by Gina Wilkins
Her little giggle made him grin before he filled his mouth with another bite of noodles. He was relieved the food was good; he’d had to depend on directions and reviews found on his phone since he wasn’t familiar with Little Rock take-out restaurants.
“Is your aunt expecting you back soon?”
He shook his head. “I told her I’m staying at a hotel. I haven’t actually checked into one yet, but I didn’t want to stay at her house where I wouldn’t feel free to come and go as I wished.”
“There’s no need for you to find a hotel tonight,” she said after only a momentary pause. “Though I’ll have to get up early for work.”
“That wouldn’t bother me, as long as I wouldn’t be in your way.”
“No, not at all. Tomorrow’s my last day of work for the week. After that, I’m off until Monday.”
“The privilege of being a fourth-year resident.”
“True. I scheduled these days off months ago, the same time I cleared those couple of days for BiBi’s wedding. I figured I would need the break after rushing around to interviews and the wedding and then more interviews, not to mention my responsibilities at work.”
He nodded. “I put this week on my schedule some time ago, as well. I’ve got to be on call the whole week of Christmas this year, so figured I’d take this week, instead.”
“You didn’t mention you’d be visiting your family here for Thanksgiving.”
He shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat, then figured he might as well be completely honest with her. “That’s because I didn’t decide to do so until a few days ago.”
She studied his face, and it wasn’t hard to tell what she was thinking. “You came to see me?”
Again, he chose candor rather than evasion. “Mostly. I mean, I’ll visit my relatives while I’m here, but I was hoping to spend as much time with you as possible. I know it’s short notice, and you probably have other plans for your days off. I should have called and discussed it with you before just showing up on your doorstep, but like I said, it was sort of a spontaneous decision. I don’t act on impulse very often, and I guess I haven’t handled it very well…”
He was rambling. It was a almost a relief when Madison cut him off.
“It’s okay. I’m glad to see you. And I don’t have any big plans for the next few days. I was just going to kick back and relax a little before diving into all the preparations for the end of my residency program.”
“I won’t get in your way,” he promised. “I can entertain myself. But if you have some free time…”
“I’ll make time,” she assured him, reaching out to cover his free hand with hers. “I’m glad you’re here, Jason.”
He laced his fingers with hers and allowed himself to relax. “So am I.”
She seemed content with that explanation. There was no discussion about what he hoped to accomplish with the visit; what, if anything, he expected beyond this latest long weekend adventure. And that was just as well, because darned if he’d know what to say. He still wasn’t entirely sure himself why he’d been compelled to come to Little Rock, but he’d been honest when he’d said he was glad he had. He was more relaxed, more contented now, here in her rather scruffy little apartment, eating noodles at her table with its mismatched chairs, than he’d been since she’d left Dallas.
After the weekend ended, and he had to get back to his life there…well, it remained to be seen what would follow that. But he was becoming increasingly sure that he would still not be ready to say a permanent goodbye to Madison.
Madison was putting her coffee cup in the dishwasher, getting ready to leave for work the next morning, when Jason wandered into the kitchen, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a rather dazed look on his face.
“Where do you keep your adhesive bandages?” he asked, holding a wad of blood-soaked bathroom tissue to his forehead. “I didn’t want to rummage around in your cabinets looking for any.”
“What have you done? Sit down and let me look at that.”
His hair still wet from his shower, he let her push him into a chair, though his expression was sheepish. “Shower accident,” he explained succinctly.
She grimaced. “I forgot to warn you that the shower head is ridiculously low and the tub tiny.”
“My own fault. I turned too abruptly to rinse off and caught the edge of the shower head with my forehead. It’s not bad, just split the skin, but you know how a cut there will bleed.”
To her relief, he wasn’t downplaying the incident. It really was a shallow cut, certainly wouldn’t need stitches or special care. A bandage would hold it together until it stopped bleeding, but he wouldn’t even need that for long. “I just bought a new tin of bandages. I think I stashed them in the pantry—yeah, here they are.”
Carrying the tin back to the table, she efficiently closed the still-seeping wound. “There you go. And a kiss to make it better,” she added, leaning over to brush her lips an inch or so above the small bandage.
He grinned and pulled her onto his lap. “Do all your patients get that extra little treatment?”
Looping her arms around his neck, she shook her head. “I reserve that for a very select few.”
“Glad to hear it.” He covered her mouth with his.
She had to make herself get out of his lap a few minutes later, then laughingly ward off his hands as she headed for the door. She didn’t want to leave…but she couldn’t be late for work, either.
“Have a good day,” he called after her. “I’ll see you this evening.”
Knowing that was true put a big smile on her face as he climbed into the car. Thinking of the inevitable goodbyes when he went back to his life in Dallas made the smile fade.
“So, tell me about this woman you’re really in town to see.”
