When the Cameras Stop Rolling...

by Connie Cox

  The futility of trying to help a family who wouldn’t acknowledge they needed it drew her down. “But, then, that was in a different lifetime.”

  Mark thumped the card. “Do you think they really need this kind of help?”

  “When conditions like anorexia or drug abuse or mental illness happen to teens, they happen to the whole family. A visit to the girl’s family doctor for a check-up won’t be enough. That girl’s hope is that her family doctor has enough influence to convince her parents to take her to a specialist.”

  She gave her niece a little wave, appreciating that Selma had sat quietly throughout the whole drama. Family counseling worked. Her family was proof of that.

  Mark frowned. “We do plenty of referrals in the E.R., usually to the patient’s regular doctor, but I don’t know how many people follow up.”

  “Not enough.” She patted him on the arm. “I’ll get you a handful of cards to distribute when you see a need.”

  Mark rubbed his thumb along the edge of the card he held. “Got any for a more local clinic? The folks who come to my E.R. aren’t likely to drive to this side of town for treatment.”

  “You’d be surprised.” Eva had treated more than one wealthy family, too ashamed of their perceived weaknesses to want anyone in their circle to know. “Our clinic’s street address has nothing to do with quality of treatment.”

  Mark looked chagrined. “That’s not what I meant. I’m trying to be realistic. The kids who go to this school, the people who live in this neighborhood are not going to drive into this part of town for treatment. And the important thing is getting treatment, right? So giving them a resource they’re unlikely to use wouldn’t do them any good, would it?”

  Eva had to concede that point.

  “Hey, Doc?”

  Eva turned toward the sound of the football player’s voice, even as she realized the boy was calling for Mark and not for her.

  “What’s up?”

  The player pointed to the field where Aaron had just bulldozed over a player on the other team. The boy lay flattened, unmoving.

  “I’m on it.”

  Mark hustled off to check on the boy while Eva resisted the temptation to follow him. One doctor per patient was sufficient for diagnosis—as long as it was the right doctor. And Mark was the right doctor for checking out sports injuries.

  “Aunt Eva, why did that girl faint?”

  Eva looked at her beautiful niece. “Because she hasn’t been eating right.”

  “Doesn’t she have food? We have enough. Daddy got paid yesterday and Momma went to the grocery store. We could bring her some.”

  “She has enough food, sweetie.” Honesty was the best policy. Her niece would soon be worried about her own changing body. Now was a good time for this discussion. “She’s worried about gaining weight as she becomes a woman.”

  Her niece looked down at her own slightly plump thighs and pudgy child’s stomach. She would have a growth spurt during the winter if her growing pattern matched her own and her brother’s.

  Selma bit the corner of her cheek. “That cheerleader has pretty blonde hair but she doesn’t have any boobies. She’s not growing up yet.”

  Eva cocked an eyebrow at her niece. “And getting boobies is what happens as we grow up. We start to look like women. Can’t stay little girls all our lives, can we?”

  Selma wiggled her shoulders, probably feeling the straps of her training bra. “I want boobies. Boys like them. Momma says you have to eat right to get them.”

  “Momma’s right, but you want to know a secret about boys?”

  Selma leaned in as if Eva was going to give her the golden key to understanding relationships between the sexes. “Tell me.”

  “Boys like to look at girls’ boobies, but that doesn’t mean they like the girl inside. If a boy really likes the girl inside, he thinks she looks pretty on the outside, no matter what she really looks like.”

  “Like Momma and Daddy? He’s always calling her his hot tamale.”

  Eva thought of her sister-in-law, a woman who had given birth to three children, gaining fifteen extra pounds each time. “Like your momma and daddy.”

  What did Mark like in a woman? Boobs? She hoped so. She had plenty of that. But, then, she needed to believe her own advice.

  And there it was. She and Mark had plenty of physical chemistry but was there anything else?

  She really knew very little about him and every time he opened his mouth it was obvious he knew nothing about her.

  Libido was a terrible thing to have when it had nowhere to go.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  THE NEXT TIME Eva saw Mark, the game was over and he was offering to walk her to the parking lot.

  “Sure. Why not?” Her response might not be the most gracious in the world but, then, she wasn’t feeling very gracious. If her body would follow suit with her attitude, she could have said no instead.

  Was it him or was it her?

  Maybe she just missed male company and any man would do. But she immediately nixed that idea. She’d had plenty of opportunity for male companionship. This male was the only one who held her interest.

  A walk to the parking lot. She was a cheap date—a confused cheap date.

  Apparently, this was not a date, as she had assumed.

  Just what did constitute a date with him? The pizza thing hadn’t been a date and they had kissed. The football game had been a date—she had thought—and they hadn’t even held hands.

  She was going backwards in exploring any kind of connection. Expectations were getting crossed. Words weren’t getting said.

  And there was the problem—lack of communication.

  For two people whose function was to communicate to the public, neither of them was doing very well with each other.

  “I’m over there.” She pointed to her car. Sitting next to the new luxury sedan, it looked tiny and vulnerable.

