by Tamie Dearen
“Well, I really saved her life. And today I hiked twenty miles, running most of the way. It’s not my fault she was on a different hike.”
“You’re right, Spencer.” Anne gave him her most reassuring smile. “We haven’t forgotten you saved her life. And if you hadn’t run twenty miles, we wouldn’t have found her. She’d still be out there. And she didn’t even have a sleeping bag. I’m sure she wasn’t prepared for how cold it is in the mountains at night.”
“We would’ve kept her warm.” Josh walked back into the room fresh from his shower, his hair still damp. “I wouldn’t have let her get hypothermia.”
Spencer huffed something unintelligible, and Anne hurried to change the subject. “Charlie, when is your return ticket? I didn’t even ask you.”
“I have to go back Tuesday. I’m really bummed Emily made us miss the musical tonight. But Steven still gets credit for getting the tickets. He gets big dad-credit for today.”
“Hopefully, when Emily wakes up tomorrow, she’ll feel well enough to do something fun,” said Anne.
Josh strolled toward the couch. “One thing I’d advise would be to wash off her cuts, although it may be hard to do with her sleeping so soundly. Brad and I washed some of them about five hours into the hike, and applied some antibiotic ointment. But she really has some pretty deep gashes, especially on her legs.” He moved toward Emily and started to raise her pant leg.
“Don’t touch her,” growled Spencer.
Josh pulled his hands back. “Look man, I’m not assaulting your girlfriend. I’m a doctor.”
“We’ve already heard you’re a doctor,” said Spencer.
Grace said, “Yes. And technically, she’s not your girlfriend, either. Right, Spencer? I mean, she’d probably be your girlfriend by now if you hadn’t refused to talk to her on Friday.”
“Grace!” Spencer said. “That’s enough.”
“In fact,” she continued undeterred, “I think you said you weren’t sure you could ever stand to be around her again—“
“Grace!”
“Well, let me just state for the record, if she isn’t taken, I’m definitely interested,” said Josh.
Spencer stood and faced him with his fists clenched. “She’s taken!”
“Fine... at least for now. But I’d take better care of her if she were mine.”
“Josh, Spencer! Please sit down.” Anne said. “You’re upsetting me.”
Spencer sat down on the floor next to Emily, and Josh walked around behind the couch.
“Josh, we really appreciate what you did to help Emily,” said Anne. “You don’t know her well enough to realize this, but no one tells her what to do. It certainly isn’t Spencer’s fault she got herself into trouble.”
“Yes ma’am. I did note she has a mind of her own,” Josh admitted.
“That’s the truth,” Charlie agreed. “She’s never been sweet and obedient like me.”
Steven returned to the living room. “Oh, were you telling a joke? Was that the punch line?”
“Very funny,” said Charlie. “And here I’d been saying earlier what a great dad you were.”
“Are you guys ready to go? I’m starving.” Brad returned, freshly showered, and took his place beside Grace.
“Come on, Spencer,” she urged. “I won’t tease you any more. There’s nothing you can do here.”
Josh moved to Spencer and held out his hand, “I’m sorry, man. I think we both had a pretty tough day. I won’t mouth off any more.”
Spencer stood up and shook his hand, but his mouth was set in a grim line.
“Come on,” said Claire. “We get to ride in the limousine again.”
*****
Spencer was still furious. How did this guy dare to insert himself into Emily’s life? He’d only known her for half a day. The only thing that made this guy a hero was dumb luck—he happened to be there at the right time. And why did Spencer have all the bad luck? Why did he run and hike all those miles looking for Emily, while this jerk got to just show up and save the day? And after all of his efforts, Spencer didn’t even get to carry her up to the apartment. And then the jerk had the audacity to be a doctor. Both of them—doctors. He watched his sister across the table as she laughed with Brad, her head leaning in close to his. Was he looking down the front of her shirt? He needed to have a talk with his sister.
“Spencer, you’re awfully quiet,” murmured Charlie. “Are you still worried about Emily? I saw her before she fell asleep. She’s going to be fine.”
