She’d offered to give him a shot of pain meds, but he’d declined. He wouldn’t let her numb the area with Lidocaine either. So, she was going at it without an assistant and without meds to deaden his pain. Of course she was a little skittish. Slicing open someone’s chest with a scalpel was hard enough to do without worrying about how much pain you were causing them. Could he really be that stoic, tolerate the pain without lashing out at her? She lowered her head to start again when the treatment room door flew open and Dr. Phelps stormed in.
“May I have a word with you?” he asked, in a tone that said he wasn’t really asking at all.
Blanca straightened, replaced her tools on the cart by her side, and then turned to address the doctor. “As you can plainly see, I am busy at the moment. If you need to have a word with me, you can call my secretary and make an appointment. Now I would appreciate it if you would leave before I get mean and threaten to slap you with a HIPPA violation for storming in on me and my patient during a procedure.”
Dr. Phelps sputtered, turned bright red, and then spun on his heel and left. The front door slammed shut a moment later.
“You were a little hard on him, don’t you think?” Longbow asked.
“Absolutely not. That man threatened to have my license taken away, and now he barges in here and orders me around. I don’t think so. This is my clinic, and I won’t be pushed around by men like him anymore.”
When she’d finished suturing him up, Longbow had beads of sweat across his forehead and upper lip, but he hadn’t budged or let out a single sound throughout the entire procedure. She bandaged the now T-shaped wound and offered him a hand up. He tensed upon sitting, but didn’t utter a sound.
“I think I should do a chest x-ray,” Blanca said, eyeing the purple bruise along his ribcage. “You could’ve broken a rib.
Longbow shook his head and stood. “It’ll mend.” He looked down at his chest as he put his shirt back on. “Nice work, Doc. Now that you’ve fixed me up, I’ll be on my way.”
“Not so fast, my friend. You’re not done yet. I’m going to give you a shot of antibiotic and some pills. When’s the last time you had a tetanus shot?”
He tilted his head and looked at her with those dark hooded eyes. “You aren’t big enough to hold me down, Doc. Best leave well enough alone.”
Blanca considered him a moment. Could this big bear of a man truly be afraid of shots? She’d put twelve stitches in him, surely needles weren’t the problem. “Have you ever received a tetanus shot?”
He shook his head and moved closer to the door. “Nope. And I don’t plan on starting now.”
“How’s that possible? The type of work you do, you must get burns and scratches all the time. How is it that your employer has never checked your records and found you to be at risk?”
“Just lucky I guess.”
Blanca blocked the door with her body and stared up at him, her arms crossed over her chest. It took every shred of decency she had not to laugh at the man. She’d heard of tough guys having silly phobias, but this one took the cake. He’d allowed her to take a scalpel to him, but was afraid of a shot. “I may not be big enough to hold you down, but I’m not letting you tarnish my medical reputation by leaving here and developing lock-jaw or an infection. We’re going to have to come to some kind of an agreement.”
“What kind of agreement?” Longbow asked, crossing his arms, mirroring her.
“You can get by without the antibiotic shot if you take a larger dose of the pills for the first twenty four hours. The tetanus shot, however, there’s no getting around that.”
He shook his head. “Not good enough”
She threw her hands up in exasperation. “What then? What will it take to get you to do what’s good for you?”
He considered her a moment, tilting his head slowly from side to side as if studying a rare species. “Tell me your greatest fear.”
“What . . . Why . . . What does that have to do with you getting your tetanus shot?”
He flashed that scorching smile of his. “You want to help me overcome my fears, and I want to help you overcome yours. It’s a fair trade, wouldn’t you say?”
“No. I don’t say. I don’t . . . tell others my fears. It’s what gets you kicked in the teeth later.”
