Dream Runner

by Gail McFarland

“Connie, girl, yes! Were you up there by his office when they came to collect him? I heard it was an ugly scene. The police didn’t give him any slack, not that he deserved it.” Jeanette knotted her hands and pushed them deep into the pockets of her blue smock. “Who knew the man was guilty? And worse, who would have thought he would have gone so far out of his way to hide it?”

  “Humph! Have mercy.” Connie ruefully remembered Marlea’s anonymous arrival. “Remember when they first brought her in? Nobody knew who she was or anything. Then for him to come in here playing savior and operate on her the way he did…Jeanette, you know, it’s a wonder the poor girl didn’t lose more than a couple of toes. Lord, truth is sure stranger than fiction.” Connie’s eyes suddenly widened and she thoughtfully closed her hand over the pin clipped to the breast of her uniform. “Girl, what if her survival was, you know, an accident?”

  “But he took such good care of her, Connie. Doesn’t that prove that his heart was in the right place, that he’s not entirely evil?”

  “Humph,” sniffed Phyllis Bridgewater, cruising by, close enough to hear and drop off an opinion. “You’ve got toes. You can still wear all of your cute shoes.” She lifted her nose a bit higher and sailed on.

  “Busybody,” Jeanette huffed under her breath.

  “Always trying to stir up something in somebody else’s business, but this time, she’s got a point.” Connie waited for the head nurse to round the corner, then turned to her friend. “So who’s going to tell her? About Doctor, I mean? They can keep putting it off if they want to, but sooner or later, that woman is going to notice when he doesn’t show up.”

  “She’s not crazy about television, thank goodness. At least she won’t have the news dropped on her that way.”

  “So sad.” Connie hummed sympathy and patted her flattened hand against her breast. “And she has no family, from what I understand. She’s going to need a shoulder to lean on, for sure.”

  It took a moment to register, and then Jeanette drew back, shocked. “Why are you looking at me like that? You think I should tell her? Uh-uh, not me. You have lost your damned mind if you think I…Why do I have to be the one to tell her?”

  “Well, because. You know how friendly you are. Besides, she likes you.” Pulling Jeanette with her, Connie stepped back against the wall to avoid a passing gurney. Back against the wall, she eyed the other nurse. “Look, girl, that woman has no family, and she’s scared enough as it is. She’s got the therapist for now, but with the doctor out of the picture, what will happen when she’s discharged?”

  “Assisted living, probably. At least for a little while.” Jeanette pushed away from the wall, managing to dislodge Connie’s grip.

  “But Jeanette, think about it: The doctor injured her, lied to her, did surgery on her, and now she has no one else. You and I both know that she’s too young to be just, just set adrift among a lot of senior citizens. She needs to be with people who will challenge her and help her to see how much life she has left, even without her foot.”

  “It’s her toes, not her whole foot, and I don’t see where it’s my job to tell her, or to go stepping in and trying to manage her life.” Jeanette moved her shoulder to avoid Connie, and set off down the hall with the other woman racing behind her. “None of this is really my business, or yours for that matter. Besides, the coach will probably take her in—you know that’s her real friend.”

  “No,” Connie puffed. “That’s not gonna happen. Didn’t I hear you say that the coach and her husband were moving to Florida? Family problems you said, if I remember correctly.”

  “I heard she’s already gone, but it’s not my business.”

  “Damn, you move fast for a full-figured girl.” Connie picked up her pace. “Think about it, Jeanette. Somebody’s got to do it.”

  “Connie, get off my back,” Jeanette fumed, stopping short and frowning when Connie rammed her back. “I don’t see you rushing off to the rescue. That girl’s healthcare is going to be a lot of responsibility, and down the road she’ll have all the legal dealings with the doctor, and I’m not her mother. I’m not her family. I do like the girl, and I feel bad for her, but that’s where it ends. My job is to take the best possible care of her that I can while she’s here, not deliver bad news. I don’t work for Western Union, and she’s a patient, not a puppy. I’m not taking that girl home with me!”

  “Sounds serious. Who are you talking about?”