“No. I mean... Yes, I’m worried, but that’s not it. I don’t trust this Josh guy,” he answered softly, since the object of his disdain was sitting on the other side of Charlie.
“He’s okay. You can’t blame him for having a crush on her. It happens all the time, so you better get used to it.”
“What do you mean, it happens all the time?”
“Every guy she meets falls for her. She usually doesn’t even pay attention. I’d bet a million dollars she didn’t even notice Josh is good-looking.”
“You think he’s good-looking? I think he looks like a jerk.”
Charlie chuckled. “He’s cute, Spencer. But that doesn’t mean Emily thought so. I’ve known her all my life and I’ll tell you she’s never done anything like this for a guy before.”
“What do you mean? What did she do for him?”
“Not for him, you big dummy—for you. She went on a crazy hard hike and planned to camp out, sleeping on the ground. These things are way out of her comfort zone. And she did it for you, not for Josh.”
“She’d never been on that hike. She had no idea what she was getting into.”
“But if you know Emily, you know she read all about it before she went. She at least knew it would be really difficult.”
“And I’d never have expected her to do that. I was coming to her apartment to talk to her.”
“I know, I know. But she didn’t know that. And let’s face it. You didn’t even know you were coming to talk to her until right before you did it.”
“If I’d just talked to her on Friday, none of this would have happened. It’s my fault she’s all bunged up.”
“Don’t be silly. This is Emily we’re talking about. She has a mind of her own, and it works in crazy unpredictable ways.”
“So you don’t think she’s attracted to Josh? The doctor?”
“No, I don’t. But let me ask you a question. Have you forgiven her for going out with Asher Denning?”
“That seems like it happened months ago. Yes, I’ve forgiven her. I didn’t even think about it after I found out she was in trouble.”
“Well, you need to remember she doesn’t know that. She thinks you’re still angry. And when she wakes up tomorrow, it’ll still be on her mind.”
“Do you think she likes me?”
“Ohmygosh! Are all men this dense? Yes, she likes you. Of course she does.” Charlie shook her head. “Now, can you enjoy dinner?”
“Sure.” He felt his spirits lifting… Emily liked him.
An uneasy truce lay between Spencer and Josh for the rest of dinner. Both seemed to acknowledge they didn’t like each other, but they didn’t have any more arguments. At least not overtly.
“What does Emily do?” Josh asked after everyone else at the table had summarized their present school or work occupations.
“So you don’t even know?” He let a little sneer creep into his voice. So great to finally have a one-up on Josh.
“Well, no. While I was attempting to keep her from falling to her death, we didn’t discuss mundane things like work or school.”
Charlie interrupted. “Really, Josh? Falling to her death?”
“Okay, I might be exaggerating a little. But if she’d gotten off the trail and fallen where no one could find her, it could have happened.
“That’s actually true,” Spencer conceded.
Brad jumped in. “The hike wasn’t so bad and she was great. Carried her own backpack the whole way. Refu
sed help most of the time. That’s really why she was so scratched up. She definitely wanted to prove herself.”
“You know,” said Josh, “she tried to explain it. But I never quite understood why she did that. Maybe you can elucidate, Spencer. Why did she go on that hike today? She said she had to prove you were important.”
Spencer felt his face heating up as he struggled to find an answer, but Grace jumped in.
“It was my fault, actually. She wanted to talk to Spencer, and I told her Spencer would be busy on this overnight hike until Monday.”
“And then Becca lied to her about where the hike was going to be,” Charlie added, “so she ended up at Devil’s Path instead of Harriman Loop.”
“Becca?” asked Josh. “Who’s Becca.”
“Becca is this girl who likes Spencer, so she lied to Emily to throw her off,” said Grace.
“Oh.” Josh gave a knowing nod. “Becca likes Spencer. I get it. Emily did this to attract Spencer’s attention away from Becca. He doesn’t seem worth the trouble to me. No offense, man.”
