Hope Smolders

by Jaci Burton

  Will breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Jeff.

  "Hey, Will."

  "Jeff."

  "You working tonight, or just here for fun and stitches?"

  Will smiled and introduced Jane. "Jane, this is Jeff Armstrong, a good friend and a great ER doctor. Tabitha is in very good hands."

  "Good to know. Nice to meet you, Dr. Armstrong."

  "Now that makes me sound old. Call me Jeff. And who's hiding here on my table?"

  "Tabitha," came a tiny muffled voice from under the drape.

  Jeff gloved up and took a peek. "Well, hello, Tabitha. My name is Dr. Jeff. I'm going to give you some awesome-looking stitches you'll be able to show off to all your friends. They're gonna be really jealous. You ready for that?"

  "Sure."

  Jeff walked her through the entire procedure, including the pinch from the needle. Tabitha cried a little, and even Will's gut twisted at her mournful sobs. But Jane soothed her through it with soft words and murmurs. After Tabitha's skin was numb, she was fine, though, and Jeff stitched her up, talking to her the whole time about kid's TV shows Will knew nothing about. But Jeff and Jane were laughing the whole time and talking, so Will took a step back and let them engage Tabitha, who, now that she couldn't feel any pain, seemed relaxed and even laughed.

  "All done," Jeff said, removing the drape from Tabitha's head. He finished cleaning her up, then went through an examination.

  "I don't think there's any evidence of a concussion."

  "That's great news," Jane said.

  Jeff presented a red sucker to Tabitha. "You were a good patient, Tabitha. Here's your reward."

  Tabitha's eyes went wide and she looked to Jane. "Can I, Mommy?"

  "Absolutely," Jane said with a sigh of relief.

  "Thanks," Will said, shaking Jeff's hand.

  "Hey, it's my job. And when I have cool patients like Tabitha, it's a great one," he said, winking at Tabitha, who smiled back at Jeff.

  "No, seriously," Jane said, also shaking his hand and covering it with both of hers. "You made this much easier than I expected. Thank you for that."

  Jeff grinned, then pushed his dark glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You're welcome." He turned to Tabitha. "No mad dashes in the dark for you anymore, princess. Okay?"

  Tabitha pulled the sucker out of her mouth and grinned. "Okay."

  "Take her to her pediatrician in about a week to have those stitches taken out," Jeff said to Jane. After he left, Elaine came back in with a sheet of instructions and discharge paperwork.

  "We're outta here," Will said. "Are you ready to go home, Tabitha?"

  "Totally," she said with the sucker in her mouth.

  Will grinned at Jane, who sighed in relief. "Totally times two," she said.

  He drove them back to Jane's house. "Give me a few minutes," she said, then took Tabitha back toward the bedrooms.

  She came out a few minutes later. "She's restless. Wants a couple stories."

  He nodded. "Understandable. I'm going to take off. I'm sure you're exhausted."

  She let out a soft laugh. "It's been an eventful night."

  He swept the pad of his thumb across her cheek. "Yeah, it has."

  He started for the door.

  "Will."

  He stopped and turned. "Yeah?"

  She stepped into his arms and he pulled her against him, his mouth meeting hers in a quick but deep kiss that reignited the passion they'd shared earlier.

  Just as quickly, she stepped away. "I need to go see to Tabby."

  "Yeah. You do. I'll call you tomorrow."

  Her lips lifted. "I'd like that."

  "Get some rest."

  "Good night, Will."

  He walked away and she shut the door. There was a finality to it that he didn't like.

  He wanted to stay, wanted to be with her and make sure Tabitha was okay.

  But he was on the outside, not a part of that family.

  And that's where he'd have to stay.

  For now.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  For the next week, Jane focused on school and her kids. Dr. Jeff had been right. Jane had worried that Tabitha would suffer teasing from her friends at school. Instead, they'd all thought the stitches at the top of her forehead were cool. And her bangs covered what would undoubtedly be a slight scar, so she wasn't too worried.

