Need You Now (Love in Unknown) (2 page)

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"Come on, Mr. Mayor. I know you think you're Superman, but even Clark Kent took lunch breaks."

Caine Maddox looked up from the pile of papers to see his little brother, Gage, lounging in one of the chairs on the opposite side of the desk. Blinking away the jumble of numbers, he glanced at the clock. One fifteen. Hell. Where had the day gone? He looked around his office. Oh yeah, it'd disappeared in a haze of bureaucratic business and balancing town budgets. "What are you doing here, Chief? Shouldn’t you be out writing speeding tickets and chasing teens out of the old mill?"

Gage scratched his nose with his middle finger, a not so subtle gesture of affection. "Took a day off. You are familiar with the concept, aren't you? It's something us small folk do every now and then."

Caine stood, stretching his cramped limbs. He'd gotten to his office in historic Town Hall at seven that morning and hadn't moved from his desk since. "Come on, then. Since you're a man of leisure, you can buy me lunch from Cocina."

The brothers walked out of the town hall together, heading east down Main Street, past the red brick buildings their great-great grandfather had commissioned over a hundred years ago when he helped build Town Square. Even as little kids, they'd turned heads whenever they were side-by-side. They were polar opposites in every way. The favorite and the rebel. That's how their parents saw them. They’d never bought into it, though. They were a unit. The Maddox boys. Partners in crime, as their grandfather used to say.

Most everyone in town had known them since they were born and didn’t hesitate to stop to chat as they passed. Caine did his best to charm them all while his brother stood beside him, polite, but silent. They’d grown up since the days of the rebel and the favorite. It’d taken time, but in the few years since they’d moved home, people in town finally accepted them for what they were; the politician and the protector.

Caine said goodbye to Mrs. Bailey, his old grade school teacher, and took in his brother's grubby clothes and sweat-stained hat. "So what have you been doing today? Doesn't look like you've been loafing around eating chips."

"Nah. You know I can't sit still, even if you pay me." Gage's eyes flickered to the side and he shoved his hands in his pockets. "I've actually been helping the Carrs do some moving."

Caine had met Micah Carr the first day they’d walked into Unknown Elementary. All the other kids had treated Caine like a foreigner, a rich kid set loose amongst the peasants. Not Micah. The baker's son walked up to the son of the millionaire and invited him to play catch. They'd seen each other every day from then until the muggy August day when, at thirteen, his parents had shipped Caine off to a stuffy boarding school in New York. Caine had seen Micah whenever he could on his infrequent breaks, but they'd drifted apart after Caine went to college and Micah moved to New York. When Gage told him Micah was coming home, Caine had seen it as a chance to get his best friend back.

"Micah get more boxes in?" Caine knew his brother had spent the previous weekend helping Micah and his son, Jax, move back into the Carrs' house.

They walked into the small Mexican restaurant and grabbed their usual turquoise table on the second floor, well away from the town busybodies.

Gage looked down at the table, tugging at his ear where an earring had been ten years ago. "Not exactly. I may have left out a detail or two when I told you about the Carrs the other day. Micah's not the only one moving back."

Caine frowned. His brother couldn't mean what he thought he meant. But there was no other answer. "Mel?"

"Yeah. She's living over the bakery. Think she said something about taking over the practice for Doc Booth."

“Left out a detail or were too chicken-shit to tell me?” Caine’s eyes narrowed at his brother. He might have been buried under work for the last few months, but usually his secretary kept him up-to-date on the comings and goings in town. That meant Gage must have said something to her.

Melody Carr, the proverbial "one that got away." Even her name made his heart do a little back flip. Part of him wanted to hate that, but he couldn't. Every woman he dated, he inevitably compared to Mel and none quite measured up. He’d seen Mel at every stage of her life. Grubby little tomboy, awkward teenager, beautiful co-ed. Best friend’s baby sister. What was she like now?

How could his brother not have told him she was moving back? "Did you give her any warning that I'm in town or did you blindside her, too?"

"Hey, if I wanted to blindside you, I would have let you run into her." Gage tossed a chip at him, hitting him squarely in the forehead. "But, yes, I told her you're back."

