Randall Honor

by Judy Christenberry

  Once he was back in his kitchen, he got down a second cup and put instant coffee in both of them and added the hot water. He took both cups to the new table and put them down. His neighbor was just coming into his apartment. “I’m going to warm up some lasagna. Do you want some?”

  “No, thank you. I’m about ready to go to bed.”

  “There’s also chocolate cake. I don’t know how good it is, but it looks delicious.”

  She hesitated, then said, “Thanks. I’ll have a piece of cake. And it is delicious. Red made it.”

  Tori moved into the kitchen, noticing for the first time the weariness on the man’s face. She’d talked to her mother and heard about the difficult day. She’d also listened to a lot of praise for the doctor’s medical skills and also his concern for his patients.

  “Here, I’ll heat up the lasagna and cut the cake. You go sit down and drink your coffee,” Tori said.

  “Thanks.”

  She put some lasagna in the microwave and cut two pieces of cake. By that time, the lasagna was done. Taking it to the table, she slid it in front of the doctor, along with a fork. Then she went back for the two pieces of cake.

  For several minutes, the doctor ate the lasagna. Then he looked up. “I have some questions for you.”

  “What?” Tori answered calmly.

  “Who is Red?”

  “Red’s kind of our grandfather and Mildred’s his wife, sort of our grandmother.”

  “Why do you say it like that? Are they or aren’t they?”

  “Red is a cowboy who raised my dad and his brothers after the youngest of them was born, after their mother’s death. So he’s family even if he’s not really a Randall.”

  “And they brought this food over?”

  “Yes, to welcome you to Rawhide.”

  “And the food in the pantry? The new furniture?”

  “The chair and ottoman is from Aunt Megan and Uncle Chad.”

  “Randalls?”

  She nodded. “The table and chairs are from Russ and Abby. The food in the pantry and the coffeepot are from Toby and Elizabeth.”

  “Randalls?”

  She nodded.

  “The sofa?”

  “That’s your sofa,” she began, but he interrupted.

  “That’s not my sofa. My sofa is an ugly print that a dump wouldn’t even want.”

  She put down her fork and walked over to the sofa. She slipped the sofa cover up so he could see underneath. “This is a sofa cover I had left over from college.”

  “I see.”

  “There’s a homemade quilt on your bed, too. It’s a gift from Rich and Samantha, his wife. She made it last winter, taking lessons from his grandmother.”

  “And she made up the bed?”

  Tori felt her cheeks flush. “No, I washed the sheets and made the bed. We all figured you’d be too tired when you got in tonight.”

  “You were right, of course, but I didn’t expect such generosity. I’ll be glad to pay everyone for—”

  “These are gifts, Dr. Wilson. We’re not asking for money. Everyone wanted to make you feel welcome, and to make your job easier. Life would be much harder for all of us if we didn’t have a doctor here. Surely you know that.”

  “I know that I’m not going to work for free. So I don’t expect anyone to give things to me. While I appreciate the thoughtfulness, it makes me feel obligated to your family.”

  “Obligated? You think we’re going to want free medical help?”

  “It happens to doctors all the time. If I go to a party, people ask me to diagnose a spot on their arm. Or a sore muscle they got from running, so they won’t have to go to an office and pay for professional care.”

  Tori ground her teeth and took a deep breath. “I can assure you, Dr. Wilson, that my family will not refuse to pay for medical care. If you talk to Doc, you’ll discover that we pay our bills on time! Or maybe you should ask his accountants. Oh, wait, that’s me!” She gave him a fierce glare.

  “Look, don’t take offense, but this isn’t normal in Chicago. I’m uncomfortable with all this.”

  “So I can see. But we’re not from Chicago, and things are different in Rawhide.”

  “I know they are. That’s why I want to make everything perfectly clear. No matter how much your family does for me, or gives me, and no matter how many ‘wifely’ things you do for me, I have no intention of marrying you.”

  Without another word, Tori stood and walked out of the apartment.

