by Marie Force
When Katie thought about how far her mother had come in one short year, it was nothing short of miraculous. “And look how far you’ve come in one short week,” she said to herself, suppressing a laugh as she moved slowly toward the reception desk.
“May I help you?” the older woman working the desk asked.
“I wondered if Dr. Lawrence has a few minutes.”
“Your name, please?”
“Katie Lawry.”
She eyed Katie’s crutches. “Do you have an appointment?”
“No, I don’t. He asked me to stop by, though.”
“I’ll check with him. Have a seat.”
“Thank you.” Katie hobbled to the row of chairs and had just sat down when David emerged through double doors, escorting a patient to the reception desk. The woman was young but frail-looking, and he spoke softly to her.
She nodded, thanked him and walked out the main door.
David watched her go with a look of trepidation on his face.
Katie wondered what that was about.
Then David saw her, and his expression totally transformed as he walked over to her. “Tell me you’re here to solve all my problems.”
Katie laughed. “I’m not sure I can solve all of them, but I’m here to talk.”
“Come in.” He waited for her to get up and held the crutches for her.
“Thank you.”
“How’s the foot?”
“Better than yesterday.”
“That’s the goal. I’ll take a quick look while you’re here.” He escorted her into his office and told the medical tech working the floor that he’d be a few minutes. “Another day, another bout of insanity,” he said as he dropped into the chair behind his cluttered desk. It was only ten o’clock, and he already looked exhausted. “Tough case this morning. Thirty-one-year-old single mother of two. I suspect late-stage lung cancer.”
“Oh my God. That’s awful. Was that her who just left?”
He nodded and then grimaced. “She put off coming in because she couldn’t afford it.”
“I hate hearing that.”
“You and me both. Anyway…” He seemed to make an effort to shift gears. “Let’s talk about you and your plans.”
“I don’t really have any plans at the moment, which is a first. I’m enjoying some unexpected time off.”
“You said you worked for a family practice in Texas.”
“Yes, for nearly seven years. I did two years in an emergency room before that.”
“How do you feel about a small-town practice? No two days are ever the same.”
“It sounds… challenging.”
“It is, but it’s also very rewarding in its own way. You get to know your patients and their families really well, and with medical services so limited here, you feel like you’re making a big contribution to the community.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“What I really need is someone to see to the routine appointments while I handle patients who are actually ill or injured.” He talked about salary and benefits and schedules for a few minutes. “If you’re interested, I’ll put it all in writing.”
“How soon are you looking to fill the position?”
“Yesterday?” he said with a grin that faltered when he glanced at his computer screen after a chime sounded. “Shit… I’d hoped I was wrong.” He turned the screen to show her the images that showed huge tumors on both lungs.
“Oh wow.” Katie’s heart broke for the young mother and her children. “I have some hospice training, too, if that would help.”
“Please say you’ll take the job,” he said quietly.
“I’ll take the job with one condition.”
“Name it.”
“You’ll understand if I decide later that island life isn’t for me.”
“Give me six months. You’ll get a taste for winter here in that time, so you’ll know what you’re in for.”
“Done.”
“Really? You don’t need to think about it?”
“I’ve thought a lot about it since we first talked about it, and it’s time for something new. This feels like the right move at the right time.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. We’ll pay for you to get your license in Rhode Island, and I just need to check some references. A formality, of course.”
Katie swallowed hard. “Um, about that… I left my job with the family practice under less-than-ideal circumstances.”
“How do you mean?”
Katie did not want to talk about this, but what choice did she have if she wanted the new job? “He… The doctor… He came on to me, and I, well… I think I broke his nose, among other things.”
To his credit, David showed no reaction other than a raised eyebrow. “Other things?”
“Testicles,” she said with a grimace.
“Ouch. Sounds like he had it coming, though.”
“He’d had it coming for years by the time it actually happened.”
“Are there, perhaps, other people or doctors in the practice who could attest to your qualifications?”
“I can give you a couple of names.”
“Excellent.”
“So the fact that I basically assaulted my former employer isn’t a problem?”
“Not for me. Probably was for him, though.”
Katie laughed. “I sure hope so.”
A knock sounded at the door. “Come in,” David called.
A dark-haired woman stuck her head in. “I need you.”
“Come here for one second.”
She came into the office.
“Victoria Stevens, nurse practitioner-midwife, meet Katie Lawry, nurse practitioner, who’ll be joining our team…”
“The Tuesday after Labor Day.” Katie decided she deserved some more time off after what she’d put up with from Doctor Strangelove.
“You’re not screwing with me, are you?” Victoria asked David, who laughed.
“Definitely not screwing with you.”
“You’ll understand my need to hug you, right?” Victoria said to Katie as she proceeded to do just that while Katie laughed.
“Thank you, Jesus,” Victoria said.
“You can call me Katie.”
