by Sable Hunter
“I know they do – but Bethany is strong, and you said the doctor thinks she’s improving.”
Clint scoffed as he called for an elevator. “What do doctors know? They’re not infallible. They don’t always cure people. If they did, people wouldn’t keep dying!”
“People have to die of something, Clint.” He stepped into the elevator next to his brother. “You do realize you’re not making any sense.”
“Hell, I know. I’m just so angry!” He slammed his fist into the elevator wall.
Rowan’s eyes grew wide with concern. “Hey, calm down. You can’t do this. I’m the one with the anger issues, remember?”
“Sorry.”
For a few moments, they rode in silence. “Okay, what’s this about? This isn’t just about Bethany, is it?”
“How did you know?”
“I’m a tad psychic.”
“You’re a tad insane.” Clint stepped up to the doors as they began to open.
“Yea, but don’t tell anybody. So, what’s really going on?”
“It’s a woman.”
Rowan raised both hands. “Well, of course it is. What’s her name?”
“Jensen.” He pushed the button for their floor.
“The Jensen who partnered with you in the SAR training?”
“The same. I’ve been hung up on her since – gee – just before graduation in college.”
Rowan was stunned. “And why didn’t I know this?”
“I didn’t want you to know. It’s been a surreal situation. We’ve never really had a relationship, we’re more like two ships who’ve just passed in the night – repeatedly. I’ve only slept with her twice, but she’s haunted my every waking moment and starred in every dream I’ve had for nearly a decade.”
“Wait…was she the woman you abandoned us for that night at the motel next door to Pappadeaux’s?”
When the elevator doors opened, they stepped off together, moving down the hall to the waiting room that Clint had commandeered.
“Yep. And the one I rescued from the tornado a few weeks ago. Apparently, she told Libby about our weird relationship and Libby talked her into the SAR training – without revealing my scheduled attendance, then arranged for us to be teamed up.”
“And…?”
“And we clashed like two storm fronts colliding – then she made the sweetest love to me imaginable.”
“So far, I don’t see the problem.”
“Something was different, she wouldn’t let me touch her, she tied me to the bed.”
Rowan laughed. “TMI, bro. Still, doesn’t sound like a problem to me.”
“She’s driven me crazy, pulling me in, pushing me back. I didn’t understand what was going on until…”
“Until what?”
“She finally told me why she was acting so strangely. She’s had cancer. She lost a breast.”
“Oh, geez. How terrible. No wonder you’re upset. I hope you reassured her.”
Clint barked out a laugh. “Oh, I managed to fuck that up royally. I couldn’t hide my shock. My doubt. My uneasiness with the situation.”
“Oh, hell. You didn’t…”
“Oh, I did. The sad thing is that I really, really like her – in fact, I think I love her.”
“Well, congratulations! After that parade of cheerleaders and socialites you’ve dated over the years, it’s about time you settled down.”
Clint let out a harsh breath. “Those weren’t dates, they were carefully orchestrated publicity appearances, mostly for charity.”
“Don’t tell me you didn’t have sex with some of those beautiful women. I’m sure you could’ve had your choice every night.”
“Jealous much?” Clint smirked, then grew solemn. “Only when the need became overwhelming. For a man my age, in the position I’m in – I’ve been a damn monk. And all because of a woman I can’t forget.”
“How does she feel about you, really?”
“I…uh…hell, we share a mutual attraction and maybe more. She’s been so careful to keep a certain distance between us. She never intended for me to find out about the mastectomy, she was afraid of how I’d react. After we burned up the sheets in Montana, she denied we were a couple to a woman in a restaurant.” He bowed his head and stared at the floor. “I tell you, I just lost it. I became so angry that she gave in and told me what was going on. She told me the truth about her cancer.”
“And how did you react when she told you?”
“Badly. Very badly. The truth is…I don’t think I can handle it. I want to be with her, I miss her – but I miss her the way she was. I’m not sure I can handle the way she is now.”
“Well, shallow Hal, you’d better man up. If you love this woman, you love the woman, not just the breast.”
Clint knew exactly what he meant. “I realize I’m the worst. I’ve tried to get in touch with her. I think we should talk.”
“What are you going to say to her?”
“Hell, if I know. I need to apologize and…be honest, I guess. I was so angry before, then so stunned, all I did was ask stupid questions.”
“Give yourself some slack and some time, Clint. This would be rough on any man. Just remember, whatever you’re going through doesn’t even come close to what she’s endured.”
“Exactly.” Agreeing with his brother was easy, living up to his best intentions was hard.
When they came to Bethany’s room, Colleen and their mother was standing just outside the door. “The doctor’s in with her now,” their sister told them as she gave both men a hug.
“How are you doing, Mama?” Rowan kissed Gillian’s cheek.
“I’m fine. I’ll be better once I hear my little girl is going to be okay.”
“Why don’t you two go sit down in the waiting room?” Kyd put a guiding hand on each woman’s shoulder. “We can see Bethany’s door from there.”
As his mother and siblings moved across the hall, Clint’s phone buzzed. “I gotta take this, it’s my manager.”
