CAPITULO 1

by Coltrain's Proposal(lit)

  The night that had had dinner with Coltrain in his house had looked like the beginning of something, but the arrival of that fair-haired harridan had nipped in the bud his incipient relation. Since then, the doctor only was going to her when it was strictly necessary, and always for motives of work. This attitude had done that she also was extracting the fingernails, and poor Brenda was feeling again as if it was in the middle of an attack of crossed fire.

  - I have heard that It Damages and Nickie almost comes to the hands another day for which of the two it would take a report to the doctor Coltrain - Brenda said to Lou one morning.

  - A pity that there was no a secret camera - Lou spluttered while it was checking a few reports.

  Brenda gathered the bridge of the nose.

  - Does he know?, I was thinking that ... good, lately it seemed that the doctor Coltrain and you were taking better.

  - It was only a temporary truce, nothing more - answered Lou-. I support my resignation, and leave on the first of January. Nothing has changed, Brenda, unless there has returned to scene the ex-fiancée of the doctor Coltrain.

  - For what there have told me the partners who take more time working here, it must be a good collapse - said the nurse-. Was it known that some of them threatened to the direction to go away if they were hiring her? One of the nurses who was employed at the hospital of Houston where it has been in the last years has a brother here in Jacobsville, George Grey, and has said to me that as it seems they were on the verge of throwing it when it obtained this position. His sister also makes sure that his preparation is impressive, but that she is not a good administratrix, and that with her all sound favors. He will be necessary to have time for the time, but if it is true, it seems to me that the managers of the hospital will finish regretting having hired her.

  Lou shrank of shoulders.

  - In any case, it is not our problem - it pronounced.

  - I suppose that not - admitted Brenda-, but it is not the only thing that is said round there about her: does he know? The last rumour is that his real intention, on having presented to this position, was to try to recover the doctor Coltrain. It is in the hunting and captures of a husband, and he represents the first one in his list.

  - Lucky what ... - Lou jabbered with watched sarcasm-. It is very attractive.

  - What says! - frightened Brenda exclaimed-. But if it is a lizard! The poor doctor Coltrain...

  - The "poor person" doctor Coltrain is already mayorcito - Lou restored-, and I am sure that it can look after only.

  - No man is immune to the adoration of a woman with a face and a few curves how is life - the nurse restored-. There remembers what I say to him, he confers a doctorate, the doctor Coltrain will finish in his networks if it is not walked carefully.

  - Be as it is I will not be here to see it - Louise remembered him.

  And it was glad about it. That Nickie and It Damages were fighting for him and that the best was gaining, he thought irritated. At least, she would not have to attend it. At the bottom of his heart it had always known that Coltrain was not for her. The best thing was to accept the defeat with elegance and to move away of there while still was on time.

  They returned to the work, and to the midday, Drew passed for Lou's consultation to invite her to have lunch. She felt deeply been grateful for the distraction, but the capricious destination wanted that in the restaurant chosen by Drew Coltrain and his ancient fiancée were.

  - I feel it, it was not known that they were going to come here - Drew apologized when they saw them, a few tables further away.

  - Do not worry - said to him she-, anyhow, I have to see them every day in the Hospital.

  - Now when you speak of " of seeing them "... I have heard that the two avoid you.

  - It must be that I provoke them some class of allergy - she restored, trying to take importance from him-. I never manage to find Dana when I have to ask him about something, and Coltrain only speaks to me when he has to speak with me about some patient. You do not know how many desires I have from that the first of January comes, Drew ..., because, with all my respects towards you, every day I regret having accepted more this work.

  Drew outlined a sad smile.

  - I am sorry to have put you in this berenjenal. The things have not gone out exactly as I was waiting.

  - To what do you refer?-inquirió Lou.

  Drew took a water gulp and was hoarse to clarify to him the gullet.

  - Since the truth is that he was hoping that Copper should see in you what he has not managed to find in any other woman. You are a very special person, Lou, and he in some aspects also it is. In end, it seemed to me that you might be related spirits.

  Lou breathed heavily with irony.

  - Related spirits? We are like the night and the day, and we do not bear any more than five minutes without starting discussing for any thing.

  - That, certainly, has remained clear - Drew spluttered, twisting the gesture-. Oh ... oh ... more complications...

  Lou continued the direction of his look. A determined Nickie decked with a garment that he could not have left more exact, and whose neckline almost was coming to him to the bellybutton, was dragging an alarmed intern to the table contiguous to that of Coltrain and It damages.

  - Nickie is going to bother her ...-Lou murmured, observing the dangerous sheen that glared in the eyes of Coltrain to the verla-. If he believes that Coltrain is going to leave to him that I mounted an escenita to his coast it is very wrong. Any minute now he will get up and leave.

  And, I joust as he had predicted it, it happened: Coltrain, with face of few friends, got up and left the restaurant after paying, leaving open-mouthed Nickie, and with Dana following with difficulty his strides. Drew allowed to escape a hiss for the low thing and looked at his friend admired.

  - Go, you know it very well - he said to him.

  - I take one year suffering it. He should not feel a pity of him, but I cannot avoid it. Imagine to be chased by two women.

