by Nancy Adams
Katie Lou bit her bottom lip again. “Listen, about that,” she said. “Remember how when I was talking about opening my own practice, you mentioned me moving into your building?”
Rob nodded. “Yeah, I do. Aren't you glad you didn't take me up on it? You'd be trying to replace all your equipment, now, too.”
Katie Lou grinned. “True, I guess I lucked out on that. But what I'm getting at is, I've got extra room here.” She took them on a tour of the additional rooms in the building, which were plenty big enough for Rob to use as an office and treatment rooms, while the reception area was big enough for both Anna and Kylie.
“Granted, the waiting room is sort of small, but neither one of us is likely to have too many people sitting out there at once. I think we can make it work, Rob, don't you?”
Rob stared at her in amazement. “Has it never dawned on you that sometimes, when we least expect it, we realize that Somebody Up There has been watching over us? It's like God had this all planned out, that when I lost my place, you'd have one ready for us both to move into.”
Katie Lou smiled broadly. “Can I take that as a yes?”
Rob laughed. “Yes, just as soon as I can get the insurance settlement so I can replace all my equipment. Hopefully, that won't take more than a week or so. If everything goes well, I could be open here within a month.”
Katie Lou suddenly reached out and grabbed his face with both hands, pulled him close and kissed him on the lips. When she let go, she said, “How much would it take to get the equipment, so you can open?”
“The basics? Probably forty-five or fifty thousand. Some of it, though, I'll have to order, like the ultrasound units and such. Might take a week or so for those to come in.”
“Well, how about this?” Katie Lou asked. “There's no doubt your insurance will pay off, right? How about if I just loan you the money? That way, we can both open up by the end of next week, right here.”
Rob stared at her. “Okay, look, I've made it clear that I'm out to win your heart and talk you into marrying me someday, and I might even have a plan or two about seducing you in mind somewhere. Somehow, I don't see borrowing money from you as being any sort of benefit in either of those plans.” He shook his head, grinning. “Katie Lou, it's not that I couldn't afford to buy the equipment, although I'd have to crack some CDs and I'd end up paying penalties. I just figured it would take me time to find a place, so waiting for the insurance money wouldn't be a problem.”
Katie shrugged her shoulders, and looked at him coquettishly. “Okay, but how do you know that me offering to lend you the money wasn't part of my own master plan to keep you close? Look, why cash in your CD? I got the money sitting in an open-access bank account right now, it won't cost me a dime to let you have it. Then, when you get your insurance settlement, you can pay me back. What's wrong with that?”
“But, it's just the principle of the thing,” Rob said. “You're my girlfriend, or—something. You are my girlfriend, right?”
“Yes, I am,” Katie said, giggling. “That's why I'm offering.”
“Okay, yeah, but…”
“Bubba, shut up! Oh, you can be so stupid sometimes. Just shut up!”
Rob threw his hands into the air. “Okay, okay,” he said. “But let's not say anything until after the fire marshal gets done, okay? I don't want anyone thinking we had this arranged even before the fire happened.”
The rest of the day was going to be occupied with more utility connections, so Anna volunteered to stay with Kylie while Rob and Katie Lou went out to buy office supplies and decor items. That occupied a couple of hours, and then Rob and Katie Lou brought lunch back to their sisters.
It was while they were eating lunch that Rob's phone. “Hello?”
“Doctor Christopher? This is Fire Marshal Jacobs. Just wanted to let you know that you're in the clear, because we found a clear and obvious electrical short was the cause of the fire. Apparently, it started in a storeroom where you had boxes stacked up, and it spread pretty rapidly. We’ll have a final report ready sometime tomorrow, so that you can get a copy for your insurance company.”
“All right, thank you, Sir. Do I just come by your office tomorrow?”
“Yep. That'd be the best. You won’t need to see me; the receptionist will have a copy of it for you. It should be all you need to file your insurance claim.”
Rob thanked him again, and the call ended. “Well, it looks like things will go quicker than I expected. The fire marshal says that the fire was started by an electrical short in my storage room. Nothing fishy about it, apparently.”
Katie Lou blinked. “So, then, Darren didn't have anything to do with it?”
Shrugging, Rob said, “Who knows? I'm sure there are ways to cause electrical shorts that wouldn't show up without some kind of special investigation. Just because they didn't find any evidence doesn't mean it didn't happen. Just means we can't prove it. I think we might as well let it go, but I'll confess I'd like to get a few minutes alone with him in a dark alley.”
Kylie burst out laughing. “You're kidding, right? I don't think Darren Allsip could fight his way out of a wet paper bag. If he ran into you somewhere, he'd probably run the other way even faster.”
“Well, it probably will never happen anyway. Hopefully he's had his last word, and can just be content with that.”
“He'd better be,” Katie Lou said ominously. “Just sending me that message was a violation of the restraining order, so if he goes any further than that, I'll use that against him.”