  And it had a flat tire.

  “Give me your keys and I’ll change it for your spare.”

  The gesture was gallant, but— “That is the spare.”

  She looked down at a worried Selma. “Gotta call your daddy.”

  With great pride Selma explained to Mark. “Daddy can fix anything.”

  Much better than Daddy needs a fix. Her brother had been clean for almost ten years, ever since before his daughter was even born. Eva felt pride for all he had accomplished.

  She hit speed dial on her phone. “Hey, bro. You know that tire you were going to replace for me as soon as I found the time to drive by your shop? Well, I should have made time sooner.”

  She gave directions to the high-school football field.

  Turning to Mark, she told him, “Ricky’s on wrecker duty tonight and not too far away. He’ll be here in ten minutes. You don’t have to wait with us.”

  “Sure I do. I would never leave a woman stranded.”

  Was it her or was she getting mixed signals?

  Was that what she was to him? A generic woman?

  How badly did she want to change that?

  Pretty badly. Put it down to ego, but she wanted to be more than that to Mark.

  Selma started twitching. “I don’t like this. It feels creepy.”

  Parking lots in her neighborhood were creepy. But this one was safe enough even if the security light near Eva’s car was out.

  Mark gave Selma a reassuring smile as he pointed up. “Want to know what that constellation is called?”

  “Okay.” She craned her neck to see where he was pointing.

  He lifted her up so she could lie back on the hood of Eva’s car. “See the ones in a row? All those stars together are called Orion’s Belt.”

  Eva looked up where he pointed. As she did so, she felt his hand s
lip to her waist and pull her close.

  Maybe she should resist, but the warmth of his palm felt too good, too masculine to step away from.

  It was nice to not feel lonely.

  Again, he pointed to the night sky, which jostled Eva even closer to him. “And that really bright star is not a star at all. It’s a planet. If you stay really still, you can see it move. Stars don’t appear to move, only planets.”

  * * *

  With mixed feelings Mark recognized the rattle of a wrecker as it pulled into the parking lot. While he was just about to run out of his limited knowledge of stars, he wasn’t even close to running out of the desire to hold Eva close to him.

  “He’s here.” Selma sat up on the car hood and waved in the truck’s direction.

  The driver waved back.

  As Eva’s brother climbed out, Mark couldn’t help but notice the tattoos crawling down both arms. They were crude, like prison tattoos.

  “My rescuer.” Eva threw her arms around the man’s neck.

  Mark shifted on his feet.

  Rescuer. That was usually his role.

  “I got here as quick as I could.” The man gave Mark a strong stare.

  Mark gave it back.

  Eva gave them both a worried look. “Mark, meet my brother, Ricky.”

  She put her hand on her brother’s arm. “I told you about Mark, remember? He’s doing the television spot with me.”

  “Oh, that Mark. Your co-worker.” Ricky held out his hand to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

  Mark took Ricky’s callused hand. “You, too.”

  Co-worker.

  Mark wanted it to be more. He just wasn’t sure how much more.

  Ricky squatted down to look at the tire.

  Mark pointed to the nail protruding through the side wall.

  “I’m pretty sure that’s the problem.”

  Ricky looked up at him with a masculine version of Eva’s smile. “Ya think?”

  Mark had to laugh. Was the whole family as smart-mouthed as Eva was? “I guess that was a little obvious.”

  Ricky shook his head. “I’ll have to round up a tire and rim in the morning. Should have done it last week.”

  Eva patted him on the shoulder. “It was a bad week. Just take me home when you drop off Selma and I’ll catch a taxi to work in the morning.”

  Mark stepped forward. “I’ll take you home.”

  Eva stayed silent a beat too long as she gave him a sexy half-smile. “It’s only a ride home?”

  Was she asking for more? By her tone, he was sure of it. “Maybe dinner between here and there.”

  Ricky cleared his throat. “Flirting in front of the k-i-d?”

  Eva’s eyes sparkled as she playfully punched him on the shoulder. “That k-i-d sees enough flirting at home to be used to it. It’s like you and Susan have been married for only a few months instead of ten years.”

  Ricky didn’t look old enough to have been married that long.

  He must have guessed Mark’s question, because he said without prompting, “Teenagers in love.”

  Mark didn’t know what to say. “It seems to have worked out for you.”

  Ricky glanced down then over to Eva while rubbing the letters crudely inked into his knuckles. “Not without a lot of help. Still working on it, day by day.”

  Eva reached over and hugged him, reinforcing whatever Ricky was overcoming with sisterly strength.

  What would it be like to have a family like that?

  The last time he’d hugged his sister had been at a cousin’s wedding when the photographer had instructed him to stand closer and put his arm around her so they could all squeeze into the shot.

  “Pizza?” she asked.

  “How about some place where the kids aren’t? I know this Greek restaurant that has the best baklava.”

  She leaned up and whispered in his ear, “Keep sweet-talking me with dessert and you may get to walk me to my door afterward.”

  “Does that include a goodnight kiss?” Or a good-morning one? he wanted to add. He still couldn’t get past her introducing him to Ricky as her co-worker. Maybe Eva was right to play down this thing between them.

