Saving Dr. Tremaine

by Jessica Matthews

  When calm had returned, she washed her face and hoped no one would notice her red eyes. Fortunately, most of the crew were still outside, cleaning their equipment. At a loose end, she thought about mixing up the box of brownies in the cupboard, then vetoed her idea. It wasn’t her turn to cook and doing so would raise questions that she didn’t want to answer. Like any family, the guys at the stations were a nosy bunch.

  Instead, she grabbed a magazine and curled up on the sofa in their great room which was a combination of kitchen and lounge and tried to deny her reasons for feeling so strongly about Jared Tremaine.

  “Whatcha doing, Annie?” Mic walked in and poured himself a glass of water before he chipped a few ice cubes out of the freezer bin.

  “Reading.”

  He approached, sipping his drink. “You surprise me. After all this time, I wouldn’t have pegged you as the Field and Stream type.”

  Her brain finally registered what she’d been staring at for the past few minutes with unseeing eyes. The popular hunting and fishing magazine definitely didn’t interest her.

  She shrugged. “After hearing you guys rant and rave about your back-to-nature hobbies, I thought I’d check it out for myself.” She flipped a page and saw a photo of a man holding up a huge trout and winced.

  “Really? Or were you just trying to take your mind off this morning’s crash?”

  “That, too,” she agreed.

  “He’s going to be fine, Annie.”

  Her head whipped up so she could meet his gaze. “Who are you talking about?” she bluffed.

  “Dr Tremaine.” He paused. “He must mean a lot to you.”

  She looked back at the magazine in her lap. “What gave you that idea?”

  “You can’t fool me,” he said. “I’ve been around you long enough to tell when you’re upset.”

  “I’m not,” she protested weakly.

  He held up his hands. “I also know your red eyes aren’t due to allergies. It’s OK. I won’t tell anyone that you love him.”

  “I don’t…” She couldn’t say the words because she knew they weren’t true. She did love Jared, in spite of how completely wrong he was for her.

  What was she going to do now?

  Jared glared at the nurse who was taking his blood pressure and temperature for what seemed the hundredth time in the past eight hours. “How do you people expect your patients to get any rest if you keep bothering them?”

  The woman, a no-nonsense sort in her late forties, simply shrugged. “Don’t complain to me. I’m only following orders. Doctor.”

  “You nurses just love to have us on the receiving end, don’t you?” he grumbled.

  She laughed. “I take my joy wherever I can find it. The good news is, you’ll be going home tomorrow.”

  “Hallelujah,” he said fervently, although that posed an entirely new set of problems for which he didn’t have a ready solution.

  A knock at his closed door soured his already poor mood. He’d never felt as trapped as he did right now with his left leg and right arm in a cast and he wished that he’d been able to attend Walt’s funeral. With luck, it wouldn’t be Erica. After not speaking to him since their dinner date some weeks ago, she’d waltzed in earlier with a plan she’d taken upon herself to work out with the hospital social worker—a plan he found totally untenable.

  “Now what?”

  “You probably have a visitor, although as testy as you are he won’t stay long.” She jotted down the figures and placed the cuff in the holder on the wall near his bed. “Do you want me to send them away?”

  He grimaced as he tried unsuccessfully to shift the pillows behind his back. “Let ’em in.”

  Motioning for him to lean forward slightly, the nurse adjusted his pillows, then opened the door to reveal Annie waiting patiently in the hallway. “Look out,” she warned, as she passed by. “He’s not in the best mood.”

  “I heard that,” he called out.

  Annie smiled. “Thanks for the warning.” She approached his bed and Jared found himself feeling less like a caged tiger. “So you’re not cooperating?”

  “Of course I am,” he grumbled. “I’m a captive audience to whatever torture these ghouls think of.”

  Her laugh lightened the gloom that hung over his room. “Ah, well. It won’t be long and you’ll be saying goodbye to them.”

  “It won’t be soon enough,” he said fervently.

  “Have you decided what you’re going to do when Dr Allen releases you tomorrow?”

