Yet he’d added another strand to his already-twisted life. He could become dependent on Shay. He’d feared she might want more when he should’ve been worried about himself. Would Shay consider a real relationship with him? A long-distance one? Why would she? Hadn’t she had that with her husband? That had turned out bitterly. Hadn’t his past proven he wasn’t good with letting people in? Shay wouldn’t accept half measures. She’d be nuts to take a chance on him. He sure wouldn’t. But if he were different...
What if he slowed down? Realigned his priorities. Faced his insecurities. Could he capture this feeling forever? Maybe deserve Shay and happiness.
Going into the kitchen, he located what he needed to get a meal together. Even being in this simple home with its history gave him a sense of satisfaction, belonging. This world, the pace, was light-years different than his norm. It soothed his disappointments and fears. Just like the Mississippi River he and Shay had picnicked by, his anxieties had eased under the slow flow of living where people cared and showed it. Getting ahead wasn’t everything here: people mattered. He would soak this up while he could, then hold on to it as long as he could in the days ahead.
He flipped the frying bacon and put bread in the toaster, then he sensed he wasn’t alone. Turning with spatula in hand, he found Shay dressed in a thin housecoat standing in the doorway watching him. The soft smile she wore punched him in the gut. He was falling for her.
She held her nose up as if sniffing the air. “Hey, I had no idea you cooked. What you have in your kitchen certainly doesn’t show that.”
He held up the spatula. “I wouldn’t make fun of the man fixing your breakfast. He might not share.”
“I wasn’t making fun. I was just surprised to hear you in here.” She walked toward him.
“Did I wake you? I didn’t mean to.”
“No. I’ve been awake for a few minutes. It’s nice to hear someone else in the house. It’s usually too quiet.”
“So, what you’re saying is I’m being too noisy?”
“Not at all.” She stopped just short of touching him. “What I’m telling you is it’s nice to wake up knowing you are here.”
Matt moved the pan off the burner and set the spatula on the counter. He turned back to her and scooped her into his arms, giving her a tender kiss. She had no idea what it meant to him to feel like he was enough just as he was for someone.
Shay clung to him as he slowly let her down to stand on her own feet. Her gaze locked with his. Warm contentment filled her eyes. They stood there for a while just looking at each other. Something had happened between them last night that he couldn’t put a name to or maybe didn’t want to. Whatever it was would bind him to Shay forever even after he had gone. Suddenly his new job and his life ahead didn’t hold the same appeal they previously had.
Yet he’d made a commitment to the hospital in Chicago. There was his career to consider. How could he be the best if he didn’t work in a major metropolitan city with a well-respected teaching university hospital affiliated with it. What he’d wanted and dreamed of was elsewhere. Everything but Shay.
Real life couldn’t and wouldn’t include Shay and mornings like this. That thought shook him. He looked away and stepped out of her arms. “I better get you fed.”
Looking perplexed, Shay pulled the belt on her robe tighter as if protecting herself. He hadn’t intended to hurt her. He just needed a minute to process his shaky emotions. He smiled. “Want to help?”
Her expression brightened. “Sure.”
Together they finished preparing the meal and sat at the table as sunlight streamed in on them. The scene was almost too perfect.
With their food eaten, Shay said, “Leave the dishes. Let’s go out to the front porch and drink our coffee. This is the best part of the day.”
Matt wasn’t sure how she determined that. Any time of the day with her seemed wonderful to him.
For the next half an hour, they rocked and sipped from their mugs. He’d never done something like it before. None of the women he had been interested in would have settled for something so sedate. Hell, he wouldn’t have. Shay and her world brought serenity to his.
Shay couldn’t be more beautiful. She’d half pinned her hair up on her head. The other half fell down around her face in the most appealing way. She still wore only the robe. One foot she had tucked under her, while with the other she pushed the rocker with her big toe.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you how your legs were feeling?”
When he didn’t say anything, her gaze met his. Her eyes widened slightly in question.
He must have looked like a lovestruck sap. Love? Was that what he felt? His chest tightened. Loving someone would make him vulnerable. Not having Shay’s love could crush him. Did she or could she love him? Did she want to? He wouldn’t go there. Instead, he’d enjoy what they had here and now and not expect more. If he did, he might be disappointed. For so long he’d felt he didn’t measure up. It would destroy him if he disappointed Shay.
“I haven’t thought much about them. I’ve had other things on my mind.”
She smirked. “How about thinking about them? Do they itch?”
“After our hot bath I noticed them. The aloe helps.”
She stood, took his hand, leading him into the house and to the bedroom that had started out as his. “Come in and lie on the bed so I can give those ankles a good look.”
He flopped back on the bed, bringing his legs up so she could see them.
“There doesn’t seem to be any more swelling.” Shay studied the welts and gently touched a few spots.
“They don’t hurt anymore.” He waited until her gaze met his.
“You must’ve had good medical care.” Her eyes twinkled.
“Tell me, Doctor, is this the kind of care all your patients receive?”
