Accidental Parents

by Jane Toombs

He grinned at her. “Keeps me reminded things could be worse for me. Give me a minute or two and I’ll be ready to go.”

  He left the bedroom door ajar when he went in. Jade frowned. Bad enough that she could imagine him stripping down to... what—undershorts?—without the knowledge she could actually watch him if she didn’t mind playing “I spy.” Damn this chemistry thing, anyway.

  It was almost as though he was coated with power bait and she was a hapless fish, unable to resist the lure.

  That image made her laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” he called to her.

  “Life,” she told him.

  When he emerged from the bedroom in jeans and T-shirt, she realized she hadn’t heard him play back the answering tape. “You have a message from Laura on your machine,” she told him.

  He nodded, ducked back into the bedroom and replayed it. Listening critically this time, Jade thought Laura sounded defensive.

  As he came out, she said, “Occasionally my brothers try to reorganize my life. They’re never success-. ful because I like my life as it is. I’m mentioning it just in case you might be trying to do the same with your sister.”

  He shrugged. “She’s in a boring, dead-end job with mediocre benefits, working way under her education level. I’ve been encouraging her to aim for something she’d at least enjoy doing.”

  “Sounds as though she’s been listening to you.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Brothers tend to be protective.”

  A strange expression flitted across his face, reminding her of the look Tim got when he was about to shut down, and she wondered what she’d said that would cause such a reaction.

  “Ready?” Nathan asked.

  “Ready as Freddie the Frog.”

  “How’s old Freddie doing?”

  “He’s spending the night at the ranch with Tim,” she said, regretting the words as soon as they left her lips. Although she hadn’t meant any kind of an invitation, it probably sounded like one. “The fish are waiting, so let’s go,” she added hastily.

  In the parking lot, he suggested they take his Jeep since it had a hitch for the boat trailer.

  “Mine has one, too,” she said. “I think it might be easier to back the boat in with my truck—on account of your snowplow attachment”

  “Oh, yeah, that. I keep meaning to take it off. Okay, let’s go in your truck. Otherwise we’ll have to pay for two park stickers, instead of one.”

  Which wouldn’t have been that big a deal. But she decided to let it pass without comment. The clinic wasn’t that much out of the way between Topaz Lake and Incline Village.

  “Want to grab a bite to eat first?” he asked.

  “I’m miles ahead of you,” she told him. “I brought along an ice chest and picnic basket. We can eat in the park at one of the picnic tables.”

  “Great idea.”

  “Have you heard how Alice is doing?” she asked as they drove toward the lake.

  “Meant to tell you—she’s progressed to having periods of consciousness but hasn’t been able to tell them anything coherent yet. No more about her on TV?”

  “Not that I’ve heard. And no one is bothering Tim, thanks to Dr. Severin. If only...” She paused and sighed.

  “You want to keep him, right?”

  She nodded. “But he might have relatives who care about him. If so, think how frantic they must be not knowing where or how he is.” She sighed again. “I can’t make myself really believe that, though. The other day Danny asked him about the scars on his back. Tim didn’t answer. In fact, he didn’t talk for almost a half hour.”

  “If I can prevent it, that boy’s not going back to an abuser.” Nathan spoke calmly but his tone was lined with steel.

  At the lake, once they’d eaten, Nathan hitched her truck to the boat trailer. He was pleased, though not surprised, at Jade’s expertise in guiding the boat down the ramp into the water. By now he knew if she said she could do something, she not only could, but did it well.

  Once they were both in the boat, he started the motor on the first try and guided his fourteen-footer out into the lake, thinking he’d never before gone fishing with anyone half as attractive as Jade. There was nothing unusual about her jeans or Tahoe T-shirt. Or the billed cap she wore. But she made them look spectacular because they were on her. He smiled to himself as he watched her check her rod and reel. Always concentrating on the business at hand.

  Even by the gazebo in the moonlight when she’d put her heart into their kiss. Whoa, Walker, he warned himself. The June sun’s hot enough. Don’t get all steamed up. This expedition’s to catch fish, nothing more.

