Along Came a Cowboy (14 page)

“I'm okay, but Bobby rolled over a while ago and he musta pulled something. He didn't want me to call you, especially in the middle of a thunderstorm.”

Lightning makes my bedroom look like daylight for a split second. I hadn't even realized it was storming.

“But that stabbing pain between his shoulders. . .” She stops, and when she speaks again, it's almost a whisper. “He's been crying, Doc, or I wouldn't have called.”

“How soon can you be at the office?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“I'll meet you there.”

“Are you sure? I've been watching the weather, and they say the worst of the storm is over. But there's still going to be a hard summer rain. If you want to wait until it quits completely, that's fine.”

“I won't melt.” I flip on my light switch and search through my closet. “I'll be right there.”

“I'm sorry.”

I stop in midmotion. “Don't be sorry, Judy. I'm glad I'm here to help. I'll be praying for Bobby on the way over, and you be praying that God will guide my hands.”

“We sure will, Dr. Donovan. See you there.”

When she hangs up, I fly into hyper mode, and within four minutes, I'm dressed and brushing my teeth. I snag my lip gloss from the drawer and freeze. I forgot about Jennifer. Do I leave her here? Get her up and make her go? Fifteen is surely old enough to stay home by herself. But what if she wakes up and is scared? I glance out the window at the sheets of rain coming down. Especially in this weather.

I tiptoe to the door of her room. She's sprawled out on
the bed, and it hits me again as it did the other night out on the deck. She's full grown. Physically, at least. She stirs, and I whisper, “Jenn.”

Both dogs, apparently taking my whisper as a cue, leap up on the foot of her bed. Jenn jumps and sits up. “What?” Her voice comes out loud and forceful in the dark room.

“I have an emergency patient, so I have to run to the office. It's still pouring, so it doesn't look like Allie will need you to babysit tomorrow. If you want to go with me, you can sleep in when we get back.”

She flips on her bedside lamp and pushes her hair back from her face. “You want me to go?”

Part of me does. So I'll have the company. So I won't have to worry about her being home alone. But she's a kid. And it's not her responsibility to go out in the middle of the night. “It's totally up to you. I thought you might not want to stay alone.”

She shrugs and yawns. “I've got the dogs. I'll be fine. I stayed at home alone last month when Mom and Dad went to a conference.”

I have a sudden vision of my mom leaving me at home at sixteen while she went to Georgia. My dad was there, and I still managed to find trouble. Tammy and I need to talk.

I guess she reads my face, because she says, “Lissa spent the nights with me, but I was by myself a lot of the time.” She looks at the rain beating against the window and snuggles back down amid the covers with a dog on each side of her feet. “If it's okay with you, I'll just stay here and sleep. Unless you need me,” she says, sleep already slurring her tone.

“I always need you,” I whisper and drop a kiss on her forehead. “I'll be back in just a little while. You go back to sleep.” I reach over and flip off the lamp switch and tiptoe out the door.

When I'm almost to the street that the clinic is on, I see blue lights ahead. I slow to a crawl and lean up to peer through the windshield. A man with a flashlight and a slicker motions me to go around a car that's crashed into the bridge guardrail. I recognize him and wave. He gives me a two-fingered salute, and I smile. Jack may be a reckless, bull-riding cowboy who leaves broken hearts in his wake, but he's also a dedicated public servant—I'll give him that.

Five minutes later, I pull into the office parking lot, my headlights reflecting off the wet asphalt. Soon after I kill the motor, a car swoops into the lot behind me. How's that for timing?

I grab my umbrella and prepare to walk up to the door with Judy and Bobby. A spotlight shines in my face through the window, and I instinctively shield my eyes. A second later, Jack Westwood taps on my window.

I
open the door, thankful that his huge black umbrella shields me from the torrent. “Emergency call?” he hollers.

“Yep.” I step out and pop my own umbrella and use it as a shield in front of me.

We splash up to the front door and set our open umbrellas down on the covered porch. I turn the key in the lock and flip on the light, then turn back to look at my knight in shining rain suit. “Thanks.”

“Glad I was around.”

“Me, too, although I'm sorry about the poor guy who hit the guard rail. He okay?”

“Yeah, he's probably back home by now. I was just waiting for the tow truck. They came up right behind you.”

“Do you always work the night shift?”

“I'm a light sleeper, so I don't mind.” Headlights flash across us, glaring off his clear vinyl rain suit. “Want me to wait out here until you finish? I don't like the idea of you going back out to your car alone.”

“You don't have to do that.” I nod toward the car pulling into a parking place next to mine. “I can walk out with them.”

“I'd rather wait, if you don't mind.”

“Suit yourself. But I have to hurry home. I left Jenn there, and even though she's old enough, it still worries me to leave her.” And the fact that I'd bring her up to him is a sign of how much it worries me to leave her.

He frowns. “I'm sure she's fine, but if you want me to, I can drive by the house a few times then come back in time to escort you to your car.”

“Jack, you don't have to do that.”

“No problem,” he says firmly and picks up his umbrella. “I'll be waiting in my car when you finish. In the meantime, don't worry about Jenn. I'll make sure she's safe and sound.”

“Thanks,” I call as he darts through the rain and slips into the patrol car.

The reflection of his taillights as he pulls out onto the road casts an eerie red glow across Judy and Bobby walking slowly through the rain.