Jason grimaced at the question from his aunt Lindsay Grant as he faced her across a table in a downtown Little Rock restaurant Wednesday. He would be sharing Thanksgiving with her, her husband and their daughter and son the next day, but he was treating his maternal aunt to lunch today while the others were all busy. He didn’t bother with prevarications, since his family members had a knack for ferreting out the truth. Instead, he asked, “How did you know?”
“Justin,” she said simply. “He connected the dots between a woman from Little Rock you met at a wedding last month and your sudden urge to visit your aunt for Thanksgiving. He mentioned it to your mother, who told me.”
Jason groaned. He’d thought his mom was surprisingly accepting about his desire to spend Thanksgiving in Little Rock rather than at the huge, annual feast to be held at his parents’ house in Dallas. Lindsay, Nick and their offspring often made the drive to Dallas to join that celebration, but had chosen not to do so this year because of other obligations this weekend, a tidy coincidence for Jason’s last-minute plans. Now he suspected that his sweetly scheming mother had given her blessing because she was hoping a romance would ensue. She’d been prodding Jason to get out and date again ever since his breakup with Samantha last year. Apparently, she had approved of what she’d seen of Madison during the wedding. He just hoped neither his brother nor mother had mentioned the connection to anyone in the Lovato family, considering how skittish Madison had been about BiBi finding out about them.
Still slim and pretty in her fifties, his mother’s youngest sister smiled at him, looking so much like his adored mother that he couldn’t help returning the smile. “You don’t have to tell me about her if you’d rather not, but I’d love to hear about her.”
“There’s not a lot to tell yet,” he admitted. “I’ve only known her for a little over a month. We’ve spent only a few days together, though we’ve stayed in touch since the wedding.”
She waved a hand dismissively. “Time doesn’t matter. How do you feel about her?”
He chuckled
wryly. “I’m nuts about her. But, you know, most people spend a little more time than our family generally does to get to know each other before making any serious commitments.”
His mother’s family were firm believers in love at first sight. Both she and each of her siblings had romantic stories of how they’d met and married their mates, and the success of all those marriages was a testament to their insistence that time was irrelevant when it came to matters of the heart. Several of his cousins had followed in the family tradition of marrying quickly, and so far, so good with the matches they had made.
As for himself…well, he’d dated Samantha for months before conceding defeat, but he admitted privately now that he’d known almost from the start that what they had would not last. Yet from the minute his eyes had met Madison’s at that rowdy costume party, he’d known she was special.
It seemed he had more in common with his Walker kin than he sometimes realized.
“What’s her name?”
“Madison Baker. She’s a fourth-year psych resident. I asked her last night if she knew Nick, but she said she didn’t.” Lindsay’s husband had practiced pediatrics in Little Rock for more than twenty years. “Her brother, Mitch, is a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at the children’s hospital. Nick may know of him.”
“He probably does. I don’t know him, though.”
“Her sister, Meagan, is also a surgeon, an attending physician at the med school. Jenny will probably get to know her when she starts med school next year.” Lindsay and Nick’s daughter planned to follow her dad into pediatrics, while younger brother Clay was more interested in mathematics.
“You’re still assuming she’ll be accepted. We haven’t heard yet, you know.”
Jason shrugged. “She’ll get in. Having a dad in the local medical community is a definite plus, even if he isn’t involved with the university. Not to mention her glowing résumé and stellar grade point average. She could have gone anywhere she wanted for medical school.”
Lindsay had to concede. “Probably. But as selfish as it is, I’m glad she wanted to stay here. She said she plans to practice in the state so she might as well train here and start building her professional network.”
“Makes sense. That’s part of why I stayed in Texas.”
Lindsay gave him a look that held affectionate skepticism. “It had nothing at all to do with you wanting to stay close to your family?”
He shrugged a bit sheepishly. “Okay, maybe it did.”
“I think it’s lovely that you’re so close to your family—both on the Walker and D’Alessandro sides. I’m sure you know how fortunate you are to have a whole lifetime of that sort of love and support.”
“Of course I know.”
No one knew better than a member of the Walker family how important those family ties could be. Having been separated as small children when they’d lost both their parents, his mother and her brothers and sisters had all been adults when they’d finally been reunited, thanks to his mother’s decision to hire private investigator Tony D’Alessandro to locate her six missing siblings after her adoptive parents died. Tony had tracked down all five surviving siblings, and then had married his client, bringing Michelle into his own large, demonstrative, Italian-American family. The oldest of Michelle and Tony’s four offspring, Jason had heard the story many times, but he never tired of it.
The youngest Walker sibling, Lindsay had been just a baby when she’d been adopted by a family in Little Rock, with whom she was still very close. Unlike their older brothers and sister, Michelle and Lindsay had no memories of those early years together, but they had formed very strong bonds with them all in the thirty-plus years that had passed since they’d reunited. Jason had always figured those years apart had reinforced a need and appreciation for home and family, especially for the older Walker siblings who had spent their childhoods in foster care. That had to explain at least in part their tendency to swap lifelong vows as soon as they identified their soul mates.
“So, your Madison is a doctor from a family of doctors. She can certainly understand the demands on your time, just as you understand hers.”
