Читать книгу Man Of Her Dreams - Patt Marr - Страница 9

Paramedic Ry Brennan and his partner pushed an empty gurney toward the ambulance bay of Manhattan General, both of them eager to reach their rig and finish their shift. Ry had a plane to catch, and his partner, a cranky, competent woman named “Doc,” had a secret life she wouldn’t discuss.

When his two favorite ER nurses stepped squarely in their path, ready to tease, his partner muttered, “Not again! Brennan, you mess around, and I’ll make you sorry.”

He laughed, enjoying this part of their daily routine. “The ladies just want to wish us a happy New Year, Doc,” he said, keeping her pace. Why irritate her more than usual? Hopefully, the nurses would move before Doc ran them down.

And they did. Parting, they walked beside the gurney. The taller one, Tonya, tossed a toffee-colored curl over her shoulder and said, “Look at him, Rachel. With that laid-back air and easygoin’ smile, doesn’t Ry Brennan just take your breath away?”

“Oh, brother,” Doc muttered with a long-suffering sigh.

“You gotta love a guy who’s all that and doesn’t seem to know it,” Rachel agreed, her dark eyes full of fun.

“Doc, how long do you think a man has to work out to get muscles like that?” Tonya asked, joking.

“Less time than you spend curling that pretty hair.”

Ry had to laugh. That was Doc, in for a zinger every chance she got. It was just silly talk, a balance for the misery and pain they saw in their work every day.

“Doc, you know this man better than most. Do you think there’s the slightest possibility that our guy Ry doesn’t have a New Year’s Eve date tonight?”

The silly way Tonya rhymed his name put a ghost of a smile on his partner’s face. Way to go, Tonya. She deserved a gold star. Doc could use a whole load of smiles. It bothered him how she seemed to hate life.

“Yeah, Doc, help us out here,” Rachel said earnestly. “Don’t you think Ry would like the company of a pair of love goddesses to ring in the new year?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” Doc shoved the gurney on, not breaking pace.

He grinned at the nurses. They’d asked for that. Doc cared about her patients, but not much else. He and Doc had an unspoken rule. He didn’t talk about his love life—the quantity and quality of which was greatly exaggerated—and she didn’t talk about her life at all.

“Ladies, I’d love to celebrate with you,” he said, “but I’m catching a flight home to be with my family.”

“Aw, that’s nice,” Tonya cooed.

For once, Doc looked at him with approval.

“Where’s home?” Rachel asked.

“California.” No way would they get more than that. He was as secretive about his past as Doc was about her present.

“California!” Tonya said, a big grin on her face. “Why am I not surprised? I thought you looked like a surfer.”

Actually, he looked like a guy who’d played quarterback in college, though he was leaner these days. “That’s me, all right, hangin’ ten,” he said, making them laugh.

He would leave it at that. When he’d lived in California, he’d been too busy to surf even if the beach was close by. He’d loved his job as a pool boy, both for the money he earned to buy a forbidden motorcycle and for the endless embarrassment it caused his country club parents.

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do,” he called back, exiting the wide double doors. That advice left them plenty of room—or it would have until recently. Accepting the Lord as his Savior had already changed a lot in his life.

He shut the rear doors of the ambulance as Doc, without comment, took the driver’s seat. The woman had a control issue about driving, but Ry didn’t mind. Doc was a good driver, and he’d rather be in the back with the patients anyway.

“You’re really going to California?” she asked, pulling away from the hospital.

“Do you think I’d make that up to get out of a date?”

“I never know what you’ll do.”

“Aw, Doc. I never lie.”

She snorted skeptically but didn’t argue. How could she? Even before he’d become a Christian, he’d been a stickler for the truth. There were times when patients might think he was more optimistic about their condition than he actually was, but that was for their benefit. It made them easier to treat when they were calm.

“When are you coming back?” she asked, scowling.

“How sweet of you to ask. I knew you cared,” he teased. That’s the way it was between them. He let her be as grumpy as she wanted. She gave him room to have fun. It made the shift pass.

She sighed heavily. “If I’m going to have to break in a new partner, I’d like some time to get used to the idea.”

He smiled to himself. That was Doc’s way of saying she’d miss him. Well, not him, but the change in her routine. “No need to fret, Doc. I’ll be back after our forty-eight hours off. I couldn’t live without you.”

“Yeah, right. You’ve got time coming. Take it.”