  Chapter Three

  Jon got up at six the next morning, having had a good night’s sleep, thanks to the Randall family. He regretted what he’d said to Victoria the previous night, but he had to clear things up before the family did more for him. He wasn’t sure why Victoria was hard to marry off—she was certainly beautiful and hard-working—but Doc and Anna were certainly working hard to get him interested in her.

  At least he knew she wasn’t like his mother. But he had no intention of marrying her. In four years, he was going back to Chicago. Back to a normal way of life.

  He fixed his own breakfast before he headed to the clinic. He wanted to check his patients first thing this morning.

  After doing rounds, he was pleased with the progress his patients had made. The clinic was completely full, with two beds to each room. A couple of the people could have gone home, if they’d lived in Rawhide, but none of them did, so all twelve were tucked away.

  He told the nurses he was going back to his apartment and run some errands and would return at ten. He needed to buy a phone and plug it in so he could be reached if needed. And he wanted to talk to Russ Randall about his accounting needs. He hoped there wouldn’t be any problem about him and Victoria, now that he’d explained himself. Otherwise he didn’t know what he’d do.

  Doc had explained that the only other bookkeeper in Rawhide wasn’t reliable or trustworthy. So that left his landlord. He liked Russ, but they had to have everything clear.

  The accounting office opened at nine o’clock, and he was waiting when Victoria came down the stairs from her apartment. She didn’t even speak to him or acknowledge his presence in any way. He followed her into the office.

  “Good morning, Victoria. When does Russ get in?”

  “When he wants to.” Her words were cold and she didn’t look at him. Obviously, she was unhappy with him.

  “Victoria, I didn’t mean to upset you last night. I just wanted everything clear. Doc and your mom—”

  “You achieved your goal. However, marrying you was never my plan. You have no need to worry.”

  He was about to question her when the front door opened and Russ entered. “Jon! How’d you manage last night? Everything to your satisfaction?”

  “It was wonderful, but I was a little embarrassed about all the help.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. We just wanted to make you welcome. I figured yesterday was a tough one.” He grinned, then asked, “Are you here to see me or Tori?”

  “You, please, Russ, if I may, before I go back to the clinic.”

  “Sure. Come on in.”

  Once he was seated in front of Russ’s desk, Jon got right down to business. “I need to hire you to do my books.”

  Russ grinned. “Doc must’ve told you about Abe. He’s a nice old man, but he does love to talk.”

  “Yeah. I hope you won’t hold it against me that I wanted to check things out before I made a commitment.” That was a nice way of saying they weren’t his first choice.

  “No problem. We’re kept pretty busy by our regular customers.”

  “But you’ll take me on?”

  “Sure. Tori has a system worked out that—”

  Uh-oh. Here we go again. “Russ, I want to be clear about this. I want you to handle everything for me. Not Victoria.”

  For the first time he found a less than cordial look on Russ’s face. “Why?”

  “I don’t have a lot of faith in women accountants, especially one as pretty as your cousin.”

 
Russ continued to frown. “No one ever complains about working with Tori. She’s brilliant.”

  “Look, I’ll be brutally frank. I think your family has lined me up as your cousin’s future husband, but I have no intention of marrying while I’m here. I’ll be glad to return the gifts I received yesterday, except the cake and the lasagna. I’m sorry, but I’m going to remain a bachelor as long as I’m in Rawhide.”

  Russ stared at him. “You think—but we were—have you said that to Tori?”

  “I didn’t want any misunderstandings,” Jon said stiffly.

  Russ threw back his head and roared with laughter. “Oh, mercy,” he finally said as his chuckles lessened. “Is she mad at you?”

  “Oh, yeah. No woman likes to be rejected. But it’s not her…exactly.”

  “Glad to hear it.” He leaned forward. “Listen, Jon, what we all contributed to your home yesterday was to welcome you. Nothing else.”

