by Natalie Ann
“So just out for a drive?” Justin asked as he started to pump the gas into his SUV.
“Doing some patrolling,” Trevor said.
“And it brought you over here to say hi?”
Trevor laughed again. “I always liked how calm you were. A no bullshit type of guy.”
“I’m only more so now,” he said. “If you’re stopping to talk or ask about Taryn, go right at it, but I’m sure your sister will tell you she’s a big girl and can handle herself. She’s already told me about her shooting lessons.”
Trevor nodded his head. “She is a big girl and can take care of herself. My father and I made sure both of my sisters could. This is nothing more than a friendly conversation.”
When the pump shut off, he put the cap back on. “As long as we both know where the other stands,” Justin said. “Your sister knows what she needs from me so if you’ve got concerns, take it up with her.”
“I always did like you,” Trevor said. “Don’t make me regret that thought.”
“Same goes,” Justin said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a shift to report to.”
He got back in his vehicle and drove away shaking his head. He supposed that was about the best he could get in terms of Trevor trying to figure out what was going on.
It’s not like he had an answer for him, because he didn’t. And if he did, he sure the hell wasn’t sharing it with Trevor.
He got to the hospital and it was somewhat slow like always. There weren’t as many shootings or stabbings here. Not unless it was domestic violence or robbery or crimes gone wrong. Even then, he hadn’t seen much of any of it.
Well, the only stabbing he’d seen was Taryn’s knife in her thigh. What a difference from what he was used to.
Here it was more illnesses and injuries.
Or so he thought until eight hours later a new nurse walked over to him to say, “We’ve got an interesting one for you.”
“Explain interesting,” he said. No one was rushing around. There were no codes called. He was currently handling a patient with abdominal pain and another with an ankle injury. He was just waiting for the X-rays to come back on the ankle and blood work on the abdominal pain.
“There is something stuck in a body cavity,” she said, almost embarrassed.
“Which cavity?” he asked. He’d seen pretty much everything stuck in all sorts of crevasses before.
When the young nurse’s face started to turn red he was pretty sure where this was going. “Anal cavity.”
He kept a straight face when he wanted to crack a grin. “And what is stuck?” he asked.
“I can’t get the man to tell me. He’s embarrassed. He would rather a man examine him. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain.”
“He’s lucky I’m on tonight and not Dr. Smith. Then he wouldn’t have much of a choice.”
“I explained that to him, but since you are here and he’s being difficult...”
“Considering his situation, you’d think otherwise, but I’ll go find out what is going on.” He took a deep breath knowing this day was just getting better. “I’m Dr. Cambridge and I understand that you’ve got something stuck in your anus.”
The guy cleared his throat. He looked to be in his mid-forties and someone that didn’t get out much by his pale white skin. Most people around here took advantage of the warmer weather when it hit.
“I tried to get it out myself, but it was slippery and then just kind of got sucked in.”
“The sphincter muscle is very strong and can clench and cause that to happen.”
“Yeah. I guess I went too far and it was really lubed up.”
He wanted to say at least that was good but couldn’t bring himself to. “And what is it that is stuck in there?”
“A mini cucumber.”
“Are you in any pain?” he asked.
“No. I mean I know it’s there and it’s uncomfortable. I can kind of feel it with my finger, but I can’t grip it to pull it out.”
“It’s about to get even more uncomfortable,” he said. Just what he wanted to do, pull a vegetable out of a guy’s ass. But it was not the first time he’d had to do that. Hell, residents got all the fun stuff.
But here there wasn’t anyone he could push it off to.
Thirty minutes later he was walking out of the exam room and pulling his mask and gloves off. He caught some nurses at the counter smirking and he narrowed his eyes. “How often does that happen?”
“Scotty is a regular,” Maureen said. She was damn close to retirement age.
“I noticed it’s not the first time he’s been in here for this. But it’s been a few years.”
“Yeah,” Maureen said, smirking.
“Lucky me it had to be during my short stint.”
Maureen laughed again. “It’s always some vegetable. Scotty isn’t very adventurous.”
He snorted and walked away to go see if the test results of his other two patients were in.
Once he got the ankle wrapped, he sent the person on their way with a sprain and told them to follow up with an orthopedist in a few days if it got worse.
The blood work wasn’t back yet for his other patient, but his phone went off with a text so he pulled it off his belt thinking that was it. Instead it was his mother asking him to call when he could.
She never bothered him when he was working. And since it was nine at night, that had to mean something was wrong.
He went to the doctor’s lounge and called her. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t want to bother you,” she said.
“But you did and because of that it means there is a problem with Dad. What?” he asked. His father had been fine by the time he left yesterday at dinner and he’d checked in with him this morning before he’d left for work.
“He’s feeling lightheaded and went to lie down. I checked his temperature because he said he was chilly and it’s a little high.”
He closed his eyes. “How high?”