He’d thought about it. The trip was a lot of money and travel for a couple of nights, yet even that might be too long. His fuse could be pretty short when it came to his family. If he didn’t feel so strongly about starting the new year off right, he wouldn’t be going home. Unless this visit went as he prayed it would, he would never go back.

Meg Maguire slid the clothes hangers from one end of her closet to the other, searching for something that would do for the Brennans’ New Year’s Eve party. There were plenty of bridesmaid dresses, but nobody wore those, no matter what the bride said about choosing a dress that would work for other occasions.

What other occasions? Meg’s job required jeans and pants in the basic colors, some tops and a few jackets. For social occasions, she added shorts. That was it. If there was a pair of panty hose in her chest of drawers, it would be a miracle, and any dressy shoes in those boxes on the top shelf would have partnered one of the bridesmaid dresses.

She should have gone shopping, but she would rather clean the grout in her shower than shop. It wasn’t that she was so hard to please. Just the opposite, she liked a lot of colors and styles. There were plenty of size fours that fit. It was the multitude of choices that made her crazy. As often as not, she came home empty-handed.

The Brennans’ party was definitely a dress-up affair, or it used to be in the days when she’d been best friends with Beth and Ry. When they were little, they’d spied on the guests, laughed at them in their party hats and had more fun than anyone.

She glanced at the bedside picture of the three of them taken at Disneyland when she and Beth had been toothless six-year-olds and Ry was only a couple of years older. There was such pure joy in their young faces that she loved that photo.

She’d been so lucky to have them as her unofficial sister and brother. Adopted into her heart, she’d loved them as surely as she loved her older brother, Pete, who had been their faithful rescuer, while their older brother, Trey, had been their worst enemy. A born tattletale, he’d practically forced Beth and Ry to hang out at the Maguires’.

Down the hill from the Brennans’, the Maguire family had a big yard where kids gathered to play. Inside the house was a filled cookie jar and a refrigerator stocked with cold drinks. Meg’s mom was always home, though usually busy in her studio, sculpting the art pieces that made her famous. Meg’s dad sometimes stopped by during the day and was home every night from his job as a general contractor. He joked with the kids, often played with them and treated the Brennans as if they were his.

At the Brennans’ house, it was a totally different atmosphere. Meg hated to go there. Their professionally landscaped grounds won Garden Club prizes, but they weren’t designed for kids to enjoy. The whole house was kid-unfriendly. TV and electronic games were not allowed, and the maid had to enforce Mrs. Brennan’s no-snacks rule if she wanted to keep her job. If she gave the kids a break, Trey invariably told.

Trey—Dr. James Thomas Brennan III. Just the thought of him made Meg’s stomach churn. He’d been a snooty, bratty kid, and he’d become an arrogant, unlikeable man with an arrogant, unlikeable wife.

Maybe she was wrong, but Meg still blamed Trey for Ry leaving the way he did, though Deborah Brennan might be more to blame. The pressure his mother put on Ry would have turned any good kid into a rebel who chose to go his own way, no matter the cost.

Meg hated the idea of having to be civil to that woman and to the other Brennan men—Trey, his dad, his granddad and his uncles—all of them medical doctors who looked down on Ry for breaking free. She was glad he had, and sad for Beth who hadn’t escaped. Sure, Beth said she liked being a doctor, but Meg had to wonder. Apart from her work, Beth had no life.

Meg plopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling, wishing she hadn’t promised Beth that she would show up tonight. For Beth, who would soon occupy an office at Brennan Medical Clinic, the party was a command performance. If Meg weren’t so lonely for Beth’s company, she would rather stay right here, just as she had last year, and party with a liter of diet cola, a bag of microwaved popcorn and a six-pack of Snickers.

She’d had offers for group parties as well as single dates, just none from anyone who mattered. At midnight, if she couldn’t be in the arms of a man who put stars in her eyes and a forever feeling in her heart, she’d rather be alone. Like Valentine’s Day, New Year’s Eve was for lovers, only better because it was all about hope for tomorrow.

She glanced again at the little bedside photo of Beth, Ry and herself—three happy little kids. Where would Ry be tonight? Of course he would be with a great-looking woman. That was a given, but Meg prayed that woman would love him enough to make up for the love he’d missed, growing up.

Leave it to her to think of that. When she made her living, helping couples find each other on Dream Date, she naturally thought that everyone was longing for love. Ry might not be ready to settle down. On the other hand, she was so ready, it hurt.