  “But Doc and Anna—”

  “Ah, well, I can’t help what they said. Doc announced to the entire town he intended to get you married to a local girl so you’d stay instead of leaving. So you’ll probably have a lot of women hitting on you. But I imagine that happens to most single doctors.”

  By the end of that speech, Jon was frowning in consternation. “I can’t believe he did that!”

  “Then you don’t know Doc. Or this community. Matchmaking is a popular pastime.”

  “I guess I’d better have a personal discussion with Doc,” Jon said grimly. “I thought it was just your family that thought—I apologize.”

  “If it will make you feel any better, Tori has told everyone she’s not interested in marrying you. I think you’re safe there.”

  It surprised Jon that Russ’s words didn’t make him feel better. “Why?”

  Russ appeared surprised, too. “Why? She didn’t say. I don’t think she’s ready to marry. She’ll only be twenty-four in September. She’s got plenty of time.”

  Jon wasn’t going to ask any more questions. He didn’t want to convince her cousin he was interested in her. “Okay, good. Now, about my bookkeeping.

  You’ll do it?”

  “No.”

  His brief answer startled Jon. “Why not?”

  “I do most of the ranching cases. I have some soft ware that Tori’s dad created. Tori does the retail stuff.

  And that includes Doc’s business. You’ll have to ask her to take you on.”

  “But I can’t—” Jon stared at Russ, not happy with the alert interest in his eyes, the smile on his lips.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

  “Somewhat. I suspect Tori may enjoy it even more.

  Especially if you made her mad.”

  “Oh, yeah, I made her mad. What do I do if she turns me down?”

  “I don’t know, man. Send her flowers?”

  “But that would make people think I want to date her. Then I’m in trouble again.”

  “Yeah.” Russ’s grin grew even wider.

  Jon huffed and puffed, but Russ didn’t offer any other suggestions. Jon finally stood. “I might as well get it over with.”

  TORI WAS WORKING on the feed- and general-store books. The two sisters who owned it had signed on as customers over a year ago. Tori kept their books and issued paychecks for their employees. But she looked up when Russ’s door opened. She hadn’t forgotten who was in there with him.

  “Tori,” Russ said, a big grin on his face, “Jon wants to talk to you.”

  The look on Jon’s face didn’t say he was happy about that fact. She’d make it easy for him by turning him down at once.

  “Sorry, I’m busy right now.”

  Dead silence followed her announcement, but no one moved. Finally she looked up.

  The doctor didn’t wait for any more encouragement. “I need to ask you to take on my accounting, like you do Doc’s.”

  Tori shifted her gaze to Russ. He silently nodded, letting her know he thought it was a good idea. Of course he did! More income and no embarrassment. For him. Did he know what the doctor thought?

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Dr. Wilson. I get the feeling you don’t have much confidence in my abilities.” She’d worked hard to be accepted as an equal to Russ.

  “Your cousin and Doc both assure me you’re more than competent. I’d appreciate your help.”

  She drew a deep breath. “I suppose I could…as long as you realize our relationship is strictly business.” Her voice had hardened as she finished. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t nice to throw his words back in his face, but it sure felt good.

  He cleared his throat. “I think that sounds fine.”

  “Fine,” she agreed. Then she pulled a copy of a form she’d developed to set up an account. “Please fill out every blank on this form and mail it back to me. Then, at the end of each week, you’ll turn in your patient files and I’ll set it all up. I assume you’ll be using the same scale as Doc?”

  “Probably so. I’ll check with him. Can I drop this off when I’m finished? It seems silly to mail it when I live upstairs.”

  “I thought you would prefer as little contact as possible. However, if you want to shove it through the mail slot, I’ll handle it.” She would prefer not to have any contact, just so everyone in town would get the hint.

  “Thanks.” He turned around and offered his hand to Russ. Her cousin shook it and thanked him for his business. Then he turned and looked at her.

  After a moment’s hesitation, he extended his hand to her, too. “Thanks for taking me on.”

