Discovering Sophie (16 page)

“Poor man,” Sophie whispered. “I hope he didn’t stand in line all morning, only to find out I was the wrong kind of doctor.”

“He didn’t seem that put out.” Jack nudged her in the shoulder with his arm. “You ready to call it a day?”

Sophie never got a chance to reply as two young men burst through the trees, shouting for help. Jack saw they were carrying a man who didn’t look too good. They drew closer and Jack noted the man was unconscious and had dried blood crusted in his hair.

Before he could offer his assistance, Elaina came barreling toward him and launched herself into his arms. She was crying hysterically, and that’s when Jack noticed that the injured man was Elaina’s boyfriend.

Chapter Twelve

Sophie
cleared the table and motioned for the boys to place their friend there. The young man looked to be in his mid-twenties, and right away she noticed the gash on the side of his temple and the dried blood matted in his hair. The injury wasn’t new, and Sophie wondered how long he had been unconscious.

Elaina had her face buried in Jack’s shoulder, crying inconsolably. “This is Elaina’s boyfriend,” Jack said, looking a little bewildered by the hysterical female clinging to him.

Putting on a pair of latex gloves, Sophie focused on her patient. She asked Jack to find out if anyone knew what had happened and how long ago it had occurred. While he spoke in rapid Spanish with the young men, she placed her fingers at the man’s neck and felt a slow, but steady pulse. She observed his chest at the same time, relieved to see it rise and fall within normal limits.

She continued to assess her patient’s neurological status, waiting for an answer from Jack. Testing for pain response, Sophie pinched the skin under his upper arm. Her patient didn’t moan, but he did try to pull his arm away, which was a good sign.

“They don’t know what happened,” Jack said as Sophie used the light from her otoscope to check the man’s pupils, finding them equal and reactive to light. “They all had been drinking last night and don’t remember much. Elaina is the one who found him lying outside the back of his bungalow.”

Sophie wondered if drinking was all they had done. She wished she could get a tox screen to see what other substances she might find in his system.

“What’s his name?” she asked, running her fingers over his head to see if he had any bumps or gashes she couldn’t see. She discovered a pretty good sized goose egg behind his ear. The likely scenario was that he didn’t quite make it home and fell and hit his head.

“Andre,” Jack said, making Elaina wail even louder at the sound of her boyfriend’s name. “How is he?”

“I’m not sure,” she said as she doused a clean 4x4 gauze pad with hydrogen peroxide. “His vitals are stable, but the fact that he hasn’t woken up has me worried. There’s a nasty bump behind his ear, but without a CT scan, I have no idea how serious it is.” She used the gauze pad to gently clean the gash on his temple and noted it wasn’t deep enough to require sutures. “He doesn’t need stitches, so really there’s nothing more to do other than wait and see.”

A crowd of villagers had gathered around the pavilion. She hoped someone had seen something and might come forward with more information.

She looked at Jack, feeling a twinge of irritation that he still held Elaina. “Does he have any family?”

Jack asked Elaina and the girl nodded her head. Just then, a large woman pushed through the crowd. “That’s his mother,” he said as the woman took one look at her son and broke down into tears.

“
Mi hijo
.” She clasped her son’s hand in hers, and Sophie was pleased when the young man moaned. Maybe he would come around sooner than she thought.

With anger etched on her face, Andre’s mother glared at her sons friends. “¿
Qué pasó
?”

While the mother held what sounded like a heated conversation with the boys, Manuel emerged through the crowd. He assessed the situation and spoke to Elaina, in a tone that sounded like he was reprimanding her.

Elaina let go of Jack and snapped back at her father. Jack winced as he eased back from Elaina and came around the table to stand next to Sophie.

“This is all giving me a headache,” he said, rubbing one of his temples with the tips of his fingers.

Sophie’s own head was pounding, and she was exhausted after seeing so many people over the past four hours. “Would you like a couple of Tylenol?”

“Yeah, and some food, peace and quiet, and a bed.”

“You have the celebration dinner to look forward to.”

He glanced at her sidelong. “Have you ever heard a live Mariachi band?”

It sounded kind of fun to Sophie. “Take some Tylenol, go have Hector feed you, and lay down for a couple of hours. You’ll be as good as new.”

