The Nurse's Reunion Wish (HQR Medical Romancel)

by Carol Marinelli

  * * *

  All week she saw him. And as much as she tried to avoid him, they always seemed to sit next to each other and during labs they always partnered up. But when the class was done he’d disappear. Even though she made other acquaintances at the conference, when she’d spot Dr. Vanin, he was always on his own and he always seemed to disappear before she had the chance to really talk to him.

  He wasn’t really talkative, but he was smart and knowledgeable and, oh, so sexy.

  So when she walked into the hotel bar for the mixer at the end of the conference, and saw him brooding at the bar rather than conversing with the rest of the physicians, she steeled her resolve to go and talk to him.

  Even if this was so not her usual modus operandi, she didn’t know anyone else. If she took control of the situation, then she could make a new friend. She could even call it networking, since he was a fellow professional and she absolutely, definitely was not going to date anyone medical ever again.

  The way her own parents had ended up had made her a little gun-shy. Her father had been perpetually waiting for her mother to come back, but she never had.

  She shook away the thought of the mother she’d never known.

  This wasn’t dating. This was a mixer and she didn’t work with Dr. Vanin. All she was doing was going to talk to someone interesting.

  And sexy.

  Her stomach flip-flopped as she approached him.

  “Dr. Vanin... Lev, isn’t it?”

  Dr. Vanin turned around on his bar stool and smiled. “Yes. And you’re Dr. Hayes, if I remember, yes?”

  “Yes, but you can call me Imogen.” She extended her hand. “May I sit?”

  He nodded and motioned to the empty bar stool next to him, and suddenly she felt very awkward and out of place.

  Say something.

  “We seemed to have been at every workshop together. Quite a coincidence, eh?” She cringed inwardly at using such an obvious Canadian colloquialism.

  “That we do,” he said. His eyes twinkled and she hoped he found her awkwardness cute rather than goofy.

  “Where are you from?” she asked.

  “I’m from Chenar.”

  “Where exactly is that again?” She knew it was in Europe but felt silly for not having a better grasp of geography.

  He smiled and nodded. “Northeastern Europe. Our country was founded by Viking traders looking for access to the Silk Road by land instead of by sea. It’s why we appear more Nordic than Russian. I get asked that all the time. Not many people know where it is. They just assume I’m Romanian or Russian.”

  “Now I remember. It’s a small, unique country. I’ve been there, but a long time ago.”

  His smile brightened. “You’ve been there? How unusual.”

  “My father loved to travel. It was just the two of us and we went to a lot of places when I was young.”

  “Does your father still travel?”

  “No. He passed a couple of years ago.” Imogen tried to swallow the lump in her throat as she thought of her father, a scientist, who had been working up in Alert. He’d passed away from a major hemorrhagic stroke. Gone before he’d even hit the floor.

  Imogen had been traveling to smaller communities up in Nunavut when it had happened. It was a sore spot for her that she hadn’t been there when he’d passed. He’d been her only family. It had been just the two of them for so long.

  Her throat tightened.

  “I’m sorry to hear that,” Lev said gently.

  “Thank you.” She cleared her throat, trying not to cry.

  “And now that I have thoroughly depressed you,” he teased, “what should we talk about next?”

  Imogen smiled at him. “No. I’m fine. Really.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I mean, this social thing is kind of sad, and then I went and depressed you further...”

  “You’re not depressing me.”

  “Good.” He took another sip of his drink. “I would hate to drag you down with me.”

  Imogen glanced over her shoulder. He wasn’t wrong. It was summer and this was Toronto. She’d lived in the city when she was at university and then medical school. They were in a stodgy hotel with cheap drinks and bland food. Outside, Toronto was just coming to life.

  “Do you want to get out of here?” she whispered conspiratorially.

  He perked up. “Really?”

  “I used to live in Toronto. I could take you on a quick tour if you’d like?”

  Lev grinned and there was a twinkle in those deep blue eyes. “I would like that very much.”

  “Good.” She set down her drink. “Let’s go, before someone else decides to talk to us.”

  * * *

  Lev finished the rest of his Scotch and followed her out of the bar.

  It was kind of exciting to sneak out of the hotel, dumping their name badges on a table just outside the reception room.

  In only a few minutes they were out of the hotel and on Front Street. The sun was only just beginning to set, though it wasn’t late. Where she lived now, in Yellowknife, the summer sun wouldn’t set for hours. It was one of her favorite things about living so far north, but there was still something magical about sunset in a bustling city like Toronto, with the city lights coming on and reflecting in the water of Lake Ontario. Toronto never seemed to sleep. It was exciting and thrilling. She’d forgotten that.

  “There is one thing I want to do,” Lev said as they walked along Front Street. “Something I’ve wanted to do since I came to Toronto.”

  “What’s that?” she asked, curious.

  “Go up that!” Lev pointed to the CN Tower.