  Tabitha wasn't worried at all. She was thrilled she didn't have to suffer having to have her hair washed for several days, and she showed off the stitches like a blue ribbon at the county fair. Ryan, who'd had his fair share of visits to the ER for stitches and a broken arm, was highly jealous and proclaimed her a rock star, which nearly made Tabitha swoon since she was typically so uncool in her big brother's eyes. He couldn't believe no one had woken him up for all the blood and mayhem.

  Jane was just happy to have things go back to normal, or as normal as they got in her life, anyway. Will had called the following morning, just as he'd promised, but she'd been so busy with her parents bringing Ryan home that she'd had to cut the call short. She'd promised to call him back.

  And a week later, she hadn't.

  "So did the date go badly?" Chelsea asked as they sipped iced tea at Bert's after school. Tabitha had gone home with a friend, and she'd dropped Ryan off at practice. One of the moms was going to bring him home later, after he ate dinner at their house. For the next few hours, she was free, for the first time in a week, so Chelsea insisted they grab a bite to eat and catch up.

  "No. I already told you the date was awesome."

  "Until the whole thing with Tabitha."

  "Well, yeah, there was that."

  "At which time he drove you and Tabs to the hospital, and got you promptly into an exam room, right?"

  She rolled her eyes. "We already talked about this." Repeatedly, since Chelsea had also called her the day after her date with Will, and Jane had had to tell her about the evening, and about Tabitha's accident.

  "I know we talked about this. What I'm trying to wrap my head around is why you haven't called him back a week later. Has he called you?"

  She shrugged and took another sip of tea. "Yes. A couple times."

  "And?"

  "I told him I was busy. Which I was. You know testing is next week."

  "So? Your entire life has to go on hold because of testing? You know as well as I do that changes nothing in your curriculum--or your social life. So what gives, Jane? Why are you suddenly giving Will the cold shoulder? If your date was great, then why dump him?"

  She shot Chelsea a look. "I'm not dumping him. The date was fantastic. I'm just...regrouping."

  Chelsea studied her for a minute, then sat straight up in the booth. "Oh. Now I get it. You're afraid."

  "What? Afraid of what?"

  "Afraid he's going to be there for you, afraid you're going to fall head over heels in love with him, and that he's going to fail you like Vic did."

  "That's not it at all."

  "Or maybe you're still holding out hope that Vic will come back someday?"

  She frowned. "Oh, God no. And even if he did--oh, God no, Chelse. Never. Never in a million years. That door is firmly closed. Forever."

  "Good to know. I'd like to give you credit for not being a stupid woman, Jane."

  "I'm not that stupid. I'll never be that stupid again. I was once, but no. Never, ever again."

  "So you say. But what's the deal with Will?"

  She lifted a shoulder and studied her tea. "I don't know. Maybe you're right. Maybe some subconscious part of me is holding back because I'm afraid of getting hurt again."

  "He'd never hurt you like Vic did."

  She lifted her gaze to Chelsea's. "The logical part of me knows that. He's a nice guy and I...feel things for him." She felt a lot of things for him. Ever since that night, he'd been all she thought about.

  And maybe that's what scared her the most. "But I feel things for him too fast, Chelsea. And it's scaring me. I'm not ready to fall in love with someone after spendin
g one night with him. Really great sex or not, it's just too fast for me."

  Chelsea reached across the table and grabbed her hand. "Sometimes love whacks you across the head and, like it or not, you have to be ready for it."

  "I'd rather not be whacked across the head. I'd prefer to be eased into it."

  "You don't always get what you want, honey. And you don't always get it in the way you think you want it."

  "It's like someone dropped a house on me. Bam. There it was. All at once. No gradual realization over months of dating that, hey, I like this guy a lot, and then, oh, wow, I might love him. It was all right there, all at once. One date. Mind-blowing sex. And then he was this knight in shining armor when Tabby got hurt. And he not only took care of her, he instantly realized that I'm squeamish about blood, and he took care of me, too. What kind of guy does that?"

  Chelsea squeezed her hand. "The kind of guy you want to keep around forever and ever, amen, sister."

  Jane shook her head. "I'm not sure I'm ready for forever and ever. I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for it again."

  "Maybe you won't be. But shutting the door on it before it ever starts seems a little unfair, both to him and to you, don't you think?"

  "Probably." She laid her head in her hand.