  Gloria hadn’t ever gone fishing with him. Or done much else. He couldn’t recall a single woman, except for his sister, that he’d ever taken fishing. Laura had always enjoyed the outdoors—he hoped she’d get the wild-horse job.

  “Think we’ll try the other side of the lake,” he said.

  “I’ve had good luck over there before,” Jade told him. “I don’t think we’ll be pulling in any whoppers, though. From what I hear the trout are plentiful enough this year but small. Due to the flooding, they claim.”

  “All changes and misfortunes are because of the floods, or so they keep telling me.”

  “Be honest when you came to live in Nevada’s desert climate, did you expect a flood like the one we had this January?”

  Nathan smiled. “Being from the Midwest, I’m well aware weather is never predictable. Some would say, like women.”

  “But not you?”

  “Women are people. You know any person long enough and patterns emerge. You can’t predict all the actions, but you can get a fair idea of how that person will behave most of the time.”

  Jade stared at him. “Are you claiming you pretty much know how I’m going to act?”

  No way did he intend to open that can of worms. “It was a general comment, not specific. Besides, I haven’t known you very long.”

  “In general, though,” she persisted. “What traits of mine have you identified?”

  Careful, man, take it slow. “What you know how to do, which seems to be one hell of a lot, you do extremely well,” he said.

  “Come on, you’re hedging.”

  What else did she expect? “You’re confident. Basically friendly but you don’t suffer fools gladly.”

  “I like that phrase about not suffering fools gladly.”

  “Thank my grandmother.”

  “What else?”

  “Okay, you asked for it. Persistent to a fault.” He grinned at her.

  She smiled wryly. “At last, a fault. It can’t be my only one.”

  “Let’s turn this thing around. Have you formed any opinions about my character?”

  “Hmm, let’s see. You’re a caring doctor. You like and understand children.”

  “Faults?”

  “Well, there’s that snowplow. Procrastination. Laid-back—though that’s not really a fault.”

  Then why list it with them, lady? “I prefer to think of it as mellow,” he said.

  She shrugged. “You’re perceptive and you’re protective of those you perceive as helpless. Plus qualities. Now it’s your turn again.”

  “Like I said—persistent. Let’s see... Nurturing. Maybe a tad manipulative.”

  Jade frowned. “Me, manipulative? What on earth gave you such a wrongheaded notion?”

  Hit a nerve, had he? Should have kept his mouth shut. “Look, let’s drop this. We came here to fish, not to argue.”

  “One of your problems is you go out of your way to avoid confrontations,” she accused. “You don’t seem to realize that’s a quick way to get differences into the open and discuss them.”

  “I have another definition of confrontations. In my experience they escalate problems, not solve them. Compromise is easier if the other guy isn’t boiling over with fury.”

  “Compromise?” Jade’s voice rose. “One way is usually either right or the best way to do a given task.
The other is either wrong or a poorer way. How do you think I’d ever get a well dug properly if I allowed every roughneck I hired to talk me into compromising on how to drill?”

  “There’s more to life than drilling wells. Or practicing medicine. I understand the need to set standards in both professions. Still, as far as medicine goes, science has fought for years against recognizing any alternative methods of treating patients. Only now are we coming around to understand and admit some of them do work.”

  He cut the motor so they were crawling along. “We agreed to fish on this far side of the lake. No compromise, just straight agreement, right?”

  Jade gave a reluctant nod and busied herself with plastering her hook with what he recognized as power bait. She noticed him watching her and paused. “Want some?” she asked.

  A compromise, her way of dismissing their argument, even if she didn’t recognize it. “Thanks. I haven’t seen the kind with the silver stuff in it before.” He slathered some on his hook, tossed his line over the side and almost immediately got a strike.

  As he reeled the fish in, he heard Jade shout, “Got one!” After that they both pulled in trout so fast that everything else was forgotten. It didn’t take long for them to reach their respective limits.