"And?"

Gage chuckled. "Jesus, man, are we in junior high again? Do you want me to pass her a note during math class?"

"You know how things ended with her. I just want to know how she reacted." He threw the chip back, agitation growing. It probably broke some sort of rule in the Brother Handbook to ask Gage to spill details about Mel, but he needed any advantage he could get. "Was she angry? Scared? Happy?"

He seriously doubted Mel had been happy to hear he was back. God, everything had been such a mess the last time he saw her. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d kicked himself over the years from what a sorry little shit he’d been back in college. Too focused on having fun and thinking about himself to see what was happening with Mel. Caine still hated to admit it, but Ethan Carr was right when he told Caine to stay the hell away from his daughter.

The worst part of all was that it had taken Caine so long to realize that he’d felt more for Mel than just a casual interest. After spending so much time with her growing up, he took their sexual relationship for granted. Sure, he’d felt bad about sleeping with his best friend’s sister, but beyond that, she’d just been another girl. At least he’d done a damn good job of convincing himself that she was just another girl. Now, he knew better.

"Happy? Not really. Sorry, but I think annoyed might be the best fit." Gage took a drink of the Coke the waitress sat in front of him. "Honestly, she didn't seem all that interested in seeing you again. She may have mentioned wanting to start a new life, which means nothing from the old life. That means you."

He could understand that. The last time he’d seen Mel, she'd been standing in the living room of the Carrs house, big hazel eyes wet with angry tears.  Even now, he could almost feel the stiffness of her spine as she stood her ground against him. Mel's intelligence had only ever been surpassed by her stubbornness. He doubted that much had changed. "I can't just let her go without trying, Gage. There’s too much between us for me not to at least try.”

As Mel's best friend, Caine knew his brother understood her better than anyone. "I know. I'm just warning you, it's gonna be an uphill battle. And don't expect me to help your cause. I'm staying out of this. Way, way out."

"Fair enough." Caine nodded, sipping his iced tea. It was bad enough he'd asked his brother to keep his relationship with Mel a secret from Micah all these years. When Caine moved home six years ago, he’d expected his brother to be pissed at him, but Gage’s first trip home from Austin, where he was working as a cop, proved otherwise. Gage would stand by him to the bitter end, but Caine couldn't ask him to run interference now. "Just don't tell her anything. I don't want her to have time to dig her heels in."

He needed every advantage he could get. For the first time in years, he felt excited and energized. Being with Melody Carr had always been a challenge, but she was worth the work.

Chapter 2

Mel tried not to rush around like a crazy person on her first morning of work at Unknown Family Clinic. She didn’t exactly achieve success. After years of being late, trying to find that shoe she knew she saw the day before or running back because she forgot her keys, she should have known to plan for extra time. By the time she arrived at the stately white Victorian mansion that served as Unknown’s only doctor’s office, Mel was a little out of breath. She refused to look in the mirror in the front hall; she didn’t want to confirm her fears that the carefully put together brown pencil skirt and blue blouse were rumpled and her cheeks rosy from nerves and exertion.

“Can I help you?” The drawled words reminded Mel of over-sugared tea that clung to the back of your throat after you took a sip. She turned in the direction of the voice, coming from the room just off the entrance where the reception desk sat. A woman, a few years older than Mel, sat behind the desk. A cloud of hair-sprayed blonde curls around her head. There was something vaguely familiar about her, but Mel couldn’t quite recognize her with the caked on layers of make-up.

Mel put on her best Southern girl “company” smile. “Hi,” she said, putting a little twang in her own voice. “I’m the new doctor.”

The woman’s face went stony with politeness. “Oh. Yeah. Cuttin’ it a bit close, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, it’s just been one of those mornings.” Mel’s smile never faltered. “Is Dr. Booth in his office?”

The woman stared at Mel for a second, eyes narrowed as if she were searching for something. “You’re Micah Carr’s kid sister. The freaky genius girl who skipped a bunch of grades.”