  Allen was the orthopedic surgeon who had put several pins in his ankle and repaired his broken foot. Who would have imagined that a fishing-tackle box would have caused so much damage?

  “Not yet.”

  “Well, Jared,” Erica said from the doorway, “you can’t postpone your decision any longer. We need to know so we can finalize your arrangements.”

  Jared frowned. Erica’s independence and her ability to get things done had always impressed him, but now he only felt irritation over her high-handedness. Was this how Annie had felt when he’d tried to steer her in the direction he’d wanted?

  Fate had finally given him a taste of what his siblings had complained about for years. If he didn’t like being told what he could and couldn’t do, he understood why they had eventually rebelled.

  He crossed his good arm over his sling. “And what are they again?”

  Erica eyed Annie and he realized that the two had never met. “Annie, Erica,” he introduced them. “Erica, Annie.”

  “Ah,” Erica said with a haughty sniff. “You’re the neighbor.”

  To her credit, Annie smiled at her. “Yes, I am. And you are…?”

  “A very close friend.” Then, as if deciding that Annie wasn’t worth her time, Erica faced Jared. “You obviously can’t care for yourself, so I approached Woodhaven’s director.”

  “Woodhaven?” Annie asked. “The nursing home?”

  “It also provides skilled nursing care for people who are in Jared’s situation,” Erica pointed out in a lofty tone.

  What a choice, he thought. Either call his sisters and disrupt their lives, which wouldn’t be possible because their jobs wouldn’t allow them extended time off, or move to a nursing home until he could cope on his own.

  “Are you able to use a wheelchair?” Annie asked him.

  “More or less.”

  “Then why don’t you find someone who can take care of you at home? Or better yet, you surely have a close friend who could drop in several times a day and stay with you at night.” She glanced at Erica and raised her eyebrow.

  “Finding home help is next to impossible,” Erica said. “As for someone dropping in, he needs a qualified nurse, not someone off the street who has good intentions. As for me, you know my schedule, Jared. I can hardly keep my head above water with my current projects. I can’t handle one more task, however simple it might be.”

  While he hadn’t expected Erica to volunteer, he was disappointed to know that she would readily relegate him to a nursing facility rather than give a few hours of her time.

  “Do you want to move into Woodhaven?” Annie asked.

  Jared sighed. “What choice do I have?”

  “You have several choices,” she said tartly. “First of all, you can call your family. I’m sure they’d be happy to look after you temporarily.”

  “Lynn and Carrie are both schoolteachers,” he pointed out. “They couldn’t get away for any length of time. Todd is self-employed, so if he doesn’t work he doesn’t eat. And I doubt if Uncle Sam will give Rick time off to babysit me.”

  “Then let them come when they can.”

  “And what, pray tell, is Jared supposed to do on the days they aren’t available?” Erica asked.

  “I’ll fill in the gap.”

  Stunned was the best way to describe how Jared felt about her offer. “I couldn’t ask you to do that,” he said.

  “You’re not asking. I’m volunteering.”

  “What is he su
pposed to do when you’re working?” Erica interrupted. “Don’t you have twenty-four-hour shifts?”

  “Yes, but maybe his family or other friends could cover.”

  “It isn’t feasible,” Erica said flatly. “Involving that many people will become a scheduling nightmare. And if someone should cancel or renege on their offer, Jared will be the one to suffer.” She addressed him. “I really think you should agree to my suggestion.”

  Logically, it was the most expedient, but he couldn’t stomach the thought of being in a facility that was similar to where he was at the moment. He stood between two untenable positions and had to choose between the lesser of two evils—asking his family for help or spending the next month bored out of his mind.

  “I’d rather give Annie’s idea a try.”

  Erica drew herself up loftily. “If you insist. But if it doesn’t work, don’t come crawling back to me to make arrangements.”

  “I won’t.”

  Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him, then at Annie. “Would you, please, excuse us for a few minutes?” she asked her.