It was a year ago tonight that she’d asked God to help her find her guy. Believing He would, she’d begun every day, fully expecting to meet Mr. Right. A year was a long time to wait. Had her prayer gone amiss, or had she missed her guy?

She checked her watch. There were still a few hours to shop. It wasn’t likely that the man of her dreams would be among the Brennans’ guests, but the Word said to pray and to believe. If she were going to meet Mr. Right tonight, she ought to be wearing something better than an old bridesmaid dress.

Ry eyed the lighted seat belt sign and wondered how many times the plane would circle LAX before the pilot received permission to land. His initial enthusiasm for the trip had worn off someplace over Wichita. What had seemed a great idea earlier in the day lost its appeal by the minute.

He’d done many impulsive things in his life, but the urge to make this trip could be his worst. What would he really accomplish by going home tonight?

Home. Most people seemed to think of that place with such reverence. They wouldn’t if they’d been told, “You don’t belong here.” If there was one phrase that ought to be stricken from the English language, that was it. Deadly, powerful, hurtful to the bone, it could break a person’s spirit if he stayed around.

But he’d been a kid back then, and just possibly, he’d been as wrong in his insights as his young patient this morning. The kid had been more scared of what his dad would say about the car being totaled than he was of his own injuries, and the kid had been very wrong. Ry had seen the boy’s father, bent over with grief at the loss of his son.

How had the two of them got it so tangled up? Was it that way with him and his family? Had he seen things from a kid’s point of view and misunderstood?

Unlike the kid, Ry had the chance to find out. For once, he would love to admit he was wrong. Make that twice. He’d been wrong to exclude God from his life. The sooner he made things right with his family, the better.

His gut instinct said he was hoping for the impossible, that he was crazy to fly straight back into trouble. For years, words like, “Why can’t you be like your brother?” “As long as you live under my roof,” and “You don’t belong” had bounced off the walls of his mind like echoes in a deep, dark well. It had to end, and that began with forgiveness.

Tonight, as the new year began, was the perfect time to show Christ’s love and prove that he wasn’t the rebel his family remembered.

Ry shifted in his seat, uncomfortable at being sandwiched in the center seat for so long. When he’d started the trip, he’d had an aisle seat, but a couple came aboard wearing Bride and Groom T-shirts and discovered they were both in center seats—one beside him. A couple ought to start their honeymoon together. Before selfishness could set it, Ry was on his feet, offering his seat to the groom.

His new seatmate on the aisle was a heavyset lady who was clearly exhausted and had napped most of the way, though she wouldn’t be rested, not with the apneas she’d had. He’d kept an uneasy vigil, ready to wake the poor woman if she didn’t start breathing again on her own.

She stirred now and sleepily said, “Are we there?”

“Just about.”

“I hope I didn’t snore. My husband says I do.”

Her husband was right, but why embarrass the lady? “Who would notice with the engine noise so loud?” he said.

The little guy in the window seat squirmed and said, “Ry, could we play some more?”

Early in the flight, he’d felt sorry for the bored little guy and asked what was in his backpack. If Ry had known it would lead to endless action-figure fantasies, he might not have been such a pal. But one more time, he sent a plastic hero rocketing to a new mission.

The lady beside him beamed. “You’re wonderful with children,” she said. “Do you have some of your own?”

He shook his head. “I’m not married.” That, of course, did not preclude parenthood, but it did for him.

“You’ll be a wonderful father,” she claimed. It was strange how women of all ages got misty-eyed over the sight of a big guy playing with a little kid, but if there were any more Brennans, it would be up to his brother.

The youngest flight attendant, a very pretty redhead who’d stopped by a couple of extra times, stopped now to say to his little buddy, “Honey, you need to put away your toys. Stow that bag under the seat.”

Ry gave her a grateful look. She returned it with a wink and slipped him a bit of paper. He’d bet their safe landing it was her phone number. Wow! She must need a New Year’s Eve date pretty bad to spend it with a superhero junkie.

Unfortunately, even he had his standards. A guy ought to know the name of his New Year’s Eve date without having to read it off her ID badge.

Yet it did make him smile to think of how disgusted his brother, Trey, would be if Ry brought her along on his first visit home in a decade. That made it almost worth doing.

The hum of the plane’s engines changed, signaling their descent. If all went well, he would get to his parents’ house before midnight and give the first New Year kiss to the woman least likely to want it. Would his mother tell him to get out again?

