Читать книгу Still the One - Michelle Major, Michelle Major - Страница 9

Lainey rapped her fist against the door a second time. “Come on. I know you’re in there.” She glanced at the Land Cruiser, running her fingers through her tangled mess of hair. Her mother had told her Ethan was staying at the clinic, and she didn’t know where else to go.

She turned back when the door opened. Ethan stood in the doorway, the house dark behind him. He wore a pair of faded cargo shorts and nothing else. She blinked, momentarily distracted by his bare chest and the muscles corded along his stomach, disappearing beneath the waistband of his shorts.

If there’d been any doubt, she now knew for certain the boy she remembered was long gone. From the shadow of stubble that covered his jaw to the powerful arms, Ethan’s body was one hundred percent man.

He squinted against the morning light peeking through the surrounding trees. “Lainey?” His voice was rough with sleep.

“I need you,” she began then realized how stupid she sounded after last night.

A look of disbelief flashed in his eyes before his gaze darkened. “That was quick.” He leaned against the doorjamb. “I get it because you’re only human and all. But there is no way—”

“Not like that. It’s Pita.”

He straightened. “What happened?” he asked, all business.

“She didn’t eat last night or this morning—” Lainey worked to keep the panic out of her voice. “She threw up then had an accident in the middle of the night. There was blood in it … more this morning.” Tears clogged her throat. “She’s bleeding, Ethan.”

He wrapped his big hands around hers, using his thumbs to pry apart her clenched fists and rub her palms. “It’s okay,” he said, his gaze never leaving her face. “I’ll take a look at her.”

“I don’t know anything about her, her history or age. I don’t even know if she’s been fixed.” Her voice trembled and he squeezed her hands harder. “She isn’t really mine …”

She knew she was overreacting but couldn’t stop it. She’d compartmentalized her own pain, avoided any connections that might lead to more hurt all the while telling herself she was okay. The past was in the past. But she wasn’t healed emotionally and her irrational fear over the dog made her wonder if she ever would be. “What if she’s pregnant and …” Her voice trailed off. “There’s a lot of blood.”

He drew her into a tight hug. “We’ll take care of her.”

Lainey wanted to pull away but pressed her cheek into the crook of his neck. His skin was warm, and the hair on his chest tickled her face. He smelled like sleep, soap and the spicy male scent that was intrinsically him—a scent that hadn’t changed in ten years.

He kept his hands on her, running his palms along her bare arms, looking deep into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

Lainey wiped the back of her hand across her nose and nodded. “I’m fine,” she said around a hiccup.

“Uh-huh.” He cocked his head to one side and studied her.

“Really, I am.” She didn’t want this. Hated feeling so exposed, like he could see into the depths of her soul.

He looked unconvinced. “Let’s get to it then.”

It wasn’t even 7:00 a.m., but Lainey guessed the temperature had already climbed past eighty degrees. Still her skin felt impossibly cold when he let her go. He disappeared into the house for a moment then stepped back onto the porch in a wrinkled polo shirt.

She led him around the SUV. The hatch was already open. The dog lay on a makeshift bed of blankets Lainey had piled into the cargo area.

“Hey there,” Ethan cooed. Pita lifted her head in response. Her tail thumped once, but she didn’t jump up. After a moment she pressed her face into the towel and whined.

“Hold her still.”

Lainey positioned her hands on the side of the dog’s head. Pita yelped when Ethan pushed his fingers into her belly. Her large brown eyes found Lainey’s.

“It’s all right,” Lainey whispered. “You are going to be just fine, my sweet pain in the ass.”

Ethan’s hands paused.

“Pita.” She huffed out a breath. “Pain in the ass.”

One side of his mouth kicked up as he moved his fingers along the dog’s abdomen. “Cute.”

Lainey couldn’t pin her hopes on this man. His rejection ten years ago had burned so badly she’d sworn never to give herself like that again to anyone. She’d spent a long time getting Ethan out of her system, remaking herself from the love-struck girl who’d literally fallen at his feet to an independent woman who didn’t need anyone—any man—to rescue her.

“What’s going on with her? Will she …”

“I need to take X-rays. It feels like there’s a blockage. Probably something she ate.”

Lainey’s fingers flew to her mouth. “Oh, no. The hamburger.” She bent forward to kiss the dog’s head. “I’m so sorry.”

“It wasn’t the hamburger.” He leveled a serious look at her. “This isn’t your fault. Animals eat things they shouldn’t. Keeps me in business most weeks. With any luck she’ll be back to normal in a day or so.”