Stepping away, he answered the call. “Wilder, here.”
“Clint, how are you?”
“I’ve been better.”
“Yea, I heard about your sister. Is she going to be okay?”
“She’s hanging in there. She missed the funerals of those three children, so she’s emotionally wrung out as well as battling an infection.”
“That’s the pits, I’m so sorry.”
“What can I do for you?”
“There’s some things I need for you to do.”
“I’m not leaving Austin until she’s released from the hospital.”
“You don’t have to. Your trainer can work with you there. The main thing is your neuro eval. We need to get those over with before time for training camp arrives. I’ve set it up with a practice there in Austin for tomorrow afternoon. It won’t take long. I’ll text you the address and the exact time.”
“All right.” A little bell went off in his brain. “Who’s the doctor?”
“Uh…Scott Walker and his people. Ever heard of him?”
“I know of him. And his people.” Jensen’s partner. Jensen’s firm. “Send the info and I’ll get it done.”
Seeing the doctor emerge from Bethany’s room, Clint didn’t wait to see if the man was through talking. He folded up his phone, his mind spinning. “How is she, doc?”
As he moved toward Gillian and the others, the doctor gave them a reassuring smile. “She’s turned a corner. The infection is abating. Bethany’s going to be fine.”
A huge wave of relief washed over Clint. Maybe things would soon return to some semblance of normal. “Well, that’s good news.” He held his mother while she sobbed in relief, his mind on the news from his manager. This could be his chance to set things straight. If nothing else, Jensen needed to know she could depend on him – even if it was only as a friend.
Chapter Thirteen
Jensen walked slowly as she entered her place of business. She didn’t even make it to the
receptionist desk before she was surrounded by well-wishers. Wilma, Mae, and the others rallied around her with flowers and balloons.
“Thank you all. It’s good to be missed.”
Scott stood waiting on her with a bottle of champagne in his hand. “How are you feeling?”
“A little worse for wear, honestly.” She gave him a smile. “It’s good to be back though.”
“Lia sends her love.”
“I send love back. How is she?”
“Well…not too good. That’s what I need to talk to you about.”
“What’s wrong?”
He paused in answering long enough for her to properly thank her coworkers. Once she was finished, he escorted Jensen to her office. “Come sit down. I need a favor.”
She noted the vintage of the champagne. “It has to be a huge one for you to break out the good stuff.”
“Lia’s dad has had a heart attack.”
“Oh, no.” Jensen made her way to her desk, she was much better but still moving at a snail’s pace. “I’m so sorry to hear that. What can I do?”
“Well…this isn’t going to sit well with you.” He went to her credenza to find glasses.
“Just tell me. Getting me liquored up at nine in the morning isn’t going to change my cranky personality.”
Scott sighed. “I was hoping.” He poured two glasses anyway. “I still want to celebrate your homecoming. I tried to phone you last night, the call went to voice mail.”
“I don’t have a phone. I lost mine in Montana. When I talked to you, I was calling from the hospital line. They were really nice to me.”
“How was your return flight?”
“Pretty good. Jon Turner, the pilot, asked me out on a date.”
“Great! Are you going to go?”
“No.” She scoffed at the thought. “I’m not about to start a long-distance relationship with a pilot. That’s just a disaster waiting to happen.”
“I hear you. Well, I started to email you, but I figured I should tell you this in person.”
“What? Are we going bankrupt?”
“No. I have neuro evaluations scheduled this week for the Texans, starting this afternoon.”
“The Texans. The football team?”
“Correct.” Scott braced himself for the explosion.
He was smart to prepare for the worst. “You promised I wouldn’t have to be involved in this. You know how I feel.” Her aversion to football wasn’t the reason she was panicking now. She didn’t want to see Clint.
“I do know how you feel, and I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t an emergency. Lia wants to go to her father, and I need to go with her.”
How could she argue with that? “You know, I’d rather fall out of a helicopter again than do this.” She sighed heavily. “I’ll need to be brought up to speed. When are you leaving?”
Scott checked his watch. “Not till noon. I’m yours until then.”
“Okay. Gather the data for me. I want to see all of their personal info as well as the results of their last neuro test.” Her hands shook as she straightened things on top of her desk.
“Done. I think we’ve already emailed everything to you. Why don’t you take a minute or two to review what I sent, then you can tell me what else you need. Is there anything I can do for you personally? Run any errands? Go to Starbucks for you?”
She looked at Scott with a level assessment. “Yea, since I’m doing this for you, you can go pick me up a new phone.”
Scott brightened. “Sure thing. I assume you want the newest and best with all the bells and whistles.”
“Sure. Whatever.” She handed him her credit card and her business card. “This is the old number. All of my information is stored on the cloud, I’m hoping I won’t lose any of my contacts or texts.”
“Or pictures.”
She shook her head as she sipped the champagne. “I don’t really take pictures.”
This struck Scott as sad. “Everyone should take pictures.”
“I don’t have any family, you know that.”
“You will someday.”
“Yea.” She wasn’t going to hold her breath.
