Crazy Little Thing Called Matchmaking

by Maggie Van Well

  “Calm down.” Kate took down the prize box and handed him a red lollipop. “Here.”

  “No, thanks, I just had one.”

  “No one will think twice about you having pink lips if you’re sucking this.” She peeled off the wrapper, her eyes lowering to his mouth as she pressed the sugary treat against it. Jake parted his lips, swirling his tongue around the tip as she slid it inside.

  Kate stared at his flicking tongue, her lips parting slightly. Then she sucked in a breath and released her hold on the lollipop stem. She focused on her hands as she crumbled the wrapper. “On my lunch hour, I’ll go to the drug store and buy make-up remover. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

  “You’re the best.” He leaned down to hug her.

  “Ow!”

  It wasn’t until Kate jerked back and covered her eye with her hand that he realized what happened. Damn lollipop stick.

  “Oh, man, let me see.” He reached for the eye scope.

  She waved him away. “I’m fine. It barely caught me.” By the way she kept blinking, he wasn’t convinced.

  “Don’t argue.” Putting his hand on the crown of her head, he leaned down to examine her eye, pulling the lid up slightly. “Look to the left,” he instructed. “The right. Now up.”

  “Do you see anything?”

  Jake lowered the instrument. “No.”

  He gazed into her chocolate brown eyes, the air of tension rolling back into the room. Unlike the woman who’d just left, Kate’s subtle scent reminded him of a meadow in spring. The hand on her head rested on a silken bed of wavy locks. Her lips parted slightly.

  What would those full lips taste like?

  Something sweet, probably chocolate. She loved chocolate. She turned her face away, and he realized he’d crossed a line.

  Dropping his arm, he stepped back. “I just wanted to make sure.” He slid the scope back into its holder. “I can’t have my head nurse going blind on me.”

  Kate fiddled with the gold band on her left hand. “Your next patient is in room three.” She left without a backwards glance at him again.

  Jake waited for her to close the door before running trembling hands over his face. “Oh, boy.” Why couldn’t there be one thing—just one thing—he didn’t like about her? Something he could focus on to stop this ridiculous obsession. And he’d better find that something fast.

  Before he did something stupid.

  After a few minutes to compose himself, he entered the hallway and stood outside room three, reading his patient’s file. He was about to knock but stopped, with his hand inches from the door, when he saw Kate hurrying toward him.

  “This patient is going to have to wait. We have an emergency.” Taking the folder from his hand, she returned it to its holding place and offered him a different one.

  He took the file and frowned when he read it. Three weeks old. High fever. Lethargic. “Which room?”

  “Six.”

  “Go explain the situation to the waiting patients. Then meet me there.”

  Jake rushed to the room. A young woman sat in the chair beside the exam table, a tiny baby clutched in her arms. Her husband paced the small area, repeatedly running his hands over his face.

  “Hi, I’m Dr. Jake Harris. What’s the problem?”

  “Max is burning up and isn’t keeping anything down.” The tremor in the mother’s voice tugged at his heart. She pulled Max closer, her cheek resting against his.

  “May I?” Jake opened his arms.

  The mother hesitated for only a moment before handing over her child. He studied the three-week old infant, a lump forming in his throat as he ran his fingertips over the dry, wrinkled skin.

  Feeling the top of the baby’s head, he became extremely concerned at how sunken the fontanel was. He felt for a pulse. Weak and rapid. “When was the last time he urinated?”

  “I don’t know.” She hugged herself, as if trying to replace a feeling of loss. “He’s had diarrhea, so I couldn’t tell.”

  Kate stepped into the room and stood beside him. Her frown reflected what he felt. He pulled her aside and barely whispered, “Ambulance. Now.”

  No reaction. No hesitation. She simply rushed from the room.

  Jake turned to the child’s parents. “I want to send him to the hospital. He’s severely dehydrated.”

  The mother put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, God. Is he going to be alright?”