Freaky? Okay. And she hadn’t skipped a bunch of grades. Just two. She still couldn’t remember who this was. Then again, she’d done her best not to pay attention to the swarm of girls that buzzed around her brother and Gage in high school. It had been easier not to try to learn their names, considering how soon they were gone. She spent too much time with her head in her books for them to take any notice of her. “Yes, Micah’s my older brother. I’m sorry, but I don’t remember your name.”

It was really hard for Mel not to get a petty little frisson of satisfaction when the woman looked mildly offended at not being immediately recognizable. Oh, the small town diva. She’d forgotten this particular joy of living in Unknown.

“I’m Sandra. Sandra Jones. I was head cheerleader at Fortune High for three years.”

Mel vaguely remembered the cheerleaders from when she’d gone to watch Micah and Gage play football, but she’d never paid much attention to them as none of them had been in any of the advanced classes she took. Luckily, she was saved from having to respond by a door opening and a masculine throat clearing. “Is that my little Melody?”

“Doc Booth!” A genuine smile stretched across Mel’s face as she rushed to hug the man who’d taken care of her family since before Micah was born. “It’s so good to see you.”

“Let me take a look at you.” Hands roughened by time gripped her shoulders and held her at arm’s length. “Pretty as the day you left for that fancy Yankee school of yours. Thought we’d never get you back down here.”

She shook her head. “You know my mama wouldn’t let me stay away from Unknown forever. Besides, you promised me when I was twelve I could come and work for you just as soon as I had my medical license.”

Augustus Booth chuckled. It was a warm, deep laugh that reminded Mel of the lazy summer afternoons she’d spent following him around, hanging on his every word, ready to absorb any information she could like a fresh pad of gauze. “Well, I’m glad to have you back. I hear that brother of yours is taking over at the bakery. Surprised Emma didn’t dig her heels in on that one.”

“Oh, she probably would have, except that Micah brought his son with him. So we know she’ll be taking it easy and she also gets to play grandma.” Mel knew nothing less could have ever gotten her mother to relinquish any of her responsibilities at Carr’s Cakes. “Thanks for calling us, Doc. I know Mom told you not to, but Micah and I are the only ones as bull-headed as she is.”

“As smart as you are pretty. I’m just glad you and Micah will be able to make her slow down. I hate to see a woman her age looking so tired.” Doc Booth, a good thirty years older than her mother, looked a little worse for wear himself. Of course, he should have retired ten years ago. He’d been waiting for her to be ready to start her own practice, but she hadn’t finished her residency until a few months ago and she’d wanted to be fully credentialed before coming home.

 “Don’t worry about Mama; we’ll watch out for her. And now that I’m back, maybe we’ll be able to persuade you to take Clara on that trip to Europe you’d been promising her since before I was born.”

Dr. Booth had the good grace to blush at the mild reproach. Medicine wasn’t so much a profession for him as a vocation. As the only doctor in town, he’d sacrificed a lot of family time so he could take care of the citizens of Unknown. “Well, you know where everything is. Not much has changed around here in the last ten years. I’ve set up one of the upstairs bedrooms as your office. I’ll keep mine for a while longer. Don’t think I’ll be able to quit cold turkey.”

A snort behind them reminded Mel that Sandra still sat behind the desk.

“And Sandra here can show you where any supplies you might need are when Anna’s not around.”

“Anna? She’s not still your nurse, is she? I would have thought she’d have run off by now,” she teased, knowing full well the older woman would have to be carried out of the office in a casket before she’d leave. Mel loved Doc Booth’s long time nurse and keeper, Anna Humphrey. Anna had been fresh out of nursing school when Mel started lurking around the practice as a skinny little eight-year-old. When Doc Booth was busy, she’d shown Mel some of the basics of first aid. All of the nurses Mel worked with since graduating med school were always impressed that she treated them with such respect, and it was all due to Anna.

“She’s proud as she can be that our girl’s finally coming to work here.” Doc Booth put an arm around her shoulder and began to lead Mel toward his office. The spacious room, once the library of one of a long-dead oil baron, held the same oversized mahogany desk that had been there as long as Mel could remember. Built-in bookshelves lined three of the four walls, the shelves almost groaning under the weight of medical tomes. The other wall, dominated by a large picture window, was filled with photos and degrees.