  Curiosity flared in Annie’s eyes, but she nodded. “Of course. I’ll see you later.”

  “Don’t go far,” Jared told her.

  Annie simply nodded before she closed the door behind her.

  “What was that all about?” he asked crossly.

  “I was just about to ask you the same thing. You seem awfully chummy with your neighbor these days.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be? Annie is a wonderful person.”

  “And what about us?” she asked. “I realize we were just friends, but I thought we could eventually build on the things we both wanted.”

  “At one time I thought we could, too,” he admitted slowly. “But now it wouldn’t work. I’m sorry.”

  His comment hung in the air and for a few seconds he didn’t hear anything except the noises outside the room. “I see,” she finally said. “I’m sorry you feel that way, but mark my words. You’ll regret this decision. Your paramedic neighbor won’t help you climb the ladder of success the way I can, and you’ll be stuck in this two-horse town for years while I go on to bigger and better things.”

  “I wish you all the success in the world.” After his brush with death, he wasn’t sure if climbing that ladder was even important, but he kept that thought to himself. He’d have plenty of time over the next few weeks to sort through everything from his professional goals to his feelings for Annie.

  “What exactly do you know about her?”

  “Enough.”

  She sniffed. “And I know you, Jared. She’s not good enough for you, but if you’re not interested in becoming one of the movers and shakers in emergency medicine, then far be it from me to save you from the error of your ways.”

  With that parting remark she turned on one high heel and strode from the room. The only sign of her agitation was the way she whipped open the door and let it bounce against the door stop.

  Jared wasn’t sorry to see her go.

  Annie stood near the nurses’ desk, waiting for Jared and Erica’s private conversation to end. Curiosity nibbled at her, but she’d purposely moved away because she didn’t want to overhear what was said. She almost hated to leave him alone with her in his weakened condition, but some battles could only be fought by the parties involved. If Jared intended to give Erica a richly deserved dressing-down for her presumption, then having a witness would only trample on Erica’s pride even more. Erica would make a powerful enemy and Annie would prefer not to antagonize her.

  The door banged against the wall and Erica stalked out, stone-faced. Obviously, their conversation hadn’t gone well.

  Annie waited until she’d passed, then ambled back to Jared’s room. “Is it safe?” she teased.

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry if I put you in a bad situation,” she said.

  “I was only trying to help.”

  “It isn’t your fault. We both needed some space and this seems a good time for it to happen.” He smiled. “Can you see me in a skilled nursing facility for a month?”

  “You’d drive the staff crazy,” she agreed.

  “Not to mention myself. I appreciate your offer.”

  “My pleasure.”

  “Why did you volunteer?” His gaze was intent and she managed to paste an innocent expression on her face when, in fact, she feared that he could see into her soul.

  Her reasons were complex and she was reluctant to explain them, especially the main one. She knew his goals in life were very different from hers, but she wasn’t ready to give up on him yet. After seeing Jared’s interaction with Nate and his friends, she knew that the man of her dreams was buried somewhere inside him. She wanted to believe that the true Jared Tremaine wanted to be rescued, and she was willing to risk her heart on seeing the job done.

  “I wanted you at my mercy,” she joked.

  “How comforting.”

  “Seriously, I had a spur-of-the-moment idea and the more I considered it, the more perfect it seemed. I know how cooped up you’re feeling and I guessed you wouldn’t feel quite as stir-crazy if you were in your own apartment. I’m sure Woodhaven is a great place, but it isn’t home.”

  “No. And thanks.”

  “My pleasure.” She pulled a chair closer to him. “Shall we call your sisters?”

  He sighed. “I suppose.”

  “I don’t understand your reluctance. Wouldn’t you want to know if anything happened to them? However minor it might be?”

  “Yes, but…” He hesitated.

  She waited for him to finish and when he didn’t she coaxed, “But what?”

  He ran his good hand through his hair, leaving it in spiky strands. “I’ve always been the one who took care of things and now I’m the one who’s helpless.”

  “Your pride is getting in the way,” she guessed.