“And what will you do?”

“I’m a doctor. I’m used to getting no sleep and not eating for hours.” She tried to hide her disappointment about missing the party. “Besides, between taking care of Andre and Mario, I’ll have my hands full.”

“Andre has a mother,” Jack said. “And Mario’s
abuela
is perfectly capable of taking care of him for a couple of hours. The fiesta is for all of us. Come with us tonight, Sophie. You need the break.”

Sophie’s empty tummy filled up with butterflies at the thought of spending the evening with Jack. It almost felt like a date, except Hector would be there. She just wished she had something to wear other than khaki’s and T-shirts. “I don’t know.” She ran a hand through her hair. “I really need a bath.”

“That can be arranged. I need one too.” Jack rubbed his palm across his jaw. “I also need to shave.”

Her desire to be with Jack, even for only a few hours, outweighed her good sense. “Okay. I’ll go.”

The butterflies in her stomach stirred again as she watched his mouth edge up into a sexy smile. “It’s a date, then.”

Was it?
Or was it just a figure of speech?

Andre’s mother stopped shouting at her son’s friends and turned to speak to Sophie.

“She wants to know if we can move Andre to their house,” Jack interpreted.

Sophie checked the wound she’d cleaned up and didn’t see any fresh bleeding. “
Sí
,” she said, offering a reassuring smile to the woman.” She looked at Jack. “Just make sure they move him slowly and stabilize his head and neck.”

Several men in the crowd helped to transport Andre. Sophie and Jack followed along to make sure her patient remained stable. Andre moaned again with the movement, and Sophie hoped he would regain consciousness by tonight.

After they had him settled, Sophie looked around for Jack. She found him outside with Elaina hanging all over him, the two of them talking quietly. It annoyed her how Jack seemed to placate the girl, encouraging her behavior.

Sophie spotted Hector, and when he waved at her, she left Jack with Elaina and asked Hector to accompany her back to their bungalow. On the way, Sophie saw many of the villagers getting ready for the
fiesta
. Hector pointed out a group of teenage girls wearing beautiful colored costumes, and said they would be performing tonight.

“Will everyone be dressed up?” Sophie asked, wishing she had something to wear other than her khaki’s and a T-shirt.

“Probably, but do not worry.” Hector winked at her. “You look beautiful in whatever you are wearing.”

Sophie thanked him, but she wasn’t as confident. Chances were Elaina wasn’t going to be sitting vigilantly by her boyfriend’s side tonight, but instead would be hovering over Jack and looking beautiful in a dress similar to the dancer’s costumes.

By the time Sophie finally got her bath, Jack still hadn’t come back to the bungalow. He was probably still consoling Elaina. As Sophie sunk down in the warm water, she told herself it was better this way. She just needed to focus on her goal of finding her father. She believed Mario would be well enough for them to leave some time tomorrow. Once she found her father, she could figure out what she was going to do about Peter.

Not Jack. Jack didn’t seem like the type of guy to make any commitments. She just needed to remember that the next time she saw him.

* * *

Outside their bungalow, Jack finished shaving, leaving his beard reduced to the shadow he liked to wear. He pulled on a clean shirt and glanced around to make sure Elaina hadn’t tracked him down yet. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could take her advances.

While her boyfriend lay unconscious, Elaina had pulled him aside and giddily informed him she would be able to go with him to the
fiesta
tonight. Jack pointed out that Andre would probably like to have her there when he woke up. Elaina didn’t seem to care about that. By the time he’d finally given up trying to convince her otherwise, Sophie had disappeared with Hector.

When Jack had returned to the hut, Sophie had been taking a bath. He and Hector had discussed the situation about Elaina and had both agreed in light of her past behavior, it would be best if Jack escorted Elaina and Hector took Sophie. He hoped Sophie would understand, and wanted to have the chance to tell her that in person.

Kneeling down, he tied the laces on his boots, frustrated with the whole situation. Tonight would’ve been the perfect opportunity to talk to Sophie about her relationship with Peter. That discussion would definitely need to wait until they were gone from
Por El Rio
.