“She’s not ‘my’ Madison, Aunt Lindsay. She’s—”
Again, she waved off the distinction. “Maybe you could bring her to meet us while you’re here? I’d love to get to know her.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Too early?”
“Too complicated.”
She nodded her understanding. “Just know that I’m here for you if you need to talk.”
He smiled. He was fond of all his aunts, both by blood and marriage, but he’d always had a soft spot for his mother’s youngest sister. “Thanks, Aunt Lin.”
“Or I could always talk to her,” she added. “I could tell her how foolish she would be not to grab hold of you and hold on while she has the chance. Perhaps she doesn’t know yet what a great catch my nephew is.”
Even though he knew she was teasing, he shook his head. “I think I’d better be the one to try to convince her of that.”
She reached across the little table to pat his hand. “That shouldn’t be so hard. Now, tell me all the gossip from home. Have Andrew and Aaron gotten into any scrapes lately?”
Chuckling at the dry question about his trouble-prone twenty-nine-year-old twin cousins, Jason launched into an anecdote about their latest misadventure, making his aunt laugh in delight. He was somewhat relieved that she had changed the subject, but thoughts of Madison weren’t far from his mind as they chatted through the remainder of the lunch.
He had a long way to go before convincing Madison that he was a “great catch.” First, he had to persuade her that they had a chance at having more than an occasional long weekend together.
Chapter Ten
Madison was in the habit of calling her mother every day after getting off duty, usually during her walk down the stairs and then to the parking lot. Those quick calls were just daily check-ins, with longer, chattier calls and visits on the weekends or the occasional evening, but Madison almost always remembered the long-standing tradition. When her phone rang as she headed toward the hospital stairwell Wednesday evening, she thought it might be her mom. Or—and her silly heart beat faster with the possibility—perhaps Jason, confirming their plans for the evening.
Her steps faltered a bit when she saw BiBi’s name on her telephone ID screen. She’d talked to BiBi only the week before. Was it only coincidence that her friend was calling again the day after Jason had arrived in Little Rock…or was this call going to be extremely awkward?
Deciding she didn’t want to try carrying on this conversation while walking down stairs, she veered toward the coffee shop.
“Hi, Beebs, what’s up?” she said lightly. “Wait, hold on a sec—small latte,” she requested from the barista, lowering the phone to her shoulder and pushing a bill across the counter with her free hand.
While waiting for her beverage, she spoke into the phone again. “Okay, I’m here.”
“Bad time to call?”
“No, just getting off work.” She nodded a thank-you to the barista and carried her latte to an empty table. “I can talk for a few minutes while I recharge with some caffeine. Is everything okay there?”
“Oh, yes, fine. Carl and I have a crazy day scheduled for tomorrow. Lunch with my family and dinner with his. We’re going to be ridiculously full, but both families wanted us for Thanksgiving, so that was our compromise.”
“Must be difficult juggling two families at the holidays.” Neither of her siblings’ spouses had families to juggle, so it hadn’t been an issue during the Baker gatherings.
It was hard to imagine not being with her mother and brother and sister on Christmas or Thanksgiving or Easter, since she’d never missed a holiday with them thus far, but s
he supposed if she should ever marry someone with a close family of his own—say, in another state—compromises would have to be made. Not that she had any thoughts of marrying anyone for a while yet, she assured herself quickly. She still couldn’t even make up her mind about where she wanted to do her fellowship!
“It’s a nice problem to have, I suppose,” BiBi answered contentedly. “We did this same crazy plan last Thanksgiving and it worked out fine, even though I swore I’d never want to eat again after that second huge meal.”
Madison chuckled. She’d felt the same way after many a huge holiday meal at her mom’s house.
“I heard Jason D’Alessandro is spending Thanksgiving with his family in Little Rock.”
Madison’s smile faded abruptly. So the timing of this call hadn’t been a coincidence.
“Have you heard from him?” BiBi asked without waiting for a response.
“Yes, I have.” Madison would not lie outright to her friend, whatever the repercussions. “I didn’t know he was coming, but he called when he got to town.”
She saw no need to add that he’d spent the night with her. There was honesty—and then there was sharing too much.
“So there was a connection between the two of you at my wedding. I wasn’t imagining it.”
Madison chose her words carefully. “Jason and I met at the costume party, and yes, there was a connection. I didn’t know until the next day that he was the man Corinna had a crush on—neither of you had mentioned a name to me. And he, well—”
“He felt free to get to know anyone he wanted, since he’d made it clear to Corinna that there was nothing between them and never would be,” BiBi filled in somewhat bluntly.
“Yes. As soon as I realized who he was, I told him I thought we should keep our distance, because I didn’t want to do anything to hurt Corinna or upset you. But, well, somehow we just kept drifting back together.”
BiBi’s sigh came clearly through the phone. “Now I feel guilty. You met a great guy and you couldn’t have a good time with him because I was being such a diva. I still groan every time I remember how I acted to you, bringing up the past and all.”