Читать книгу From Brooding Boss to Adoring Dad - Dianne Drake, Dianne Drake - Страница 6

ERIN looked at the letter she’!d looked at a dozen times before, huffing out an impatient sigh as she crammed it back into her purse. This was such a waste of time, and the one thing she didn’t have these days was time. She’d made the man a fair offer. Promised him every penny he’d asked, then raised that by ten percent when he’d refused … refused, after he’d accepted. But he’d refused the second offer too, then come right back and accepted it, yet refused her the deed when he’d been paid, and that’s what was making her angry. She owned that land now. It was hers, and he was trying to pull paradise right out of her hands, at least that’s what the letter stated. He was reconsidering. Reconsidering.

It wasn’t like he’d had another offer on the property that had come in late and beaten hers, because her Realtor had been very specific about that. Hers was the only one. No one had bested her. After all, how many people needed an old missionary medical compound on a beach? Not only that, but one located in one of the non-tourist areas of Jamaica? It was hidden away, not easily accessible. Those were fairly restrictive conditions, which were exactly what she wanted.

Apparently, Adam Coulson didn’t agree with her, though, because he’d dangled the perfect place like holding out a carrot for a hungry rabbit, and when she’d snapped at it, he’d pulled it back. And now, after the deal was done, he was reconsidering. Well, as far as she was concerned, there was nothing for him to reconsider, and she was here to get what was rightfully hers. All she wanted was her property, not a long, drawn-out court battle, since this Coulson had, essentially, swindled her by taking her money and refusing her the land deed. If he handed it over once she found him, good. She’d walk away. But if he didn’t … first, she’d have to find a way to calm her nervous stomach and mushrooming case of aggravation. Then she’d engage the man in the fight of his life. It was just that simple.

“Excuse me. I’m looking for Adam Coulson,” she said to the bartender. Good-looking man. Broad shoulders, casually long sandy hair. Eyes the color of the ocean, not green, not blue, but a little of both. All nice, all well worth looking at, but the scowl on his face and the fact that he turned his back on her, not after she’d spoken but while she was speaking, painted the real picture of him, and he certainly didn’t add up to the rest of the pleasant ambiance at Trinique’s.

Trinique’s was a beach-side shack. Rundown, but friendly … except for the bartender. Loud, calypso-type music played in the background. Plastic crabs and fish dangled on fishing line from the ceiling, along with fishing nets and green glass floats, none of which looked like they’d ever seen a drop of ocean water. Obviously, this wasn’t a place for tourists, like so much of the rest of the island was, as the drinks were served in plain glasses, not in the fine crystal seen in the exclusive resorts and convoluted glass pineapples and coconuts found in the more common tourist haunts. And the crowd in this particular bar … definitely not tourist. Not a camera in the bunch. To Erin, this looked like a local establishment that was well past its prime. Good-natured, well used, much appreciated. Judging from the expressions on the faces of the people enjoying their drinks, enjoying the music, enjoying the conversation, the ambiance didn’t matter but the camaraderie did. She liked that, liked everything about this area so far. Except … the bartender.

“Do you know who he is?” she persisted with the man. He still ignored her. Didn’t even pretend he was going to turn back round to talk to her. In fact, it seemed he was going out of his way to snub her. Maybe because she was a stranger? Or he thought her an unescorted female looking for some action? She didn’t know, and the reason didn’t really matter because he was doing it quite handily, keeping his attention fixed on wiping a single water spot off a clunky beer mug.

But Erin wasn’t to be thwarted. Time truly was of the essence here. “I said—”

“I heard what you said the first time,” he replied, twisting part way round then taking one dismissive, downward glance at her. “The thing is, in case you didn’t notice, I don’t have a sign hung out front saying tourist information.” He turned his back on her and refocused on that very same spot.

“So, what happened to that Jamaican hospitality you’re known for? This is supposed to be one of the friendly places in the world. You know, people with impeccable manners, good ethics.”

“Are you talking about this bar, specifically?” he asked. “Because I don’t recall reading that in any of the island literature.”

“All I wanted was to find out if you know Adam Coulson. It’s a simple request. I’m willing to pay for the information.” Erin plunked two one-thousand-dollar Jamaican notes down on the bar, the equivalent of about twenty-two American dollars or a little over fourteen British pounds. “Is that enough to buy an answer?” Her Realtor had told her to come to Trinique’s and ask. This was Trinique’s, she was asking. So far, though, she wasn’t getting what she wanted.

