve needed medical care of their own. “Finally! You’re back! The protracted mourning period is over! Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Daisy!”

  Ready to wring her neck, he put her down and stepped back from her. “I’m going to muzzle you if you don’t pipe down right now.”

  She clapped her hands together and continued to giggle and squeal as David sat in his desk chair, wishing he could take back the last ten minutes of his life. “We didn’t ‘bump uglies’ as you put it, but we bumped a few other things.”

  “In that case, you’re right. That card is lame in light of recent developments. You need to do better. Can you still fix it?”

  “I asked them to deliver the flowers late this afternoon when she gets home from work, so I guess there’s still time.”

  She sat in his visitor chair. “We need to give this significant thought.”

  “No, we don’t. I’ll think of something.”

  She gave him a horrified look. “You thought ‘Thanks for being you’ was good enough!”

  “You may have a point.” Her snort of laughter drew a smile from him. “So dazzle me. What should it say?”

  “You were great last night, baby?”

  “Victoria…”

  “I love messing with you. It makes me happy.”

  “I live to serve you.”

  “How about, ‘I can’t wait to see you again.’”

  David thought about that. “Does that send the right message?”

  “Well, can you wait to see her again?”

  As David scrubbed a hand over his face, the mostly sleepless night caught up with him. “God, I walked right into that, didn’t I?”

  Victoria bounded to her feet. “It does the job and apparently it’s the truth, so call the florist.”

  “I will. So what’s going on with the Irishman?”

  “I’ll tell you all about him, but first I want to do something else.”

  “What?” he asked, perplexed as she came around his desk.

  She bent and kissed him on the cheek. “Welcome bac
k. It’s high time you forgave yourself and decided to move on with someone else.”

  “I wasn’t aware that I hadn’t forgiven myself.”

  “You hadn’t. Until recently.”

  “Well, thank you for letting me know. I appreciate that insight.”

  “I’m serious. It hasn’t been easy as your friend to watch you beating yourself up for a mistake you made two years ago while Janey and Joe and everyone else involved have moved on with their lives.”

  “I haven’t been doing that, Vic.”

  Hands on her hips, she tilted her head, calling him out on his bullshit without saying a word.

  “Okay, maybe I did some of that.”

  “A lot of it.”

  “If you say so.”

  “I do.”

  He fiddled with a pen on his desk. While Victoria was often an annoying pain in his ass, she was also insightful. And she was female, and he desperately needed her perspective on what’d happened last night. “So, the reason we didn’t… was because she panicked at the moment, if you get my drift.”

  “Oh jeez, really? What did you do?”

  “Tried to comfort her, but it was bad. She was crying and trembling.” Just thinking about it made him ache for being the cause of such distress, even if he knew logically that he wasn’t the real cause. He could thank Truck Henry for the damage he’d left in his wake.

  Victoria looked at him thoughtfully. “What happened after she panicked?”

  “We talked it out, and I stayed with her.”

  “Until she fell asleep or all night?”

  “All night.”

  “That’s good. You did the right thing staying with her.”

  “I only left because I had to get to work, but I’m going back after work and tomorrow night and the next night.”

  As he spoke, Victoria nodded. “That’s what you need to do. After a while, hopefully she won’t associate the act with him anymore.”

  He glanced at her. “What if she always associates the act with him?”

  “She won’t. You have to remember it’s only been a few weeks. She may be healed on the outside, but on the inside she has a ways to go. But just like the bruises on the outside faded with time, so too will the bruises on the inside—especially if she knows she has all the time she needs. That’s going to be really important to her.”

  “I told her I’m not going anywhere and that I want to be with her.”

  “Then that’s what you do. Be patient and supportive and understanding. All of those things will help her heal.”

  “You won’t say anything about this to anyone, will you?”

  “Of course not. I may bust your chops relentlessly, but you know you can trust me. Or at least I hope you know that.”

  “I do, and I appreciate your advice. Anyway, about the Irishman…”

  Hands over her heart, she said, “The Irishman is divine. Lovely, sexy, and oh the accent.” She fanned herself dramatically. “The accent really does it for me.”

  “What is it with women swooning at the sound of an Irish accent?”

  “We can’t help it. The swoon is in our DNA.” In an exaggerated Irish accent, she said, “We hear the lyrical sounds of Ireland, and we’re putty, I tell you.”

  “And what happens when your Irish boyfriend goes home?”

  “He said he might stay longer than the two weeks he and his aunt came for. He likes it here.” Her saucy grin indicated that Seamus’s cousin liked it here largely because of her.

  “I’d hate to see you fall for a guy who lives on the other side of the ocean.”

  “I’m not falling for him,” she said, as if that was the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard. “I’m using him for sex. Really good sex.”

  “Ahh, I see. I’m glad you cleared that up for me.”

  “Any time. Gotta get back to work.”

  “Hey, Vic?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks.”

  With her hand propped on the door frame, she said, “For what?”

