Chasing Trouble (Texas Trouble)

by McGraw, Becky

  CHAPTER THREE

  Jenny couldn't get out of Chase Rhode's room fast enough. When she was in the corridor, she leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath, something it had been entirely too difficult to do when she'd been in her charming, handsome patient's orbit. Dragging herself out of there without agreeing to go to dinner with him had been one of the most difficult things she'd done recently.

  You're not in the market for a man, and he's your patient, she reminded herself, then pushed off of the wall and headed to the elevator. But damned if she could convince herself. Even her inner voice was yelling at her to say, "Yes!". That damned thousand-watt, toothpaste commercial smile of his was about her undoing. It mesmerized her...it was why she'd come up to his room in the first place. She just had to see it one more time.

  Terri was waiting for her at Charlie's Bar down the street and she was late, because of her detour, so she hurried her pace to the elevator.

  The elevator opened and Chase Rhode's sister came out ahead of a tall blond and obviously southern, woman. From her skyscraper heels, to her perfectly matched designer clothing, to the pile of teased blond curls that framed her carefully made up face, she hit every note that said she was a southern trophy wife. There were fine lines beside her clear blue eyes and around her full lips that said she wasn't as young as she looked, but the woman was well-preserved for sure. Shauna smiled at Jenny and shrieked causing Jenny to flinch, because the sound was close to nails on chalkboard pitch.

  "Mama, this is Chase's doctor," she said waving her hands toward Jenny.

  This was Chase's mother? Jenny sucked in a breath as the woman inspected her from head to toe with eyes just like Chase's, before a slow smile spread across her face and her eyebrow lifted. "Well, I declare..." the woman said in a breathy Texas drawl.

  It was obvious to Jenny that Chase's mom was surprised she was a doctor too. Holding back a groan, Jenny stiffened her shoulders and stuck out her hand, trying to get this meet and greet over with as quickly as possible.

  "Dr. Anderson," Jenny offered and shook the woman's hand when she clasped palms with her.

  Mrs. Rhodes jerked her hand out of Jenny's and put it to her chest and tears filled her eyes then she shrieked a lot like her daughter had, and said, 'Oh, you're an angel, thank you for saving my baby boy!"

  Jenny wanted to tell her there was nothing at all boy-like about the man she'd birthed, nothing at all, Chase Rhodes was one-hundred percent man, but she held her tongue.

  "He was lucky, his injuries weren't life threatening. He'll be good as new in a few weeks," Jenny told her, then added, "It was nice meeting you, Mrs. Rhodes," and tried to edge around them into the elevator, but Mrs. Rhodes sidestepped and blocked her. Somehow Jenny got the feeling she was trying to size her up for something, she just didn't know what.

  "Oh, not only are beautiful, but humble...bless your heart!" Jenny heard craftiness behind her declaration. Her blue eyes sparkled with it, and her voice dripped honey when she finished, "I'm glad he had you to take care of him, sugar. You'll have to come out to the house for dinner sometimes so I can properly thank you."

  "That's not necessary, Mrs. Rhodes...I was doing my job, and like I said his injuries weren't substantial."

  "He was shot!" the woman screeched like Jenny didn't know that. "That is substantial, sugar, and you saved his life. Now, I won't take no for an answer, so you'll have to give me your number, and we'll have a dinner party in your honor in a few weeks."

  Jenny shifted her weight from foot to foot, wondering what her chances of outrunning this determined woman down the hall to the stairwell door were. Chase's sister had a strange look on her face, but a sly grin kicked up the corner of her blue painted lips. It looked like she was on board with whatever her mother had planned.

  "I really need to go, Mrs. Rhodes, thank you for the offer, but--"

  "Nonsense," she said and dug through her huge handbag, until she found a cell phone and pulled it out. "Give me your phone number and I'll just put it right in here and call you once the plans are made," she insisted, pinning Jenny with purpose in her eyes.

  Huffing out a breath, Jenny gave her the number, and then prayed she'd be able to avoid her calls. Caller I.D. was a modern miracle, and this was one call she was determined to avoid at all costs. Chase's family was a little odd, not that she had room to throw stones, her own was a far throw from the Cleavers, but his was very...colorful.

  Something was brewing under that pile of blond hair on Mrs. Rhodes' head too, and Jenny had a sneaking suspicion it was matchmaking.

  With a tight smile, Jenny pushed her way around the women and stepped into the elevator then frantically pushed the button for the main floor. Once the elevator opened on the first floor, Jenny hurried to the front entrance and out the doors.

  Walking through the main doors, she took a deep breath of the crisp autumn air to clear her head, then headed to the bar. She damned well needed a drink now. Whatever scheme Mrs. Rhodes had planned, was going to fail. Jenny was not going out with her son. She wasn't going out with anyone, especially a mama's boy, and unfortunately that's what it looked like he was.

  At the very least, his mother was meddlesome, which was worse. After her experience with Beau, Jenny had definitely had enough of interfering mothers.

  Jenny strode down the sidewalk toward Charlie's Bar. Her apartment was walking distance from there, so she could have two drinks if she wanted, and Jenny felt like she needed them now. A whole bottle wouldn't be out of the question. After dodging Chase's dinner invitation, then his mother's party idea, her nerves were shot.

  Although she had a car, Jenny rarely used it. It was the one she'd had in college and was pretty close to being on its last legs. A bullet in the radiator would be a waste of lead. The last time she'd driven it across town, it had made a strange rattling noise that she'd put off getting looked at. The walk to work in the mornings helped her get her head right for the day, anyway. It also helped her conserve money.