He shrugged and reached around her for the door. His face was so close to hers she could see the muscles of his jaw flexing. He wasn’t pleased with her cowardice. He’d told her before he wasn’t the kind to take advantage of a girl. So far he’d been nothing but kind to her. And he obviously trusted her. What man would let a woman take a scalpel to him if he didn’t? If she didn’t reciprocate that trust, he probably wouldn’t bother with her again. The last four days of not speaking with him, not seeing him, had affected her. She didn’t know why, but she felt safe when he was near, and calm, like she hadn’t felt in years.
“Well, what’s it going to be?” Longbow asked, pinning her against the door with one outstretched arm on either side of her.
She closed her eyes and jumped. At least to her it was the mental equivalent of jumping off a cliff. “I’m afraid of not being accepted, not finding my niche, not having a place to call my own.” She breathed in and out several times before opening her eyes and looking at him.
He narrowed his eyes, “Go on, that’s not all of it, not the heart of it anyway. Tell me the very crux of your fear.” She started to close her eyes again, but he stopped her. “No. Don’t. I want you to look me in the eye and tell me the truth, the truth you’re not admitting even to yourself.”
She stared into his dark, earthy eyes feeling as if they could swallow her up and take away all of her fears. And that was a problem for a girl like her, who was determined to face her fears on her own. “I’m afraid of being alone. I’m not sure I know how to act, or think, or do anything on my own anymore without someone else leading the way.”
Longbow straightened up and stepped back, giving her some space. The look on his face matched how she imagined she’d looked upon learning he was afraid of shots. “Someone afraid of being on their own doesn’t usually pack up and move cross-country all by themselves to start a new job.”
“Yeah, well, someone who’s afraid of needles doesn’t usually let someone cut on them and suture them up afterward either.”
They both laughed and the tension in the room dropped a couple notches. Longbow propped himself against the end of the treatment table as she moved away from the door and plopped down on the rolling stool.
“That wasn’t so hard was it?” he asked. “It couldn’t have been nearly as hard admitting it, as it was actually moving out here on your own.” He rubbed his hand over his face trying to conceal the humor of it all. “You’re one heck of a woman, Doc. You may have fears, but a lack of courage is not one of your weaknesses.”
“Neither is it yours,” she said, smiling back at him. “And since we’re both brave enough to go up against the very things that frighten us, you need to prepare yourself for a tetanus shot.” She stood and walked to the door before turning to see if he understood her. He had his arms crossed again, looking like a big kid who’d just lost a bet and had to forfeit his favorite toy.
“Oh, come on. It’s not that bad. A little poke in the arm isn’t going to kill you,” Blanca said.
He squinted as if considering what she’d said. “Not in the arm,” he finally said. “I can’t afford for anything to interfere with my response time or reflexes. If I’m favoring an arm it could get me killed.”
“Fine,” Blanca replied. “Have it your way. I’m going to go get your antibiotic pills and prepare your tetanus shot. By the time I get back, you need to have assumed the position over that table and have dropped your drawers.” She pointed a finger at him in mock-threat. “Don’t make me call in the Troopers.”
Her hands shook as she lifted the tail of his bright yellow shirt and found the land-mark of his hip bone. She spanned her fingers out over the lateral side of his buttocks and closed her eye
s as she applied pressure with an alcohol wipe to the area she was going to poke. At first she thought he’d mistakenly lowered his briefs or boxers in addition to his jeans, but when she looked at the floor, there were none there. Lord, have mercy. He would have to be the kind to go commando.
She darted the needle in and was finished before the burn of the medicine hit home. She caught Longbow rubbing at it from the corner of her eye as she left the room.
“Will I see you tonight?” he asked, after getting his discharge instructions and medicine at the reception desk.
“You promised Nikki a dance,” she reminded him. “And I promised, just moments before you entered the clinic, that I’d learn how to line-dance. So yes, I’d say we both have a date with the same girl tonight.”