  “Sure. We can see if it’s still open.” Without thinking, Imogen took his hand. She froze for a moment when she realized what she’d done, but he didn’t pull away or seem to mind as they headed in the direction of Union Station. They ran across the road, dodging and weaving through the parked cars and the small evening traffic jam in front of the train station.

  There were people on their way to some concert at the Scotiabank Arena and there were others trying to make their way home, taxis dropping off and picking up in front of Union Station. She led him through the train station and to the walkway that connected the station to the major attractions that hugged the Toronto waterfront.

  They were lucky and able to get two tickets, which Lev insisted that he pay for because she was his tour guide.

  It was a quick elevator ride up, and Imogen had to plug her ears as they popped. Soon they were on the observation deck of what used to be the tallest freestanding structure in the world.

  They stood side by side, looking out over the city, which was lighting up as the sun sank on the west side of the city. Lev didn’t say much and Imogen stood beside him, her pulse racing with the anticipation of something new and exciting.

  Something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

  “So big,” Lev whispered. “This city is about the size of my country.”

  “It’s a pretty big city. All the years I lived here, this is my first time on the observation deck.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “Really? Why?”

  She shrugged. “I was at medical school. I was focused. I didn’t make time.”

  She hadn’t made time for a lot of things and that saddened her.

  They wandered along the perimeter of the observation deck until they were looking south at the lake. When she looked out over Lake Ontario, she closed her eyes and imagined she was back home in Yellowknife, on her houseboat and listening to the sounds of Great Slave Lake. She hated being so far from home. No matter where she and her father had traveled, they’d always come back to Yellowknife. She opened her eyes and looked out over the city and Lake Ontario.

  Lake Ontario was smaller than Great Slave Lake, but you couldn’t tell when on the shoreline, a
s both were vast and she didn’t really care to think about it. Not now. Not when she was standing next to a man who made her body thrum with excitement, in a way Allen never had.

  It’s just lust.

  Allen had been her boyfriend for three years, and lust didn’t last forever.

  She’d just met Lev. He was new.

  She needed to get a grip on these crazy emotions. She had to get back in control. Only she liked this feeling of living a little. It was fun and new. It wasn’t going to be anything serious.

  This was what she should’ve done when she was younger, but she’d been too afraid. She was still afraid, but she was going to savor tonight. It was the first step she needed to take, to put the burning mess of what had happened between her and Allen behind her.

  Her first step in moving on.

  Even if Allen had moved on a couple of years ago.

  “I have never seen a lake so large.”

  “This is the seventh largest in Canada.” She winced. Her father had always called her an encyclopedia and Allen had hated her little trivia facts.

  Lev’s eyebrows rose. “Only seventh? Which is the largest?”

  Imogen frowned. “Uh, I think Lake Superior. It’s farther north, but still in Ontario.”

  Lev leaned forward. “I like Canada. I have only been here a short time and I wish I could stay. A man could get lost here.”

  He said the last bit almost wistfully, like he wanted to get lost, and she didn’t really blame him for thinking that way. It was why she liked working in the north. Even though Yellowknife was a city, it was far from anything else.

  Only a thirty-minute drive out of the city and it was wilderness, trees and rock that had been exposed by glaciers.

  It was easy to get lost up there, but it was a place where she’d found herself after Allen had broken her heart and her father had died.

  “What is on the islands?” Lev asked as they watched a ferry slowly make its way from Queens Quay to the islands.

  “Some homes, parks, a nudist beach,” she teased.

  Lev chuckled. “Wouldn’t it be cold?”

  “Not in the summer. We don’t all drive a snowmobile to work.” She did, in the winter.

  “I never thought that. Do people think that?” he asked.

  “Some,” she said dryly.

  He shook his head. “Well, I just meant it’s night and the water looks cold.”

  “Yes. It can be cold, but I doubt people are at the beach now.”

  A lazy grin spread on his face. “Why not? Darkness hides a lot.”

  Her heart skipped a beat and she felt the blush rise in her cheeks as she tried not to think of the two of them alone on the nudist beach with only the moon lighting up the sky.

  “Where can we get a drink?” he asked, breaking the tension.

  “I know a nice place down by the waterfront.”

  “Good. Lead the way.” Lev took her hand and it sent a jolt of electricity through her. It just felt right to hold his hand. It made her forget all the rules she’d set up to protect her heart. It made her feel carefree. It made her feel hot and gooey, all the things she’d never really felt before. Or if she had, she’d forgotten and Lev had woken something up inside her.

  And as they walked slowly along the waterfront toward the patio, it felt like they had been doing this walk for some time. They didn’t talk much, but then, during the whole week at the conference they hadn’t really spoken a lot. There had just been this instant camaraderie the moment they’d both walked into the robotic lab late. Like they knew each other, even though they’d never met before.

  Kindred spirits. Although she didn’t believe in that. Not really.

  Still, she felt at ease with him.

  Like this was right.

  You’re crazy. He lives halfway across the world from you.