“No,” snarled Spencer. “I’ve never liked Becca, and Emily didn’t need to attract my attention, she already had it.”
“Josh, you’ve got a long way to go before you can understand my sister. Her mind works in complicated ways.” Charlie pointed her finger at him.
“I’ve got nothing but time, and I’m a patient man.”
“Cute,” smirked Charlie, “A doctor—a patient man? That’s funny.”
It wasn’t funny at all.
“Oh, and she’s a CPA at Gherring Inc. We never did tell you what she did,” Charlie added.
“Ah,” said Josh. “A CPA. Hmmm, that could be a great combination.”
In his mind, Spencer pictured all the different ways he could kill Josh.
*****
“This is fun, Mom. The two of us can sit here together and feel miserable.” At seven a.m. on Sunday morning, Emily had already limped down to her apartment to shower off and change clothes. She’d been shocked at how many bruises and cuts were on her body, and her ankle was definitely swollen. But her shower had been a moment of ecstasy as she’d scrubbed the dirt and dust from her body until her skin was pink. Her mother was fighting nausea again since removing her IV due to painful irritation of the skin around the needle. She was braving the mounting queasiness, attempting to postpone calling Connie to insert a new IV needle.
“I’m just so happy to have you here in one piece I don’t want to complain. But you may not want to stay up here if I start throwing up again.” Her mother’s smile was a bit shaky.
“Why don’t you let me call Connie?” Steven asked. “You know she won’t mind.”
“But she’s got to have some time off. We can’t always expect her to drop everything and come over here,” Anne protested.
Steven’s answer was cut off by a tentative knock at the door. “I wonder who that could be. I’m betting on Spencer.”
“Me, too. He was dying to talk to you last night,” Anne told Emily.
“Well, I don’t look very good.” Emily wished she’d worn long pants to cover her extensive injuries. She couldn’t quite see around Steven when he opened the door.
“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Yes, sir. I hope you don’t mind. I was hoping to see my patient before I do rounds at the hospital.” Josh smiled broadly as he entered the apartment. “Hey, Emily.”
She was so confused. “Hi, Josh. What’re you doing here?”
“Well, I got called in to work this morning, so I was hoping you’d be awake. I wanted to check on you.”
She felt her cheeks burning as he approached her, studying her legs and her foot with a distinct frown. “I’m just fine.” She tucked her legs underneath her on the couch.
“Can I check your ankle?”
“Check it? Why? I mean, it’s sprained I guess. But I’m sure it will get better.”
“I want to make sure we don’t need to get it x-rayed.”
“Well, if it doesn’t get better, I’ll go see a doctor.”
Anne laughed, “Emily, you don’t know? Josh is a doctor. And so is Brad.”
“What?” Her face grew even hotter.
“Yes, I forgot you didn’t know. We talked about it last night, but you were sleeping.” Suddenly a look of consternation passed across his face. “By the way, what were you doing accepting a pill from me yesterday when you didn’t know I was a doctor? That was really dangerous. I could have given you something unsafe.” His voice was slightly scolding.
Emily bristled at his admonishing tone. “I usually have pretty good judgment about people. I’d been forced to trust you all day, so I saw no reason not to trust you at the end of the day. However, now I’m having second thoughts. You’re not my father—”
“Ouch!” Josh held up his hands in mock distress. “Mrs. Gherring, I see what you mean about no one telling her what to do.”
The Gherrings smiled at his discomfort. Anne said, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“I’m sorry, Emily. I only meant to express concern for your well-being. I would never presume to order you around. And I certainly don’t aspire to be your father or anything of the sort.”
“Okay. Apology accepted. As long as we understand each other.”
“I’d like to reach the point where I really understand you, but I think I’m going to need more time. So, seriously... I really do want to check your ankle.”
Reluctantly, she unfolded her legs and stuck her right foot out. He pressed around the swollen area experimentally and then moved her foot around to flex the ankle, watching her reaction. She winced, but refused to make a sound at the pain.