  “A little,” he admitted.

  “Did you ever think that they might like to pay you back for all the times you took care of them?”

  “No.” He paused once again as he picked at the sheet covering his lower body. “You may as well know because you’ll find out eventually. We didn’t part on very good terms.”

  “Any particular reason?”

  He stared at a point over her shoulder, as if lost in his memories. “After our mother died, I couldn’t handle the thought of losing anyone else. I took my role as head of the house seriously. As you can imagine, I made some unpopular decisions. To hear them tell the story, a criminal in the state penitentiary had more freedom than they did.”

  She nodded. If he’d handled teenagers with the same tactics he’d used with her, he must have encountered problems galore. With a rocky home life, med school must have been extra tough.

  “Anyway, they called a family meeting after Lynn’s graduation where they informed me that they wanted to run their own lives without my interference.” He drew a deep breath. “So I left.”

  Although Annie understood why they’d made that request, she also knew he wouldn’t have been so protective if he hadn’t loved them dearly.

  No wonder he’d chosen to shun thoughts of family and focus on his career. Feeling his pain from rejection, she moved from the chair to perch on the side of his bed, slipped her arm around the back of his neck and hugged him.

  “Oh, Jared,” she murmured against his temple as she clasped his good hand in hers. “I’m sure they didn’t mean it the way it sounded.”

  “They did,” he said wryly. “If they choose not to come, you’ll know why.” His grin seemed forced. “Who knows? I may be going to Woodhaven after all.”

  “You won’t.” She didn’t know how she’d keep him from it if they wouldn’t relieve her, but she’d think of something.

  He shrugged.

  “I don’t think you’re giving your brothers and sisters enough credit. As for the past, I suspect they only wanted to be treated as adults instead of as children. If you ever have another heart-to-heart chat, you’l
l find out for yourself.”

  “Maybe.”

  He sounded dubious, but Annie suspected that he simply didn’t want to raise his hopes, only to have them dashed. She couldn’t blame him, but one way or another she’d fight tooth and nail to repair the broken bridge between the Tremaine siblings. Jared didn’t deserve to spend the rest of his life paying the price for caring too much.

  CHAPTER NINE

  “YOU shouldn’t have switched shifts to drive me home,” Jared said the next day as Annie helped him out of her car and into the wheelchair she’d rented. “I could have called a cab.”

  “And who would have hauled you inside?” Annie asked, deciding that the combination of his injuries, the grim set to his mouth, and his eyes hidden behind sunglasses made him appear like a wounded warrior.

  “People will do anything for money, including cab drivers. Lynn will be here this evening, so I wouldn’t have been alone for long.”

  “I traded shifts to Rena’s and my mutual benefit, so stop grumbling.”

  “But you’ll work a forty-eight-hour stretch instead of twenty-four.”

  “It won’t be the first time and probably won’t be the last,” she said cheerfully. “Now, sit back and enjoy the ride or I’ll purposely push you over every crack in the sidewalk.”

  “This is a fine fix I’m in,” he said without rancor. “My nurse is the female equivalent of Genghis Khan.”

  She laughed. “And don’t forget it.”

  “I should have asked if the elevator works,” he said as she pushed him through the entrance.

  “Never fear. Yesterday I called the guy who’s filling in for Cecil and told him that if the elevator was out of order, he had to carry you up three flights. He assured me it had just been serviced, so it wouldn’t pose a problem.”

  “I’m impressed.”

  “You should be.” She poked the button and the elevator doors silently slid open. In no time at all she was guiding him into his own apartment.

  “Home sweet home,” she commented. “Would you rather lounge on your sofa and watch television, go to bed, or sit in the wheelchair?”

  “The bed.”

  He looked pale and lines of tension were obvious, but those signs were only to be expected after his busy morning. After leaving the hospital, he’d insisted on visiting Walt’s wife to offer his condolences and whatever support she might need in the future. Conscious of his condition, Annie had limited their visit to thirty minutes, but the half-hour had still taken its toll.