Glancing at his watch, Jack stood and wondered how much longer Sophie would be, and if she had found the gift he’d left for her. Since he wouldn’t be taking her to the festivities tonight, Hector had suggested Jack should do something nice for Sophie and gave him the idea of buying her something pretty to wear to the party. So Jack had purchased an authentic Costa Rican dress for her as well as some simple sandals made by one of the natives. He knew most of the women would be dressed up tonight, and he didn’t want her to feel left out.

Just as he was about to knock on the door to see if she was okay, Sophie emerged from the hut. Jack’s chest tightened as he admired the new dress on her. The bright, multicolored skirt was full and hung just above her ankles, showing off the delicate sandals. The simple white top had a round neck with tiny red, blue and yellow flowers embroidered at the neckline. A bright red sash, tied around her waist, completed the ensemble.

When she noticed Jack watching her, a frown creased her brow. “Where’s Hector?”

“He’s getting cleaned up.” He took a step toward her. “You look beautiful.”

“Thanks.” She smiled and smoothed her hands down the soft material of her skirt. “I wanted to thank him for getting me the dress. It was sweet of him since I told him I was sick of wearing pants and T-shirts.”

Now he knew where Hector had gotten the idea. “Uh, that’s what he told me, so I bought the dress for you.” He smiled at the incredulous look on her face. “I’m glad you like it.”

“Oh.” Her dark eyes softened. “Thank you. You look nice too.” She looked him over, scrutinizing him a little closer. “I thought you said you were going to shave?”

Jack ran a hand across his whiskers. “I did.” Maybe she didn’t like the bad-boy-Hollywood look he’d kept for the past couple of years. “You don’t like it?”

She tilted her head. “Are you fishing for a compliment?”

“Yes.”

A giggle escaped. “Okay. You look extremely handsome.”

“Extremely?”

She pushed his arm. “Yes, Jack. Extremely. Now are we done with the flattery?”

“Not if there’s more.”

Hector came around the corner and whistled when he saw Sophie. “
Muy bonita
. Jack did well, ¿
no
?”

“Yes—
sí
.” Her eyes flickered to Jack’s. “Jack did well.”

Suddenly, the light in her eyes dimmed as she stared at something over Jack’s shoulder. He turned and saw Elaina walking toward him. He swallowed hard and knew he was in trouble. Elaina wore a similar dress to Sophie’s, only the top looked like it was a size too small and came off her shoulders.

He averted his gaze to her face and hoped the heat crawling up his neck wasn’t visible. This was bad. Why couldn’t she have waited a few more minutes before showing up unannounced? He’d never had the chance to explain things to Sophie.

A wicked smile parted Elaina’s red lips. She sidled up close to him and wrapped her fingers around his bicep. He didn’t dare look down, so he kept his gaze straight ahead.

“Ready?” Elaina said in perfectly accented English.

Sophie stood there staring at him, as if she couldn’t quite wrap her mind around what was happening. Hector was right beside her, his gaze transfixed on Elaina’s top. He snapped out of his trance when Sophie took a hold of his arm. “You two have a good night.” She yanked on Hector’s arm. “We’ll see you later.”

Jack blew out a long breath, watching as Sophie practically had Hector jogging to keep up with her. His only hope at redemption was for Hector to explain why Jack was escorting Elaina.

Not left with much of a choice, Jack and Elaina followed the same path as Sophie and Hector. Jack asked about Andre, but Elaina said he had still not awakened. He continued to ask Elaina questions about her and Andre until Elaina finally snapped at him, telling him she didn’t like Andre and had intended on breaking things off with him.

It seemed awfully convenient that her boyfriend was laid up, leaving Elaina free for the night.

By the time they reached the party, Jack’s headache was back. The first chance he got, he was going to leave. And, no matter what, he was going to have that talk with Sophie.

It looked as if the entire village had turned out for the celebration. It was so crowded that Jack lost sight of Hector and Sophie. Elaina tried to get him to dance with her, but he adamantly shook his head and told her he needed to get something to eat. Despite how upset he felt, he was hungry, and the tantalizing aroma of slow-roasted pig made his mouth water.

Elaina guided him to sit at her father’s table. Manuel sat next to a pretty woman Jack didn’t recognize. Since Manuel’s wife had passed away several years ago, he seemed to like playing the field rather than finding another woman to settle down with.