“I like her,” Victoria said to David, who laughed. “I like her so much.”
Katie decided she liked Victoria, too, and she was looking forward to her new job.
Chapter 22
Katie was leaving the downstairs kitchen with a tall glass of lemonade and a new magazine she’d bought at Abby’s store when Shane came in from work. She took one look at him—handsome, tanned and dirty from working all day—and she wanted him.
Judging by the heated gaze he directed her way, he felt the same.
“What happened to the crutches?” he asked.
“I’ve discovered if I walk on my toes, I can get around without irritating the cut. And the crutches were killing my arms.” She looked up at him, drinking in the sight of his handsome face. “I have some big news.”
“Do tell.”
“I got a job at the clinic, starting next Tuesday.”
His eyes went wide. “So you’re staying?”
“Looks that way.”
“That’s fantastic news. I’m staying, too. Mac told me the other day he wants me here for the winter.”
“So we’re both going to be here all winter.”
“And here I thought I was going to be so bored.”
Katie smiled up at him. “You look hot and thirsty.” She offered him the glass of lemonade and watched him guzzle most of it down.
“That was good. Thank you. I’ll get you a fresh glass.”
“I’ll come with you.” Katie followed him into the kitchen, where he washed his hands before he poured her another glass of lemonade and one for himself. “Hard day?”
“We brought in appliances today. Those suckers are heavy.”
“You had help, I hope.”
“My da
d and a couple of guys Seamus loaned us from the ferries. They saved the day, but I’m sore.”
“You should go for a swim and cool off.”
“That’s a great idea. Come with me?”
“I can’t get my foot wet.”
“We can work around that.” He went rifling through some drawers until he found a plastic bag and a roll of duct tape. “What do you say?”
Katie eyed the supplies with trepidation. “Not sure I’m ready to go back in the water after what happened the other day.”
“I’d be right there with you, and I’d keep you perfectly safe.”
She stared at the plastic bag, trying to work up the courage she’d need to confront her fears. “I don’t want to be afraid of the water, but I am.”
“We’ll take baby steps. Up to your knees this time.”
“You won’t let go?”
“I won’t let go. I promise.”
“Okay.” She took a sip of the lemonade, the drink cool against her suddenly parched throat.
“Want a lift upstairs?”
“You just said you’re sore and tired.”
“From carrying a refrigerator. You’d be like lifting a feather after that.”
“As flattering as it is to be compared to a feather and a refrigerator, I can walk. But thanks for the offer.”
“Damn. I was hoping to get my hands on you again, and that was the only way I could think of.”
Flattered for real now, she smiled up at him. “That’s the only way you could think of? Are you suffering from a lack of imagination?”
He moved toward her, placing his hands on the counter on either side of her hips. “Nothing wrong with my imagination. In fact, it was working overtime today.”
“Was it?”
“Uh-huh.”
“You could come a little closer if you wanted to.”
“I really want to, but I’m filthy, and you look gorgeous.”
“I do?” Her hair was caught up in a messy bun, and she wore an old tunic with a pair of denim shorts that had seen better days.
“You do.” He leaned in to kiss her, and she discovered that the rough scrape of his late-day whiskers on her cheek was an instant turn-on. “Why did your eyes just light up like that?”
And he paid attention. Katie wished she could fan her face. It was getting warm in here. “I like the way your whiskers feel against my cheek.”
He stared at her, effectively stealing the breath from her lungs. “Swimming,” he said after a long silence. “We were going swimming.”
“Right. I need to change.”
“So do I.”
They went up the stairs together. Halfway up, he surprised her by cupping her bottom and squeezing. “Making sure my imagination is still working properly.”
Katie laughed even as her entire body reacted to his brazen gesture. “You sure you want to go swimming?”
“Why? What else is there to do?”
“Nothing I can think of.”
“And you say I suffer from a lack of imagination…” He patted her bottom again as he left her at her door. “See you in a minute.”
Katie watched him walk away, paying particular attention to the flex of muscles in his legs and backside. As she went into her room to change, she tried to find the right word to describe the way she felt after being with Shane.
The symptoms were varied—racing heart, dry mouth, warm face, a dull ache between her legs and an increased awareness of her body as a whole. She stopped in the middle of tying her top behind her neck. It was lust. She was lusting after him.
Katie giggled at the realization that she was normal after all. She’d had reason to wonder, especially with her sister telling her all the time that living like a nun, when she wasn’t actually a nun, was ridiculous. Julia would barely recognize the new Katie.
The new Katie… She liked the sound of that as she embarked on a whole new life in a new place with a new job and a new man. Speaking of her new man…
She grabbed her beach bag, a towel, and slid her good foot into a flip-flop and the other foot into the ugly medical shoe David had given her, wincing when the cut rubbed against the shoe. Katie opened her door to find Shane about to knock. At the sight of his raised fist, she took an instinctive step back and then instantly regretted it.