*****
The Dirty Shame was slightly better than its name suggested. The long-house style log structure catered meals on one end and booze on the other. A long wooden counter ran the full length of the building and there were built-in stools underneath it. Tables and chairs with checkered cloths filled the rest of the building and there was an attempt at a barrier wall in the middle of it all, where the bathrooms were housed. The barrier had two open entryways, one on either side of the bathrooms allowing the noise from the bar to filter into the eating area.
Blanca decided to play it safe and found an empty stool along the counter. She had just ordered a burger and fries when Nikki spotted her and waved her over to the bar. The table had a reserved sign sitting on it with F.L. Party, written in red, but Forest Longbow was nowhere to be found. The antibiotic dose she recommended he take in lieu of the shot was known to cause nausea. She hoped she hadn’t ruined his night.
Nikki motioned for her sit and then yelled over the music of the jukebox, “Your order will be brought to the table. Don’t worry, they know me around here.”
The bar side was already packed. Tables full of men with sunburned faces lined the walls. Raccoon eyes, and burned ears and necks were a common theme among the patrons.
Nikki motioned to her own eyes and yelled, “It’s the goggles they wear to protect their eyes from debris. Otherwise their corneas would be getting scorched instead of just their skin.”
Longbow didn’t look like these men. She wondered what it he did to keep his skin so well protected. She’d seen handkerchiefs dangling around his neck and from his pockets when she’d given him a ride the other day. Maybe that’s what he used.
Nikki kicked her from under the table and pointed to the back door of the bar. “That’s who you were thinking about just now wasn’t it?”
Longbow entered with a couple of men. The three of them were laughing and talking, and Blanca figured they must be part of Longbow’s crew. The man stood out no matter who he was with. His long hair was pulled back in a single braid and he wore one of those handkerchiefs she’d been remembering, but this one was black with bright neon designs all over it. It wasn’t until Longbow pulled up a chair next to her that she realized the circles of the design were made up of geckos eating their own tails. Interesting man, she thought.
Nikki introduced her. “Guys, this is the clinic’s new doctor, Blanca Islas. Blanca,” she said motioning toward the other two men who’d sat on Nikki’s side of the table.
“This is Emanuel, and Jesus. We work on the same crew, locally anyway,” Longbow explained. “These two homeboys don’t like to travel as much as I do, so I rarely see them once fire season really kicks in.” He nudged Jesus from across the table with his long reach and nearly sent the man tumbling out of his chair.
“Hey!” Jesus said. “Don’t be throwing around your weight in here, Compadre, you might end up with more than a baby tree on your chest the next time, and I might not be there to save you.”
“Save me?” Longbow said with sarcasm. “You’re the knucklehead who felled the tree without warning anyone first. Don’t you Compadre me. I see how it is. You’re trying to kill me off so you can be crew chief, aren’t you?”
The men laughed companionably, but Blanca couldn’t help but wonder why Longbow hadn’t mentioned that the injury had been caused by one of his crew members and not just a random accident. She studied him as he ordered a meal and a soda. He didn’t act like he was having any stomach upset. Knowing him, his stomach was made of steel like the rest of him.
After they’d finished eating and getting to know one another, Nikki pulled Blanca out onto the dance floor and began walking her through some dance moves. Blanca had never country-line-danced before, but she’d taken dance classes all through college and even minored in dance.
Soon, there was a crowd boot-scootin’ alongside them. Longbow and the men at their table eyed her and Nikki as they passed them by, but soon she found they were lost in conversation, no longer paying any attention to the dance floor. When the live band showed up, the juke-box was turned off and the floor cleared so the band could set up.
“The band is here,” Nikki said, sliding onto her chair and sipping on her drink. “You promised me a dance, Forest, and I have a witness to prove it.”
By this time, Blanca was getting a little uncomfortable with Nikki’s insistence on dancing with Longbow. Was her friend really hitting on him? She didn’t understand why Nikki would encourage her when it came to Longbow and then hit on him herself? Was she missing something?