  “I guess this really is my lucky day,” Jade said. “Yours, too.”

  “I can’t deny our luck, even though it shortens the length of time we can fish.”

  “Yeah. Catching is great but part of the mystique of fishing is in the doing.”

  They smiled at each other, for the moment in perfect harmony. At last, he thought, a woman who understands what fishing is all about.

  “If the sites were closer to Topaz Lake,” she said, “I’d suggest we go take a look at the petroglyphs. There are some out near Fallon, and I hear new ones have been found near Pyramid Lake.”

  “I know what they are from pictures,” Nathan said, “but I’ve never seen one in the wild. I didn’t know they were to be found in Nevada.”

  “Maybe another time.” Jade couldn’t believe her own words. Was she actually suggesting a second outing with Nathan? The trouble was, petroglyphs wouldn’t be something that would interest Tim very much, so they’d be alone together again.

  “We should plan to go somewhere with Tim,” she added. “He was torn today between being with Danny and Yasmin or coming fishing with us.”

  “I see the peer group won out as it usually does with normal kids. It’s a sign Tim is adjusting. Must be your positive nurturing.”

  “You already gave me credit for nurturing,” she said. Neither of them, she’d noted, had mentioned words like attractive. Or sexy. Maybe he didn’t think she was.

  “I took this afternoon and evening off,” Nathan said as he steered the boat toward the ramp. “Since I’m covered, I’m damned if I’m going back home early. You’re the designated driver—what next?”

  Jade blinked. She hadn’t thought beyond the fishing. Deliberately. She had, though, believed they’d be on the lake until late afternoon, maybe into the evening. “I’ll think about it while we clean the fish and pack them in ice,” she said.

  “Remaining open to suggestions?”

  “Even to entertaining them.” She pointed toward the lights of the casino at the top of the hill. “If you’re hungry, the food’s not bad there. Or we could drive somewhere else to eat. I know a couple of good places in Gardnerville.”

  “Ever been to Cowboy Joe’s in Tourmaline?”

  Jade shook her head.

  “Want to try it?”

  “Why not?”

  From the name, she’d half expected to hear the usual country-and-western music in the restaurant. What they were served with their meal, instead, was cowboy poetry recited in a husky drawl by a grizzled elder who certainly looked as though he’d spent his life riding the range.

  When they’d finished and were walking back to her truck, she said, “Good food. I’m not too sure about the poetry, but I enjoyed the poet’s delivery. Is he local?”

  “He’s a rancher up Yerington way—does this as a hobby. Says it beats asittin’ and arockin’. If medicine had the mythic qualities of the Wild West, I might be tempted to begin writing poetry about it.”

  “And reciting it in Boondoc Nate’s?”

  He chuckled, took her hand and swung their joined hands as they sauntered along the sidewalk.

  The dusk was deepening, sliding quickly into night. Stars twinkled into visibility, but the moon hadn’t yet risen. As usual, with the sun gone, the temperature was dropping, but it was still warm enough to be comfortable.

  How right it seemed to be strolling on this June evening, holding hands with Nathan. She savored the moment, telling herself perhaps they could form a real friendship without it developing into a doomed love affair.

  “Since you have to drive me home, anyway,” Nathan said, “want to chance my coffee?”

  Without taking time to think, she said, “I prefer tea at night,” more or less accepting his offer.

  “A wise choice. Some claim they can walk on top of my brew.”

  As she drove toward the clinic, Jade decided that, since she’d committed herself, to be polite she’d drink one cup of tea, make her excuses and leave. Simple enough. No problem at all. Just a friendly closure to a fun day.

  Once upstairs, she followed Nathan into the kitchen, where he shoved his share of the frozen fish into the freezer, washed his hands and began peering into various cupboards.

  “Aha! Knew I had a stash of teabags somewhere around.” He turned and held out a small container. “Your choice, Ms. Adams.”

  As she lifted out a teabag, her hand brushed his and that damned chemistry, quiescent all day, sprang to life. Why now, when they’d held hands while walking without any potent electricity? So much for figuring they could just be friends.

