Bayview Heights Trilogy (69 page)

“I don’t want to get to know you.”

He glanced out the window. His daughter had
interned him well in teenage girlhood. He faced Erica squarely with
his best doctor gaze. “I hurt someone you love, Erica, and I regret
it more than I can say. If I could change that, I’d do so in a
second. But since I can’t, I’d like to keep Ms. Caufield from
getting hurt further.” He waved his hand around the clinic. “This
is a terrible situation to put her in. I want to be able to count
on you to make it as easy as possible for her.”

Bingo! The teenage bravado faded. The child
surfaced.

And the love. Did Zoe have any idea how much
these kids loved her?

How much he did?

I have some things to say to you, Zoe.
Important things. Your fortieth birthday is the perfect
time.

He’d been ready to tell her he loved her, had
loved her for a long time. And wanted to marry her. God, how had he
gone so wrong?

Erica sank back into the chair and flipped
the pages of her notebook. Then she raised troubled eyes to his.
“You think I can help her with this?”

“Absolutely.”

“I won’t ever like you.”

He was surprised at the little zing of pain
that caused. “I don’t expect you to. But if you stay here, you’ll
have to work at getting along with me.”

“For Ms. Caufield.”

“Yes.”

She stood. “I’ll try.”

He held out his hand. “Truce?”

The girl stared at it with a faint flash of
disgust on her face. “Sure.” She shook his hand. “Let’s go find Ms.
Caufield.” But she didn’t move. “If you ever...do anything to her,
hurt her again, you’ll have to deal with me.”

Kurt should have felt like laughing; he
outweighed the girl by at least fifty pounds. He was older, wiser,
had dealt with junkies and hoodlums for years in his city
clinic.

But he wasn’t amused. Instead, he was very
sad.

“I won’t hurt her, Erica. I promise.”

She snorted.

Rightly so. His promises weren’t worth much
these days.

Sighing, he followed her out; later he’d bury
himself in work.

o0o

DR. LOUISE SHEFFIELD was a motherly looking
woman with a perky smile and animated eyes. Julia liked her on
sight. And Mr. McKenna, hunk track coach, was cool—he’d come to see
all her plays. She was damn lucky to have them and not Dr.
Lansing.

He seems sad.

The thought came out of nowhere. Julia, who
read faces like they were maps to the soul, had recognized the
suffering on his.

Good
, Erica would say. She was
probably right.

“Here’s a list of duties you’ll perform,
Julia. Of course, we need to be careful about what you do and have
access to for confidentiality reasons, but Ms. Caufield assures us
you’re reliable and discreet.”

Julia scanned the list. Help the
secretary/receptionist answer phones, tidy the outer office and
patient waiting area, make coffee, clean up, maybe do some filing
and scheduling. “This is easy.”

Mr. McKenna leaned forward, his blue eyes
kind. “At school, you’ll be helping me run some groups. The one I’m
planning now, Teen Choices, will include role-playing, which I was
hoping you could organize.”

I’m an expert at role-playing
.
“Sounds terrific. Have people signed up?”

“Yes.”

Dr. Sheffield continued, “We’re happy to have
you working with us, Julia, and we hope this experience will
benefit you in making decisions about your future.”

“Oh, I’ve already decided. I’m going to be an
actress.”

“Well, maybe a minor in something else might
help. Just in case…”

Y
ou don’t make it
. The woman was too
tactful to finish the thought, the one that scared Julia to death.
She didn’t want to think about living in the world as herself. She
planned to be other people most of the time. It was easier.

That why you assume roles,
Jules?

She wondered how Dan was doing. And the
others. Erica was probably dying. Shondra would be okay. Julia was
a little worried about Ashley.

o0o

ASHLEY SAT before Dr. Max Johnson and pasted
on a brave smile.

“Are you all right, young lady? You look a
little pale.”

Oh God, with his experience, could he
tell she was pregnant?
She grasped her purse, which held the
pregnancy testing kit she and her boyfriend, Evan, had stopped to
buy before he’d dropped her off. He wouldn’t take it home with him.
They were going to do the test tonight, together.

“I’m fine.” She gave him her cheerleader
grin. “I’m really glad to be working here.”

“What do you plan to do with your life,
Ashley?”