  “For being a good friend. I haven’t had a lot of them since everything happened with Janey, so I appreciate the ones I do have.”

  She smiled. “I’m happy for you that you’ve found Daisy. I hope you’re happy for yourself, too. She’s really good for you.”

  “Yes, she is.”

  “Call the florist.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She walked away, and he picked up the phone. After he took care of the lame message on the card, he made the call to Boston to see what his oncologist wanted with him. By the time Dr. Garrity came on the phone, David was having a full-blown panic attack.

  “David. Thanks so much for returning my call.”

  “No problem, but I’ve got to tell you, I’m in a bit of a sweat over here. You said last week everything was fine…”

  “And it is. Better than fine. Your remission is holding steady, and I see no need for concern.”

  David blew out a deep breath as his extremities trembled from the adrenaline that whipped through him. Right when he was finally getting his life back on track, the last thing he needed was the possibility of another health crisis.

  “I apologize if I made you uneasy,” Garrity said.

  “Uneasy is a good word for it,” David said with a laugh.

  “I’m actually calling with some news that might be of interest to you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We’ve had an opening in our department, and your name came up as a possible candidate for the position. You left a favorable impression after your rotation. That, combined with your personal experience as a patient, has us thinking you’d make for a damned fine addition to our team. Any interest?”

  “I, ah, wow, you’ve caught me completely by surprise.”

  “I’m sure I have, since I just saw you last week and never said a word about this. However, one of our staff physicians has decided to relocate, so it leaves us with an opening. Have you given any thought to a career in oncology, David?”

  “To be honest, I’m so busy with my general medicine practice here on the island that I barely have time to eat, let alone ponder my career.”

  Garrity’s guffaw of laughter reminded David of why he’d chosen the jovial, upbeat doctor to see him through treatment. “I remember those days. Did I ever tell you I was a general medicine physician in a small town in Wyoming at the beginning of my career? I’ve never worked harder in my life.”

  “It’s pretty demanding, especially when you add in the isolation factor out here.”

  “So what I’m hearing, and feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, is that you’re happily settled and not looking to make a change.”

  “Your offer took me entirely by surprise, and I wonder if I could have a day or two to think it over.”

  “Absolutely, but not much longer. We need to get someone here ASAP. Our caseload is unfortunately bigger than ever.”

  “I understand. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible. And thank you for the offer. I appreciate you thinking of me.”

  “You’re our top choice, David. Ball’s in your court. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  David turned off his phone and sat at his desk contemplating the implications until Janice, the receptionist came to the door to tell him his one o’clock appointments had begun arriving. “I’ll be right there.”

  A few weeks ago, Dr. Garrity’s offer would’ve appealed greatly to him. He’d begun to tire of feeling like a martyr in his hometown and was yearning for a fresh start. He never could’ve imagined that his fresh start would come in the form of a lovely woman who made him feel whole again.

  How could he possibly consider leaving now that they’d found each other? One thing he knew for sure was that after the disaster with Janey, he’d never again attempt a long-distance relationship. They didn’t work for him, and he had no desire to ever go down that road again.

  For now, had had to focus on his patients for a few hours. He could figure out the rest
of his life later.

  *

  Tiffany decided to wait for Blaine to leave for work before she called Maddie to ask permission to hijack the barbecue.

  Dressed in the uniform that got to her every time she saw him in it, Blaine clomped down the stairs. He was so hot, so sexy and so in love with her that at times she still wanted to pinch herself to believe he was real, that they were real.

  His arms came around her, his big, muscular body surrounded her, and Tiffany relaxed against him. He was as real as it got, and he was hers to keep forever. The thought filled her with an unreasonable feeling of relief. Nothing had actually changed between them, and yet it felt like everything was changing—for the better, if that was possible.

  “What’s on your mind, baby?” he asked as he placed kisses strategically on her neck.

  “Oh, this and that.” She pushed her hips against the erection that seemed to be ever present when they were together.

  The low rumble of his laugh pleased her. “You haven’t had enough of that after last night?”

  “I’ll never get enough.”

  “And that, right there, is one of a thousand reasons why I love you so damned much.”

  “You’ll have to tell me about the other nine hundred and ninety-nine reasons.”

  “I’ve got the rest of my life to tell you all about them and to find new ones.”

  Tiffany turned so she was facing him. “Are we really going to do this?”

  “Hell yes, we are. When are you going to call Maddie?”

  “This morning.”

  “Why are you doing that worried thing with your eyebrows?” He kissed the furrow between her brows. “I told you I never wanted you to do that again.”

  “You’ll have to cut me a little slack if you expect me to be worry free and marry you in two days.”

  “We’ve got no worries, baby. It’ll be great. I know it will, because you’ll be there and Ashleigh will be there, and I’ll be there. What else matters?”

  “Can we even get a license that fast?”

  “Leave that to me. The mayor owes me a couple of favors.”

  “If he doesn’t come through for you, let me know. He owes me a couple, too.”

  His scowl was comical. “What the hell kind of favors does he owe you?”