“I’m sorry—I know that hurts. I still don’t think anything is broken. But it is a serious sprain.” He began to inspect the cuts on her legs, which she’d left mostly unbandaged, not having anything large enough to cover them. “Nothing looks too deep. Can I see your arms?”
Sighing, she stuck her arms out at him and he looked until he seemed satisfied. “Don’t you have a gash on your back?”
“Yes, but you can’t see that one.”
He rolled his eyes. “Brad and I cleaned that one off with water yesterday and put gauze on it. Why can’t I see it today? It’s not in a private place.”
“I don’t know, but you can’t see it.” She pressed her lips together in a tight line.
He grinned at her. “Okay. You’re the boss. I think you need to be taking anti-inflammatories for your sprained ankle. O.T.C. NSAID’s ought to be fine. That’s ibuprofen, aspirin, or naproxen sodium. Unless it’s hurting badly enough you need more hydrocodone?”
“No, thank you. I’d rather hurt a little than get knocked out again. I’ve been unconscious a bit too much lately.”
“I agree,” said Steven. “Let’s keep you off the heavy stuff.”
Josh frowned at Anne. “Are you all right, Mrs. Gherring? You seem like you’re about to pass out.”
“Oh, I’m okay. Just a little queasy.”
“Actually, you could really help us out. Anne needs a new IV port,” said Steven.
“What?” asked Josh, reaching to examine the proffered arm. “Oh, I see. Yes, this area’s really inflamed. So you removed an IV port from this spot?”
“Yes, this morning. It was really hurting,” Anne explained.
“And why do you need an IV?”
“She’s got hyperemesis gravidarum. They have her on IV fluids for nutrition support and antiemetics,” said Steven.
“Really? You’re pregnant? How far along?”
“We’re not sure. Maybe ten weeks,” said Anne.
“She was interviewed about it on the news last week,” said Emily.
He shook his head. “I never get to watch television. Saturday was the first day I’ve had off in weeks. I was supposed to be off today, but I got called in.”
He turned back to Anne. “Wow, you’re really thin. I’ve studied about this, but I’ve never seen a real
case. It’s pretty rare. Well, except some of them go undiagnosed. Do you have a severe case? Have they talked to you about TPN?”
“We’re hoping to avoid it—so many complications. But I need to eat so I can gain some weight.”
“I’ll be glad to put in a new needle for you. Do you want it in the same place on the other arm? Or some place different?” He opened up the sterile IV kit they handed him.
“Yes, please. On the other arm. I really appreciate this, Josh.”
“My pleasure,” he said, as he quickly inserted the IV needle. “Just a pinch. How’s that?” He taped the new port in place and took off his gloves. “I’m hoping to ingratiate myself with your whole family,” he said with a conspiratorial grin.
“Thank you, Josh,” said Steven. “If there’s anything I can ever do to help you, let me know.”
“I will. Do you need help starting a new fluid bag?”
“No, we’ve got it down,” said Anne, as she and Steven headed toward the bedroom.
Emily felt her palms sweating when her parents left them alone together. He really made her nervous. Time to give him the boot. “Okay… Thanks for dropping by.”
He sat down on the couch next to her. “Can I drop by another time? I’d like to see you again.”
Her stomach turned a somersault. “You would?”
“Yes, I would. I don’t have a lot of spare time right now because of the residency program, but I’d like to spend it with you.”
“Why? I told you I had a boyfriend.”
“Well, that’s not exactly what you said, but I’ll let it pass. Let me explain. When I see something really great, something I want, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to get it. I’m not the type of man who gives up if it’s not easy. I’m willing to work at it and wait a long time if I have to. I’m in no hurry. I sense you and Spencer are on unsure footing here. I don’t think he’s the right man for you. If and when you change your mind, I’ll be right here waiting to prove to you I’m the right guy.”
The smile never left his face as he stood. After a moment she thought to close her mouth.
“No pressure. Just think about it.” He walked to the door to let himself out. “I’ll see you later.” Before she could protest his promise, he slipped through the door, and clicked it shut behind him.