The bartender turned round, pocketed the money in one swift movement, then said, “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

“Yes, I know Adam Coulson.”

“And?”

“And that’s what you asked, that’s what you paid for. I answered your question, the deal is over.”

“Meaning you want more money?”

“No. Two thousand was enough. And I appreciate it since I didn’t have to work hard for it.” He smiled, gave her a fake salute. Picked up another glass and started to polish.

Erin wasn’t going to be deterred by this man. Six months … she’d been working toward this for six months and nothing was going to stop her. Nothing! Time was precious now. Her father was going blind, slowly but surely. Being put off by the bartender, or by Dr Adam Coulson, wasn’t an option. “Well, I don’t appreciate it. You knew exactly what I wanted, and you took advantage of me.” She held out her hand, palm up. “Give it back. Or tell me where I can find Adam Coulson.”

He studied her for a moment, like he was weighing his options. Then he turned his back on her yet again and continued polishing. In the background, the Jamaican singer, a happy-looking young man with dreadlocks halfway down to his waist and a smile that nearly offset the bartender’s bad mood raised the level of the steel drums he was playing, causing the dozen or so people sitting at the tiny two-tops scattered around the open-style hut to raise the level of their talking.

This was a waste of time. A complete, absurd waste of time. And while so far, every islander she’d met had been friendly, this bartender, who was obviously not an islander, was the first one she’d met who was disagreeable. More than disagreeable, he was downright hostile. There was no point talking to him. She’d have to get her information elsewhere.

Without another word, Erin Glover spun around and marched out of Trinique’s, not so much angry over losing her money but over the fact that she’d been gullible, that she’d been taken advantage of. Her father had taught her better, had taught her how to get along in the world, no matter what the situation. She could almost see him laughing at her … good-naturedly. Laughing, and teaching her another life lesson … Don’t be so naive, Erin. People out there are always waiting for your kind.

Algernon Glover. Drs Algernon and Erin Glover. Adoptive father and daughter. They were an odd pairing to be sure. Full-blooded Jamaican father, full-blooded Irish daughter. As her father always said, the black and white of it. Some people considered it a pairing to stare at, but she considered it … normal. She’d met her father when she’d been five, and he’d saved her life many times since then, in both the literal as well as the emotional sense. She loved the man dearly, owed him everything she was and everything she had, and she wasn’t going to let one dimwit bartender stand in her way.

“He’s the one you want.”

Erin turned back to the door. “Who?”

“I heard the conversation. Saw the way he treated you. Shameful. But he’s got a lot on his mind these days, and he’s regretting his decision to sell his land.”

It was the singer. From a distance he looked older. Up close, he looked twenty, give or take a year. Decked out in rust-colored and blue-striped cotton pants and a white cotton shirt, he was simply standing there, waiting to give her information. And not holding out his hand for a gratuity. “I’m not sure I understand,” she said, trying to exercise the caution her father had taught her.

“Adam Coulson. He’s the one you want. You’re the doctor who wants to buy his land, aren’t you? Dr Glover? We got word from Port Wallace a while ago that you were coming here, looking for him.”

“Actually, I’m the one who already bought his land.” She was amazed how quick the news of her arrival had spread. She’d made the enquiries and word of her trip up to Regina had raced here faster than she could have gotten there.

“Well, that’s him.” He pointed to the bartender. “Over there. The one baring his teeth and growling like an angry dog.”

“Can’t be. The Adam Coulson I want to talk to is the local doctor. That guy looks more like the local malcontent.”

“One’s not exclusive of the other, you know. And that’s Adam Coulson, the full-time doctor and part-time malcontent.” He held out his hand to Erin. “I’m Davion Thomas, by the way. On my good days, I’m a singer here at Trinique’s. On my best days, I’m a future medical school student and a current paramedic being employed by Adam Coulson … the doctor, not the malcontent.” He pointed to the bartender again. “Him.”

“So when I asked him, why didn’t he tell me who he was?”

“Like I said, you’re the one who bought his property and he’s not fond of you because of that. He’s also having second thoughts.”

Erin blinked twice. “So I’m the bad guy here because I bought what he offered for sale?”

“Apparently, you are. And I’d like to tell you that he’ll get over it, but Adam’s a strong man with strong opinions. It could take him a while.”

“So, in the mean time, while I’m waiting for him to get over his strong opinion, I’m supposed to do what?”

Davion shrugged. “Stay out of his way, maybe. Let him adjust.”