  Chelsea slid Jane's phone over toward her hand. "So why don't you give him a call, and try for date two? See what happens?"

  *

  It had been a shit kind of day. A tractor-trailer had jackknifed at the entrance to the Will Rogers Turnpike, spilling its contents across both sides of the highway. Which meant shutting down traffic going in both directions an hour before the start of rush hour, and keeping it that way for several hours as the mess was cleaned up. Traffic had been backed up for miles, and had been a crap start to Will's day.

  It had only gotten worse from there, as he'd dealt with an accident on Highway 44, with injuries that could have been prevented if people bothered to use their seat belts. What did folks think those things were for? Decoration?

  By the end of his shift, he was in a foul mood and he needed some stress relief. He decided to head straight for the gym. He ran off some of his agitation on the treadmill, already logging several miles in thirty minutes.

  Admittedly, as he looked through the glass into the hallway, he half expected Jane to walk by. But after she'd brushed him off for the third time in the past week when he called, he stopped calling.

  He should stop looking for her, too. He'd been so distracted, his head filled with the events from today, that he hadn't looked for her car in the gym parking lot. He had no idea if she was here or not.

  She'd made it clear by her lack of return phone calls that she didn't want to be bothered. He'd grabbed a clue and stopped calling, another thing to add to his irritation load today. He increased his speed and started running until sweat poured from him.

  "Training for a sprint or a marathon?" Luke asked as he climbed on the treadmill next to him.

  Will didn't answer, not until he'd drained out enough frustration that he slowed his pace to a walk, took several long swallows of his water and could breathe again. "Neither."

  "Oh. Shitty day, huh?"

  "Yeah."

  "I heard about the turnpike closure this morning. That had to blow."

  He did his cooldown, walking enough now that he could talk. "It did."

  "So it's work that has you in a bad mood?"

  "Mostly."

  "Mostly, huh?" Luke pinned him with a look. "Wanna talk about it?"

  "Nope."

  "Okay."

  One thing he liked about Luke was that he wouldn't press him until Will was ready to talk about whatever it was that bothered him. The truth was, other than his colossally awful day, there was a lot more that bothered him--namely Jane. A bad day you could throw off by working out the stress. Tomorrow would just as likely be a routine, boring day.

  His issues with Jane wouldn't go away as easily.

  He went to the bench press after he finished up on the treadmill. Luke joined him there not much longer after he'd started up with the lighter reps, so Luke spotted him on the heavier weights, staying quiet other than talking about work stuff. He spotted Luke and they moved over and did shoulders, then squats, working in companionable silence, just what he needed. A good workout, a great sweat, and a partner who didn't ask too many questions.

  He showered when he finished and Luke met him in the locker room.

  "Feel like grabbing a burger?" Luke asked.

  "Sure." He'd missed lunch today and only had time for a protein bar, so he was more than ready for a good burger. They stopped at Bert's and Will ordered his with the works, along with a side salad and fries.

  "Well, if it isn't two of Hope's finest in law enforcement."

  And to think he'd almost made it through the entire evening. He lifted his gaze and smiled. "Hey, Chelsea. What's up?"

  She pulled up a chair. "Nothing much. What are you two up to tonight?"

  "Just hanging out," Luke said. "Have you eaten?"

  "No. I'm doing an order to go. There's some hot reality TV at home calling my name. How about you two?"

  "Eating," Will said, the evidence of that on his plate.

  "Master of the obvious, aren't you, Will?" She looked over at the counter, then turned her attention back to Will. "So...have you talked to Jane?"

  "Tried to. She won't answer my calls. But you probably already know that, so why the question?"

  She shrugged. "Just thought I'd ask. Give her some time, Will. It's not you. She really cares about you."

  "You should mind your own business, Chelsea, and stay out of this."

  "And you know damn well Jane is my best friend, and I'm only looking out for her best interests."

  "I wonder how she'd feel if she knew you were talking to me about her right now."

  Chelsea frowned. "Low blow, Will. I'm also looking out for you, so don't be a dick."

  Luke crossed his arms, obviously amused at the interplay between the two of them.

  "Don't you have some poor kid's life to ruin by failing him or her in math?" Will asked.

