Gansett Island Boxed Set, Books 1-16

by Force, Marie

  “He is. Of course, he also likes to pat himself on the back for dragging me to the recruiter.”

  Mallory laughed. “Likes to say ‘I told you so,’ huh?”

  “Loves it.”

  “So how’d you go from enlisted to trauma surgeon officer?”

  “That’s a whole other story.”

  Chapter 8

  While they ate, Quinn told her about starting out as a medic and applying to a program that put soldiers through college and medical school in exchange for army service afterward.

  “To me it was a no-brainer. I got a free education and only owed them eight years after medical school. I’d planned to be a GP, but surgery really called to me and that’s where I ended up. The years I owed the army coincided with a pretty intense period of conflict, so I rotated between tours in Iraq and Afghanistan doing front-line combat surgery and stints stateside at Walter Reed, tending to the wounded. Then I got hurt, and that was that.”

  Though he struck a matter-of-fact tone, she could see that he was anything but. “That must’ve been tough.”

  “More than two years later, it still is.”

  “What’ve you been up to for the last couple of years?”

  “Rehabbing my leg and figuring out what’s next.”

  “And is this it? The new facility, the new job?”

  “I guess we’ll see. The jury is still out.”

  “Funny how we’re both in this odd state of flux as we stare down forty. It’s not what I expected, that’s for sure.”

  “What did you expect?”

  Mallory thought about that for a minute. “I thought I’d be thinking about sending kids off to college by now. Instead, I’m contemplating a career change as well as an address change.”

  “You thought you’d be a young mom?”

  Mallory nodded and decided to be honest with him. “I was married at twenty-two and planned to have kids as soon as my husband and I finished our residencies.”

  “What happened?”

  “My twenty-seven-year-old husband dropped dead in the OR from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.”

  “Oh God. I’m so sorry.”

  “Thank you. All my plans changed after that.”

  “I’m sure. I don’t know what to say.”

  “It was a long time ago, and while I’ll never forget him, I have figured out how to live without him. That took a while.” Mallory put down her fork and blotted her lips with the cloth napkin. “I haven’t talked about him in a long time, and I’ve told two people about him today.”

  “You told your dad.”

  Mallory nodded. “I wanted him to know.”

  “I’m honored that you told me.”

  “You should be,” she said with a teasing smile. “I don’t tell my sad story to just anyone. I haven’t even told my siblings about him.”

  “I’m sure you will. When the time is right.”

  “Probably.”

  “So you were a doctor.”

  “I wondered if you’d picked up on that part.”

  “It caught my attention.”

  “After Ryan died, I walked away from the residency and just about everything else, for that matter. By the time I emerged from the fog of grief and alcoholism, I barely recognized myself, let alone my so-called career. I had no desire to pick up where I left off.”

  “That’s understandable.”

  “My mom didn’t understand at all how I could ‘throw away’ all that time and education and money, and after a while I began to agree with her. I got my nursing degree, and I’ve never looked back.”

  “No regrets?”

  “None. I made a much better nurse than doctor. I liked being on the front lines with the patients and their families. By the time I was promoted into management, I was ready for a change and embraced that challenge. It all worked out the way it was meant to, I suppose.”

  “You never got married again?”

  “Once, very briefly, but it didn’t last a month. That was a huge mistake that occurred during the drinking years. What about you?”

  “Never came close. Girlfriends here and there, but army life makes for complicated relationships, especially when you’re deployed more than you’re home.”

  “That has to be hard.”

  “It’s all complicated. Civilian life has its own challenges.”

  The waiter came by to clear their plates and offer dessert.

  “Split something?” Mallory asked.

  “Sure. You choose.”

  After studying the dessert menu, she settled on flourless chocolate cake that was served with vanilla ice cream.

  Quinn also ordered coffee.

  “If I drank coffee at this hour, I’d be up until tomorrow afternoon.”

  “Since I quit drinking, I sleep like a dead man. Coffee or not.”

  “I have a complicated relationship with sleep.” She tapped on her temple. “That’s when my brain decides to thoroughly rehash every difficult thing I’ve ever been through.”

  “My sister Kath is like that. She swears by melatonin.”

  “That worked for me for a while but not anymore. I’ve been sleeping better since I got laid off. I’m sure that’s not a coincidence.”

  “You miss the job?”

  “Not even kinda, which is surprising. I thought I would, but I don’t. I miss the people I worked with, but they keep in touch. I do miss having somewhere to be every day, but that’s about to change when I start back to work part time for Mason.”

  “Have you done that before?”

  She nodded. “I made paramedic training and regular shifts on the rescue mandatory for my senior nurses in the ER. I was one of six who decided to get fully certified. Who knew that would come in handy someday?”

  “You’re way overqualified to work on the rescue. For that matter, you’re overqualified to work with me.”

  “Are you rescinding your offer, Dr. James?”

  “Hell no. I need you.” His gaze met hers, intense and sexy. “After that first morning we met, I’d planned to ask around about you before you showed up at my meeting.”

  “Because you wanted me to work for you?”

  “Among other reasons.”

  “What other reasons?”