16
A week had passed since the clinic fire, and Rob and Katie Lou had their new clinic all set up and ready to go. Five local newspapers, three radio stations and two television crews had shown up to get a story, and Rob was happy to oblige.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming. When I sent out the press release, I didn't expect so many to take me up on it.” He paused long enough to let the polite chuckles die away. “First off, let me say how delighted I am to be partnering in this new clinic with Katie Lou Brennan, who will be offering specialized counseling services to patients with disabilities. Katie Lou, as many of you know, was in a severe accident sometime back, and had to fight her way back from paralysis, so she knows exactly what her patients are going through. Now, since I myself have been disabled and spent several years in a wheelchair, I know exactly how important it can be to find counseling and therapy that truly relates to your condition, so I'm happy to be a part of this clinic.
“Second, I'm delighted to announce that I'll be reopening my own physical therapy clinic the first day of next week, right here, of course. Together, we'll comprise the Maxwell Disability Recovery Center, and we hope to be of benefit to the entire community.”
The reporters insisted on getting photos and interviews with both Rob and Katie Lou, and a couple of them asked point blank about the rumors that they were more than just a business partnership. Katie Lou blushed a pretty pink, but admitted that she thought Rob Christopher was the most wonderful man she’d ever met. Rob, when he was asked, smiled and said nothing, which told the reporters everything they wanted to know.
The articles had all of the papers the next morning, and flooded the radio and television news programs. Darren saw it on the television news that evening, and then had to look at it again in the newspaper in the morning. The photo of Rob and Katie Lou standing in front of their new sign caused him to throw the paper across the room.
He'd paid a small fortune to try to slap that arrogant physical therapist down, but he and Katie Lou were acting like it was one of the best things that had ever happened to them. It was infuriating. She had that ridiculous restraining order against him, so he couldn't even send her another text message without getting in trouble, but it was burning inside him to do something to let the pair of them know just how much he hated them.
For a split second, Darren remembered that he had promised Katie Lou only a couple of weeks earlier that if she chose Rob, he would simply go a
way and accept it, but the anger inside him shoved the memory away. How dare she take up with someone new, so quickly after their breakup? How dare she be happy, when he was miserable?
“Maybe it's time for Katie Lou to know just what miserable feels like,” he muttered to himself. He got up and walked out of his office, right past the receptionist who was protesting that he had a client waiting for him at that moment. Darren ignored her, and kept going. A moment later, he was in his car and driving down the street.
He didn't really have any specific destination in mind when he left; he just had to get out of the office and think about how to get his revenge. He knew there had to be a way, and he just needed to find it. Driving around the city had often helped him think things through, so he had turned to it again at this time.
He didn't realize that he had driven out of town until he was halfway to Maxwell. Well, that might be okay, he figured. Besides, the restraining order only said he couldn't approach Katie Lou; it didn't say anything about driving past their building. He thought he'd go and get a look at it. After all, it was his family's money that was paying for all of that, the money she’d gotten as compensation for the broken engagement. He figured that would entitle him to at least looking it over.
It wasn't hard to find. The newspaper articles had pointed out that it was directly across the street from the emergency room entrance of the hospital, and he located it with no trouble at all. It really was a nice-looking building, and obviously had been designed specifically for medical purposes. It was situated in one of the best possible locations for any professional clinic in the area, and as he looked at it, Darren knew instinctively that Rob and Katie Lou would do very well there.
But there was no sense in that, now, was there?
The clinic was not open yet, but he could see Katie Lou's car in the parking lot, in the back, a spot that was designated specifically for her. Right beside it was another spot marked for Rob Christopher. Seeing the two of them side-by-side sent another ripple of anger through Darren, and he gripped the steering wheel hard enough to make his fingers ache.
He knew that going into the parking lot, or entering the building, would violate the restraining order, so he drove fifty yards further and made a U-turn, parking on the opposite side of the street from the building. There were parking meters on that side, but the one he had managed to get had almost an hour on it, so he didn't bother to add any money. He shut off the car and sat there, just watching the building.
He didn't have any specific plan, wasn't really intending to do anything. More than anything else, he probably just wanted one last glimpse of Katie Lou, as he sat there watching her car.
Unfortunately, it wasn't Katie Lou who came out of the building, it was Rob Christopher. Seeing the man in the flesh caused Darren's anger to flair once again, and when he saw Rob get into his car and back out of his parking space, Darren started his own car up again. Rob came out of the lot and turned left, going away from where Darren was parked, so he put his car in gear and slid into the lane behind the doctor.
Four blocks away, Rob pulled into a coffee shop parking lot, got out of his car and walked inside. Apparently, he was only going to fetch coffee, and something about the idea of this man bringing coffee to Katie Lou turned Darren's anger up another notch. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he pulled into the same parking lot and put his car into an empty space. He opened his door and started to get out, but then stopped.
With one foot on the ground and one still inside the car, Darren Allsip began to cry. For some reason that he could not understand, he suddenly felt like he had lost everything, that nothing in the world mattered anymore, that he had no reason to go on. The only thing that had mattered to him, he told himself, had been Katie Lou.