Shay stepped closer to him and said in a syrupy voice, “Oh, no, you’re special.”
He took her hand and tugged her down on the bed beside him. “That’s good to hear. I’d be upset if it was for anyone else but me.” He lightly brushed her breast and was rewarded with a catch in her breathing. “I’m thinking I might need more special attention.”
Shay giggled. It sounded sweet, like a breeze through a wind chime. Despite what life had handed her she still looked forward to the possibilities ahead. She hadn’t become bitter as he had. He admired that about her.
She smiled that special smile he’d seen her give only him. The peace she created in him settled over him again.
“We could stay here.” She brushed her hand up and down his arm. “But I was thinking we could go swimming.”
He hadn’t seen a pool. The river wouldn’t be wise. “Where?”
“In the pond.”
“The pond?”
She stood and pulled on his hand. “Sure. Why not?”
“I’ve never swum in a pond before.”
“Then you haven’t been hot enough to swim wherever you can.”
He grinned suggestively. “Oh, I’ve been hot enough.”
A touch of pink rose in her cheeks. “You say things like that to get a reaction out of me.”
Matt shrugged. “Maybe so but the reward is getting to see how cute you look when I tease you.”
She gave him a quick kiss. “Let’s go for that swim. It’s almost noon and plenty warm enough.” Shay popped off the bed.
“I didn’t bring my suit,” he called as she left the room.
“Who needs a suit?” She let the screen door slam.
Matt laughed. Yeah, who needs a suit?
* * *
Shay wasn’t sure what had gotten into her. She had never been known as a free spirit. The idea of going skinny dipping, especially with a man in broad daylight, had gone way beyond her usual comfort zone. But it had felt so good. Liberating. How long had she lived under the ex
pectations of others? Or those she put on herself? Far too long.
To make matters worse she’d had sex under the sun beside the pond. She’d taken all that repressed sexual desire and let it out into the world as if it were confetti. Now she stretched across her bed. Matt lay sleeping on his stomach next to her. They’d returned to the house and had a simple lunch and decided on a nap. That had turned into slow, sensuous and spine-tingling sex before sleep took them.
She would have never imagined how much her life would have changed in just a few weeks. It was as if she’d been a firefly captured in a jar, blinking and living, a part of a group of other captured fireflies, then along came Matt, who opened the top and let her out into the world again. She wouldn’t be going back into that jar.
Brushing her hand over Matt’s back, she watched as the one eye she could see opened. “I hate to wake you, but it’s getting late. We need to head to Jackson.”
Matt moaned. “Do we have to?”
“We do.” She kissed his shoulder and climbed out of bed.
An hour later they drove out the drive toward the main road and beyond the bubble of pleasure they’d created for them alone. She’d always had a sense of sadness when she left the farm. This time it was deeper. Her hours there had been perfect. The old house where her grandparents had been happy now held the same memories for her.
Somehow, she’d found herself again. Or maybe found the person she was meant to be. Matt had made her feel special. Not for being the head cheerleader, who became a doctor, who married the town hero, but cherished for the woman inside. Matt had given her a rare gift. One she would forever treasure.
Carrying around the knowledge that John, who she’d believed for most of her life would always be her one and only, then to learn she wasn’t enough for him, had colored her entire world. Matt appreciated everything about her. He’d become her lover, but more importantly he was her friend.
He had only a few more weeks with her and she planned to make the most of them because it might be all the time they ever had. They might be from different worlds, yet they had collided and created something wonderful for a time. She intended to snatch every precious second while she could and hold it tight.
Even though her life remained under a microscope, she wouldn’t give up Matt while she could have him. If a fling was what she could have then a fling would be what she would accept. There was nothing like the feeling of being desired. It had been so long since she had been, that the idea she was, and by someone as wonderful as Matt, had her dreaming of more. For too long she’d not been held in a man’s arms much less kissed into oblivion. To have that now was a heady feeling. One she wasn’t willing to give up until she had to.
Matt placed a hand on her shoulder, his fingers sliding under her hair to caress her neck. “Shay, when we get back to town, I’ll understand if you want to keep what happened between us quiet. I know things sort of got out of control between us. I never want to hurt you.”
Her chest tightened. “Is this your great sex but I’m moving on speech? If it is, save it. I’m a big girl. I can see about my own heart.”
His fingers stilled. “Hell, that’s not at all what I’m saying. Don’t put words in my mouth.”
“Then what are you trying to say?”
Matt sighed. She held her breath, waiting for him to speak.
“What I’m saying, poorly apparently, is that I care about you and that I want to see you as much and as often as possible until it’s time for me to leave. Then I’d like for us to still see each other when we can.”
Shay let her breath go. She looked at Matt in the dimming light of the day as her heart flew. “I want that too.”
Matt smiled and returned to rubbing her neck.
She looked back at the road, then braked sharply.