  “You’re very pretty, but of course that’s not news to you.”

  Mallory laughed at his certainty. “It’s news to me that you think so.”

  “I do. I thought so the first time I laid eyes on you.”

  “When I was sweaty and winded?”

  “Uh-huh.” He rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. “And then when I saw you were also very capable and calm under pressure, you became even more attractive. I wondered where you’d disappeared to when you stopped coming to meetings. Mason said you were back home in Providence getting ready to move out for the summer, which was very good news.”

  “You… you asked Mason about me?”

  Nodding, he said, “After I saw you having coffee with him at the diner, I figured he might know your deal.”

  “And the reason you offered me a job—”

  “Was because I think you’d be great at it. Not for any other reason.”

  “You’re making this complicated,” she said softly.

  “I don’t mean to. I’d like very much to work with you in a professional capacity, and I’m enjoying—also very much—getting to know you personally.”

  “Other than Ryan, who I was married to before we began our residencies, I’ve never dated anyone I work with.”

  “Okay.”

  “That’s it? Just ‘okay’?”

  “Good to know.” He took a bite of the cake that she had thus far managed to ignore. Watching him was far more interesting than dessert. “Second time for everything?”

  “I haven’t decided anything yet,” she said, putting extra emphasis on the word anything.

  “Fair enough.”

  Because he’d opened the “this could be more than just friends having a casual dinner” door, she
found the courage to press for details. “What’ve you been doing since you left the army?”

  He sighed and then looked her square in the eye. “Fighting a losing battle to save the lower half of my leg and then learning to walk again.”

  “You… You’re…”

  “An amputee. Yes.”

  “Oh.”

  “You’re the first person, other than my medical team, to know that.”

  Mallory failed to hide her shock at that revelation. “You haven’t told anyone? Not even your family?”

  “Nope.”

  “Why?”

  Quinn shrugged and pushed a chunk of cake around on the plate with his fork. “It wasn’t intentional. At first, I was so out of it that I couldn’t have called them if I wanted to.”

  “How did it happen?”

  “The base where I worked was hit with shell fire. I took shrapnel to the leg, the worst of it hitting my knee, which was completely shattered. I don’t remember much about the first forty-eight hours, but apparently I ordered them not to contact my family.”

  “How come?”

  “There was nothing they could do. I was being taken to Germany, and I didn’t want my parents flying over there or worrying needlessly.”

  “So they still don’t know you were injured?”

  “They know and that it was bad enough to end my career, but they haven’t pressed me for details. My brother Coop started a rumor that I’d had my dick blown off, thus the secrecy.”

  Mallory coughed on a mouthful of water. “He did not!”

  “Yes, he did,” Quinn said, his eyes dancing with amusement. “I assured him my dick is just fine.”

  Hearing him say that made her feel warm all over. “That’s really funny.”

  “It was pretty funny. I finally told them I’d hurt my knee and was in rehab, which shut my brother up.” He took another bite of the cake. “I was in the hospital for two months in Germany, arguing with the doctors, who said my leg couldn’t be saved.”

  “What changed your mind?”

  “A staph infection. Then it became a choice of my leg or my life.” He shrugged as if that decision had been no big deal. “And that was that.”

  Though he tried to be nonchalant about it, she saw right through to the pain he carried with him to this day. “That must’ve been…”

  “It was pretty fucking awful, but at least I know I did everything I could.”

  “Why haven’t you told your family or anyone else?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I don’t want anyone to see me as weak or less than or… It’s stupid. I get that, but it’s been almost three years. At this point, what does it matter?”

  It pained her to know he’d chosen to go through such a terrible ordeal completely alone.

  “It’s your business to share with whomever you choose to share it with. I’m honored you shared it with me.”

  “Thanks for listening.” He signaled for the check and had his credit card out before she could offer to chip in.

  “Thank you for dinner.”

  “My pleasure.”

  On the way out, Mallory hit the ladies’ room to give herself a minute alone to process everything he’d told her. He’d been unexpectedly forthcoming, but then, she had, too. She rarely told dates about Ryan or what she’d been through. But something about Quinn made her want to tell him, and apparently, he’d felt the same way. What did it all mean?

  Her phone chimed with a text from Janey. Everyone’s at Steph’s. Owen is playing. Come on over if you’re around.

  Mallory washed her hands and dried them. She glanced at the mirror and noted her complexion was unusually flushed and chalked it up to the interesting turn this evening had taken. She took a deep breath and released it. For the first time since Ryan died, she’d met someone who had the potential to turn her life upside down. Did she want that? She didn’t know anything for sure, and that was fine during the Summer of Mallory.

  Taking her uncertainty with her, she joined him in the vestibule. He helped her on with her coat and held the door for her.

  “My sister texted to tell me everyone is at Stephanie’s Bistro. My cousin Laura’s husband, Owen, is playing.”

  “You want to check it out?”

  “Only if you do.”

  “Sure, it sounds fun. But here’s the thing… I haven’t lived here long, but I already know that news travels fast on this island. If, for any reason, you don’t want the whole town knowing you went out with me…”

  Mallory smiled up at him. “My family is pretty much the whole town for me, and I don’t mind if they know. What about you? Any reason to keep this a secret?”

