A Doctor's Watch

by Taylor, Vickie

  Todd wasn’t the only one who needed some time to process.

  She cleared her throat. “Not that you aren’t welcome to camp out in my kitchen as long as you want to…but don’t you have a home to go to?”

  “Yeah, if you call a studio apartment full of secondhand furniture a home. Not that I’m there much anyway.”

  “Uncle Karl’s working you like a dog, huh?”

  “Dogs live like kings compared to me.”

  She smiled at that. He did a good puppy-dog face.

  He walked toward the back door and she followed him. At the counter, he stopped, took a pen from the desk set by the phone and scribbled something on a message pad.

  When he straightened to leave, she got choked up again. Maybe she didn’t really want to be alone.

  “Ty—Dr. Hansen—” she corrected, and took a deep breath. “Thank you.”

  The strength and warmth of his arms wrapping around her took her by surprise, as did the musky male smell.

  It had been a long time since she’d smelled a man up close. She breathed deeply and let the scent of him fill her senses.

  “You’re welcome,” he murmured in her ear, squeezing her gently.

  He broke off the hug as suddenly as he’d initiated it, and crammed the note he’d scribbled on into her hand.

  “What is it?” she asked, spreading the crumpled paper.

  “My cell phone. Call me if you need me. Anytime.”

  Ty woke in the dark to an insistent chirping from his bedside table. His first thought was to throw his arm over there and kill whatever critter was making that racket.

  His second was that he hoped he hadn’t wrecked his cell phone playing Whac-A-Mole with it.

  He finally got a firm hand on it and squinted to see the number on the caller ID. Making out the digits, a moment of panic punched him square in the gut.

  He flipped the phone open. “Mia, are you all right?”

  “I’m fine,” she answered quietly. “Well…not fine, really. But okay, considering.”

  He glanced at the clock. “Then why are you calling me at 3:00 a.m.?”

  “You said anytime.”

  He flopped back onto his pillow, his free hand flung out to his side. “Yes, I did.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll let you go back to sleep.”

  “No, wait.” He had told her to call. Besides, there was something incredibly sexy about lying in the dark, naked under cool sheets with a woman who turned you on like no other whispering in your ear. Her voice was low and husky, sleepy. He’d bet money she was lying in bed, too.

  If he closed his eyes and laid the phone on the pillow, he could almost imagine she was here.

  He scrubbed a hand over his face and tried to rally his thoughts. “I’m sorry. I’m just not a morning person.”

  “Or a middle-of-the-night person, apparently.”

  “Yeah. What’s going on, Mia?”

  “I was thinking about what you said.”

  “What did I say?”

  “About having to wait for Todd to come to me. I think you’re right. But if he won’t talk to me, he still needs to talk to someone. He was so mad. He can’t just keep that all bottled up inside. So I had an idea.”

  He waited for the other shoe to fall.

  “As long as you’re going to be seeing me—professionally I mean—you could see Todd, too.”

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, Mia. There are other doctors who specialize in kids.”

  “Not around here, there aren’t.”

  Christ.

  She was right, though. Based on what he’d seen tonight, the kid should be seeing someone, just to make sure he came through this okay.

  “Has he seen someone in the past?”

  “Yes. Nana had him work with a therapist after I tried…After I was hospitalized in California. But it was an older woman, and she said Todd didn’t seem to care for her much. He misses his dad so much. He needs more than a doctor. He needs a man in his life. Someone he can talk guy stuff with.”

  Bam! There came that other shoe.

  The problem was, once again she was probably right.

  “I don’t know if it will work. Right now the whole problem is that he’s mad at you. Once he knows I’m your doctor, too, he’ll most likely be just as mad at me by association.”

  “It’s worth a try, though, isn’t it? We have to try something.”

  He threw a wrist over his eyes. “Yeah, we do.”

  Even if it inevitably brought him even closer to Mia Serrat.

  What the hell. He was going to be seeing her regularly anyhow. In for a penny, in for a pound.