  She laughed. "Don't you have some poor bastard's day to ruin by writing him an unwarranted speeding ticket?"

  Luke snorted. "You two should take this act on the road."

  "Hey, Will knows I give as good as I'm given. And he can't rattle me."

  "No, but I can tell you to go away and mind your own business."

  Chelsea let out a very loud sigh. "Fine. I'll take the not-so-subtle hint and grab my to-go order and hightail it out of here. Seriously, though, Will. Don't give up on Jane."

  "Seriously, though. Butt out, Chelsea." Will waved her off and dug into his fries.

  "That was interesting," Luke said as Chelsea wandered off, grabbed her bag, and left Bert's.

  Will finished off his meal by taking a long drink of iced tea. "Don't even ask."

  "Okay, I won't." Luke took a bite of his burger, chewed, swallowed, then washed it down with milk. "Unless you want me to ask."

  Will sighed. "You and Chelsea tag teaming me on this? The two of you should couple up."

  Luke laughed. "Tried that for about five minutes in high school, remember? It didn't work then and it won't work now. We're more like brother and sister."

  "Yeah, I do remember. It's kind of like her and me. Surely there's a guy out there for her somewhere, someone who will rein her in and keep her from meddling."

  "Maybe. Maybe not. She's kind of a free spirit. But what is going on with you and Jane? Unless you'd like me to mind my own damn business, in which case you can tell me to and it won't hurt my feelings any."

  "Honestly? I don't know. We went out, had a great time. Her little girl got hurt and I took them to the ER. Then I tried to call her the next day and she brushed me off, saying she was busy with her parents and her kids, which was fine. She said she'd call me back, and when she didn't, I called her a couple days later. She brushed me off again. I tried one more time, and got th
e same 'I'm really busy and I'll get back to you' speech."

  Luke popped a fry into his mouth. "Maybe she's just not that into you."

  Will gave him a hard look. "Trust me--she's into me."

  "Overconfidence is a killer, my friend."

  "No, really. We had a great night. I know she felt the same way I did."

  Luke leaned back. "Then I have no idea. Women are a mystery to me, as you well know. I couldn't figure out the one I was married to."

  "Yeah, well, the one you were married to was a mess."

  "Don't I know it. Haven't been able to figure out women since, so I tend to stay the hell away from them. Boomer is companion enough for me."

  Will shook his head. "Dude. Your dog? You have got to get out more."

  Luke laughed. "You're right. I do. But I'm not the one with woman problems right now. That's you. So what are you gonna do about Jane?"

  "I don't have a clue. Give her some space, I guess. I'm not going to keep calling and bugging her if she doesn't want to talk to me. I figure she'll either come around so we can talk, or whatever we had that one night was just that--one night."

  "Too bad. I like her with you."

  "Me, too, man. Me, too."

  CHAPTER NINE

  In what was an unprecedented moment of pure joy, Jane found herself with an evening to herself. She didn't have to work at the day-care center, and both kids were spending the night elsewhere. It was Friday, and Ryan was sleeping over at one of his friend's houses, while Tabitha had begged to stay with her grandparents. At first Jane had balked at that idea, considering the last go-round, but her mom had assured her the chances of Tabby's accident being repeated were slim to none. One of Tabitha's school friends lived a couple houses down from Jane's parents, and they'd made plans to play together, so Jane's mom picked Tabitha up right after school. Jane was scot-free and alone for the entire night.

  Which, as a single woman, meant she could have a date if she wanted. But since she was a total coward, she had no date and no prospect for a date. Because God forbid she should grow a set of balls or some courage or whatever and call Will, who likely thought she hated him or had hated their date, when the exact opposite had been true.

  Idiot. She couldn't even handle dating. So instead, she was going to make a grand attempt to work out in the gym, ignoring the women in their tight little workout pants and workout bras, and go in there with her decidedly not tight anything and do her best to not fall off the elliptical trainer.

  She changed into her sports bra and T-shirt and yoga pants, tied her tennis shoes, and used her employee card to swipe her way into the workout room, daring anyone to give her the side eye. She grabbed a towel and found a vacant elliptical, read the instructions, and set a program--something easy, like baby level--then started walking, holding on to the handlebars.