  Drew did not add that in reality there was a third sitting next to you that undoubtedly also was lodging feelings for him, not that Coltrain had been observing her furtively since they were coming. Nevertheless, of the three, Lou was the only one who was not harassing it shamelessly.

  - Poor person Nickie - it murmured-. It will be late in be restoring of this.

  - I already warned him that it was too aggressive - mentioned Lou --. It is a sorrow: such a young girl... I suppose that yet he has not realized that the way easiest to lose a man is to chase it without rest.

  - Or not to chase it by no means - Drew pointed with the whole intention.

  Lou lifted the face towards his friend with the pursed lips, but on having seen the mocking smile in his face could not get angry with him.

  - You are impossible, Drew - he said to him laughing.

  - My wife was saying the same thing - he answered between laughs also. Good: and what are you going to do?.

  - With regard to what?

  - With regard to Copper.

  - Absolutely not at all - answered she with steadfastness-. When they finish the Christmastime I will return to Austin and Nickie and It damages they will be able to fight to taste.

  Drew arched an eyebrow and outlined a mysterious smile while it was taking the water glass up to his mouth.

  - Do you know?, I do not know why, but it gives me the impression of which you will never leave this city.

  On Saturday morning, the insistent noise of the stamp of the door woke up Lou. Way slept and with the in a mess hair, color bone put itself on his robe of sateen and it went to open.

  On having verified about whom it was talking each other itself and the form in which it was dressed, one rubbed the eyes for if still it was not awake. There of foot Coltrain was, with a jacket lined with lamb, shirt of pictures, jeans, and a sombrero tejano in the hand.

  - Are they rolling a new series that is called " The doctor Cowboy ", or something like that? - he asked him.

&
nbsp; - very graceful - he answered him without smiling at least-. I have to speak with you.

  Lou opened the door completely.

  - Oh, skylight, raisin. Do you want to have breakfast also? - he said to him with irony.

  - Thank you, with a cup of coffee and a few toasts it will be enough - he answered. It entered and went to the kitchen.

  Lou closed the eyes strongly, pressed the teeth to drown a groan of frustration and, closing the door, was after him. Coltrain had left the sombrero on the table of the kitchen, the jacket in a chair and was putting water in the coffee pot as if the house was his. Giving up having a discussion with so early him, Lou extracted of the larder the sliced bread and the margarine of the icebox, and put a pair of toasts.

  Meanwhile the coffee was doing, Coltrain observed her moving for the small kitchen while it was putting the tablecloth, the cups, the teaspoons. Neither Lou could avoid to throw some furtive looks. Coltrain had sat down in the chair where it had hung the jacket, in balance on the rear paws, with the support against the wall, and had the top of the boot rested on the crossbar of the table.

  It seemed bad-tempered, but simultaneously it was devilishly nice. In the position in the one that was, the cloth of the jeans was stretched, marking every line of his muscular legs, and with the hair a little disheveled by the sombrero and the first buttons of the shirt unfastened, almost he was looking like another man different from the efficient but touchy doctor.

  - Here you have - Lou said, putting ahead a plate with the toasts.

  One fited Coltrain and started smearing them with margarine parsimoniosamente.

  Lou put another two slices of bread in the toaster, extinguished the coffee pot, and put it also in the table, taking seat opposite to his unexpected visitor.

  - Good, you will say - it urged it, so that he was saying to him about what he wanted to speak.

  Coltrain served himself the coffee, added a pinch of milk, and lifted the face towards her.

  - I have not had anything in common with the incorporation of Dana ... - he said to him - in case you should think it.

  - This is not my matter.

  - I know it - he agreed. It drank a gulp of coffee and gave a bite to one of the toasts-. Nickie and It Damages they are starting turning into a nuisance - he confessed him unexpectedly.

  - Only it might irritate you that two attractive women compete for your attentions - she pointed sharply.

  Coltrain half-closed the eyes.

  - "Irritating" is not the word - he answered-. I sit down as if it was the stud of the month.

  Lou broke in guffaws, but on having seen the furious expression in the face of Coltrain, stopped laughing immediately.

  - Oh!, he excuses ... - it stammered for aplacarlo-. It has been for the way in which you have said it.

  - Since he was not trying to do a pleasantry - he spluttered.

  - Not, skylight that not - she hurried to answer, getting up and taking his toasts to the table-. I suppose that it must be difficult, especially if, as they say, it is true that chase you for the hospital while you are working.

  - Good, I believe that you also are having some problems - he pointed.

  - In certain way - Lou agreed-: I never find Dana when I need it. Probably because, one of two: or it is very busy you chasing or believes that I have slightly contagious and he flees of me.

  - And I suppose that you will agree in that this cannot be still like that - Coltrain said to him.

  - Of course - she assured him, while she was smearing his toasts-. but as soon as I have gone away, sure that the things will calm down.

  The doctor frowned.

  - He believed that we had agreed that in the end you were remaining - he said.

  Lou laughed with incredulity.

  - What? - it pierced him-. We have never agreed anything of that. I gave you my letter of resignation. If really you broke it, it is your problem.