The question of the day.
“I’m not
sure. Maybe some area of health—community health or education.”
Or maybe just be a mother. It’s probably what I’d be best at,
anyway
.

She tried not to think about Evan’s reaction.
But his stunned face and angry flush haunted her…

You’re on the pill, damn it. How could
you be pregnant?

I, um, went off it because it made me
gain weight.

When were you going to tell me?

I figured the first half of the month was
safe.

For a smart girl, that was pretty
stupid.

Only when she’d begun to cry had he softened
up. That ploy always worked with him, but it made her mad sometimes
to have to resort to it.

She tried to focus on what Dr. Johnson was
saying. She’d do office work, stock supplies, make coffee, and
maybe eventually she could get a little more involved with
patients, if it was all right with them. Ashley didn’t much care.
All she wanted was to be done here, go home and find out what her
future was
really
going to be.

She hoped Shondra would finish on time. She
was catching a ride with her; Ashley wasn’t sure how much longer
she could wait.

o0o

JOHN BATTAGLIA had the most beautiful eyes
Shondra had ever seen. So brown they were almost black, with lashes
a girl would kill for. And they sparkled like onyx when he talked
about medicine. He was a dedicated man, she could tell.

“I worked for Kurt when I was your age,” he
told Shondra.

“In New York?”

“Uh-huh.” Buttoning his white lab coat, he
sat down behind a desk. “You’ll be doing the stuff I did. Very
similar to orderly work.”

“I’ve volunteered at the hospital for
years.”

“So I see from your résumé.” He smiled, and
Shondra’s heart, which had never been pledged to a boy, tightened
in her chest. “You wanna be a doctor.”

“Yes. You’re in premed, right?”

“Columbia. I’ve taken extra courses each
semester and gone summers, so I’ll be through a year early. I’ll
start medical school in September.”

“There?”

“Yep. I’ve already been accepted.” He looked
past her to the exit. She followed his gaze.

Dr. Lansing stood in the doorway with Erica.
“Oh, sorry, I thought you’d be done by now.”

“We are. I’m going to take Shondra on a tour
of the facilities. Erica, wanna come with us?”

“Not now.” Dr. Lansing smiled and answered
for her. “We need to get some things outlined before she
leaves.”

Erica’s expression was sulky, but okay.
Shondra wished her friend could chill about this assignment. She
wasn’t helping Ms. C at all.

“Need a ride home?” Shondra asked Erica as
she and John headed to the door. “I’m taking Ashley.”

“No, my car’s out of the shop. Thanks.”

“See you later.”

John nodded to Erica, then squeezed Dr.
Lansing’s arm. His knowing look didn’t escape Shondra.

Erica’s anger was obvious to everybody.

She should just get over it and get on with
things.

o0o

EMOTIONS SWIRLED in Erica like the paint on a
Van Gogh canvas. Tom between doing what was right and her dislike
of the man behind the desk, she sat stiffly in the chair and tried
to be civil.

“Can you type?” he asked without
preliminaries.

“Of course.”

“Good. Then you can type some of the weekly
and monthly reports I have to do for the city and state.”

“I didn’t know I’d be a secretary.” She
winced at her tone. She really was going to try harder.

Lansing either didn’t catch it or ignored it.
“I thought it might help you understand the workings of the
clinic.”

“Oh.”

“And you can sort through my mail. Separate
junk from what needs my attention.”

“So I can see how the place runs.”

He smiled as if she’d said something smart.
Like her father did—
only
when she said something smart.
“Exactly.” Leaning back, he crossed his arms over his chest. “And I
thought you might do crossover checks for supplies. All of this
will give you valuable business experience.”

“Sounds okay.” She fidgeted with the strap of
the purse her aunt had bought her for Christmas. Erica knew she was
going into business like her father, had known since she was
little, but she also wanted to help people. Big business sometimes
took advantage of the public.

She and Ms. C had talked about that a lot.
Once while they were shopping for shoes and stopped at Starbuck’s
for coffee, Ms. C had gone on about how much she loved
teaching…

It’s so rewarding, Erica. I hope you get
into a profession that gives you as much satisfaction.

CEOs probably don’t feel like you, Ms.
C.

So, you don’t have to be a CEO.