The metallic threads in Meg’s new strapless dress chafed the tender skin of her underarms every time she moved, no matter how careful she was. She would never wear the scratchy thing again. It should have stayed on the sales rack, and she should have purchased that soft, silky thing with the high neck. No wonder she hated to shop.

But she did look good. Her image in the huge gilt mirror on the Brennans’ marble foyer wall gave her a nice boost of confidence. She had taken the time with her hair, and it fell in dark curls to her bare shoulders, contrasting nicely with her silvery-white dress.

On the hanger, the dress had looked like a skirt with a stretchy band that should have gone at the waist instead of across her breasts where the clerk said it belonged. The scratchy, miserable thing did look gorgeous, skimming her body to her bare knees. She’d decided against the nuisance of panty hose, but accepted the torture of silvery sandal stilettos. Pain was worth it when shoes were this pretty.

Unfortunately, she’d gone to this trouble for nothing. Mr. Right was not here. She’d made a thorough search. Most of the guests were Beth’s parents’ age, and the few eligibles weren’t meant for her. She wished she’d stayed home, though the Brennans’ caterers had done much better than popcorn and Snickers.

She was on her second plate, tasting everything. At first it had been a problem, getting the food to her mouth without her inner arm contacting her scratchy dress, but she’d discovered a technique that worked. Holding her arm out awkwardly, she probably looked a little weird, but there was nobody here to impress, and why go home with abrasions?

It was a lovely party with the rooms aglow with candles and still-beautiful Christmas decorations. There wasn’t a drop of alcohol, not even in the punch, but the party had a silliness that most people got out of a bottle.

No doubt, it was the hats. The guests circulated, wearing the most silly, elaborate party hats imaginable. The Brennans spared no expense, and everyone wore them, even Beth’s dad, the great Dr. James T. Brennan, Jr. In the medical community, the man walked on water, but tonight he wore a satin sailor hat, cocked to the side, with the number of the new year flashing in gold lights on the brim.

Beth wore a red satin beret with a coiled wire toy on top. It slid from side to side as if it had a life of its own.

Meg’s hat, chosen for her by Beth, was worthy of a showgirl. Tall blue plumes sprouted from a silver crown, jiggling and waving with every turn of her head.

Trey, on host duty at the front door, wore a cowboy hat with a long, spiky feather that made him look like he might be a nice guy. It was too bad he wasn’t.

“What are you doing over here in the corner?”

Beth had found her. Meg wasn’t surprised. Keeping tabs on each other—that’s what best friends did. Or they used to before Beth went to medical school.

“Just enjoying the feel of my feathers,” she said, swaying to the music, letting the plumes dance.

“If I know you,” Beth said, “you’re putting pairs together, just like you do at work.”

Beth was right. “Call it an occupational hazard,” Meg joked.

Beth stepped beside her and scanned the crowd from Meg’s point of view. “Okay, who goes with who?”

“Sorry, I’m off duty,” Meg said, swirling sauce onto a shrimp.

“You’re never ‘off duty.’”

“Well, I ought to be. I drive people crazy.”

“You do not!” Beth said loyally. “You have a gift. Why not use it? So, tell me, who’s a match?”

Anything to make Beth happy. Meg handed her plate to a passing waiter and nodded to a short middle-aged man with glasses. “See the guy pretending he’s admiring the painting over the mantel?”

“That’s the new cardiologist at Brennan Medical. Let me guess.” Beth looked over the crowd, a big grin on her face, enjoying the game. “Got it! He gets the cute little nurse in Uncle Charlie’s office.”

“Dr. Cardiology isn’t into ‘cute.’ He likes the statuesque blonde who’s pretending not to notice him.”

“No way!” Beth laughed. “The blonde’s a foot taller!”

“But Dr. Cardiology likes the way she looks, and I’m pretty sure that she’s looking for a doctor to like.”

“A match made in heaven,” Beth said, giggling like the girl she used to be. Meg loved the happy sound. She nudged Beth’s shoulder, and Beth nudged her back, just like old times.

“You just watch,” Meg insisted. “They’ll get together before the night’s over.”

“Well, then, who gets the cute little nurse?”

“Sadly, I don’t have the pool to work with that I have on Dream Date. I’m afraid she’s unmatchable tonight.”

“Like me.” Beth shrugged with defeat.

“Actually, I have someone for you,” Meg said, happy that she had.

“Who?” Beth scanned the crowd.

“You’re missing him. Check out the Marine.”