  In a week’s time, Ty had settled into a comfortable routine in the Serrat household. He had driven over three times in the evenings for sessions with Mia. At least they called them sessions. Honestly, the woman just didn’t need his doctorly skills. She was worried about her son, sure, but she was coping. There hadn’t been any hint of further lapses in her contact with reality.

  Following the routine they’d started at the hospital, they usually walked as they talked. After about ten minutes, the “therapy” generally drifted toward more popular concerns—movies, music, books. Their tastes varied wildly. He tended toward The Simpsons while she favored Seinfeld reruns. He liked country, she listened to alternative rock. He read mostly textbooks, while she devoured thrillers.

  Come to think of it, he really should discourage that particular reading choice for her.

  The one thing they had in common was that they made each other smile. Sometimes, he even managed to make her laugh. It was getting easier being around her. There was something to be said for being able to spend time with a woman he liked without the yoke of a relationship hanging around his neck.

  She was his patient. There could never be anything more than friendship between them, so there was no pressure.

  Unfortunately there was also no touching, kissing or sex but hey, a guy couldn’t have everything, could he?

  After their walks Mia would make a point of inviting him to dinner, and at a convenient point after the meal, find an excuse to slip away, leaving him with Todd.

  So far, the kid was skittish as a wild horse. As soon as Ty got too close, he ran away. Tonight held a glimmer of promise, though. Todd’s favorite TV show was on, and Ty had planted himself directly in front of the only television in the house. Nana and Mia had made themselves scarce.

  “You really like this stuff?” Ty nodded toward the TV set just as Homer Simpson let out a loud “Doh!”

  Todd shrugged. “It’s okay. You can change the channel if you want.”

  “No, that’s okay.”

  Todd picked at the arm of his chair. “You don’t have to pretend to want to watch TV with me, you know. I know what you are. A psychiatrist.”

  Sharp kid. Takes after his mother.

  “You’ve seen psychiatrists before, haven’t you?”

  He made a face. “Dr. Sandstrom. She was boring. Are you my mom’s psychiatrist?”

  “Yep.”

  “So how come you’re always over here, like eating dinner and stuff?”

  “I like it here.” He rubbed his belly. “Your mom’s a good cook.”

  “When she’s here,” Todd muttered.

  Ty shrugged. Neither one of them was ready to go down that path yet. “So what was wrong with Dr. Sandstrom that made her boring?”

  “She always just wanted to talk and stuff. Or get me to draw pictures.” He screwed up his face. “With crayons, like a little kid!”

  “Yeah, I can see how that would get old. What do you like to do if you don’t like to draw?”

  “Play video games.”

  “Awesome. Me, too. What’ve you got?”

  “Lots of things. Land of Legends is my favorite. I kick butt at that one. My high score is over two million.”

  “No way!”

  “Uh-huh.” He looked skeptically at Ty and Ty held his breath.

  “Wanna see?” Todd ask
ed.

  “You bet.” He breathed, a weight off his chest. He had the kid hooked. Now all he had to do was reel him in.

  Mia listened to the sounds of rockets exploding, missiles whistling through the air and bone-crunching collisions coming from Todd’s room until she could barely contain herself. Ty and Todd were playing, and from the sound of it, were engaged in full-scale, no-holds-barred warfare punctuated by the occasional gleeful “Gotcha!” or moan of defeat. Or childish laugh.

  She’d never heard anything so beautiful.

  When Ty finally emerged, she cornered him on the front porch. “So? How’d it go?”

  “Great. I scored 1,737,292. Unfortunately, Todd scored 1,899,267.” He shook his head. “Damn, the kid is good.”

  She made an exasperated sound and crossed her arms over her chest. “I wasn’t asking who won the war.”

  He started down the steps toward his car. “We played video games, Mia, that’s it. It’s going to take time. If I pressure him for more now, I’ll scare him off. Be patient.”

  She chewed on her lip. “Patience has never been my strong suit.”

  He rolled his head around to look at her as he unlocked the door to his Volkswagen. “I never would have guessed.”