  He turned away for fear she’d see the uncertainty in his eyes. “He has to be given fluids intravenously and that needs to be done at the hospital. Because he’s only three weeks old, they’re going to want to keep a close eye on him.”

  The mother buried her head in her husband’s shirt. “I should’ve brought him in sooner. But—but I thought he just had normal digestive issues for babies his age. The fever didn’t start until this afternoon—”

  Jake put his hand over hers. “Listen to me. In children this young, it can happen very quickly. What I need you to do is work with me.”

  “Should we take him now?” the father asked.

  “My nurse is calling an ambulance. Since the firehouse is right across the street, it’ll be quicker.”

  The mother gripped her husband. Jake turned away when the child’s parents started to cry. He wished with all his heart he could reassure them, but how could he when he didn’t know himself?

  Jake held Max close, as if his love for all children could give his patient a renewed life force. Thinking if he just kept holding him and talking to him he’d stay alive in his arms.

  The child’s mother whispered, “Please.” Jake placed the baby where he belonged, in his mother’s embrace. She held him to her breast, kissing his head, and singing a lullaby through her tears.

  The door opened, and Kate ushered the EMTs inside. “We’re going to take good care of Max,” one of the technicians said. For some reason, it soothed Jake that the EMTs seemed to know the parents. They would do all they could to take care of their baby.

  After a long, lingering kiss to her son’s head, Max’s mother handed him over with a sob.

  Kate led the parents out of the room as Jake rattled off the child’s symptoms. He watched anxiously as they hooked up the IV. Max didn’t even flinch when they inserted the needle into his foot. They lifted him onto the stretcher, his body taking up a tiny portion of the flat surface.

  Jake followed the EMTs and the child’s parents all the way to the parking lot, watching as they pulled away.

  “Dr. Harris?” Kate called. “Jake!”

  He finally turned away from the departing ambulance. “Yes?”

  “We have more patients.”

  “I’ll be there in a minute.”

  Kate studied him for a moment before she headed back inside.

  Raising his face to the sky, he closed his eyes. “Please, don’t let that baby die.”

  Then he put the child out of his mind. Doctors didn’t have the luxury of grieving, not when there were more patients to see.

  ***

  After lunch, Kate entered Jake’s office and placed a plastic grocery bag in front of him. The tense way he flicked his pen against the desk was the only outward sign of his distress over this morning’s events.

  She had to admit she didn’t expect him to handle situations like Max’s so well. No panic, no anxiety. He simply did what had to be done, all the while comforting the parents enough for them to focus.

  Not much impressed her, but today Jake had.

  “I never thought I’d have to buy make-up remover for a male boss.” She searched through the purchases and tossed him a small box.

  “Thanks.” He opened it and studied the tube.

  “I have a feeling we’ll need these, too.” She pulled out a bag of red lollipops.

  Jake’s face paled. “No, we won’t.”

  “That’s true. Some of our mothers wear peach or brown lipstick. But no worries, we have orange and chocolate lollipops, too.”

  “Th-that’s not funny.�
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  Kate pursed her lips. Most guys would kill for the problems Jake had. “Oh, please. You’d give George Clooney a run for his money. She’s—what? The third single mother to ask you out?” She paused in her task. “Wait, is Jane Ricks single? I don’t remember hearing she got divorced.”

  Jake buried his face in his hand. “Oh, God.”

  Smirking as she searched through the bag for the forbidden chocolate bar she’d bought, Kate doubted it would be long before one of the many women captured Jake’s interest. Well, good. He should have some female company. “We have a patient coming in soon. Momma is newly separated. You should prepare yourself. Just in case.”

  With a sigh, he picked up the make-up remover and studied it. “I wouldn’t even know how to use this.”

  “Read the directions.” Kate nudged the empty box sitting on his desk.

  Jake sat back in his office chair, his brow drawn. “Why do you do that?”

  “Do what?” She pocketed the chocolate bar and then proceeded to put the lollipops in a small jar.

  “Why do you treat me like a kid?”

  “Do I?”

