The older woman smiled up at Dillon. “Maybe I can get one of those fancy canes with the flowers all over it. Or one with a nice wooden handle.” She looked down at the utilitarian cane Dillon had apparently given her.
Dillon nodded. “I’m sure one of the shops will have them. But I think it might be best if you send your husband for one. You need to stay off of that foot, remember?”
“I remember,” Mrs. Bixby grumbled as she hobbled out of the reception area into the hall.
Turning to Erika, Dillon gave her his full attention. “Was your meeting with the mayor successful?”
Just one look into Dillon’s eyes and Erika knew he was thinking about their last kiss, just as she was.
“The mayor’s easy to get along with,” she answered lightly. “He agreed with everything I want to do.”
Dillon laughed, then sobered as Mr. Lindstrom ambled into the reception area. Erika tensed, not knowing what was coming next.
After looking from Dillon to Erika, Lindstrom addressed her. “Jeff told me the truth a little while ago—about that chocolate bar. About your talk with him. Things I should have said to him. There will, of course, be no lawsuit. I should have explained better what could happen to him if his allergies got out of hand. But even I didn’t want to think about that kind of reaction, let alone put fear into him.”
Erika understood just how Mr. Lindstrom felt, the responsibility that weighed on him as a parent. Every day she had to make decisions about Emilia and she didn’t know if they were right or wrong. “I think Jeff will be more careful himself now,” she replied, knowing how guilty Lindstrom must feel.
“The two of you saved my boy’s life, and I’d like to make up for the grief I caused you.”
“You don’t need to make up for anything, Mr. Lindstrom,” Dillon assured him.
“Nevertheless, I want to. I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but I have a jet at my disposal,” Mr. Lindstrom explained. “I thought maybe tomorrow the two of you would like to fly to Las Vegas for the day.”
When Erika glanced at Dillon, she realized he was remaining silent because this was going to be her choice. She wasn’t quite sure what to say. But then looking into her heart, she knew what she had to do, even though she’d never traveled outside of a hundred miles of Thunder Canyon. “Mr. Lindstrom, thank you so much for the offer. I appreciate it. But with my work schedule weekends are the only real time I get to spend with my little girl. I hope you understand. I’m sure if Dillon would like to get away—”
Dillon cut in. “I appreciate your offer also, but like Erika, I’m going to decline. I’m just settling in here and I think it would be better if I stick around.”
Dave Lindstrom looked from one of them to the other. “I can see why I like the two of you. You both have a solid sense of responsibility. Well, if ever either of you need anything, just let me know.” He offered them both business cards. “All my numbers are on there. If you ever need my assistance in any way, I’ll be glad to help out. Jeff and I will be here until after Frontier Days.
“Well, I won’t keep you any longer.” He shook Dillon’s hand and then Erika’s. “I’ll be seeing both of you around.” With a grin and a wave, he left the infirmary.
“If I had said yes to the trip to Las Vegas, would you have gone?” Erika asked, knowing exactly what a trip like that with Dillon could lead to.
“I would have, if I could have gotten Dr. Babchek to cover.”
Her voice was a little shaky as she asked, “And what would the two of us have done in Las Vegas?”
“We would have gone to a show, toured the city, eaten in one of the spectacular restaurants.” Then he touched the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. “And we would have gotten to know each other a little better.”
His touch made her insides tremble and she hated feeling vulnerable to him. She hated the idea that he could get to her like this.
“And what would you have expected in return?”
Dillon tilted his head and studied her for so long she began to feel very uncomfortable. Finally, he said, “Erika, why do you expect the worst whenever you’re with a man?”
“I don’t expect the worst. I just expect to be let down.”
“Then you haven’t been associating with the right men,” he replied with a lifted brow.
She felt her cheeks burn. Was she wrong to lump him in the same category as Scott?
He checked his watch. “I’m expecting a patient in ten minutes and I need to go over her chart.”
For a moment Erika thought he was angry with her until he said, “For what it’s worth, I admire your devotion to Emilia. Only a good mother would have made the choice you did.”
Then he was walking away from her and she realized how much she wanted to be held in his arms.
“So tell me about Dr. Traub,” Constance Rodriguez said as she sat at Erika’s kitchen table after church on Sunday, watching her granddaughter pull a toy duck around the table. It quacked every once in a while, making Emilia giggle.
This conversation wasn’t going to be an easy one to have, Erika realized as she stood at the stove and flipped an omelet. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you like working for him?”
“One of the reasons I accepted the position was to have weekends off. It was so wonderful to have yesterday and today with Emilia. A seven-day rotating schedule just didn’t seem to give me as much time with her.”
“I agree, having a weekend with her must seem like a wonderful gift. But I didn’t ask if you liked the schedule.”
Erika took her attention from the frying pan and looked at her mother. “I like him.”
“More than like him?”
When she thought about their kisses, she felt her cheeks coloring. “I’ve only been working with him for a short time, Mom.”
“Erika…”
She lowered the heat on the burner, trying to decide what she wanted to say. “Okay, I more than like him. So don’t say what you’re thinking.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?” her mother asked ingenuously.