“You in trouble with the police, Doc?” Bobby jokes as they come in the front door with him leaning heavily on Judy.

“Yeah, I got in trouble for working over a patient who waited longer than he should have to get into the office,” I fire back.

“You know how to kick a man when he's down. It's not my fault I've been pulling long loads and haven't had time to get in. When I do get home, it's late, and I leave early.” He shakes the water off his hair with his free hand then gasps as a shooting pain apparently takes his breath away.

“And heaven knows, he wouldn't want to call you out after hours,” Judy mutters, but I can see the loving concern in her eyes.

I snatch his file from the vertical cabinet. “Come on back.”

Thirty minutes later, adjusted and iced down, Bobby grins. “You're a miracle worker, Doc.”

“I'm afraid not,” I say. “But I am here to help you.” I sit down at Norma's appointment book. “You need to get back in tomorrow before you go back out on the road, okay?”

“That would be great.”

I schedule him for late morning, and he pays then tries to pay me extra for coming in after hours.

I shake my head and smile. “I don't charge extra for after-hours visits unless someone takes advantage and starts coming in at two in the morning for the fun of it.”

Bobby clutches his wallet and frowns. “I'd feel better if you'd take some extra.”

“I don't guess you're a Beatles fan, are you?” Judy asks.

I nod. “I definitely am. They were before my time, but I love most of their music. Why?”

She fumbles in her purse. “We had these tickets for the Liverpool Legends concert tomorrow night. It's at the Omaha Center in Cherokee Village.”

She pulls out two tickets and shoves them into my hand.

I look down at the cardboard rectangles. Who says this is a thankless job? “Judy, are you sure? I heard they were sold out. Everyone says they're the next best thing to the real deal, so I meant to buy a ticket, but. . .” But Jennifer showed up, and this whole centennial committee thing happened, and I completely forgot until it was too late. “Thank you.”

“Thank
you
,” she says, as they follow me to the front door. “You have no idea how much it means that you came out tonight to help Bobby. Since he hurt his back, we weren't going anyway. It would be a shame for them to go to waste.”

I shut down the lights, and we walk out the door.

“At least the rain has let up for a little while,” Judy says.

Bobby motions toward the parking lot as Judy and I are folding up our umbrellas. “Looks like the law decided you were
still on shaky ground, Doc. Either that, or he just wanted to see you again. He's back.”

“What'd I tell you?” I banter to hide my embarrassment. “Better not miss your appointment.”

“Don't worry,” Judy says, looking up at her husband. “He'll be here.” She grins at me. “Maybe Jack Westwood would enjoy going to the concert.”

I feel my face grow hotter. But that is a sort of pay-it-forward idea, considering Jack's literally gone the extra mile to make sure Jennifer and I are safe tonight. And this week's committee meeting went unbelievably smooth. Not to mention the fact that when it was over, I mentally lamented that it might be another week before I saw him. “We'll see.”

They head toward their car. I watch them for a minute. Bobby isn't leaning as hard on Judy now. I'm so thankful that God put the ability inside our bodies to heal. And I'm extremely grateful that He lets me play a little part in helping patients get better.

I turn to go to my own car. When I approach, Jack opens his door and gets out. “Everything appears to be calm out at your house.”

A wry smile lifts my lips as I think of Jennifer's determined search for her birth mother and me with all my secrets. Looks can be deceiving.

But she's safe for now, and I'm thankful Jack drove by. For a second, I close my eyes and lift my face to the light breeze. The air has a rain-cleansed smell. I open my eyes to see him staring intently at me. “Thanks for driving out there. Knowing you were checking on Jenn made it easier for me to keep my mind on what I was doing.”

“I'm glad. You really put yourself out for your patients, don't you?”

I shrug and start to make a tongue-in-cheek remark about getting free concert tickets out of the deal, but he speaks again.

“Couldn't you have told him to go to the ER?”

“What?”

“Your patient. Wouldn't it have been easier on you if he just went to the emergency room?”

I laugh. “The ER is a wonderful and worthy place, but not if you've got a vertebra that needs to be put back into place. My patients know when to go to the ER and when they need me. If it's something I can take care of, they call me.”

He frowns. “No matter the weather or time of day?”

“No matter. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor— Why should their health be less important than delivery of the U.S. mail?”

“But if you had a family. . . ,” he says.

“What about you?” I counter. “You're out in the middle of the night. What if you had a family?”

He looks startled then shrugs. “My wife would accept that as part of my job.”

“I'm guessing my husband would have gotten my rain slicker out of the closet for me and would have a cup of chamomile tea waiting when I get home.”

He chuckles. “Or been really irritated that the phone blasted him out of a deep sleep.”

There went his invitation to the concert. I open my car door. “You know, that's probably why I'm not married.” I slide in. “Thanks again, Jack.”

He looks like he wants to say more but just touches the brim of his hat. “Glad I could be here.”

As I drive home, I think about our conversation. I
am
awfully settled into my life. All these years, I've had warm, fuzzy daydreams of a wonderful partnership, but maybe a husband
would
just be irritated by my job. Of all the men I've ever known well, I'd have expected Jack to be the most understanding. I'm sure he's had to call doctors out in the middle of the night plenty of times.

I snort. I must be delirious from lack of sleep. What difference does it make to me what Jack thinks about my schedule?