  “Maybe I know a way to speed things up. One of Todd’s favorite things to do with his dad when we came to visit here in the wintertime was to go sledding. Maybe if you’re not busy this weekend, we could head out to the park on Mayborne Road. The one with the big hill.”

  He folded his body up into the tiny car. “I’ll have to see if I can get away from the hospital.”

  She winked at him. “I have some pull with the director. Seriously, I don’t think Todd will go if it’s just me and him, but if you ask him…”

  “I’ll try,” he conceded. To tell the truth, she’d had him at sledding. Her body snuggled up tight against him, his arms and legs wrapped around hers. What was not to like?

  Chapter 9

  Ty stopped by the hospital early Saturday morning to drop off some notes for Dr. Raymond, who was covering his shift so Ty could make his sledding date. He instantly regretted the decision. On top of the stack of files and forms in his mail slot was a pink message slip with a terse message to check in with Dr. Serrat as soon as he arrived.

  Crap. What was the Kaiser doing in on a Saturday anyway?

  He trudged upstairs. The director stood at a bay window looking out at the landscape as if he’d been waiting on him.

  “Do you know a sheriff’s deputy named Campbell?”

  “Chuck? Sure, why?”

  “Do you know why he would be making inquiries into my family’s business?” He sounded like he was talking without opening his lips. No doubt the old man was pissed.

  “Not really.”

  “Then let me fill you in. He said he was investigating a possible attempted murder. On Mia Serrat. Do you have any idea how he might have gotten the idea that my niece’s incidents were anything other than paranoid delusions?”

  “Ah, I asked him to come and talk to Mia when she was here. I thought it might help her to—”

  “He was asking questions about Mia’s financial status,” the Kaiser cut in, leaning forward across his desk. “His implications were clear.”

  As were Uncle Karl’s. The menace in his glare was unmistakable. Don’t mess with the Serrat family.

  Ty swallowed hard. “I—I’m sure Deputy Campbell’s questions were just routine.”

  Karl’s chair creaked as he sat back, appraised Ty. A sweat popped on the back of Ty’s neck, but he didn’t flinch under the old man’s scrutiny.

  “Actually the deputy was quite correct in his concern,” Karl said.

  Ty blinked. “He was?”

  “Sam Serrat was quite the entrepreneur. He made a small fortune doing computer graphics and animation in California. He did work for Spielberg, Scorsese…all the big names. Of course Mia inherited all that money when Sam died.”

  “And if something happened to Mia?” Ty asked, intrigued, and yet wary of the direction this conversation had taken.

  “Everything would be held in trust for Todd.”

  Ty’s thoughts circled around that, not sure what to make of it until Karl continued.

  “And just to be sure we understand each other on this matter, you should know that I am named in Mia’s will to manage the trust for the boy, should anything happen to her.”

  Ty’s thoughts quit circling and fell flat into the pit of his stomach.

  Crap.

  Karl enunciated pointedly. His blue eyes sat like chips of ice in the hollows of his weathered face. “Do you think I would kill my niece-in-law to get control of her money? Do you think I would steal that money from my own grand-nephew, just a boy?”

  Ty lowered his gaze. “No. Of course not.”

  Silence sat between them for a long moment.

  “Then in the future, I’d appreciate it if you’d restrict your treatment plans to the confines of medicine, Doctor.”

  The warning in the director’s tone set Ty back. He took a deep breath and dropped the defense he had been about to shoot back. “Yes, sir. I’ll talk to Deputy Campbell.”

  “See that you do.”

  The Kaiser seemed momentarily appeased. Ty stood to leave, but before he made his escape Dr. Serrat stopped him. “How is Mia by the way?” His tone had softened from harsh to merely gruff.

  “She’s doing well.”

  “I understand you’re seeing Todd now, too.”

  “Just informally. Mia was worried about him, asked me to get a read on how he’s handling all this.”

  Karl Serrat scratched his chin. “Yes, that’s probably a good idea. But I understand you’re taking them sledding this morning. Do you think that’s wise?”