“So she’s not …”

“She’s not pregnant, Lainey.”

Relief mixed with a fleeting sense of disappointment welled inside her. She tried to keep her expression neutral, but Ethan must have read something because his eyes narrowed and he turned away.

“I’m going to move her to the clinic. Steph comes in at seven. She can help.”

“Stephanie Rand?”

“She’s my tech,” he answered with a nod. “You two hung out in high school, right?”

Lainey swallowed. “Best friends since second grade.”

He scooped Pita into his arms. “Let’s go then.” He strode across the dirt path that led to the main clinic building, carrying Pita like he was cradling a baby.

Lainey stood alone next to the Land Cruiser. Stephanie Rand was another person Lainey hadn’t spoken to since she’d hightailed it out of Brevia—one of the few people who knew the full extent of what had happened to Lainey ten years ago. She’d wanted Lainey to tell Ethan everything right away—her parents, too. But Lainey couldn’t admit how badly she’d failed them all.

Maybe that was why Lainey had cut ties with Steph when she’d left, hadn’t returned her friend’s calls or answered emails. Any reminder of the past hurt too much.

Ethan’s voice brought her back to the present. “Are you coming?” He waited at the back door of the clinic.

She reached up and slammed shut the SUV’s rear hatch. “Yes,” she called, and he disappeared inside the building.

Lainey’s footsteps crunched on the gravel driveway. She looked around the property that had once belonged to her father’s family. The clinic stood where it always had, tucked into a far corner of the lot in a converted farmhouse where her dad had grown up.

To the left stood the original barn that housed any large breed animals under the clinic’s care and the All Creatures Great & Small Animal Shelter her mother had founded after her father died.

Guilt stabbed at her chest, the same guilt she always felt when she thought of her dad. She’d been on assignment in a remote section of India when he’d died. She’d missed her chance to say goodbye, lost the opportunity to reconcile with him.

When she’d phoned her mother two days later from Bangladesh, Vera had told her she wasn’t needed. “Ethan and Julia are taking care of things” had been her mother’s exact words. Lainey had drowned her grief in a bottle of cheap wine, blamed the dull ache in her head on a hangover and flown to Nairobi for a shoot covering that country’s dwindling elephant population.

She’d done what she did best: run away from her pain and try to convince herself she was living her perfect life.

Right now her feet itched to scurry to the Land Cruiser. But not even a soul-crushing fear was strong enough to make her desert the dog. She would not inflict the pain of abandonment on another living being, even one of the four-legged variety.

She followed Ethan through the back door of the animal hospital and found him bent over Pita in one of the exam rooms. Lainey crouched near Pita’s face. “I’m right here, girl.”

Ethan straightened. “Steph’s getting the X-ray equipment warmed up. We need to figure out what’s causing the blockage. Surgery’s an option but a lot riskier. It would be easier if she could get it out on her own.”

“She poops like a goose,” Lainey murmured to herself.

“Hopefully,” Ethan said with a short laugh, “that will work in her favor.”

Lainey was too worried to be embarrassed by discussing her dog’s potty habits with her ex-fiancé.

Ethan lifted Pita again. “I’ll have her back to you in a few minutes.”

Lainey sank into the mud-colored vinyl chair that sat against one wall. She closed her eyes but refused to pray. There was a time when she’d spent days on end praying, holed up in her bedroom, her knees hugged in a fetal position. She’d offered prayers, promises, threats—anything so she wouldn’t lose the life growing inside her.

In the end, nothing had worked. Lainey had given up on prayer just like everything else.

The door creaked open. She stood, expecting Ethan and Pita. Stephanie Rand stepped into the room. “He’ll be a few minutes more,” she said. “I wanted to say hi.”

“Hey, Steph.” Lainey wondered for a moment if she would have recognized her old friend if she passed her on the street. “You look great.”

The other woman gave a bark of laughter and finger combed her high bangs. “You always were a bad liar, Lainey.” Steph smoothed a hand across the front of her purple scrubs. “I still have twenty pounds to go on my baby weight.”

“You have a baby?”

“Three boys. Although Joe Jr.’s eight and the twins turned six last month.”

Lainey’s eyes widened. “You married Joe Wilkens?” she asked, picturing Steph’s high school boyfriend. “Your last name …”

“He’s my ex.”

“Sorry.”

Stephanie smiled. “There you go again. You told me Joe was a no-good loser thirteen years ago. He split when the twins were eight months.”

“That’s awful.”

