One Night with the Army Doc

by Traci Douglass

  “No, no. It’s not that.” Her nervous babbling started. “I just need to see how things go today with my meetings, and I’m sure your schedule is nuts too, and I don’t want Bobby to be alone because this could be a very scary time for him, and—”

  The sudden heat returning to Jake’s eyes took Molly’s breath away. He leaned closer, as if he was going to kiss her. “Aw...there it is again.”

  “What?” Her voice emerged as a soft sigh of need, her lips tingling, waiting.

  “Empathy. Compassion.”

  “I’m trying.” Molly blinked, wishing she could just burrow into his arms until all this blew over and it was just the two of them, together.

  “I know.” Jake brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek, his expression wistful. “Wonders never cease.”

  * * *

  “What do they mean, I can’t watch ESPN?” Bobby said, his voice horrified.

  “No contamination. That means no TV, no books, no magazines, no nothing.” Jake leaned back in the plastic chair beside his friend’s bed and scrubbed a hand over his face.

  “How about my phone?” Bobby’s tone grew desperate. “The screen’s kind of tiny, but I could still watch the recaps.”

  “Which part of ‘no contamination’ didn’t you understand? Sorry, man.”

  “What am I supposed to do in there while I’m being clean?” Given the slight edge that had crept into Bobby’s question, his normally affable friend had clearly taken a turn for the cranky. “She mentioned reflecting, or something, but that’s not really my thing.”

  “How about resting? Enjoying the peace and quiet?”

  “That’s all I’ve been doing. Doesn’t seem to be working out too good so far.”

  “Molly will find your diagnosis, bud. I’m sure of it. She’s pretty brilliant.”

  “Molly, huh?” His best friend gave him some serious side-eye. “Since when are you and my new doctor on a first-name basis?”

  Jake glanced out the open door and into the hallway beyond. He hadn’t meant to let that informality slip, but it was too late to take it back. “We’ve developed a professional relationship, that’s all.”

  “Professional?” Bobby snorted. “From the sappy look on your face, I’d say it’s way more than that. Good for you. About time you got back in there after Kellie.”

  Jake bristled slightly at the mention of his ex. “Look, I’m just doing my job, and getting along with Dr. Flynn is part of it.”

  The response was lame, but he wasn’t ready to share the things he felt for Molly. They were still too new, too fragile, too tender.

  “You should thank me.”

  “Yeah, right. Thanks for getting me locked in my own private version of hell.”

  “It won’t be any worse than the day we spent in the major general’s office after we pranked the sergeant. Remember?”

  Bobby’s scowl was slowly transformed into a grin. “Yeah... Still don’t regret turning that guy into a Smurf. He was a real piece of work.”

  “Agreed.” Jake pushed to his feet and headed for the door. His break time was almost over and he needed to get back to the ER. “I’ll check on you later—once they get you moved.”

  “Okay.” Bobby waited until Jake was almost out the door before calling. “Hey?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thanks. For everything.”

  Jake’s throat tightened. He owed Bobby more than he could ever repay. “I’m the one who should be thanking you, bud. You know that. Try and relax. This will all be over soon, I promise.” Jake pointed to the TV against the wall. “And take advantage of the sports channels while you can.”

  A busy afternoon loomed ahead, with miles of paperwork to go before he was done. As Jake headed downstairs he still hoped Molly would take him up on his offer of dinner. Her earlier aloofness bothered him, and he missed her more than he cared to admit.

  The emotional connection they’d shared since their night together had been stronger than anything he’d ever experienced with anyone—honestly. And, yes, distancing themselves might be the wise move, but, dammit, he wanted to talk to Molly, see her again, spend time with her even if it was only temporary.

  Frustrated, Jake pulled out his phone in the elevator and sent her a text.

  Dinner tonight? Eight p.m.

  Surprisingly, Molly responded before he’d reached his office.

  Okay.