“A hundred point five,” she said.
“That’s not too bad, but still, I’d rather he wasn’t running one. Has he been sick? Nauseous? Vomiting? When did the lightheadedness start?”
“Early today at the course.”
He ground his teeth. “I told him not to go in today.”
“I also told him not to, but he just showed up. You know he does what he wants.”
“Yeah. I know. How long was he there and what was he doing?”
“He was outside. He was in a golf cart driving around instructing the guys on the course on things he wanted done. He was following up.”
“I’m sure he was. It was hot today. High eighties. Did he eat or drink much?”
“We did make him come in the air conditioning after a few hours,” she said.
He wanted to lash out over that, but it wasn’t his mother’s fault. His father was always going to do what he wanted when he wanted regardless of the effect of his actions on others.
“And that’s when he said he was lightheaded?” he asked.
“Yes. I made him eat something and drink a big bottle of water. He felt much better after that. It looks like he got a little bit of sunburn too.”
“I told him and you that he needs sunscreen. Dr. Willis said the same thing. He is more susceptible to burning. That could be the cause of his fever too. He has to be careful to not get sunstroke.”
His mother started to cry. “I told him that. Ashley was freaking out and got all upset. Then Dad got mad at her and told her to cut the shit.”
He was going to chip a tooth if he heard any more of this. “Is he sleeping now?” he asked. “I want to talk to him.”
“I think so. He didn’t want me to call you. He took some Tylenol.”
“I’m sure he doesn’t want me to know what he did. Let me know if he gets worse. Check his temperature again in an hour or if he starts to have any other symptoms call me immediately. You said he was lightheaded earlier. What about before he lay down?”
“All good signs,” he admitted. “Okay. Call me if there is any change. If I don’t hear from you I’ll be over in the morning at the very least to check on him.”
“Thanks, Justin. I’m sorry to bother you.”
“It’s no bother. Don’t ever think that.”
“I know. He apologized before he went to lie down and said he probably pushed it too hard. I told him he should apologize to Ashley too.”
“That’s going to be part of my conversation with him. He needs to cut the shit. He’s not only hurting himself but you too.”
“He’s hurting you too,” his mother said.
“Don’t worry about me. I can handle it.”
“But can you really?” his mother asked.
20
A Good Cause
The next morning Justin was up and on his way to his parents’ house but decided to detour to Taryn’s. It was in the other direction, but part of him still needed to gather his thoughts before he went to lecture his father.
It was only eight and as far as he knew, she could be in the office, but sometimes she went in later if she was preparing sweets for the spa below.
When he saw her car as the lone one in the parking lot, he pulled in next to her and sent off a text. She replied back that the door was unlocked and to come up.
He got to the landing at the top and smelled the sweetness inside, his mouth already drooling.
“Look at you, Betty Crocker.”
She smiled. “I like to think of myself as a cross between a female Duff Goldman and the sisters from Georgetown Cupcakes.”
“I know who Duff is, but never heard of Georgetown Cupcakes.”
“I didn’t think you would have. It was a show on one of the food networks or TLC. I don’t remember which channel. Anyway, they make gourmet cupcakes.”
“Do they make them as massive as the ones on your counter?” he asked. “Those are like mini cakes.”
“These are going to the adventure park to be sold in the cafe.”
“Really? Have you been doing that all along?”
“No. Something that came up this week when talking with Logan.”
“That’s great. What are the flavors?”
“This is going to be my s’mores one. It’s popular. There will be marshmallow frosting on top and graham cracker crumbs. I’ve got crushed graham crackers on the bottom of the cupcake too. There won’t be a ton of decorations for these, but I will toast the marshmallows that I put on top.”
“Good touch. What’s the other flavor?”
“Espresso. It’s got a cream cheese frosting. It’s a new one, but I think it will go over well. I only have a dozen of each to try.”
He did a quick count. “There are more than a dozen of each there.”
“You’re fast on your feet,” she said.
“Do you need taste testers?”
“That was my goal for work, but I suppose you can do it for me here.”
“I’m always willing to help out a good cause.”
She picked up one of the mini espresso cupcakes and a knife to spread the frosting on that she’d just got done mixing. “Sorry it’s not going to be pretty. I’m not ready to pipe these yet.”
“That’s fine with me. And you can kick me out if I’m in your way. Obviously this is part of work for you.”
“You’re good,” she said. “I can do two things at once.”
“So the smaller ones are the samples for people?” he asked.
“Just for these, yes,” she said. “I’m going to bring them downstairs shortly with some cookies I made last night.”
He was looking around the kitchen. “What kind of cookies?”
“Snickerdoodles. I dipped half in white chocolate. Do you want one of those too?”
He popped a piece of the cupcake in his mouth after she handed it over. “These are awesome.”
“I think you’re just easy to please. Is there a reason you stopped over this early? Or were you just looking for some breakfast.”