“He was a terrible daddy and a worse husband.” She flashed a rueful smile. “Too bad I never lost the hots for him. He looked at me and I got pregnant.” She slapped her hand against her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean …”

“It’s okay,” Lainey said, surprised to find she meant it. She took a deep breath and said, “I’ve missed you, Steph.” She meant that, too, although she hadn’t realized it.

Tension seemed to ease from Steph’s shoulders. Her smile turned watery. “Me, too.”

“Maybe I could meet your boys sometime.”

“They’ll have you wrapped around their grubby fingers in five seconds flat,” Ethan commented as he walked through the open door. He’d changed into a pair of khaki pants and a navy polo shirt with the clinic’s name sewn above the pocket.

Stephanie gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. “Not everyone’s as big a sucker as Uncle Ethan.”

Uncle Ethan. He’d always loved kids, wanted enough for a football team he’d joked with her.

Wanted to try again.

Another layer of the pain she’d buried uncurled in her stomach.

“Lainey?”

She looked up. Ethan and Steph stared at her. “Where’s Pita?” she asked.

Ethan’s brows furrowed. “I just said she’s asleep in one of the kennels. She was a trooper for the X-rays.”

“Right.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “What did you find?”

He flipped a switch on the metal box hanging on the wall and it lit with an iridescent glow. “There’s definitely something in there.” He slid the X-ray into place. “I’m not sure … uh … what exactly …”

The two women stepped closer to the bright light.

“Oh, no …” Lainey gasped. She recognized the scalloped edges that were white within the dark area that must have been Pita’s stomach.

Steph whistled under her breath. “Wowee, Lain, I wouldn’t have pegged you for a thong girl.”

Within seconds Lainey’s cheeks were as hot as asphalt in the middle of August. “There’s no way …” She leaned in inches from the machine. “You can’t tell that’s a thong.”

“Lots of dogs are partial to skivvies.” Steph traced the tip of one short nail along the X-ray. “But even twisted like that, there’s not enough fabric for regular undies. The question is who are you shopping at Victoria’s Secret to impress?”

“Steph!” Lainey and Ethan shouted at once.

Embarrassed beyond belief, Lainey made herself focus on Pita. She hitched her chin and turned to Ethan. “The question is can you get them out? I’m not sure I could take it if this killed her.”

“Kinky,” Steph muttered.

“Stephanie!” Lainey and Ethan yelled again.

“I’m going to check on the patient,” Steph said.

“Good idea.” Ethan ran his hands through his hair.

“You’ve got about fifteen minutes until your first appointment.”

Ethan nodded and closed the door. He turned to Lainey, trying hard not to think about the unmistakable lace shining in the light of the X-ray machine. “I’m going to give her something that will soften her digestive track, move the object through.”

He prided himself on his emotional detachment from his patients, convinced the distance made him a more effective doctor. Maybe it was the fact that he’d gone without his morning caffeine fix. Or his body’s haywire reaction to Lainey. He felt punch-drunk with relief that her dog had a good chance at recovering.

“Can I take her home?”

“She needs to stay where we can monitor her. If there’s no progress by tonight, I’ll schedule her for surgery in the morning.”

Her eyes widened. “Surgery?”

“She can’t keep your panties … the obstruction needs to come out. It’s too dangerous otherwise.”

She nodded but looked down.

His insides coiled with frustration. He’d seen too much pain in her eyes—been the cause of most of it—to take any more. As much as he wanted to hate her, he couldn’t turn her away.

Steph opened the door. “Edith McIntire and Bubbles are waiting in Exam Two.”

Damn. “I’m coming.”

“Can I see her?” Lainey’s voice was barely a whisper.

“Of course. Leave your number with the front desk. I’ll call if anything changes.” He forced himself to turn away. “Steph, would you take her to the back?”

“You bet.”

As she moved past him, he grabbed Lainey’s arm. “I’ll take care of her.”

Her chin bobbed.

“She’s going to be okay,” he assured her. “I promise.”

She sucked in a breath and recoiled as if he’d slapped her. He realized his mistake, but it was too late to take back the words. The same words he’d whispered to her in a hospital ten summers ago.

Her eyes searched his. “You should have learned by now.” Her tone held no reproach, only sadness. “You shouldn’t make promises you don’t have the power to keep.”

She walked out, but her voice pounded like a sledgehammer inside his head. He’d promised her the baby—his child—would be fine. But nothing had gone right that summer. She’d lost the baby, he’d lost her and neither of them had ever been the same.