  Not sure what had changed her mind, but feeling extremely grateful something had, he messaged back, unable to keep the smile off his face.

  Pick you up at your hotel.

  Grinning wide, Jake shoved his phone into the pocket of his scrub shirt. He knew he was acting like a randy teenager, but it had been so long since he’d let someone close, as he had Molly, and it felt good. It seemed Wendy had been right. Putting himself out there again had given him a new lease on life.

  Speaking of his favorite nurse—she stopped him as he passed her desk.

  “There’s someone waiting in your office.” Instead of her usual sunny smile Wendy’s expression held hints of anger and apology.

  “Who?” he asked. “From your scowl, I’m guessing the answer’s not good.”

  “Hello, Jake,” said a female voice—one he’d never expected to hear again.

  Stomach nosediving, he found Kellie standing in his office doorway. The woman who’d trampled his heart and his trust—who’d left him behind so fast he still had the tire marks down his back.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Work.” Kellie’s smile was bland. “Can we talk? In private.”

  Wendy gave Jake a warning look, but he nodded, still in shock. “Uh...sure.”

  They walked into his office and he closed the door. Kellie settled into one of the chairs in front of his desk, her deep fuchsia power suit neon-bright under the fluorescent lights, her unreadable face made up to perfection.

  Jake took his own seat, feeling like quarry avoiding a hunter’s crosshairs. “Big news story here in Anchorage, Alaska?”

  “Up in Fairbanks, actually. I’m covering the transplant surgery being done at one of the hospitals there by Dr. Roger Flynn.”

  His phone buzzed and Jake pulled it out to see another text from Molly.

  We need to talk.

  The tension in his gut knotted tighter. Talking didn’t have to mean anything bad. Just because those were the same words the woman across the desk from him had used the day she’d changed the trajectory of Jake’s life forever, it didn’t mean dinner with Molly would be more of the same.

  He set his phone aside. Kellie was his past. Molly, hopefully, might be his future. And, yes, they had issues to work out—like how to deal with the whole long-distance thing—but they’d figure it out together. Life was all about communication.

  He coughed to clear his throat. “I don’t see what your story has to do with me.”

  Kellie’s smile widened into an insincere affair that only made him yearn for Molly even more. “You’re working a case with his daughter currently, aren’t you? After seeing the footage of the two of you all over the Internet, I thought perhaps you could provide—”

  “I’m sorry.” Jake scowled, time seeming to warp around him. “What are you talking about? What footage?”

  Surely those old stories about his commendation hadn’t resurfaced. They had to be old news by now. And he’d not been anywhere near a TV camera in a year and a half except for...

  “Aw... You didn’t know.”

  Kellie’s concern only put him more on guard, raising the hairs on the back of his neck with a sense of foreboding—the same prickling precognition he’d used to get out of the battlefield before a sniper attack.

  “I thought it was strange, given your aversion to the press when we were together, but I figured you’d gotten over it since you appeared to be workin
g so closely with Dr. Flynn in the clips.” Kellie pulled out her phone, tapped on the screen a few times, then handed the device to Jake. “Take a look for yourself.”

  The footage showed him and Molly after Dr. Dave’s party, both of them grinning as she asked him to go on a whale-watching cruise. His universe imploded as her words from that night echoed through his head.

  “I’ll make sure they edit you out...”

  “Are you two involved?” Kellie asked. “I promise not to mention it in my story.”

  Wendy knocked before sticking her head inside the office, giving Kellie a disparaging glance before focusing on Jake. “Sorry, Doc, but the patient load is backing up out here. Any chance you can give us a hand?”

  Oddly numb now, Jake pushed to his feet and walked to the door, his movements robotic and his smile stiff, all his systems working on autopilot as he struggled to process what he’d just learned.

  That footage had been leaked and Molly had never said a word. She’d known about his past, known about what he’d dealt with at his commendation and with Kellie, and she’d still allowed those clips to be released without a word to him. She’d promised to have his shots edited out. He’d trusted her, opened up to her, let himself be vulnerable—and look where it had gotten him.