  “Actually they’re taking me. Both of them have negative histories with mental-health professionals. I seem to get more accomplished with them outside of the clinical setting.”

  Karl considered, then spoke, his voice cold. “Just be careful, Doctor. An ethics inquiry at this juncture in your career could severely limit your future in the medical profession.”

  Message received, director. One more trip wire in the minefield. The warning was clear. Stay the hell away from my niece. “Thanks for the reminder.”

  He stopped by his office long enough to call Chuck, but got voice mail, then took off. He’d have to hurry to make it to Eternal in time to meet Mia and Todd.

  He needn’t have worried. They were fifteen minutes late. By the time they arrived at the sledding hill—he’d figured meeting them there made it look like more of an appointment and less of a date than driving together—Todd was already ruddy-cheeked and breathless.

  The boy high-fived him enthusiastically when he bounced out of his mom’s SUV covered from head to toe in winter wear.

  “All set, kiddo?” he laughed.

  “This is going to be so cool.” Todd could hardly stand still while Ty pulled out the sled. Seconds later, the kid was pulling him up the hill, then he was zooming down the slope on an old-fashioned wooden sled with twin runners, trying to steer with his feet and hold one wriggling, squealing boy on with his arms.

  Snow whipped into his eyes and down his shirt. His gloves became ice mitts. His toes were numb, and he was loving every minute of it. This outing, and the dinners at the Serrat house, were supposed to be about Mia and Todd, but he was getting as much out of the meetings as they were. Every day, every hour, he spent out of the hospital, out from under Karl Serrat’s heavy watch, the tension slipped away from him. Weight was lifted from his shoulders and he found himself smiling more, even laughing.

  Especially today. Each trip down the hill they averted near disaster and Ty arrived at a safe stop laughing and sputtering only to be dragged back to the starting point by Todd.

  After about the sixth trip, Ty was huffing. Todd wasn’t even winded.

  Ty looked back up the hill at Mia, standing at the top and stomping her feet. “How about you and your mo
m go this time? I’ll take a little break and try out that hot chocolate she brought for us.”

  Todd kicked at the snow. “Maybe I’ll have some chocolate, too.”

  “Don’t worry, I’ll save you some. Come on, your mom hasn’t had a turn.” Ty figured this was as good a time as any. “You still mad at her?”

  The kid shrugged.

  “Hey, that whole thing with the hospital was my fault, you know.”

  Todd looked up at him suspiciously.

  “She could’ve been hurt falling down that hill, and I was worried about her. I conned her into staying for a few days. Just so I could make sure she was okay.” Pretending his boot laces needed retying, he bent down to Todd’s level. “I mean, you’d want to make sure she was okay, too, right?”

  “I guess.”

  He straightened up. “Turns out she’s fine, so why don’t you go take a ride down the hill with her?”

  The look of pure longing on Todd’s face as he stared up the hill at his mom was enough to tug at the strings of the toughest heart. He was close, so close.

  But not quite ready yet. “Nah,” he said.

  “All right,” Ty said, and took the rope to the sled from Todd’s hand and started up the hill. “You don’t want to ride with her, I will.”

  Mia smiled as she watched her son and Ty march back up the hill covered in white powder. “You want some chocolate now?” she offered when they reached the top.

  “Nope.” Ty took the thermos from her outstretched hand and gave it to Todd. “It’s your turn.”

  “Oh, no. I’m not going down the hill on that contraption.” She started to back up. “You boys just keep—”

  Ty grabbed her around the waist and swung her toward the sled. “Shh,” he said, and cut a look toward a perplexed-looking Todd. “Sit.”

  She did as she was told, still trying to figure out what Ty was up to, but understanding from his look that now was not the time to ask.

  She settled onto the front of the sled and Ty lowered his long body into place behind her. His arms wrapped securely around her waist and the insides of his legs brushed the outside of hers, keeping all her limbs aboard. All in all, the sensation was quite pleasant, even if she shouldn’t have noticed.