“What color case do you want? Something cheery?”
“Black will do.” Scott poured her more champagne, even as she was protesting with her palm trying to cover the glass.
“You are so boring. I might bring back polka dots.”
“Just no camouflage or animal prints. Okay?”
“All right. Will do.”
He raised his glass in a final salute and went to take care of business, leaving Jensen behind to face the task ahead. With a loud sigh, she rubbed her eyes. “I feel a headache coming on.”
Wilma seemed to materialize at her desk. “Here’s some Tylenol, a water, your glasses – which you left here while you were gone, by the way.”
“Where were you? Hiding under my desk?”
“No. I walked through the wall, like I normally do.” She placed some notes in front of Jensen. “And here are the phone messages from while you were gone.”
“Okay. Thank you.” She put them to one side. “I’ll look at all of those a little later.” Sitting back in her chair, she took the pain reliever, and sipped on the water. “What else has been going on?”
“Well, nothing quite as exciting as you’ve been through. I read the report of the plane crash and how you and that handsome football player came to the rescue.”
“Yea, that was more adventure than I bargained for. I wish someone had filmed me spinning like a top in that basket hanging from the helicopter.”
“I would’ve liked to witness that spectacle myself. I’m just glad you’re okay. Your football player called here yesterday, but he didn’t leave a message.”
“Oh.” This took Jensen by surprise. “Okay.”
“That was crazy about his sister.”
“What was crazy?”
Wilma sat down in a chair across from Jensen. “You didn’t hear about the shooting?”
“No. I’ve been in Montana, completely out of the loop. What are you talking about?”
“There was a shooter at one of the elementary schools in North Austin. As with so many tragedies like this, the young man walked into the school and opened fire. He killed several, including some children. One of the teachers who was shot was Bethany Wilder, Clint Wilder’s sister.”
“Oh, my God. Poor Clint. Poor Bethany.” She tried to imagine what they were going through. It hit her that this must’ve been the emergency Bettina told her about in the hospital. Even if he’d planned on returning to her, this certainly would’ve prevented him from doing so. “Is she okay?”
“I haven’t heard any details other than what Scott told me. He contacted his friends about their cousin. They told him she made it through surgery, but she’d developed some type of infection. The news hasn’t reported anything new. If she would’ve died, that would’ve made headlines.”
Jensen shook her head. “So terrible. I can’t imagine how the family feels.”
“Especially the parents of those little children. What’s the world coming to?”
She had no answer for that question. “I’m going to dig into this project Scott has dumped in my lap. I’ll need you to help me do these neurological evaluations. They’ll consist of a physical exam as well as written and oral testing.” She rubbed her forehead, imagining how this was going to go down with Clint. He was scheduled to be there at 3 pm that very afternoon. At least she wouldn’t have a lot of time to worry about it. “We have two today and four every day for the next couple of weeks. We’ll have to work them in to my previous appointments.”
“I’ll get everything ready. Mae and I can monitor the test taking and do the oral questions. How about that? All you’ll have to do is the physical exam and evaluate the results of the tests when we’ve finished administering them.”
She let out a sigh. “Sounds perfect. I’ll pitch in too; I won’t leave you in the lurch.”
W
ilma waved off her concern. “We’ll manage. Mae and I won’t let you down.”
“I know. Believe me, it’s not you I’m concerned about.” She just hoped she didn’t make a fool of herself with Clint.
…After arriving at the clinic a half hour early, Clint sat out in his vehicle and watched the numbers change on the clock. He couldn’t keep his legs still; he was so nervous the toes of his shoes kept time with the song on the radio. Up to the last second, he tried to work on what he would say. In the end, he realized nothing sounded right. “I’ll just have to wing it.”
The distance he traveled from the parking lot to the office felt like he was walking the green mile to the gallows. He dreaded looking her in the eye.
Once inside, he marched up to the receptionist. “I’m Clint Wilder. I have an appointment.”
“Yes, you do.” The young brunette with the name tag TWILA gave him a dazzling smile. “You’re my favorite Texan. Would you sign an autograph for me?”
“Twila. No.”
The voice not only put an end to the autograph seeking, it also caused every nerve ending in Clint’s body to fire up. “Jensen.” He stared at her, his eyes roving her face. “It’s good to see you.”
She automatically crossed her arms over her breasts, then let them fall. She noticed he never dropped his eyes from her face. “Clint. If you’ll come with me, please.”
Following along behind her, his heart pounded in his chest. “How are you feeling?” He lifted his hand to touch her hair but hesitated to do so.
“Good as new. I was sorry to hear about your sister. How is she?”
“Much better. Thank you.” Their conversation was so stilted, so formal. No one would ever know they’d been intimate just a short time before.
“The first thing we’ll do today is a short physical. Take off your shirt and sit on the examination table, please.”
As he undressed, she kept her back to him, pretending to make notes.
“This might be a good time to take your revenge, when I’m at my most vulnerable.”
His strange comment struck her as something between cruel and stupid. “Why would I want to exact revenge?” He didn’t seem to have an answer, so she asked a different question. “How is Rose?”