  “Yeah, kinda. Before, when you were trying to get the lipstick off my face, I felt like Drew.”

  She put a hand over her heart. Crap, was she that obvious? “I’m sorry. That was never my intention.”

  “I know it wasn’t.” Jake got to his feet. “I just wonder why you do it.”

  Kate turned away, arranging the pops like she would a bouquet of flowers. “It’s a bit of an adjustment. Dr. Stern was like a second father to me, and, well… there are quite a few years between you and I.”

  “Out of all the women in this office, you’re closest to my age, and yet no one else acts that way.”

  He was right. She was the one with the problem, not him. Kate slowly turned, hoping her smile reflected her apology. “I’ll try not to.”

  Jake sat on the corner of the desk, his expression serious. “Do you have a problem working for someone younger than you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Good.” He stood again. “Because I’d hate to lose my best nurse over something as stupid as age.”

  She watched him walk out of his office, sighing deeply. Great, just when she thought her job was secure, she had to worry about pissing him off.

  But, damn it, she couldn’t help it. She constantly had to remind herself he was so much younger than she was because the fact he was her boss clearly wasn’t working in keeping her lust at bay. Maybe she should find another job, but where the hell would she go? She couldn’t go back to the hospital. She just couldn’t. Not when every turn, every corridor, reminded her of what she’d lost there.

  She’d just have to hang on and suck it up here. And pray she didn’t do or say anything stupid.

  ***

  Later that evening, Jake entered his quiet house, throwing his keys on the side table. He walked through to the kitchen and peered into the refrigerator. A T-bone, asparagus, and Portobello mushrooms should make for a good meal.

  After seasoning the steak, he checked his messages.

  None. Just like his cell phone and email. Unless he counted the numerous ads for Viagra and penile enlargement. Sheesh, you visit one porn site, one time…

  A half-hour later, Jake sat in a lounge chair on his patio, facing the pool with his dinner and a beer. He lifted his face to the fading summer sky and closed his eyes.

  God, he was lonely.

  He was beginning to regret his decision to move from Brooklyn to Suffolk County. The beauty of the east end of Long Island relaxed him, and finding a parking spot was a hell of a lot easier, but at least in the city, going out to a movie or dining alone didn’t stand out so much.

  Sometimes he wondered why he was put on this Earth, but then he reminded himself he was here to take care of children. He loved children, understood them. It brought him so much joy to have a child’s face light up when he walked in a room... which made the hand life had dealt him that much crueler.

  He stared at his in-ground pool with its musical waterfall filtering into the deep end, wondering if he should go for a swim or just eat and go to bed.

  By the time he finished his meal, he couldn’t summon the energy to do more than sit in his family room—the only room fully unpacked—and stare vacuously at the LCD TV. “How is it possible to have one-hundred-twenty-five channels and nothing to watch?”

  Screw it. He turned off the television, threw down the remote, and turned on the radio. Great. Pink Floyd. Just what he needed.

  He walked around his large house—over three thousand square feet. Had he been too optimistic buying such a large home in a small town? Would he ever fill this space?

  It didn’t matter. He was a homeowner. Time he started acting like it.

  With renewed bounce to his step, Jake headed for the basement. Nestled in the corner of the half-finished room laid all the materials he’d purchased to renovate the house. He’d have to take a class on how to lay the marble floor in the foyer, but the painting he could do, as well as hang the chandelier meant for the center hall.

  Gathering up the supplies he’d need, he headed for the least used room in the house. The dining room.

  After laying paper on the floors, he focused on the window treatments. He debated on whether to keep the ones that came with the house, or replace them. Landscaping and construction he could do, but decorating was alien to him.

  With a shrug, he grabbed a screwdriver and started unscrewing the hardware for the blinds. Either way, they would have to come down. Whether or not he put them back up was a different story. He was barely into his task on the second window when movement caught his eye.