“I was about to knock.”
“I know. Sorry. Natural reaction.”
He straightened his fingers and rested his palm against her face, moving slowly so as not to startle her further. “I will never, ever, ever hit you, Katie,” he said softly. “There’s nothing you could say or do that would lead to that. I swear to you.”
She swallowed hard, caught off guard by the emotional wallop that accompanied his sweet words. Did he know what it meant to her to hear him make such a promise? Yes, of course he did. He got it without her having to explain it to him, because he was close to Owen and had known her story before he ever met her.
“Do you believe me?”
Katie forced herself to hold his intense blue-eyed gaze. “I believe you.” And she did. He was one of the good guys, as Julia would say when she tried to convince Katie that not all men were monsters.
He kissed her forehead and took her bag. “Ready?”
“Ready.” She was ready for a lot of things, she thought, as she took the hand he offered and went with him to the beach.
He walked patiently at her slow pace, and as they reached the bottom of the last set of stairs that led to the beach, he presented her with his back. “Hop on.”
“I can walk.”
“This will keep the sand out of the cut, and it will give me a chance to get my hands on you.”
“I see how it is.”
“I’m using my imagination.” Over his shoulder, he grinned at her. “Let’s go.”
He was so cute and so sincere and always thinking of her comfort. A girl could get awfully attached to such a thoughtful guy, Katie thought as she took him up on his offer. He carried her effortlessly, the way he had several times before, putting her down when they reached the wet sand by the water.
“Hang on to my shoulder.”
Katie did as he instructed while he spread an old sheet on the sand and helped her to sit. All of this was done without any sand touching her injured foot. “I’m impressed.”
“That’s the goal.”
She liked that he still flirted with her even after they’d had sex. She took that as a good sign that he was interested in more than that. During her years of abstinence, she’d wondered how women could tell when a guy was genuinely interested in them or just wanted to have sex with them.
Now that she had one who seemed genuinely interested in her, she discovered it was quite easy to tell the difference.
Shane sat beside her on the sheet and went to work on her foot, encasing it in plastic and then securing it with a band of duct tape that he wrapped around her leg. “Is that too tight?”
“No, it feels fine.”
“It might not keep all the water out, but it should keep your foot fairly dry.”
“It’s very ingenious. I’m impressed again.”
“You’re easy to please.”
“Am I?”
“Very.” He put his arm around her and leaned in for a kiss.
Katie raised her hand to his face, needing to touch him, to get closer to him.
His tortured groan ended the all-too-brief kiss. “Damn, you are so sweet. I can’t get enough of you.” He looked down at her, seeming as stunned as she felt by the desire that one kiss roused in her. “Where did you come from, Katie Lawry?”
“Um, Texas?”
He smiled and kissed her nose and then her lips. “Let’s swim.”
At that, Katie’s good mood burst like a soap bubble hitting cactus.
Shane tuned right in to her hesitation. “We’ll stay close to the shore.”
She took his outstretched hand and let him help her up. When she was standing, he linked their fingers and squeezed, his re
assurance and presence giving her the courage to limp toward the water even as everything in her protested.
“Breathe, Katie. I’m right here. I won’t let anything happen to you.” His softly spoken words were all she could hear as a wave broke close to the shore, sending cool water flooding around their feet. “Feels good, right?”
She bit her bottom lip and nodded, focusing on his voice and the tight press of his hand around hers.
“The water is nice and calm tonight,” he continued. “Nothing to worry about.”
They waded in to their knees, the sand soft beneath their feet, the water cool and refreshing. In a blaze of red and orange, the sun headed for the horizon, casting a warm glow upon the water and the island.
“Pretty this time of day,” Katie said.
“Sure is.”
“The sun is already setting earlier, though. I remember being here as a kid and feeling sad when the days started to get shorter. It meant it was almost time to go home.”
“You know what I remember from late-summer visits to my cousins?”
“What?”
“How rude the restaurant workers were by this point in the season after months of dealing with tourists. It always cracked us up.”
Katie laughed in agreement. “My grandmother used to remind the hotel staff that the late-season visitors paid the same price and deserved the same service. She used to stress out when the college kids would leave in mid-August for school. She’d put us to work cleaning rooms and doing laundry.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“It was,” Katie said wistfully. “We’d do anything she asked of us. She was—and is—our hero. She got us out of hell for two months every year. She could’ve asked us to walk barefoot over fire, and we would’ve done it for her.”
“Why didn’t any of you ever tell her what was going on at home?” Shane asked.
“Because he told us to keep our mouths shut or else. ‘What goes on in our home is our business and no one else’s,’ he would say.” Katie shrugged. “We were terrified of him.”
“I hate that you had to live like that for so long. No one should have to grow up that way.”