It took several minutes for his mind to clear enough to officially begin his morning. Even a full load of patients couldn’t stop thoughts of Lainey from consuming him. Her stiff shoulders and guarded expression, the sadness in her eyes.

Lainey had left him high and dry, and part of him wanted her punished for it, but he’d also shared in the blame. He’d known about her crush on him and should have never gotten involved with her in the first place. He could have spared them both a world of heartache by just leaving her alone.

The breakup with Julia had been a blow, more to his ego than his heart. They’d outgrown each other long before she’d dumped him. Still, his emotions had become numb, and being with Lainey made him feel so alive. Maybe he should have given her more, told her that he was falling in love with her, but every time he needed someone he ended up hurt.

His own mother had abandoned him and his dad when Ethan was just a kid. He remembered sitting on the bed as she packed her overstuffed suitcase. She’d told him it was better for all of them, but Ethan’s father had made it very clear that the blame lay completely on Ethan’s narrow shoulders.

He’d been shy, always staying close to his mom, who was the one person who made him feel safe. His boyish need had become too much for his free-spirited mother, his dad told him. She couldn’t handle being shackled in that way.

He figured that was why his relationship with Lainey had been so mind-blowing—he’d needed her with an intensity he hadn’t felt for years. And despite his trying to hide it, she’d felt it, and the weight of his love proved too much yet again.

He couldn’t rewrite the past, but if he could put aside his own pain and resentment and keep his need for her out of the equation—even for a few short weeks—he might have the chance to make amends for shattering both their lives.

Once and for all.

Downtown Brevia looked much the same as Lainey remembered. Redbrick buildings and Victorian-type storefronts with colorful awnings lined the main street. Instead of the pharmacy and family-owned furniture stores she knew growing up, signs for boutique-type clothing and craft retailers welcomed the overflow of tourists from the Smoky Mountains and nearby Asheville.

She wondered absently how many of these new merchants were locals or whether some of them were recent transplants to the small southern town. Hoping for the latter, she reached for the door of the local newspaper, The Brevia Times. Vera had wanted her to meet the reporter who’d been the media contact for previous adoption fairs, and as nervous as Lainey was about facing anyone in Brevia, she needed to keep herself occupied and her mind off Pita.

To her surprise, the man who leaned against the desk in the lobby was a familiar face. “Tim?” she asked with pleasure. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

“Hey there.” Tim Reynolds, one of her closest high school friends, stepped forward to hug her. He looked a lot like he had back then, shaggy blond hair and small wire-rimmed glasses. Smart and serious, that was Tim. “I’m the editor of this little paper now. I heard you were coming in today and wanted to make sure you got a warm welcome.”

Lainey released a nervous breath. “I thought you were in Atlanta.”

He shrugged. “Brevia may not be much of a news hotbed, but it’s hard to stay away.”

“Tell me about it,” Lainey agreed with a sharp laugh.

He didn’t let go of her arms. “How are you?”

She tried to shrug out of his grasp, pulling back sharply when he didn’t release her right away. “Okay, I guess.”

He adjusted his belt over the stomach that was a little large for his slight frame. “It’s so good you’re back.”

“I’m still shocked to be here, but it’s only for the summer.” She thought about Pita but decided against mentioning her worry over the dog. Tim knew Ethan well—they’d gone to the same university, and although Tim was Lainey’s age, his older brother had been Ethan’s best friend growing up.

Tim had been at the church on her wedding day. He’d been the one to find Lainey shaking uncontrollably at the back of the sanctuary as she went to leave Ethan the note explaining her decision to leave. Tim hadn’t seemed shocked and hadn’t tried to argue with her. He’d simply taken the letter with a promise to deliver it and assurance that everything would be all right.

He’d been wrong, but Lainey was still grateful for his unconditional support. Now she appreciated that although he’d been a friend of Ethan’s, she saw no judgment in his gaze.

“If you need anything while you’re in town, just let me know.” He stared at her so intently, Lainey had to look away. “In fact, I’m going to take over coverage of the adoption fair this year.”

“Are you sure?” Lainey figured that should make her happy, but instead her stomach flipped uneasily. “Don’t you have more important things to do?”

“Nothing is more important than you,” he answered.

“Oh.” Lainey gave herself a mental shake. She’d been worried about the anger she’d encounter but now was uncomfortable at Tim’s friendliness. “I mean, thank you.” She took a small step back and patted her large tote. “I brought this year’s press kit. Should we take a look?”

He studied her another long moment then nodded. “We’ll make a great team, Lainey,” he said, gesturing down a long hall. “This way to my office.”