  She shook his hand reluctantly. But she would be professional. “Of course. Let me know if there are any problems.”

  With a nod, he hurried out of the office.

  “You were kind of hard on him, weren’t you?” Russ asked.

  “Do you know what he assumed when he discovered all we’d done for him?”

  Russ shrugged his shoulders, telling her nothing.

  “The arrogant man decided it was bribery to get him to marry me. It seems Mom and Doc have been pushing him in that direction!”

  “He’s not used to people being nice. He comes from Chicago. You remember, Caroline wrote Aunt B.J. about how cold and unfeeling everyone was.” Russ folded his arms across his chest. “Give him some time, Tori.”

  “He can have all the time he wants, as long as he leaves me alone. I’ve worked too hard and long to convince people I’m as competent as you and not just a dumb blonde!”

  Russ grinned. “I know. Even I didn’t believe you could convince people, because you used to be so quiet. But you’ve learned to speak up for yourself.”

  “Yes, I have. And if that man dares to question my skills in any way, I won’t be doing his accounting for him, no matter what kind of bind he’s in. Do you hear me?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Russ agreed, still grinning. He admired Tori’s fierce determination.

  IT WAS FRIDAY, the day she normally stopped by the clinic and collected the patients’ pay sheets. She’d record the amount owed, print out a bill and mail it to the patient with a return envelope. The doctor never had to deal with the business end. It was a system that had worked well for Doc.

  After Russ had arrived, she left the office and walked the two blocks to the clinic. Usually Tori enjoyed the walk. It helped remind her that it was Friday, the start of the weekend. And the exercise felt good. Today, she prayed she’d get the information from the receptionist and not have to see the new doctor.

  “Hi, Faye,” she sang out to the receptionist. “Do you have all the papers ready?”

  “Not quite,” the receptionist said. “Dr. Jon wants to see you first. He has a question.”

  “He should’ve had you call the office. It would have saved time.”

  “It won’t take long.” As she said that, Faye picked up the phone and called the doctor. “Doctor, Tori Randall is here.”

  She hung up the phone and smiled at Tori. “You can go to his office. It’s Doc’s old one. Doc
is using that little room down the hall when he’s in.”

  “I see.” Without saying anything else, she opened the door to the examining rooms and office and went in. She lifted her chin and straightened her shoulders, determined to give the appearance of a confident, all-business woman.

  He was waiting for her at his door. “Come in, Tori. I’m sorry to take up your time but I have a couple of questions.”

  “Next time you should have Faye call me. It would save both of us time.”

  He let one eyebrow slide up as if he doubted that comment. He invited her to sit down and circled the desk to sit in Doc’s old chair. “Doc said sometimes some patients don’t have insurance and need payment plans. He said you take care of that for him. Do you know the people well enough to do that for me? I’m not sure who can afford to pay and who cannot.”

  “If you want me to discount rates or set up payment plans I can. I know most of the patients well enough to make those determinations.”

  “Good. That’s what I’d like.”

  She stared at him. “Just like that? No calling and asking permission from you?”

  “I have to trust you, Tori. Doc says you’re trustworthy.”

  “I’ll remember to thank Doc,” she said, her voice cold, recognizing that it was Doc he trusted, not her.

  “I also forgot to ask when I get a statement about the money deposited in my account.” When she said nothing, he added, “I don’t want to write a lot of rubber checks.”

  “I make deposits on Fridays. They’ll send you a copy of the deposit, probably on Tuesday. You can ask Doc when it comes in.”

  “Great. Uh, if—if I discover a patient who can’t pay at all, can I mark NP on it, or just not send the billing to you?”

  “I’ll need that information for your tax records, so it would be in your best interest to send the billing. If NP is what you want to use, that works for me.” She paused, then added, “But it will take you longer to pay off any debts you have from medical school if you do that.”

  “Thank you, Miss Genius Accountant. Even I can figure that out,” he assured her, a grim smile on his lips.

  She gave him an abrupt nod and stood up to leave.