  Eva sent him a look over her shoulder as she headed toward her car to gather her things.

  Then again, they only had a few more weeks of working together. Besides, the problems arose when the couple had nothing more than work to tie them together. He and Eva had more than work between them. They had chemistry with a capital C.

  All doctors knew the importance of good chemistry, right?

  And they all knew what happened when chemistry went bad, too.

  Mark realized he was finally starting to think about his ex-wife simply as someone that he used to know.

  It seemed the laws of chemistry held true. Things did finally stop exploding when the fire went out.

  Before Eva made it back to him, Ricky sidled close. “Take care of my sister or I’ll take care of you. Got it?”

  Mark remembered saying the same thing to all his sister’s dates. Being the man of the house, it had been his job to ensure the safety of her and his mother. Although, with the men they picked, it had been damned hard.

  So instead of being offended, he appreciated Ricky’s warning. “Got it. I’ve got a sister of my own.”

  Ricky patted him on the back as if he’d just been admitted to a special club. “Three daughters, in addition to my sister and grandmother. The women in our families—they’re a handful, but they’re worth it, aren’t they?”

  Mark gave a noncommittal grunt as he thought of his own mother, who had clearly not wanted his opinion on her newest husband, and of his sister and the son she had turned over to him.

  What would it be like to have a daughter, one with Eva’s laughing eyes?

  He shook off the thought. He hadn’t even begun their first official date yet.

  * * *

  Although she was tall enough not to need it, Eva accepted Mark’s hand to help her into his truck.

  His hand, large, warm and very strong, made her own hand feel fragile. It took quite a man to make her feel delicate.

  His palm on her waist made her want to turn round, chest to chest, pelvis to pelvis.

  Instead of indulging, she slid into the truck seat and immediately buckled her seat belt.

  Mark cocked an eyebrow.

  She grinned at him. “I might need the restraint to keep my hands off you long enough for you to drive us to the restaurant.”

  Flirting felt so good. So fun. Even after all their years of marriage, she and Chuck had never lost their ability to flirt.

  Instead of making her feel sad, like thoughts of Chuck usually did, she felt sweet nostalgia.

  Everyone had said recovery would happen. It just took time.

  She hadn’t believed them.

  But Mark was making her a believer.

  After driving through the Garden District, Mark turned into a tiny, crowded gravel parking lot on the edge of a residential neighborhood. The small sign said, “Olympia’s”.

  Mark edged his truck into a slot between two cars. “It’s always packed, but worth the wait.”

  “I’ve got all night.” Saturday would include a morning of house cleaning, a visit to her grandmother and then...

  Maybe, just maybe, she would take a drive past the clinic. Maybe she would make it by this time without falling to pieces.

  She’d thought she had lost it. Lost her desire to practice medicine. Lost her desire for—well, for everything.

  But Mark was giving her back her passion.

  When he talked of his night’s work in the E.R., his zeal for making the world better, one patient at a time, he made her want to do the same.

  A
nd when he touched her, the sparks he sent along her skin made her want to do the same, too.

  Mark put his arm around her as they zigzagged through the maze of cars.

  Dinner. Then what?

  Was it the right time? Too soon?

  Indecision swamped her.

  The only thing she was sure of was that Mark was the right man.

  How did she know? Gut feeling. One of those innate comprehensions that defied reasoning. One of those things all doctors learned to trust.

  She had lost that trust in herself. Why did she have it back now?

  Mark. There was no other answer.

  * * *

  Eva was so easy to talk to. Maybe too easy. Mark found himself telling her things he’d never thought he would talk about.

  He gave her an intensely probing stare. “Family is everything to me. It’s my backbone. My foundation.”

  It had been the thing that had broken his marriage.

  Eva nodded. “Me, too. My brother and sister-in-law and my nieces are my world. My grandmother, too, although she has dementia and doesn’t know any of us any more.”

  “That’s tough.”

  “Yes, it is. When she forgets me, forgets I exist, in my head I know it’s the disease. But in my heart it makes me feel unimportant to her.”

  Mark had thought that about his father, too, even though his father was hale and hearty. The day he’d married his new wife and moved to Florida had been the day Mark had felt like he’d lost his dad.

  “I’m sure deep down, in the place that’s buried under the physical, she still knows you. She must be very proud of you.”

  “She is. While she couldn’t financially help with medical school, she gave me the moral support that kept me going. She would come over and wash our clothes. Leave food in the fridge. Let me know she was praying for me.” Eva’s heart filled with emotion. “She taught me about unconditional love. It’s what she’s made of.”

  “She taught you well. It’s obvious you return it. And give it to your brother and his family as well.”

  “There was a time when that unconditional love had to battle it out with tough love. While they’re not mutually exclusive, it felt like that at the time.” Eva took advantage of this opening to hint about Aaron. “At first we didn’t realize Ricky was into drugs. Not that he hid it—he’s just not that way. But it happened gradually and, being family, we didn’t want to see the worst in him.”