“I don’t have time to stay out of his way. I’m here to complete the business transaction for my property.”

“Your property, his dreams. He’ll adjust, but you being here in person has set him off. He’s having a hard time reconciling to those dreams disappearing. That’s why he’s so …”

She knew what it was like to lose a dream and she did feel bad for him in that. But business was business, and she was on a timeline. “That’s why he’s being so grumpy,” she supplied. Watching him for a moment, she noticed that he was quite obviously avoiding looking at her. Going out of his way, in fact, to dodge eye contact. So much so it was obvious to anyone who cared to consider the dynamics. “So, he’s the doctor and the bartender?” Odd combination. In med school, many of her friends had held a variety of jobs to make their way through, but by the time they’d started to practice, most of those jobs had been discarded.

Davion stepped a little closer to Erin. Not so much as to be offensive but more like he was about to reveal a secret he didn’t want overheard. “He’s not the bartender, but he steps in when he’s asked to. He is the doctor, though, like I said. Treats everyone in Regina and all the area around it when they need medical attention. He’s a good man, Dr Glover. Takes care of us, never turns anybody away when they can’t pay, and most of the time they can’t pay. But he doesn’t want to get involved with people so much.”

Surprisingly, she had a flash of admiration for Coulson for what he did as a doctor. But as quickly as it had come, one look at his scowl and it vanished. “Look, I’m glad he has a good medical ethic, but that has nothing to do with me. All I want here is to get the deed to my property and be done with this.”

“Except he doesn’t want to sell it to you now.”

“But he already sold it. And took my money.” She liked Davion. He had a real charm about him, and a maturity well beyond his years. But as nice as Davion was, she would have preferred to have this conversation with Adam Coulson himself.

Davion shrugged. “I think sometimes he gets worried. Tries to figure out how he’s going to keep the clinic open. People here get sick like they do everyplace else, but they don’t have very much to pay him, so he’s limited in what he can do. Mostly, he’s the one who supports his clinic, and times are tough for him.”

This was more than she wanted to know. Davion was telling her things that, quite frankly, she wasn’t interested in. All she wanted was her medical complex—one main hospital building, a dozen outbuildings of various sizes. Near a beach. That last was the part she wanted the most. Her dream. Her father’s dream. When I can’t see any longer, I want to hear … the laughter of children, the sounds of the ocean … “Look, I need to talk to him, but it’s pretty clear he’s not going to talk to me. So, can you tell me where his clinic is? Maybe I can go there and wait until he’s finished with his job here.”

“He won’t be off until closing time. Three in the morning. And his clinic … I don’t think he has plans to go there today. Right now, people come here to Trinique’s to see him.”

Well, this was going nowhere and her aggravation level was ballooning. “Three o’clock?”

“Maybe a little later, if he stays to clean up. Usually, he does that the next morning, though.”

Erin glanced at her watch. “Fine, I’ll wait for him.”

“He’s not very friendly after a long shift at the bar.”

“He’s not very friendly now, so what difference does it make?”

Davion grinned. “More than you know, Dr Glover.”

She looked back over at Coulson for a moment, caught his eye. Saw … anger. But why was he taking this would-be business transaction so personally? Hating her for no apparent reason? That’s what she saw in that brief glance, though, before he turned away from her again. It didn’t make sense to her. None of it did. “Well, I’ll be back. Will you give him that message for me? I’ll be back, and I’ll keep coming back until he hands me my deed.”

“That could be a while. He’s pretty stubborn. In the meantime, have you got a place to stay?” Davion looked at her bags, sitting in the sand next to the door.

“Not yet. But I saw a couple of places back up the road, about an hour’s drive.” She’d hoped to stay in one of the cottages she supposedly owned, but that wasn’t working out, so far. “Or I can go back to one of the larger towns.” Port Wallace perhaps. It was not a tourist spot, but nice. Two hours away on a bumpy road, though, which wasn’t going to improve her disposition.

“You can stay here, at Trinique’s.”

“In the bar?” It wasn’t an offer she’d expected, but she was tempted since this trip wasn’t about her comfort or convenience.