  Caught arguing, the women froze and looked guilty at the sound of the man’s voice. They simultaneously clamped their full lips together and looked back at the man. AJ Yarborough stood tall and imposing, waiting for an answer.

  “It’s nothing,” Jeanette mumbled, hoping he would ignore whatever he had overheard.

  “Nothing, my foot; it’s a patient,” Connie volunteered.

  Jeanette’s eyes widened and her nose flared, sending a warning. Connie widened her own eyes. Adding a hard-angled elbow to her argument, Jeanette flared again. Not to be outdone, Connie dug into Jeanette’s ribs with her elbow. Nudging each other, waggling their eyebrows and wanting the information out but not willing to be the one to tell it, neither of the women would meet AJ’s gaze.

  “Oh, come on.” He watched them send signals back and forth again. “Somebody say something; both of you know what’s happening.”

  “Well…” Jeanette bit her lips.

  “You can’t tell anybody we told,” Connie blurted. “You’ve got to swear you won’t tell.”

  “You’re acting like I’m forcing you to tell,” AJ said. “Look, ladies, I don’t know what this is about, but you looked and sounded pretty serious.” The nurses looked at him hard, and AJ jokingly crossed his heart. “You can count on my discretion. Can I help?”

  Connie and Jeanette stood still, hands clasped over their hearts and stared.

  “What do you think?”

  “Quit whispering, Connie. He’s standing right there. He can hear you.”

  Jeanette sighed. “Well, if you can’t help, at least your knowing what’s going on can’t possibly make things worse—now can it?”

  “You want to tell me?”

  Jeanette looked at him and sighed again.

  Waiting, AJ stood tall and gorgeous, one large hand splayed across his chest and the other in his pocket. Looking at him, both women were willing to talk, but Connie found the words first. “You know, this is a violation of her confidentiality, and I don’t want to be the one telling her business, but…”

  “It’s not exactly only her business,” Jeanette butted in. “It’s really the doctor’s business. We all saw how they grabbed him up out of here.”

  “I didn’t see, and now you’ve got me completely confused.” AJ looked blank. “Tell me what happened.”

  “Not here,” Connie whispered. The nurses looked over their shoulders, then back at AJ.

  “Come on.” Jeanette’s fingers touched his bare arm, then she crooked a finger at him. “Let’s not put it out here in the open. Come on.” She led the way into the nearest patient’s lounge and closed the door behind them.

  “This is going to shock you,” Jeanette announced, pushing her back against the door.

  AJ didn’t look convinced.

  “Let me start. Okay, the police came in today and took…”

  “Connie, if you’re going to tell it, tell it right. Start at the beginning.” Jeanette’s face betrayed her concern. “You know that our patient Ms. Kellogg was injured on the Fourth of July…”

  “And nobody knew anything, until we went through her clothes. Ooh, honey, it was a holy mess…” Connie’s hands flew through the air, pantomiming her side of the story.

  Jeanette sniffed. “We were helping out in the ER that day because of the holiday. We were the ones who found her name and her contact. I was the one who talked to the trainer…”

  “And it was the doctor who hit her!” Connie blabbed, ignoring Jeanette’s disapproving frown. “That’s right, he hit her. Then he brought her in here and did surge
ry on her. Dr. Do Good did bad, and today the cops came in here and snatched him up for it.” Folding her arms, she nodded sagely. “Dr. Parker Reynolds was the one who hit that girl and damn near killed her. He’s the one who did it, all right—I heard they got proof and everything.”

  AJ looked from one woman to the other. They both nodded.

  AJ remembered the first time he had seen the doctor with his patient. Compassion, dignity, and resolve were all very much in evidence. And he was the one who found me. He was so dedicated to her recovery that he wanted to be sure that she had a therapist who was empathetic as well as skilled. AJ remembered sitting on a barstool next to the doctor.

  “When did you hear about it?”

  “This afternoon, about two hours ago. Chile, they handcuffed him and took him right on out of here. I still can’t believe it.”