The band finished warming-up and started into a lively rendition of The Devil Went Down to Georgia. Blanca may have been raised on classical music and opera, but like everyone else she’d heard of Charlie Daniels and his band of evil demons. In fact, she rather liked the song. She jumped up and motioned for Nikki to join her in a line. Nikki motioned to Longbow and shook her head.
Blanca took her place in line and watched as Nikki pulled Longbow onto the floor. Blanca had to bite her tongue to keep from going to his rescue and telling everyone how bad his injuries really were. It wasn’t her place to stick up for him, and if he was going to allow Nikki to force him to dance with her, that was none of her business either.
She shuffled along with the group and watched as the couple took hands and Longbow began spinning Nikki around like a top. She was beaming from ear to ear as he swung her around and maneuvered her across the floor. He was amazing! Blanca had never seen anything like it, well except on TV, of course. It wasn’t ballroom dancing like she’d performed in high school dance competitions, but more fun, wild, and free.
A lady collided with Blanca when she failed to make a turn in the dance. She hadn’t even realized she’d stopped. She'd been standing in the middle of the floor staring after the couple like a child seeing a Ferris-wheel for the first time. She excused herself and walked back to their table. Emanuel and Jesus nodded their heads and smiled at her, but it was too loud for any measure of real conversation. She sipped on her long-island iced tea and tried not to be obvious as she watched people dance.
Other couples joined Longbow and Nikki, swinging away. Blanca so wanted to give it a try. Nikki looked absolutely free, joyous to an extent one only remembers from childhood games and thrills. Now Blanca understood her persistence to dance with Longbow. It wasn’t about the man as much as it was about how he could make her fly on the dance floor.
He was truly a sight; powerful and fluid, like a massive machine built for speed and grace. He snapped Nikki to and from him like she was an extension of him, one long line of rippling muscle. She couldn’t believe how he moved. Usually big men weren’t that graceful, but Longbow was magnificent. His baggy jeans, cotton shirt, and colorful bandana only added to the affect. The two of them looked very hip out there among the cowboy hats, wrangler butts, and boots.
When the song ended Longbow motioned for Nikki to lead them back to the table. She plopped down on her seat and grabbed Blanca’s hands. “You have to go next. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world to dance with that man. It’s the closest to thing to an orgasmic experience I’ve ever come without getting naked. If he were my type I’d never let him off the dance floor.” She winked
as if she knew Blanca had been worrying about her intentions toward Longbow.
Blanca blushed, but shook her head. She had no idea how Longbow had managed to put on a show like that with the injuries he had, but she wasn’t about to contribute to making them worse. “I’m not that good of a dancer when it comes to partners. It’s easier to dance on my own, that way if I step on anyone’s toes, it’s usually mine.”
Blanca alternated line-dancing with jaunts outside to cool-off. The bar was packed and apparently had no air-conditioning. When Nikki wasn’t occupying Longbow’s time he was off playing pool or chatting it up with other crew members in the bar. She hoped he’d ask her to dance during one of the slow dances, but he never did. It seemed he was no more interested in her company than she was in the men who asked her to dance instead.
After her third trip outside, Blanca noticed she was getting light-headed and a bit tipsy. She looked down at her glass of tea and realized it had managed to remain full through the evening. It seemed someone had been refilling her glass without her knowing it. She studied the glass and then looked around the room. No one had been sitting at their table when she and Nikki had been out dancing. Jesus and Emanuel had moved to another table and Longbow had been busy at the pool tables for over an hour.
In the city, it was an unspoken rule for the last person at the table to stay put and watch over the drinks of the others. You could never be too safe. Date-rape drugs and hallucinogenic agents were dropped into glasses at clubs like candy in trick-or-treaters’ bags on Halloween.
Blanca decided it was time to head home. She looked for Nikki but it seemed her friend had found herself a tall cowboy with a matching tobacco ring on his back pocket. So that was her kind, Blanca thought. She should’ve known. She didn’t want to interrupt, after all her place was only a block away. She left a tip at the counter and walked, half-stumbled out the door.
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