  He faced Kate’s house and could see Drew playing his beloved video games, his stance rigid as he jerked and swung the Wii remote. Jake’s heart cried. He would do anything for a son. Or a daughter; it didn’t matter.

  Suddenly aware he was invading his neighbor’s privacy, he hurried to finish and move on to taping the moldings.

  Against his better judgment, he opened the can of primer. It was still only seven. A lot of the evening lay ahead of him, but he knew once he got started he wouldn’t stop until he finished.

  He glanced back at the window just in time to see Kate come into view.

  Jake grabbed the paint roller, having a strong feeling it wouldn’t be paint that made him lose sleep tonight, but a sexy blonde who lived right next door.

  Chapter Six

  “COME ON, HON. Aunt Valerie’s here. It’s time to go.”

  “Aw, Mom, just let me save the game, okay?”

  Kate sighed. “If it takes longer than five minutes, Drew, I’m turning it off myself.”

  “Deal.”

  Shaking her head, she returned to the kitchen. “That kid is going to go crazy not being able to play video games when he goes away with William’s parents.” She pulled out a chair and sat at the dinette.

  Her younger sister Valerie’s green eyes sparkled with mirth as she waved her concerns away. “Oh, he’ll be fine.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. Your daughter is only six.”

  “And Lisa already gives me headaches. Wait until Alex starts dating. Then you’ll really lose sleep.”

  Kate groaned and put her head in her hands. “Don’t remind me. I found out he has a wild crush on Jaime Marsh, but when I tried to talk to him about girls and sex, he made a gagging sound and hid in his room.”

  “You could ask Logan or Rob to talk to him. The other night at the diner, they were talking about how—”

  “All of you went out to dinner?” A lump formed in Kate’s throat. That all her siblings went out and didn’t think to invite her hurt.

  Valerie’s color faded. “Oh, well, we were going to ask you to come, but Mom said you’d—”

  “Feel like a fifth wheel?”

  “More like a seventh wheel.”

  “Well, maybe Mom should shut up and butt out.” Kate jumped up from the table. She gathe
red her cell phone and keys as she blinked away the burning in her eyes. She probably wouldn’t have gone anyway, since she was on such a tight budget, but they still could’ve asked.

  Valerie laid a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry. If I had thought for a second—but Mom made so much sense.”

  Kate let out a slow breath. “It’s not your fault. Mom has this vision of how a young widow should act. I’m supposed to sit at home with my children and not go out or have any fun. I can’t go to any parties by myself because, God forbid, I might speak to a married man. His wife might think I’m trying to flirt with him.”

  She gasped. “She doesn’t think that.”

  “Want to bet?” Kate dumped the items into her purse. “There are a lot of unflattering stereotypes about women in my situation, and Mom is terrified I’ll become one of them.”

  Valerie smirked. “I can so picture you as a cougar. Just to piss her off.”

  “Yeah, like I’m that disgusting.”

  “Hey, don’t knock it. Imagine what a hot young stud would do for your ego. Not to mention your pus—”

  “Thanks, Val. I get it.”

  She grinned and turned away. “I’ll get the kids.”

  They piled into Valerie’s red Durango and headed for The Ocean Front Diner. The parking lot was only half-full, which was a good sign that they’d made it after the beach crowd. Kate didn’t eat out much, and when she did, she wanted to enjoy herself and not spend most of the time waiting for a table.

  “Table for five?”

  Valerie gaped at the tall blonde, her emerald-green eyes reflecting delight. “Dianna! What are you doing here? You can’t tell me your cake business is slow.”

  “This time of year? Are you kidding me?” She gathered five menus and then spoke over her shoulder as she led them to a booth. “I’ve been so busy with weddings and graduations I consider helping Shirley out my down time”

  Kate slid into the corner and took a menu. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you the other day. How’s Sean’s pub doing this summer?”

  Anyone who lived in Seashore Cove knew Sean Donavon and Dianna Sheldon had been best friends since the cradle. Born on the same day, in the same hospital, at the same time, their parents had formed a bond that trickled down to their children.