  His chest caved, a black hole forming where his heart had been.

  Molly had betrayed his trust—just like Kellie had years before.

  We need to talk.

  Damn right they did.

  Jake walked away without another word to his ex and grabbed a chart from the nearest holder. Tonight he’d meet with Molly and demand to know why she’d lied.

  Then he’d close his heart to her and what they’d shared. Once and for all.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  MOLLY MET JAKE in the lobby of her hotel at eight o’clock sharp.

  After much soul-searching, and anguished hours of wavering, she’d concluded that telling him about the leaked footage was only fair, given how close they’d become. It was in direct violation of what her network wanted, but she’d deal with that fallout when the time came. What she felt with Jake was much more important.

  As he helped Molly into the passenger side of his truck the memories flooded back—his taste, his scent, his touch. His fingers brushed lightly against her skin and she couldn’t suppress an answering shiver. They both wore the same outfits they’d worn at Dr. Dave’s party, she noticed.

  “Where are we going?” Molly asked, nervous energy suffusing her system as Jake climbed into the driver’s seat, started the engine, and headed toward downtown Anchorage. She glanced at his strong, tapered fingers on the steering wheel, remembering the feel of those fingers on her body.

  “Ursa,” he said, not looking at her, his tone terse.

  “As in bear?”

  “The food’s excellent. Modern American cuisine. Three-star Michelin rating.”

  His voice held a chilled edge, but she brushed it off. He was probably tired. They’d both had long days.

  “Bobby seems to be doing okay in his clean room,” she said, to fill the silence.

  “Hopefully you’ll find out what’s wrong soon and he won’t be there long.”

  He stared straight ahead, no expression, tension evident around his mouth and eyes. Brian had worn that same flat look toward the end. The thought did little to quiet her unease.

  “Then you can get back to your life in Chicago and I can get back to giving the ER my full attention again.”

  And there it was. The inevitable end.

  Molly’s self-doubts resurfaced, intensified, stung like hell—even though he was right. She’d gone into this affair with her eyes open. There couldn’t really be anything permanent between them because of the distance factor, no matter how she might wish things were different.

  He wouldn’t want to offer her forever, knowing she’d be gone soon, and she couldn’t offer him more than she already had either. Not with her show’s crazy schedule and chaos at the network. Then again, after she told him about the leaked footage he probably wouldn’t want to be with her anymore anyway.

  Her chest squeezed and she offered him an easy escape route. “We don’t have to go out if it’s a problem.”

  “No, no. We definitely need to talk. About a lot of things.”

  His definitive statement made the knots in her stomach tighten all the more. Gone was the easy banter they’d shared during the whale-watching cruise and later that evening at the pub, gone the connection and closeness that had grown between them after their torrid night in each other’s arms. It seemed they were back to chilly courtesy and wary politeness again.

  They pulled up to the curb in front of the restaurant a few minutes later. Red-hued neon highlighted the beige stone exterior and surrounded a huge portrait of a snarling bear. Jake handed his keys to the valet, then helped Molly from the truck, though he let her go almost immediately. She missed the guiding comfort of his hand on her lower back.

  Inside, the maître d’ showed them to a cozy corner table near a crackling fireplace and took their coats. The interior’s wood tones were complemented by plush oriental rugs and cool river rock stone walls. Modern paintings from local artists and sparkling crystal chandeliers completed the eclectic chic ambiance.

  A waiter appeared with menus and poured them each a goblet of water. “Would you care for something from the bar this evening or an appetizer?”

  “Two glasses of Chardonnay. Thanks.” Jake sat back and toyed with his silverware, his expression dour. “What did you want to talk to me about?”

  Molly took a sip of her water, still unsure how to breach the topic of the leaked footage and doing her best not to revert to the old patterns of withdrawal and defensiveness that she’d learned over years of dealing with her father.