  AJ tried to remember life two hours earlier. Two hours ago I was with Nat Jenkins, a sixty-year-old golfer who was trying to get right after a broken ankle. It was simple, and I didn’t have a clue about any of this…He looked at the anxious nurses and shook his head. This can’t be right, they’ve got this all confused.

  “Can’t believe it, right? Well, neither can anybody else,” Connie announced.

  “It’s, uh, hard to believe.” Dropping into the nearest chair, he had to remind himself to close his mouth. It was bad enough when she trusted him, and now this betrayal. She only trusted me because of him. How is she ever going to move past this?

  “Somebody has to tell her,” Connie prompted, sliding into the chair across from AJ.

  “We were trying to prepare her to leave,” Jeanette said softly. “She’s not quite ready to be on her own, and she told me she lives in a townhouse. That means stairs, and she’s not ready for stairs yet, is she?”

  Thoughtful, Connie couldn’t help asking, “Why can’t she use the first floor only?”

  “Because she outfitted it as a gym right after her last training partner left the city,” AJ said. “She knocked out the walls and had it rebuilt so that she never had to have a break in her training—she’s got a treadmill in there instead of a sofa. She told me.”

  Jeanette pressed her palms together, held them at her heart, and moved a step closer. “I don’t think anybody has told her coach yet, either.”

  “You’re waiting for me to fix this, aren’t you?” AJ’s shoulders rose and fell with his breath. Neither of the nurses said anything. “Somebody from the nursing staff will call her coach, and Ms. Belcher will tell her. It’ll help to have a friend tell her.”

  “Ms. Belcher left town with her husband a couple of days ago,” Jeanette volunteered.

  “Won’t be back any time soon, from what we hear,” Connie added.

  “And you’re telling me that she has no friends, no relatives?”

  “Her mother and brother are deceased, so that’s it for family.” Jeanette shrugged. “Apparently, no friends she trusts enough to share her situation with. She’s gotten a few cards and notes since she’s been here, but no visits from coworkers or anybody, any none of us have heard her call a friend. You have to be able to trust the people you call friends. With the doctor gone, that leaves you and the coach.”

  “I guess its time she made some friends,” AJ said. She barely trusts me. Then he remembered kissing Marlea. She let me kiss her…we both seem to have survived that, but would she trust me enough to let me help her through this? “I don’t know how to tell her without making things worse.”

  “But…” both women began.

  AJ raised his hand, silencing them. “I don’t know how to tell her about the doctor—yet. But I think I can help out with her other problem. My grandma used to say that God never closes a door, unless he opens a window. I might know how to pry open a window or two.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means I’m going to have a talk, a serious talk, with my client.” AJ stood and Connie hopped up from her seat. Jeanette managed to keep pace with him as he headed for the door. “Alone,” he said. His raised finger and stern face stopped the women in their tracks. “I’ll let you know how it turns out.”

  Watching him leave, the two women looked at each other.

  “Well, I’m glad that’s handled,” Connie said.

  “It’s not handled yet,” Jeanette answered.

  * * *

  “Uh-uh. That’s just ridiculous. I can’t just go moving into your house all willy-nilly.”

  “Sure, you can. Why can’t you?”

  “Because…well, I can’t. I mean, I have my own place. I’m not some kind of pet, and I’m not a cripple. Isn’t that what you’ve been telling me? I have responsibilities, and bills, and…and a life. Then, too, I won’t be working for a while, you know.”

  “But in the meantime…” AJ wished he had more convincing words, but none came to mind.

  ”I’ll be fine in my own place,” Marlea repeated. “I won’t be underfoot. Besides, my townhouse has always suited me, and I’ll be glad to get back to it.”

  “Two stories?”

  “Three,” she said, suspicious. “Why?”

  “What about the first floor gym? You can’t sleep on a stair master or a treadmill. You would have to get up the stairs, and you’ll need some help adjusting.”

  Marlea’s face tightened. “There you go again, trying to make me need something.”

  AJ threw both hands up in the air. “Probably for the same reasons you’re so determined not to need anyone or anything. Marlea, you’re a whole and independent woman. I get it. Hell, everybody in the Western world gets it. You can stop hitting us over the head with it now.”