He pointed to a little cottage sitting several hundred yards off the road. It was nearly hidden by palm trees. “That’s my mother’s house. She’s not here now. Won’t be back for several days, maybe longer. The place is empty, so if you’d like to stay there …”

Now, this was the hospitality her father had always spoken of. The Jamaica he loved, and the Jamaica she’d come to love through him. They’d traveled here often enough while she’d been growing up, to visit her grandmother Glover. This was the first time, though, she’d come without her father. The first time she wasn’t here as a tourist but as someone who would eventually live here, maybe spend the rest of her life here. And the idea of staying at Trinique’s cottage made her feel welcome. Certainly more welcome than Adam Coulson did. “If you don’t think she’d mind …”

“My mother would mind if you didn’t stay there. You’re part of us now. We take care of our own.”

Erin smiled brightly at the thought of belonging. It was something she never took for granted. “Then I accept. Thank you. And, please, tell your mother thank you when you talk to her.” She took one last look at Adam Coulson before she went to settle in. His back was still to her and he was … studying her in the reflection of the glass he’d just polished. She waved at him, and spun away just as the sound of shattering glass quieted the bar for a moment.

Pulling another thousand-dollar note from her pocket, she handed it to Davion. “Give this to the doctor. I waited tables when I was in medical school, and we always had to pay for the dishes we broke. Tell him that glass he just dropped was on me!”

“You told her?” Adam growled at Davion. “Why the hell did you do that?” He sat down on the step into Trinique’s and handed a bottle of soda to the young boy who sat down next to him. Tadeo. Aged eight. His shadow a good bit of the time.

“Because it was the right thing to do, and you know that. She made a long trip to come see you, to finish the business deal you started, and you owe her an explanation. Or her money back.”

“What I owe her is … nothing.”

“Nothing,” Tadeo parroted, assuming a scowl like Adam’s.

“See, even Tadeo agrees with me. And it’s not like I’m going to keep her money. As soon as I have time to go to the bank in Port Wallace, I’ll have it transferred back to her. Then the deal will be over with.” Even though having that money was tempting him in ways he detested being tempted.

Davion pulled a stool outside and sat down. “It’s not right, and you know that.” He glanced at Tadeo. “And don’t you go siding with Adam, you hear? Because Adam has to do the right thing.”

“He will,” Tadeo defended. “He’ll do the right thing.”

“Yes, he will, because he is trying to set a good example for you, Tadeo.” Davion grinned at Adam then took a swig of his own soda.

“Are you two ganging up on me?” Adam grumbled.

“For your own good,” Davion said. “Backing out on that deal isn’t right, and you know it.”

“A lot of things aren’t right. If I bothered myself worrying about all of them I’d never be able to drag myself from job to job.”

“OK, I get your point. You don’t want to be bothered with her. But did you see that red hair on her?”

Adam had. And he’d rather liked it. Lots of red hair … red, the color of an old penny. And wild, like the wind had swept through it once and decided to stay there. “What about her hair?”

“She’s going to be stubborn. One look at her, and you can tell she’s not going to give up. And you, Adam, are her target. Like it or not, you’re going to have to deal with her. Sooner, not later.” He grinned. “Which is why I gave her directions to your cottage. You need to get it over with, and quit being so miserable. You’re scaring the kiddies who come to the clinic. Even Tadeo’s looking a little worried.”

Adam regarded the boy at his side. No parents, and his mother’s cousin was raising him now. But he was neglected. Or more like overlooked. And he was so eager to please, eager to help. The son he would have, if he could. “You’re not worried about me, are you?”

“Some,” Tadeo said without hesitation. “You’re grumpy lately. Sometimes it scares me that maybe you don’t like me any more.”

Now, that made Adam feel truly terrible. He loved this kid. Tadeo had wormed his way into a special place in Adam’s heart and there was no way he wanted him to feel like that. “You know you’re my best friend, don’t you?” He tousled Tadeo’s scraggly black hair. “That’s not going to change, even when I’m grumpy.”

“Best friend,” Tadeo said, holding up his hand to high-five him.

“For ever,” Adam said, as their hands slapped.

“Now, maybe you should go high-five Dr Glover,” Davion suggested.

“Well, maybe I would, except, I’ve got to get back to work.” He stood. “And, Tadeo, come back later and we’ll have dinner together, if Pabla doesn’t mind.” Pabla Reyes, Tadeo’s guardian, never minded. “Conch fritters OK with you?”

Tadeo gave him a thumbs-up, handed Adam the empty soda bottle, then dashed off toward the beach.

“He needs better,” Davion said.