* * *
Matt’s look jerked to the road. Ahead of them a large piece of farm machinery lay half in the ditch at an odd angle with two of its wheels in the air. It was the only bump in the flat, wide field filled with white cotton hanging on the plant.
“Something’s wrong.” Shay’s voice sent a sense of foreboding down his spine.
“How do you know?”
“I don’t see anyone. No one would leave a cotton combine resting like that. They’re top-heavy especially when full. We need to stop and make sure everything is all right.”
She pulled quickly to the shoulder where the exposed underbelly of the machine showed it was still running. They both got out.
She cautiously moved forward, yelling above the sound of the engine. “Hey, is anybody here?”
Matt started around to the other side. Shay caught his arm. “Careful, this monster is really leaning.”
Making a wide circle around the machine beside Shay, he studied the ground around the machine for a body. A large clear door hung open with a corner stuck in the ground.
“Matt,” she gasped as she gripped his arm. “There’s someone under it. Rick Stokes, is that you?” There was no answer. The machine creaked. She started forward then came to a stop. “If this falls it’ll crush us all.”
Matt paused a moment to think. The guy needed their help, but they’d be no good to him if they got hurt. “Move the car parallel to it on this side. If it starts down, it’ll be supported by the car, leaving us space to get out.”
She looked unsure for a moment as she studied the situation but left him without a word. Moments later she pulled her car off the road near where he stood. He directed her into position.
Shay left the headlights on and turned on the emergency lights. Red flashed around them. Seconds later she was out of the car, carrying her medical bag. She hurried to the young man. “Rick?” She went down beside the man.
Matt joined them, reaching inside the cab and finding the key to turn off the machine. With that done, it became eerily quiet.
“Help.” The word was but a whisper from the man on the ground.
A whoosh of air came from Shay. “Rick, how long have you been here?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to get home before dark.”
Matt went down on his knees beside Shay. A least that news was positive. Rick hadn’t been there too long. Time would make the difference between saving the man’s legs and having to remove them.
“Shay. Help me. My legs are caught.”
“I’m right here. Just stay calm and keep talking to us.”
Matt moved in closer to her. The ground was damp at Rick’s hips. Matt feared his leg had been cut. Too much blood loss could mean the loss of the leg. He said to Shay, “You call 911. You know where we are better than I do. Tell them we need leg braces. Something to lift this machine off him.”
Shay started punching numbers on her phone.
“Rick, I’m Dr. Matt Chapman, I’m a friend of Dr. Lunsford. I promise we won’t leave you. I’m going to check your heart rate and pulse.” Matt picked up the man’s wrist and found the slow but steady movement of blood. He told those numbers to Shay who relayed them to the EMTs. “Tell them to call in Life Flight.”
“They’ll want to make that call,” Shay stated.
Matt’s eyes locked with hers. “Trust me. Tell them there isn’t time to waste. He needs to get to the closest trauma one hospital in the next hour or lose his legs.”
Turning back to the patient he said, “Rick, can you wiggle your toes?”
“No,” he groaned.
“Try. Any movement is important to know.” Matt worried Rick’s blood flow had been cut off too long.
“I can’t.”
“Okay.” Matt patted his shoulder. “More help will be here soon. Hang in there.”
“Life Flight is on the way.” Shay joined Matt on the ground again with the phone line still open. “And a wrecker.”
“Rick, can you tell us what happened?” He had to keep the man aware. They’d need him to
tell them what he was feeling when they got him out.
“I decided to drive over the ditch instead of going all the way down the field to the road. I wanted to save time.” He took a deep rattling breath.
Matt looked over at Shay’s concerned expression. They needed help soon or they might lose Rick. Not just his legs.
“The ditch was deeper than I thought. A tire came off the ground. I got out. Had to see if I could get unstuck. While I was looking at the tire the combine leaned more. I slipped trying to get away. It caught my legs.”
Matt looked at his watch for the umpteenth time. Where was that emergency crew? All they could do was wait. Precious time was passing. With relief he heard the whine of sirens in the distance. The noise grew louder by the second.
“I hope the wrecker isn’t far behind.” Shay looked in the direction of the noise.
She’d voiced his fear. Without it there wasn’t much they could do.
“I’ll go meet them.” Shay didn’t wait on his response before she crawled out of their protected space.
The noise became deafening, then suddenly stopped. Matt took a moment to retake Rick’s vitals. They weren’t what they should be, but they were holding steady. That wouldn’t continue much longer if they didn’t get him out from under the combine.
The EMTs joined him with Shay right behind them.
One of the EMTs said, “What’s the situation?”
Matt relayed the necessary information. He moved out of the way and let the paramedics go to work. Soon there was an IV line in Rick’s arm.
“Where’s that wrecker?” Matt called to no one in particular.
A male voice outside yelled, “It just pulled up.”
“As the wrecker pulls the machine off him pressure needs to be applied to his legs as the pressure of the machine is release. Another person needs to pull him out while one more handles the IV. We need the board in here and leg braces.”
Taming the Hot-Shot Doc Page 12