Tell that to Jackson Case
, Erica had
said…

“Do you like running clinics like this?” she
asked Lansing.

“I love it.” He studied the half-empty
bookshelves, the bare walls and the boxes stacked in the corner.
“It gives meaning to my life.”

“You like it better than practicing
medicine?”

“I still practice, though not as much as
before. But, yes, I like starting programs that help people. I like
the excitement of running a clinic.” He cocked his head. “Is that
what you want, Erica? To run a business?”

“I guess. The money’s there.”

“Is money important to you?”

It’s important to my father. It’s the
only measure of success to him.

“Yeah, but...” She trailed off.

“But?”

She scowled. What was she doing sharing
personal stuff with this guy? “Look, can we talk about my schedule?
I have to rearrange some things to work here.”

He scanned her résumé. “I can tell. Is there
any club you’re not in?”

She smiled in spite of herself. “I think I
missed the chess club.” She sobered. “Extracurricular activities
are important to get into college.” He looked like he was going to
object, so she cut him off at the pass. “The schedule?”

He glanced back down. “Fine. Let’s hammer it
out.”

It took a half hour. When they were done, he
nodded at it. “Looks good to me.”

She stood. “Okay.”

His shoulders sagged as he rose, too. And his
face was lined with fatigue. She glanced around—his office was
still a mess. Yet he’d spent a lot of his time accommodating her.
“Um, thanks for taking the time to do this.”

“You’re welcome. I’m sure you’ll be a real
help here, Erica.”

Pleasure shot through her. Her dad never said
things like that. “I will be.”

She turned and headed for the door. He
followed her. She was feeling okay about him—until she found Ms.
Caufield in the waiting area.

o0o

DÉJÀ VU. ALMOST A YEAR AGO today, Zoe had sat
in Kurt’s New York waiting room, blissfully happy—and totally
unaware that her world was about to fall apart. This place even
smelled the same—coffee brewing in the corner, the faint scent of
cleaning fluids and antiseptic. Well, that was the past. She was
done with it and she refused to fall victim to the pain again.
Dropping the magazine she held, she stood and smiled pleasantly
when Kurt’s door opened and he and Erica came out.

“Things okay?” The issue of Erica’s dislike
of Kurt needed to be addressed openly.

“Just fine,” Kurt said. “Right, Erica?”

She saw Erica struggle. Her chin came up and
her hand closed around the strap of her purse. But finally she
smiled. “Yep, just fine. Dr. Lansing and I have a schedule all
worked out.”

Unexpectedly she walked over and hugged Zoe.
“Don’t worry, Ms. C,” she whispered. “I won’t let you down.”

Touched by the sentiment, Zoe hugged back. “I
know you won’t.”

Erica left with a lukewarm, “Goodbye, Dr.
Lansing,” and suddenly Zoe and Kurt were alone.

The late-day sun shone through the windows
and glanced off Kurt, accenting his high cheekbones, kissing the
cleft of his chin. He looked tired—and alone. A wave of sadness
swept through her, but she ignored it. “I’m glad things went well
with her.”

He leaned against the doorjamb, looking at
Erica’s receding back. “She’ll do anything for you. They all
will.”

“Years of building their trust,” Zoe said
simply.

“Mmm. Trust. That’s the key, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“They ever abuse it? Your trust?”

“Of course they do. They’re kids.”

“And you forgive them.”

“Yes.” Pique arose in her. “Where are you
going with this, Kurt?”

“Nowhere. I’m sorry.” He straightened. “Do we
need to meet?”

She glanced at her watch. “Yes. If you have
time, I’d like to do it now.” She didn’t want to schedule another
meeting and spend days dreading it.

“I’ve got nothing but time.” He sighed.

“May I use your phone first? I left mine in
the car.”

“Sure.” He stepped aside so she could enter
his office; tactfully he waited in the outer area.

His office was bigger than the one in the
city, but just as jammed. Unpacked boxes, walls bare of photos and
certificates told her he hadn’t settled in yet. She crossed to the
oak desk and picked up the phone. Dialing quickly, she waited. The
call went unanswered. She dug into her purse, looking for the
cell-phone number she had in her pocket directory. After several
rings, he finally answered. “Ransom.”