“Captain Cutie-Pie?” Beth’s lip curled.

“But he’s perfect for you, Beth. Tall, a genuine hunk, a great sense of humor and he speaks in complete sentences. What more could you want?”

“How about a guy less impressed with himself? You know we don’t go for guys who think they’re all that.”

Meg frowned. “I didn’t catch that.”

“Why would a guy wear a uniform to a party like this if he didn’t want to show off that chestful of ribbons?”

“Wrong diagnosis, Dr. Brennan. If you’ll talk to the guy, you’ll discover that he didn’t want to wear the uniform. His mom, your dad’s nurse, asked him to wear it because she’s so proud of him.”

“Aww, that’s sweet.” Beth’s face softened.

“You know we go for guys who are good to their moms.”

“That’s true. But how come I get him and you don’t?”

“Because his eyes have followed you for the past hour.”

“Really?” Beth perked up, her brown eyes sparkling.

“But I ought to warn you. While he’s been watching you, the cute little nurse has been watching him. I think she’s about to make her move.”

“Then I’d better stake my claim!” Beth squared her shoulders and moved into action.

Meg laughed, glad that at least one of them would have someone younger than their parents to kiss at midnight.

“Wait!” Beth said, pivoting. “Who’s here for you?”

That was just like Beth. Generous, always thinking of others instead of herself.

“Nobody, but that’s okay,” Meg said, faking a smile. “I’m devoting myself to your uncle Charlie tonight.”

Beth’s eyes narrowed. “Okay, what’s wrong, Meg?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” she protested, laughing, hoping she would make it through Beth’s radar.

But Beth took her firmly by the arm and marched her through the French doors to the torch-lit deck where they were alone. “When are you going to learn you can’t keep things from me?”

“It’s cold out here,” Meg complained, wrapping her hands around her body to ward off the chill.

“It’s sixty degrees. We’ll survive. What’s going on?”

Confess or freeze—those were her options? “Maybe I’m just a little depressed,” she admitted reluctantly.

When they were kids, Beth would have joked with her until they were both laughing, but tonight, Dr. Beth gave Meg an assessing look. “How can I help? I can listen, or I can prescribe something. What do you need?”

She tucked her arm through Meg’s, maybe for warmth, but definitely because they were closer than sisters. The love behind the offer put a lump in Meg’s throat. She’d really missed Beth, but they would both miss the party if she spilled her guts now.

“Let me tell you later. We have all night to talk.”

“That’s true, but sum it up now,” Beth demanded.

“Sum it up?” If her pushy friend wanted a short answer, Meg could provide it, though Beth wouldn’t like it. “Fine. A year ago tonight, I made a deal with God.”

Beth rolled her eyes.

“I know you don’t believe in that, Beth, but I do. I promised God that I would stop obsessing about finding Mr. Right and trust Him to do the finding. I thought God would drop the guy right on my doorstep, but I must have prayed wrong or something. The year’s over, and there’s no Mr. Right.”

Beth held her watch up to the light and said, “Thirty minutes to midnight. It could happen yet.”

Lovely. Meg wished she’d kept her mouth shut. “Beth, I do believe God has the right guy for me.”

“Good for you, hon,” Beth said with an annoying edge of pity. “I know your faith is important to you.”

Behind them came a familiar voice. “Hey, you two are missing the party.”

They turned to see Beth’s brother Ry strolling toward them with a killer smile and such easygoing confidence that Meg caught her breath. Dressed in a black leather jacket, black pants and a sweater the color of his dark blond hair, Ry was better looking than ever, and that was saying a lot.

Surprising tingles zipped through Meg’s body, tingles that weren’t exactly the welcome-home variety for a guy she loved like a brother. Ry Brennan was a fun-loving womanizer who’d broken hearts for as long as Meg could remember. Flirting came as naturally to him as breathing. Pure rebel, he was a terrible choice to get all tingly about.

Unfortunately, sheer reflex made her gasp.

Beth looked at her sharply, then at Ry and back again. A slow grin spread across her face. “Well, there you go,” she said so softly that only Meg could hear. “Talk about an answer to prayer. My brother and my best friend. Now that’s got to be a match made in heaven.”

“You’ve got to be kidding,” Meg whispered. When she fell in love, it would be with a guy she could count on, not a risk-taker who lived for the moment and left when he liked.

Beth laughed softly and whispered back, “It’s almost enough to make me a believer. And you thought Mr. Right wasn’t going to show up this year.”