  Coltrain under the sight to his coffee, thoughtful.

  - He was thinking that you were not saying it seriously ... - it murmured-, that thing about to leave. In fact, I had forgotten that letter completely.

  - Incredible - she spluttered-. You have a memory so ... opportune. I do not manage to forget what you said to Drew by phone that day: and do not you remember anything that I gave you in writing?

  The features of Coltrain were tightened.

  - He could not imagine that you were listening.

  - Oh, and arranges that everything: not? - she pierced with marked irony.

  Coltrain spent to himself a hand for the hair, uncomfortably.

  - Drew's call caught me in a bad moment - he answered-. It was finishing of diagnosing leukemia to a child. You are medical and you believe that every day it does you more it will be, but things since that one destroy you. It is not just. This child would have to have a heap of happy and unconcerned years ahead, and on the other hand ... - the voice broke him-. And in addition on the same morning it had received a letter of my father asking me for money.

  Lou gathered the bridge of the nose.

  - It was not known that your parents still were living.

  - My mother not, died ten years ago - answered he-, but my father lives still, in Tucson. He devotes himself to the taming of horses, but his love to the game loses it, and whenever it is with the water to the neck it resorts to me so that it extracts it of the predicament - he said in a tone of absolute scorn.

  - This is quite what you mean for him: a way of obtaining money when it gets into debt?-inquirió she with a pity.

  - It is the only thing that I have meant for him in all my life - Coltrain answered, lifting his blue eyes towards her-. Can you imagine who I got in the world of the theft and the looting when I was not any more than an adolescent? On having been under-age, you do not go to the jail, and that's why it was doing that I was carrying the material theft out, the hands got dirty - he added-. It was clear that we were not doing it here in Jacobsville ..., oh, not, it was necessary to keep the appearances. We were going to Houston, and to other places. And was it important for him perhaps that they were sending me to correctional? Not, surely not. It was always anxious for that it was going out to recapture the "business".

  Lou was listening to his stampede.

  - They should have arrested it!

  - Oh, finally did it - answered Coltrain-. The cake was discovered and they ordered it to the jail. It was there one year, but then it went out for good conductaza. When they caught it, I was fifteen years old, and they sent me to a center of reception for boys without family, I went to the institute, and to a little time I started studying Medicine. During these years it did not have news lagoon of him, and practically I forgot the past, but it seems that my father also, because since I graduated and began to working, it seems that he does not see any motive for the one that could not ask me for money whenever it avenges him in desire.

  - a pity that we could not choose our parents ...-murmured Lou.

  - Amen - answered he-. This was another reason for the one that was angered the day that Drew called me to ask me if it was not important for me that it was asking you to go out. And then, when I saw you with him in the charitable dinner, I was irritated by very much that you were leaving that it was taking you of the hand, and that you him were smiling, when whenever I was approaching you were separating you as if it had the pest.

  Lou had never imagined that he had realized that one his reactions. It was ironic that had interpreted them as a sign of rejection towards him, when in reality they owed to an attraction so strong that you grieve it could control her.

  - The fault partly was yours - said to him she-. From the beginning you made very clear me that our relation would be exclusively of work.

  - Yes, but that was not meaning that you had to treat me as to a leper - he answered, but it already not seemed angry. In fact, on having finished the phrase, it outlined a smile and his eyes were shining-. I hope he had never said these so terrible things to Drew and you h
ad not listened to me, Lou - he said to him-. I felt so ashamed about me same when you said to me that you wanted to leave.

  - I believed that I would make you happy - she restored, lowering the alarmed sight.

  " to make him happy " ·... The one that had used this expression did not leave doubts to Coltrain of what he was feeling for him, and gave him renewed hopes. During all those months it had had certain suspicions that his assistant did not hate it as was saying, but he had not been sure until the day in which it kissed her in the holiday. But: how to convince her so that it was not leaving? Meanwhile his blue eyes were studying the delicate feminine features, a crazy idea crossed for his mind.

  - Do you know? - it murmured-. he was thinking that perhaps, if you and I should commit ourselves, It Damages and Nickie would give up.

  Lou was not sure of having heard well.

  - It does not have grace - he said to him, reddening. It put itself of foot and gave him the back.

  Nevertheless, Coltrain got up also, and before she could react, surrounded the waist from behind and attracted her towards yes. Lou put his hands on those of him, in a gesture of separating them, but they stayed firm concerning his narrow waist, and it could notice the rough respiration of the doctor against his neck, and since his breast was rising and was going down, pressed against his back.

  - Do not you believe that it is already time of that we stop denying the clear thing? - he asked him with hoarse voice-. I know that you are won the love of me. All this time I have pretended not to realize, but the two we know that this is the motive for which you want to leave.

  Stuned how is life for being between his arms, Lou was unable to think a restored biting, or at least one with which to save the appearances.

  - To avoid the topic will not solve anything.

  - I not ... I did not think that you could go so far as to realize ... - Lou stammered, swallowing sage, with small pride that he had left made bits.

  The strong arms of Coltrain pressed it more against yes.

  - you do not have to worry - it whispered-, we are going to put remedy to this.