  He shouldn’t have invited her here, Nathan told himself as he tried to deal with the jolt of desire firing along his synapses. The day had been great. Despite the special awareness he always had of Jade, he’d begun to believe he’d found a fishing buddy with no other complications to the relationship. Wrong.

  “So,” she said as they sat across from each other at the small kitchen table, “how long were you married?”

  What the hell was she bringing that up for? “Three years too long.” His tone held a warning not to continue.

  “For both of you?”

  He frowned. “I was the one who filed for divorce.”

  “You still sound bitter about it.”

  “No one enjoys admitting he made a mistake.”

  “She must have made one, too, if the marriage didn’t work.”

  He blinked. He hadn’t looked at the breakup from Gloria’s point of view. If he’d misjudged her, she’d also misjudged him. He wasn’t as easy to manipulate as she’d figured. Which reminded him of Jade’s disparaging remark at the barbecue.

  “Doormat,” he muttered.

  “For heaven’s sake, I thought we’d buried that.”

  “Apparently not,” he snapped.

  Jade scowled at him and sprang up so suddenly she overturned her barely touched mug of tea. The hot liquid splashed across the table and into his lap. He rose, cursing.

  “Oh, I’m sorry!” she cried. Grabbing a dish towel from the counter, she hurried toward him. “Are you hurt?”

  He warded her off. “It’s not a third-degree burn, if that’s what you mean.” It stung like the devil, but he doubted he had more than a mild first-degree burn, if that.

  Reaching into the freezer, he grabbed a packet of frozen fish and pressed it against the painful area. Cold to a minor burn reduced, even reversed, inflammation. Not to mention eased the pain.

  Jade snickered, finally breaking into laughter. “I’m sorry,” she said between whoops, “but I can’t help it.”

  Realizing how ridiculous he must look with a slab of frozen fish pressed to his groin, he began to chuckle.

  Later, after he’d changed to sweatpants
, he returned the fish to the freezer. Jade, having mopped up the spill with the towel, was rinsing it in the sink.

  “Tea really stains,” she explained, her gaze dropping below his waist.

  “Not that I noticed,” he told her.

  She averted her eyes, reddening. “Are you...uh, okay?”

  “Nothing fell off. That’s one hell of a way to defuse a guy, though.”

  “I really didn’t have that in mind.” Belatedly realizing that could be taken two ways, she quickly added, “I’m usually not so clumsy.”

  “I’ve noticed. Hasty but not clumsy.”

  “Let’s not get into totting up pluses and minuses again. Although you’re right, I am hasty. My brothers tease me about it.”

  . “That’s a brother’s prerogative.”

  She wished she could find a way to let him know she really regretted saying what she had about him to her sisters-in-law. Apologizing didn’t come easy to her, though, and it might be worse if she made an issue of it by apologizing. Because how could she do it without telling him she was wrong about her evaluation of him?

  She wasn’t yet sure she’d made that much of a mistake, although she had to admit he wasn’t quite like she’d thought. Worrying over it made her uncomfortable so she tossed it aside.

  “I’d better take off,” she said.

  “Just because I’ve slipped into something more comfortable?” he teased. “I assure you I’m harmless—tonight at least.”

  “Next you’ll remind me that’s it’s all my fault. Which I can’t deny. It certainly was a good thing we caught all those trout today—you never know when frozen fish will come in handy.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind next time you visit.”

  She smiled, wondering if there would be a next time. Against her better judgment, she found herself hoping so.

  Chapter Seven

  Two days later Jade still smiled every time she pictured Nathan with the frozen fish. Defused had been the operative word, certainly, because they’d said good-night once again without so much as a kiss. Which was the right way for them, wasn’t it? .

  On the following Monday morning, she was surprised to find Tim hadn’t gotten up first, which he had every day so far. She frowned when she saw Hot Shot lying in the hall near Tim’s open door, instead of in the kitchen tinkling his bell.