She was gone, though. Yes, he knew he had made a mistake by breaking up with her, but he had come back to show her that he knew what a mistake it was, that he was a better man than that. He was ready to do whatever it took to make her happy, even giving up all of his ambitions, all of his dreams, anything at all if he could only have her back. She had agreed to consider it, but then—then this guy had to stick his nose into the situation!
Suddenly, Darren understood. Katie Lou had been honest with him—she was truly willing to consider their reconciliation, until Rob Christopher hit her with all of his charms. God only knew what kind of things that man had said to her, to make her turn on Darren. What kind of seductions might he have used to corrupt that sweet, beautiful girl?
No, there was nothing left for Darren in this world; everything he had loved was already gone. He might as well face that reality, because it wasn't going to change.
On the other hand, it didn't have to be for nothing. Darren could accept that his own life was ruined, but he could not allow Katie Lou's life to be destroyed, as well. He had to stop that, he had to save her from that lying sonofabitch!
He reached across the car into the glove box, and retrieved his pistol. It was a nine millimeter Beretta, a gun he was authorized to carry concealed, since he was an officer of the court. Quickly, he checked its magazine, jacked a round into the chamber and slid it into the waistband of his pants, in the back. His suit jacket hung down over it as he exited the car.
Darren walked into the coffee shop, and there stood his nemesis. Rob Christopher was waiting at the counter as the barista set two cups in front of him. He smiled cheerfully as he handed the girl a couple of bills and told her to keep the change, then picked up the cups and turned around.
Rob had never seen Darren, and didn't recognize him. For some reason, though, he instinctively recognized that the man in the suit was somehow a threat, and he kept his eyes on Darren's face as he walked toward the door.
To Darren, everything seemed to go into slow motion, as Rob walked almost straight toward him, looking him directly in the eyes as he did so. Yes, Darren thought, that is the man who turned Katie Lou against me, and if I don't stop in, he'll hurt her! I have to stop him!
His hand went to his back and up under his jacket, closing around the grip of the pistol and drawing it out of his waistband. Instinctively, he glanced down at the gun in his hand, just before looking back up at the man he intended to kill, but that split-second of distraction was all it took.
Rob saw the hand slide up the man's back, and knew he was going for a weapon. He didn't know what was happening, but when he saw that hand reappear with a pistol, he acted without even thinking. He had two cups of boiling hot coffee in his hands, two very large paper cups with snap-on plastic lids, and when that man looked down at his own gun, Rob pointed both of them into his face and squeezed for all he was worth.
The lids popped off, and most of a quart of scalding coffee struck Darren Allsip in the face. He screamed in agony and dropped the pistol as he fell to the floor, and Rob tossed the cups aside as he scooped up the gun. Several people began screaming, a few of them calling 911 at the same time, while Rob held the gun pointed at Darren.
Rob took out his own phone with one hand and called Katie Lou, to tell her what had happened. When she heard that a man had pulled a gun, and that Rob had disarmed him with coffee, she let out a shriek and ran out the door to her car, with Anna and Kylie hot on her heels. They arrived at the coffee shop just before the police, and so it was she who first identified Darren as the gunman.
By the time the police officers came inside, Rob had let the gun droops and was holding it by just a couple of fingers. A dozen witnesses tried to talk at once, to tell the officers what a hero Rob was, and they got the general idea pretty quickly. There were four officers altogether, and two of them got Darren up off the floor and cuffed him, then began looking for his ID.
“So,” another officer asked Rob, “does anyone know who this guy is?”
“I do,” said Katie Lou. “He's my ex-fiancé, and I have a restraining order against him. Apparently, he was coming after Doctor Christopher because he and I are dating.” The fury in her eyes as she looked at Darren willwas eno
ugh to make the officers glad she couldn't get her hands on the gun.
Darren suddenly began ranting about how Rob had stolen her away, and that he was only trying to protect her. He told the officers that Rob Christopher was an evil man, and that Darren was willing to sacrifice himself in order to save the woman he loved.
It took a few minutes to sort it all out, but finally, Darren was taken to jail. It wasn't likely he would stay there for long, not with his father being a powerful attorney in the county, but there wasn't much chance he'd be bothering Rob or Katie Lou again anytime soon. More likely, he would soon find himself undergoing some sort of mental health treatment, and a part of Katie Lou wondered if that might not be the best possible solution.
“Okay, Rob, let's get something straight,” she said when everything was calm again. “The next time somebody pulls a gun, don't you be trying to be a hero. I don't know what I would do if something happened to you right now.”
Rob smiled at her. “Katie Lou? Are you trying to say I'm that important to you?”
Her eyes went wide, and her nostrils flared, sure signs that a man has just made a woman mad. “Of course you are, you idiot! In case it hasn't gotten through to you yet, Doctor Christopher, I happen to be in love with you! This has scared me to death, do you understand that? What would I have done if you'd gotten yourself shot and killed?”
Rob put his arms around her and pulled her close. “Baby, relax,” he said. “I sincerely doubt that anyone else is ever going to pull a gun on me, but if they do, I promise I'll duck. Okay? That calm you down?”