“I can imagine. I know the mess I’ve made of my life before. I won’t do that again. I know Dillon is leaving in a few weeks. Still— He makes me feel as if I’m his equal. He’s respectful of me and he…he…” She certainly couldn’t tell her mother that Dillon was hot, absolutely smoking hot from his head to his toes. “And he’s kind.”
“That’s not what you were going to say, Erika Rodriguez. I’m not too old to notice a good-looking man. I just don’t want you to like him for the wrong reasons.”
“What would those reasons be?”
Emilia ran around the table, the duck catching on one of the table legs. When she started to fuss, Erika crouched down, pointed to the string and showed her how to unwind her toy until it was free again.
“I understand he comes from money,” her mother said. “He’s a doctor. He’s older than you are. I can see how you would look to a man like that to…take care of you.”
“Mom, how can you say that? For the past three years, all I’ve wanted to do is to live on my own, mother on my own, take care of Emilia on my own.”
“And it’s hard, isn’t it?” Her mother’s eyes searched for the truth.
“Yes, it’s hard. But it’s also satisfying. I’m working to build a future for two. That gives me motivation and a goal. My life isn’t just about me anymore, it’s about the two of us. I don’t like Dillon because of everything you mentioned. I like him because—”
She took a breath and needed a moment to say something her mother could accept. After switching off the burner, she flipped the omelet on to a plate.
“Tell me,” her mother prompted.
“If I tell you, you’ll laugh.”
“Try me.”
“He makes me feel alive. He makes me feel like I’m more than I am.”
Her mom didn’t laugh, but now she looked really worried. “You’ve fallen for him. Erika, I don’
t want to see you get hurt again.”
“I don’t want to get hurt again, either, but I haven’t dated in three years, Mom. I haven’t wanted to be with a man for three years. Being near Dillon makes me want things again.” She wasn’t going to go into what those things were, but from the look on her mom’s face, Erika could tell Constance got the gist.
This time as Emilia came around the corner of the table, her sneaker bumped a chair leg and she fell. Both Erika and her mom rushed to her.
“You’re okay,” Constance assured her granddaughter. “Come on, let me help you up.”
As soon as she was standing again, Emilia toddled to her mom and wrapped her arms around her. Caught in the little girl’s embrace, Erika gazed at her mother. “Don’t worry about me, Mom, I’m going to be fine.”
Constance laid one hand on her daughter’s shoulder, and the other on her granddaughter’s hair. “I don’t know if you will be fine. But I trust you to know what’s best for you.”
Erika had been thinking and organizing and planning her future ever since the day she’d found out she was pregnant. She wouldn’t stop now just because Dillon Traub’s kisses turned her insides to mush.
All weekend, Erika had thought about how close she’d been to going to Vegas with Dillon. The idea of it gave her that going-over-the-top-of-the-Ferris-wheel feeling and she wasn’t even sure why, given what a colossal mistake that would have been.
Yet as she locked her purse in her desk drawer Monday morning and switched on the computer, she knew she looked forward to seeing him in spite of every good reason to keep her distance. Because Dillon was as punctual as she was, Erika listened for the sound of his footsteps. She was sipping her cup of coffee when she heard them.
Something was different. His stride was usually quick and smooth with an athlete’s agility. This morning, however, when he appeared beside her desk, she knew something was definitely wrong. There was a scrape on his jaw and his breathing was deliberate and slow.
“What happened to you?” she asked, knowing whatever had, it was none of her business.
A smile broke slowly across his lips. “I scored.”
For a moment, his words didn’t compute. Then she realized he’d been involved in some kind of sport.
“I don’t suppose you were bowling?” she asked with a lifted brow.
He laughed and put a hand across his ribs. Shaking his head, he said, “Touch football.”
“With enemies or friends?”
“Dax, Marlon Cates and a few others.”
He took a deep breath and seemed to wish he hadn’t. In fact, he’d even gone a little pale.
She hurried around the desk and stood very close to him. “Are you sure you’re all right? Maybe you should call Dr. Babcheck and just go up to the suite and rest.”
Now he looked a little angry. Straightening, he dropped his arm to his side as if to prove he was fine. “Just a few bruised ribs. I don’t need to call my backup. I’ll be in my office if anyone needs me.”
Then as if he didn’t want her asking any more questions or studying him further, he went down the hall to his office, his posture almost in a military stance as if he had to prove something to her.
As Erika answered the phone, fed information to reporters about Zane’s concert, worked on schedules for activities for Frontier Days and made multiple lists for everything she still had to do, she found herself worrying about Dillon and wanting to check on him. Because he was her employer?
Hardly.
Because he’d kissed her?
It wasn’t just that, either.
At lunchtime, she decided she really needed to look in on him. She could do that easily. She’d ask him if there was anything he wanted for lunch, even though he’d told her she didn’t have to do that.
But when she stood before his closed door, knocking didn’t seem easy after all. Gathering her courage, she did it anyway.
He called, “Come in,” with less forcefulness than usual, she thought.