  “There’ve been some changes at the network.”

  Jake gave a curt nod but remained silent. He waited until the sommelier had finished pouring their wine before continuing, still not meeting her gaze.

  “Such as?”

  “They’re giving my father his own show.”

  Jake drank his wine, watching her closely over the rim of his glass. “Surprised he’s got time, what with running the world and all.”

  Tell him, Molly chided herself, hating the fact that she wasn’t braver.

  This was her life, her choice, her mess to clean up. She just wished she could’ve had one more night in Jake’s arms before it was all over.

  Grief and loss pinched her heart and she squeezed her eyes closed against the pain. Just do it.

  After a deep breath for courage, she sat forward. “There’s something I need to tell you. About those times when my crew was filming and you happened to be there.”

  Jake finally met her eyes, thunderclouds gathering in his gaze. “Yes?”

  “Well...” Molly swallowed hard against the lump of dread in her throat and forced the words out in a tumble of regret. “Somehow the footage you were in ended up all over the Internet before the network edited you out of it. MedStar’s attorneys have forbidden me from saying anything, but I wanted to tell you after what happened between us and—”

  “Isn’t it convenient how that worked?”

  That tiny muscle ticked near Jake’s clenched jaw again, the same as she remembered from the night of Dr. Dave’s party, when he’d been confronting her father. Not a good sign. Not at all.

  “How long have you known?”

  Molly winced, not even trying to play dumb. What was the point?

  Her heart tumbled to somewhere near her toes and any bit of appetite she’d had was gone, replaced now with the bitter taste of remorse. “Two days.”

  “Two days.” Jake leaned back and crossed his arms, his expression hard and hurt. “Two days you’ve known about this and you didn’t tell me.”

  “I wanted to, but then
this whole thing with my father getting his own show blew up, and Bobby took a turn for the worse, and the attorneys didn’t want me to say anything, and—”

  “I trusted you, Molly.”

  “I know. And I’m so, so sorry. Please believe me. I wanted to tell you, but I wasn’t sure how to say it and I didn’t want to lose—”

  “Jake!”

  A brunette rushed up to their table—the same one Molly remembered from the photo in Jake’s house. The beginning of a headache throbbed behind Molly’s temples, but it was no match for the pain of betrayal clawing through her heart. Had sleeping with her all been part of Jake getting back with his ex? Was that why Kellie was back in town? Had he been seeing Kellie too, the whole time he’d been wooing Molly?

  You have no claim on him, remember? her not-so-helpful rational brain stated. That fact did nothing to relieve the ache of loss in Molly’s bones.

  “Fancy seeing you again so soon, Jake,” Kellie said, her gaze locked on Molly. “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”

  “Molly, this is Kellie Hughes, my ex-fiancée.” Jake stared at the tabletop, his expression hard as granite. “Kellie, this is Dr. Flynn.”

  Anguish swelled inside her. It seemed Jake had reverted to using her professional title.

  Molly knew she had no right to feel upset. She’d broken her promises, betrayed Jake’s trust, betrayed the fragile bond that had formed between them. Gone. It was all gone now, and she had no one to blame but herself.

  Perhaps Brian was right—her father too. Maybe she was just better off alone. Alone and completely driven by her work. Alone and lonely and safe.

  Except safe didn’t hold the same appeal it once had.

  Torn and twisted inside, Molly extended a shaky hand to Kellie. “Nice to meet you.”

  “You’re Roger Flynn’s daughter, aren’t you?” Kellie’s cat-that-ate-the-canary grin widened. “Jake mentioned it earlier today, when we met in his office. I’m here to interview your father. I’ll be traveling up to Fairbanks General tomorrow, actually. But since I’m in Anchorage tonight, I thought perhaps you might have a chance to talk with me too, maybe between breaks in filming your show? News just broke about his new slot in MedStar’s fall schedule, right after Diagnosis Critical. Early buzz says it’s going to be a big hit. You must be thrilled.”