“At least we agree on something,” Adam responded on his way back to the bar. He worried about Tadeo, worried about Davion, too, but in a different way. Davion’s mother was Trinique, a salt-of-the earth kind of woman who had raised her son in the best possible way. She was saving to send Davion to medical school, and Davion was saving, too. But times were tough, and at the rate they were going, Davion’s medical education was a long way off. But with the money from the sale of his property, Adam was going to be able to help get Davion there sooner. Which was why, ultimately, he would turn over the deed to his property. He knew that, even though he couldn’t bring himself to admit it. His clinic needed supplies. He was out of all but a few of the necessary drugs, he needed a new stethoscope … couldn’t afford even the damned wooden tongue depressors, which were cheap. More than anything, though, the world needed the likes of Davion Thomas as a doctor.

Selling his little piece of land was going to make it all possible. Like it or not, he’d do the right thing by Dr Glover, because he had to. But he was still going to be grumpy for a while. He deserved that much.

“I know that look on your face,” Davion said, stepping up to the bar.

“There’s no look on my face.”

“Sure there is.” Davion grinned. “Look in the mirror, see it for yourself. It’s the look that says you’re going to give the property deed to Dr Glover and be nice to your new neighbor.”

“I might be thinking about finishing Stella, and selling her.”

“Ah, but you love that boat too much. You’d never sell her. Not even if you had to sell the both halves of your property instead of just one.”

He was correct in that assumption. That boat was a huge connection to his past, to his grandfather. It was the one thing in his life he’d never part with. “OK, if she’s there when I get home, I’ll talk to her. I’ll give her the deed then tell her to leave me the hell alone. There, does that make you happy? ”

“Or she’ll tell you to leave her the hell alone. She’s a strong woman, Adam. Like my mother. Once they know what they want, they don’t let anything stand in their way, and you’ve been standing in Dr Glover’s way.”

“I’m not even going to get into a conversation with you about strong women, Davion. You know how I feel on that subject.” His ex-wife had been a strong woman and look how that had turned out for him. Now strong women made him run in the opposite direction. He just didn’t have it in him to deal with them any more. Not that there’d really been a woman since … he wasn’t going to think about that discouraging part of his life since there hadn’t been a woman beating a path to his door since he’d settled here permanently.

“Well, the strong lady in question won’t be waiting for you at your house. She’s staying at my mother’s.”

“You asked her to stay here?” He swiped an angry hand through his hair. “Meaning she’s there right now, probably getting ready to waylay me on the way out the door when I get off work tonight.”

Davion grinned. “Probably. But you have it coming.”

“Whose side are you on?”

“I just want everybody to be happy.”

“And what, in all this, is going to make me happy?”

“The medicine you can buy for your clinic. You know it will. And I wouldn’t mind a new otoscope for the clinic to make me a little happier, if that counts for anything.”

“It counts.” Point made. It was hard being grumpy around Davion, even when Adam wanted to be grumpy, because Davion radiated happiness and enthusiasm. He never, ever saw the negative in any situation. “So, I’ll try and be happy. And I’ll even apologize to the lady. But I get the feeling that an apology won’t be enough for her. She’s going to want a pound of my flesh, too.” He looked out the window across from the bar, saw Erin Glover standing on Trinique’s front porch, leaning against the white column, arms folded tightly across her chest. It was breezy, her hair was blowing. Dressed in a gauzy skirt and a tank top, she was … well, unfortunately she was just about the sexiest thing he’d ever laid eyes on. Which was a problem because the last sexy thing he’d got himself tangled up with had taken him for a ride that, even after two years past its legal end, still stung. “And in the meantime, I’m going to wait on customers for the next several hours and make sure you study those medical books I gave you. Jamaica itself may not have a recognized paramedic program, but I’ve got pretty tough standards for my paramedic. If you expect to stay working for me, you’ve got to keep cracking those books.” Actually, that’s what Davion did in every spare minute he had. He studied harder than Adam had ever studied in medical school. Which was why Davion was going to be a great doctor. He was motivated. He had passion. And he was smart.

Davion rolled his eyes, then retreated to the rear corner of Trinique’s, where he had a table set up with all his books and study materials. When he wasn’t working in the clinic, he spent his days and nights studying part of the time and singing the rest of the time. It was his soulful voice that brought in the customers, and it was his soul that would make him a great doctor someday. Adam wanted to be part of that, part of something good, because good hadn’t really touched his life in a long, long time.

For a moment, his attention wandered back to the front porch of Trinique’s cottage, where Erin Glover was still standing, still looking rigid. Then he meandered down to the end of the bar to wait on a customer, trying to forget the image that just didn’t want to let go.