  “Nope. It’s not far. You want to walk?”

  She hesitated only for a second, but long enough that he picked up on it.

  “I can run on the prosthetic—finally—so a short walk is no big deal, but thanks for the concern.”

  “Sorry, of course you know your own capabilities.”

  “I’m pretty much back to where I was before, other than a slight limp I can’t seem to shake.”

  “I could tell you’d been injured from the limp, but I wouldn’t have known you were an amputee if you hadn’t told me.”

  “That’s good to know. Took a long-ass time to get there.”

  With a cool wind whipping in off the water, Mallory zipped up her coat and put her hands in her pockets. “When is it going to warm up and start to feel like spring around here?”

  “Another couple of weeks, or so I’m told.”

  “I can’t wait that long.”

  He surprised the hell out of her when he put his arm around her and drew her in close to him. “I’ll keep you warm.”

  “Oh. Okay.”

  “Is it?”

  Touched that he’d ask, she looked up at him and said, “Yes, it is.”

  He squeezed her shoulder. “Good.”

  They walked the rest of the way through the crowded town in silence, dodging rowdy Race Week participants along the way to the Sand & Surf Hotel and Stephanie’s Bistro.

  At the front door to the hotel, Quinn dropped the arm he’d had around her so he could open the door.

  Mallory went in ahead of him, and the first people she saw in the lobby were Laura and her mother-in-law, Sarah Lawry, both of whom had babies strapped to their chests.

  “Hey, Mallory,” Laura said, her gaze shifting to Quinn and then back to Mallory with a raised brow.

  “Hi there. Laura and Sarah, this is Quinn James. Quinn, my cousin Laura Lawry and her mother-in-law, Sarah.”

  Quinn shook hands with both ladies. “Pleasure to meet you.”

  “Likewise,” Laura said. “Where’re you guys coming from?”

  “Dinner at the Lobster House,” Mallory said. “Janey texted to let me know the whole crew is here and that Owen is playing, so we decided to come by.”

  “His first gig since the babies were born.”

  “Quinn, meet Joanna and Jonathan,” Mallory said, leaning in for a closer look at the sleeping babies. “How’re they doing?”

  “They’re starting to sleep on the same schedule, so that’s huge progress,” Laura said.

  “How’s their big brother adjusting?”

  “Holden is crazy about them.”

  “Sometimes a little too crazy,” Sarah said. “We’ve had to teach him about gentle hugs.”

  Mallory smiled. “That’s so cute. You’re feeling well?”

  “I am, and I’m thrilled not to be pregnant anymore. Three kids in two years is my limit.”

  “That’s superhuman,” Quinn said.

  “It’s okay to use the word insane,” Laura told him. “We do.”

  “Nothing insane about three perfect kids,” he said.

  “When we’re not totally sleep-deprived, we do count our blessings. Go on in with the others. Tell Charlie that we’ll be in to collect Holden in a minute.”

  “Will do.”

  “Nice to meet you both,” Quinn said.

 
“Likewise,” Laura replied.

  As they walked to the back half of the hotel, Mallory pointed to the gift shop. “My sister-in-law Abby owns that. She’s married to my brother Adam.”

  “A true family operation.”

  “That it is. Get this, though… Abby dated my brother Grant for years, and now she’s married to Adam and working two feet from Grant’s wife, Stephanie.”

  “I think my head just exploded.”

  Mallory laughed. “Don’t feel bad. It took a while for me to get caught up on the McCarthy family story, too.” They stepped into Stephanie’s Bistro and immediately saw—and heard—the long table full of her family members.

  “Damn, that’s a big family,” Quinn said.

  “How do you think I felt meeting them all for the first time?”

  “Probably as intimidated as I feel now.”

  “Don’t worry. They’ll like you.”

  Chapter 9

  Taking in the sight of the unruly crew, Mallory still wanted to pinch herself to believe that she was actually one of them. She had a family—a big, boisterous, hilarious, loving family. She greeted her siblings and cousins, who made room for them at the table. “This is Quinn James,” she said. “Quinn, you know Mac. This is his wife, Maddie, my brother Adam and his wife, Abby, and my brother Grant.”

  “My wife is the Stephanie in Stephanie’s Bistro,” Grant said. “She’s running around here somewhere.”

  “That’s my cousin Finn,” Mallory continued, “my sister, Janey, and her husband, Joe, my cousins Riley and Shane and Shane’s fiancée, Katie. Shane is Laura’s brother.”

  “And I’m Owen’s sister,” Katie added.

  Quinn’s brows furrowed. “Wait…”

  “It sounds illegal,” Adam said, “but they tell us it’s not.”

  “A brother and sister marrying a brother and sister,” Janey said. “Perfectly legal.”

  “If you say so,” Quinn said with a grin.

  “You’re Jared’s brother, right?” Maddie asked.

  “I am.”

  “We love him around here,” Maddie said. “He’s doing some great things for our community.”

  “How do you like it here so far, Quinn?” Abby asked.

  “So far so good. The winter didn’t kill me or my dog, Brutus.”