  Stubborn as ever, Marlea stiffened on the bed. She stared into space for a long moment. “You know, it’s really strange, Dr. Reynolds just up and leaving the way he did.” Looking thoughtful, her tone changed. “Why didn’t he tell me he was leaving? And he simply left my case in your hands? Without asking me or telling me anything, and now you want me to move to your house? I’m not so sure about this—it sounds kind of fishy to me.”

  I don’t even know why I expected this to be easy. Defensive, AJ raised his hands. “You’re making way too much of this. You knew that you would have to leave the hospital sooner or later—or did you plan to make this hospital room your permanent residence? Your time is up here, Marlea. Bottom line: your post-surgical follow-up will be done by another doctor, and your therapy stays with me. Meanwhile, they need the bed and you’re well enough to move on.”

  Marlea toyed with a cup from her bedside table. “It would be nice to be out of here, but with you?”

  “What’s wrong with me?” AJ looked down at himself then back at her.

  “A lot of things.” Marlea tried hard but couldn’t quite bite back her smile.

  “Like what?”

  “You don’t take direction very well, for one thing.” Marlea tried not to think of what she had felt the last time he touched her. A rivulet of memory teased her core, and she pressed her thumbs hard against the cup.

  “I’ll try to do better, and your stay with me won’t be for long, just until we get your therapy back on track.”

  “And what about when Dr. Reynolds returns?”

  Not gonna happen! AJ swallowed audibly. “I’m still only handling the therapy end of your case, and I think you’re making way more of this than you need to.” Lord, please let her buy this before my thin lie falls apart. Leaning against the wall, AJ tried to look cool, but it was a struggle.

  “What about your wife, or your woman, or your…whoever? What will she think if you drag me home and move me in?” AJ threw his head back and laughed. Marlea pressed on. “I’m telling you right now, I’m not about to be a charity case, and I’m not trying to pay room and board by being your ‘something on the side.’” He was still laughing. “Don’t laugh. Whoever she is, she deserves better than that.”

  “The only women at my house are my sister and the housekeeper. Other than that, there’s nobody.” He grinned.

&
nbsp; “Why?”

  “What do you mean?” AJ crossed his arms and stared. When she said nothing, he shook his head, amazed. “Nosy, aren’t you?”

  “You just invited me to move into your home—right after my doctor ducked out without so much as a fare thee well, and you’re claiming that there are no strings attached. I have a right to know what I’m getting into, don’t I?”

  “So you’re at least considering it?”

  “I still don’t know why I can’t go back to my own place.”

  AJ thanked a generous God for the topic change and felt his chest loosen. “Because you would be alone, and your home is not set up for your needs. How will you get up and down the stairs, or what if you fell, Marlea?”

  “I guess I didn’t think of that.” Her eyes shifted, and she gave him a look that made him think of his mother. “You never answered my question,” she insisted, setting the cup aside. “Why is a man like you out here in the world all alone?”

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  “But you won’t, ’cause I asked you first.” Sliding her hands over her legs, Marlea leaned forward as though trying to x-ray him to get to the truth.

  What kind of man does she think I am? Thinking of the little she knew of him, a couple of sadistic images ran through his head. She probably thinks I’m some kind of…what the hell am I about to get myself into?

  “I guess you could say I never met the right woman.” That’s an understatement. “But that has nothing to do with your making this temporary move. My house is large enough, plenty of room to safely accommodate you.” It’s not like I can tell her about the women who used to follow the teams, or the ones that send the drawers in the mail.” My office and a small clinic are right there, so you can’t beat it for convenience.”

  “You’re dodging the question, aren’t you?”

  Is it that obvious? “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yeah, right.” Marlea’s hands smoothed along the satiny track of her thighs again. “C’mon, you can tell me. Why aren’t you in a relationship? Why are you still available?”

  She said the last word slowly, her teeth and tongue massaging every letter. I SURE can’t try to explain Bianca—I don’t understand her myself. “I’m kind of selective. Got no babies, no baby’s mamas, and therefore no baby/mama drama. How about you?”