“I was looking for a kiss,” he said, leaning down to get one. “But got sidetracked.”
“Kisses are always good. You’re off tonight, right?”
“I am. I was also checking to see if you had plans. I need to go stop in to see my father this morning and figured if you were home it’d put me in a better mood before I had it out with him.”
“Oh no. What happened? Is he okay?”
“He’s fine now. I got a call from my mother last night that he was running a low grade fever, got some sunburn, and was lightheaded. He overdid it at work and caused my mother and sister to cry, then took his moodiness out on them too.”
“Yikes.”
“Normally I’m the only one that gets the pleasure of that side of him and I’m going to tell him if he needs a verbal punching bag to hunt me down and leave them out of it.”
“Commendable, but still not right. On either of your sides.”
“They don’t need to be put through this,” he said. “I’m better equipped for it.”
“No one is equipped to see a loved one go through this and you know it.”
She was right and it reminded him of Ashley’s broken record comment. “I’m still stronger than them.”
She snorted. “They’d probably argue with you over that statement.”
“Most likely. It doesn’t matter. He overdid it yesterday and he’s just hurting himself and everyone around him. I told my mother that too.”
“Does she know you are going over there this morning?” She pulled out a cookie and handed it to him, and he took a bite.
“These are to die for. You’ve got a real talent and should open up a bakery.”
She just grinned. “There is a lot of overhead with running a business like that. More stress than I want.”
“Is that your long term goal though?”
“I don’t know my long term goal. Right now I’m taking things day by day,” she said.
He knew that was a shot at them too and was going to let it go. “Anyway, yes, my mother knows I’m going there. He was better this morning, but he and I are going to have a little coming to Jesus talk and then I’ll go burn off some frustration at the driving range.”
“That sounds like fun,” she said.
“We could do it together later if you want?”
“Like a date?” she asked.
“Sure,” he said.
“I’m on board for that. Then maybe we could go to the shooting range and compare notes which one lets off more steam.”
He’d take anything he could get with her. “As long as you don’t laugh at me.”
“I have a feeling you’re going to do just fine there.”
“Text me when you’re out of work and we’ll go from there,” he said.
“Sounds like a plan. I’m just going to finish these up and run them to the spa, then frost the rest and go to the park.”
She’d been working while they talked. All the chocolate cupcakes had fluffy piles of frosting on them that she almost dropped like a massive teardrop, then sprinkled with graham cracker crumbs and placed a few tiny marshmallows on that she’d toasted in the oven. She was putting the cream cheese frosting in a piping bag now.
“You move fast,” he said.
“I can do this in my sleep. I only need about thirty more minutes tops and they will all be in the boxes and ready to go.”
He leaned in for another kiss and then left her to finish up.
By the time he was pulling into his father’s driveway he was prepared for what he figured was going to be one hell of a fight even though he wasn’t going to yell like he’d want to.
He walked in the house and his father was in the living room watching TV. “Here to lecture me like a child?”
“Yep,” he said, sitting down to look at him.
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“I’m the parent, not you,” his father said.
“Then act like it. You keep pushing and you’re only hurting yourself.”
“The minute I didn’t feel right I went inside. It’s just the heat got to me.”
“And it’s going to continue to get to you. You had a bad couple of days to begin with this week and didn’t need to rush there yesterday. Nor did you need to spend it outside in the heat. And you’re burned. Did you forget sunscreen?”
“I didn’t think I needed it if I was in the cart.”
“Guess you thought wrong.”
“Guess so.”
“How are you feeling right now?”
“Better. I won’t go in today. It’s hotter out and I don’t want to worry your mother.”
“That’s something at least. How did it make you feel seeing her and Ashley cry?”
His father narrowed his eyes. “I don’t need you to tell me I was wrong.”
“Good to know. But you’re going to hear it anyway. If you want to be stubborn and take your moodiness out on anyone, do it to me. Not them. I’m used to it, they aren’t. They’re scared and upset and they can’t handle you the way I can.”
His father snorted. “I’ve got a right to not be happy with what is going on in my life.”
He paused. “You do. No one is telling you otherwise. I even think everyone is cutting you some slack because of it. Myself included which is why we are calmly having this discussion when I want to be pacing and yelling at you.”
“You hardly ever show any anger anymore. It’s annoying.”
“I can’t in my job. I have to remain calm. What do you want from me? We’ve fought enough in our lives. I’m over it. I’ve tried and tried and it doesn’t matter. You are who you are and I’m who I am. You don’t want to put the past behind us, then fine. I can’t be what you want or ever wanted and never will be.”
“I don’t understand why you didn’t want any part of what I was offering you,” his father said.
Justin ran his hands through his hair. His father was never going to understand. “And be miserable?”
“I didn’t want this either and it turned out great for me in the end.”
He didn’t know what to say to that. It was the first he was hearing it. “You didn’t want to take over the resort?” he asked.