  She knew all her friends in Yellowknife had told her to let loose and live a little when she was down in Toronto, but this was ridiculous. She couldn’t be interested in Dr. Vanin. Long-distance relationships never worked and she wasn’t leaving Yellowknife. She couldn’t.

  She’d tried it when she’d been a traveling doctor and it had crashed and burned, hard. She wouldn’t date someone from far away again.

  Who said anything about dating?

  All this was... Well, she didn’t know what it was, but she was enjoying herself. She couldn’t quite believe that she was here with Lev, walking along the waterfront, hand in hand, talking about the city, enjoying the summer evening.

  She didn’t want to go to the patio and be around other people, because she liked this so much. It was as if they were in a little bubble together and she didn’t want anyone to burst it.

  Of course, it would burst eventually when they both went home tomorrow, but for now, it was nice, just the two of them.

  They stopped and Lev leaned over the railing, watching the water and the city lights reflecting in the lake.

  “It’s a beautiful night. It’s nice out here. So calm. So quiet.”

  “It is a nice night, though I would hardly call Toronto calm or quiet.”

  “Well, it seems quiet here.”

  “I prefer the country,” she said.

  “Do you?” he asked, surprised.

  “Why are you shocked by that?”

  “I thought you were a city girl.”

  “What made you think that?” she asked.

  “You could navigate that traffic outside the hotel. You seem not to be bothered by crowds of people.”

  “I went to school in Toronto for many years. I’m used to it, but I’m not a city girl. I much prefer a quieter setting. A smaller setting.”

  “Tell me about it.”

  “What would you like to know?” she asked.

  “You’re a surgeon where you’re located?”

  “Yes. I did some work with a flying doctor service, but now I’m based in a hospital.”

  “Flying doctor?” he asked. “I have heard of this, but I’m intrigued about how it works.”

  “There are so many small communities that have no other way to connect them. You’re at the mercy of the weather, though, as a flying doctor. Food and medical supplies are all brought in that way for some communities.”

  “And if the plane can’t fly?” he asked.

  “People can die.” She thought of her father again. Maybe if he’d been in a city...

  She shook that thought away. His stroke had been so catastrophic that even if he’d been in a hospital, he would’ve died.

  “You have to be tough to live there.”

  She nodded. “Being a flying doctor is not for everyone.”

  “It’s for you, though,” he said softly, and he touched her cheek as he said that, which caused a flush to bloom in her cheeks. “When you blush, you look so...beautiful.”

  Imogen’s heart raced. Her body seemed to come alive at his touch. His compliments made her swoon. It had been a long time since someone had touched her so intimately, and the fact it was Lev made her heart beat just a bit faster.

  It was like she’d been asleep for years, walking around in a haze.

  Numb.

  “Well, your job as a flying doctor is admirable,” he stated, breaking the heady tension that had fallen between them.

  Another compliment. It caught her off guard.

  * * *

  “You could be so much more if you’d leave Yellowknife,” Allen huffed, annoyed with her.

  “Why would I leave Yellowknife? My services are needed here.”

  Allen shook his head. “Being a flying doctor? You could earn so much more if you came south.”

  “Are you asking me to marry you and come south?” She was shocked and a little thrilled at the prospect of marrying Allen.

  “No,” Allen said bluntly. “I’m g
oing south. You can come if you want, but you know I don’t believe in marriage.”

  “I’m not going south.”

  Her heart broke, but she couldn’t choose a man who couldn’t commit.

  “Then I guess this is it.” Allen turned his back on her and left.

  * * *

  “How is it admirable?”

  “I take it not many physicians want to do what you do,” Lev said, interrupting her thoughts.

  “No. You’re right. They don’t.” It was an ongoing problem that the north had a hard time keeping people. “I don’t anymore. I do like the hospital I work at.”

  “Still, you amaze me.”

  “I don’t know why. I love my life. Perhaps I’m selfish,” she said sheepishly.

  “No. Not selfish. Not to live like that. I’m envious of you. In Chenar, I work in the capital city and deal with...the elite of my country. It’s not what I like. Not at all.” His tone was one of dissatisfaction. “I much preferred my military work, but that came to an end and I was discharged.”

  “You don’t sound happy.”

  “No. I’m not. I enjoyed it, but...my time was up.”

  “You could always leave,” she offered. “Go somewhere else.”

  “If I could, I would.” He took her hand again. “I wish I could be free like you, Imogen. I envy you.”

  Was she free? She didn’t feel free.

  “Last time I checked, Chenar was a free country. Sure, there’s a king...but I don’t think he’s cruel.”

  A strange smile passed over his face. “No. Not at all. But let’s not talk about it anymore. You promised me a drink.”

  “I did. It’s just over here.”

  It was a short walk to the patio that she had been thinking of, but when they got there, it was closed. Instead, a small boutique hotel had opened up in its place. And though it didn’t have a public bar, it had a rooftop patio for guests.

  “Well, that’s a shame. We can find somewhere else,” she suggested.