Dillon was seated at his desk, a medical journal open in front of him. She noticed some papers that had apparently floated off the printer and onto the floor. Automatically she went to them to pick them up.
“I can get those,” he told her and stooped to do it. But when he did, she could see his grimace, the pain evident on his face with his quick intake of breath.
“Dillon,” she said gently, crouching down beside him, scooping up the papers that had fallen there. “You shouldn’t be here. In fact, I’m pretty sure you should be at the emergency room. You need to see a doctor.”
“I am a doctor, Erika. Even if I cracked a rib, there’s nothing I can do for it but let it heal.”
He was one stubborn man, but that didn’t surprise her. Males usually were stubborn. She dismissed the fact that she could be, too. “Just what would you tell a patient in your condition?” she challenged him.
“I’d tell a patient to rest,” he grumbled, almost under his breath.
She clasped his forearm and when she did, the connection she felt to him was hot and tingling. “And maybe you’d advise them to take some pain medication?”
“I’m not taking pain medication,” he snapped. “I’ll tough this out today and I’ll be fine tomorrow.”
Exasperated with him, she stood. “I could call Ruthann and ask her to come in a little early.”
“Her regular hours are fine. I’m fine.”
“Sure you are, and I’m Miss U.S.A.”
Now he cracked a grin. “You could be.”
“That’s not in my life plan.”
He turned serious now. “Just what is your life plan, other than becoming a resort manager someday?”
“It’s not complicated. I just want to be a good mother to Emilia and help her grow into an independent young woman.”
“But what do you want for yourself?”
“I haven’t had time to think about that.”
“I think you’ve thought about it, but you were so hurt by your last relationship you’ve closed off the possibility of another one.”
At his all-too-perceptive comment, Erika suddenly realized how badly she wanted to avoid this subject. For the past three years, she’d shut down desires and dreams. Dillon confused her and almost made her want to resurrect them again. But that risk was just too great.
Moving around his desk, she automatically picked up his empty coffee cup and tossed it into the waste can. “I’ll be away from my desk for a little while. I’m meeting a friend in town for lunch, then taking care of last-minute ads with downtown businesses.”
After a few silent beats, he said huskily, “You’re evading again.”
Turning on her heel to face him, she said, “I’m just evading for now.”
“All right.”
“I can bring you a sandwich from the deli before I leave.”
“I’m not hungry. If I want something later, I’ll go get it.”
“You’re acting like a macho male.”
He gave a shrug. “What makes you think I’m not? You’re my receptionist, Erika, not my nurse. You’re not getting paid to hover.”
She knew the expression on her face gave away the hurt she felt at his words, and she knew what she had to do. Leave.
Turning away quickly so he couldn’t see her expression, she said, “I’ll buzz you when I’m back.”
On her way out of his office, she thought he called her name.
She just kept walking.
After Erika returned from her appointments in town, the late afternoon turned busy. The phone rang, with one of the guests calling in to say she thought she had the stomach flu. Erika told her to come right down. While Dillon was examining her, another guest called. He’d sprained his ankle while golfing. A newly checked-in patron had wrenched her back while pulling her suitcase. And so it went. It was just one of those days and as Dillon came to the reception area after his last appointment, he looked pale. From his furrowed brow and the lines around his eyes, Erika could tell he was
in pain. She hated seeing him like this. But he’d made clear that he didn’t want her help.
Ruthann had arrived so Dillon didn’t linger, just left the infirmary, telling Erika he’d see her tomorrow.
He should stay in bed tomorrow and let himself heal, she thought to herself. But Dillon obviously didn’t want advice on what was good for him and what wasn’t.
Erika’s own work kept her tied to her computer for a while longer. Yet she couldn’t take her mind off of Dillon—the way he’d looked when he left, how he’d hidden his symptoms from his patients all afternoon.
Since she was planning Frontier Days, she’d been given a card key to take the elevator to the penthouse floor, in addition to all the other floors. Closer to the event, she’d be posting signs and erecting billboards advertising all aspects of the festival. The resort’s aim wasn’t only to attract tourists to Thunder Canyon and the lodge, but to encourage their guests to attend all the activities in town, supporting businesses there, encouraging guests to return the following year.
Erika thought about the card key. She could just go up to Dillon’s suite and knock on his door. If he didn’t answer, he was probably resting and she’d just leave again. Or maybe not. She might try to phone him from outside the suite just to make sure he was okay.
Her mother was used to her working late so a few more minutes wouldn’t matter. Dillon’s health was important to her, though she didn’t examine all the reasons why too closely.
The plush carpeting in the hall muffled her footsteps as she approached his door. Wrought-iron sconces with their candlelight bulbs on the wall lit her way. Outside his door, she hesitated and knocked.
When she heard a muffled, “Just a minute,” from inside, she was relieved.
He opened the door and looked astonished to see her. “Erika! I was expecting room service.”
“Sorry, I’m empty-handed,” she joked.
He was wearing a gray sweatshirt and sweatpants and didn’t look much better than when he’d left downstairs. “Is something wrong? Did you need something?”
“I was worried about you,” she blurted out. “You looked terrible when you left. The truth is you don’t look much better right now.”
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