  People thought all doctor's were rolling in the dough, that wasn't the case with new staff doctors for sure, well not her anyway. Since her parents hadn't been able to help her with college, her student loans were so monumental that she'd probably be paying on them until she retired. Unless, that is, she decided to enroll in the international Doctor's Without Borders program.

  The program offered forgiveness of all those loans if she committed to two years of service in a third world country, and she was seriously considering that option. What did she have to hold her here now? Certainly not her family or a fiancé.

  Since her breakup with Beau, Jenny had felt like she was stuck in the mud here anyway. A fresh start is what she needed and maybe traveling and seeing other places would give her a new perspective. She was definitely going to give it more thought.

  A few minutes later, Jenny pulled the big brass cloverleaf handle on the heavy wooden door at Charlie's bar and walked into the dim interior. Once her eyes adjusted, she saw Terri sitting at the bar waving at her. She waved back then headed that way and took the stool next to her friend.

  "Hey, Jerry...how about a chardonnay for my friend?" Terri called out to the bartender, as she sat down. Obviously, her friend wasn't on her first beer.

  "Make it a double," Jenny said with a chuckle. "With a vodka shot chaser."

  "Rough day, huh?" Terri asked and studied her intently.

  "You have no idea..." she told her friend shaking her head. Her pager on her waist went off and Jenny groaned, then pulled it off and dropped it inside her purse.

  Thank god, she wasn't on call tonight.

  "So, tell me about it. Who was that guy in Jasmine Ramos's room that had you so upset?" Terri went right to the point and Jenny groaned knowing she wasn't going to be able to avoid answering.

  "My ex-fiancé," she told her friend bluntly.

  "Wow, he's pretty cute, and a Ranger?" Terri ventured then took a sip of her beer.

  "Yeah, he's cute alright, but he has issues," Jen
ny told her with a snort. Maybe her friend would just leave it at that, she hoped so anyway. The bartender delivered her wine, and Jenny took a large gulp, then sat it on the bar and stared into it.

  "Issues as in subscriptions to magazines, or issues as in problems you didn't want to deal with?"

  "He has enough issues to fill a magazine subscription..." Jenny told her with a chuckle.

  "Like?" Terri pushed.

  "I really don't want to talk about it." Jenny knew it was wishful thinking for her bulldog friend to let it go.

  "Too bad, you're talking...spill." Terri turned toward her on the stool and tapped her fingers on the bar. "Obviously, it upset you and you need to talk about it."

  She really didn't need to talk about it, didn't want to talk about it, but she knew Terri was not going to let it go. Swirling the wine in her glass, she told her friend without making eye contact, "He couldn't say the words, had never said them, even though we were engaged...that was just the cherry on top though. He accused me of sleeping with his father."

  "Holy, shit!" Terri said and leaned toward her. "He accused you of that? No freaking wonder you dumped his sorry ass!"

  "Yeah, his mother was a bitter, vindictive bitch. She told him I hit on his father, and he believed her." Might as well get it all out there, Jenny thought.

  Terri snorted then told her indignantly, "Then he didn't deserve you, if he didn't know you better than that."

  "Well, it's obvious he's moved on, and I need to do that too."

  "With the pretty Latina he was with in the E.R.?" Terri asked and it sent a knife spearing into Jenny's midsection.

  "Yeah, they were pretty cozy when I walked into the room to release her," Jenny admitted then told her, "And he acted like he was angry at me!"

  "Asshole," Terri mumbled and took another sip of her beer. "Okay, we're closing that subject--now drink up, because I have more questions."

  Jenny picked up her glass and downed the rest of her wine, threw her head back and downed the shot of vodka, then made eye contact with the bartender and waved her empty wine glass to indicate she needed a refill.

  "I think I'm gonna need another, because I feel the Terri Cassidy inquisition winding up," Jenny told her with dread in her voice.

  Her friend should have been a cop instead of a nurse, because she could always drag information out of Jenny, even if she didn't want to give it up.

  Terri chuckled then asked, "Okay, now tell me about that good looking hunk of man candy that seemed to be very interested in getting to know you better in the E.R. today. God, that smile melted my panties!"

  "Who?" Jenny danced, knowing Terri meant Chase Rhodes, but definitely not wanting to go down that road with her friend.

  "C'mon, sugar...don't be coy. You're a smart girl, you saw the signs."

  "I don't date patients," Jenny told her firmly and took a sip of her new glass of wine the bartender had set in front of her.

  "Oh, ho, ho--so he did ask you out!" Terri hooted.

  "Doesn't matter, I don't date patients," Jenny reiterated and took another healthy sip of wine.

  "Why the hell not? He's delicious," Terri told her incredulously.

  "Conflict of interest? It would be unprofessional? I'm not in the market? You pick one," Jenny said and swirled the wine in her glass.

  "Jeezum, if he had hit on me, I'd have licked that one like a popsicle. Totally lickable, not that I noticed while we were treating him...but after, wow."

  The wine loosened Jenny's lips and before she could help herself, a smile kicked up one corner of her mouth and she nodded, "He is pretty isn't he?"

  "Doesn't begin to describe that guy. You should totally go out with him." Terri finished her beer and motioned to Jerry for another one.

  "Nah, I'm off men for a while. I need my focus, and they are definitely distractions. Beau Bowman was enough to put me off of men for good," Jenny chuckled.

  "Don't let him win, sugar...like you said he's moved on and you should too. So, you fell off the horse, get back up there and ride, ride, ride," Terri told her with a lascivious grin.

  "It's not a competition or a game, I seriously do not trust men anymore, girlfriend...or myself," Jenny told her with resignation in her voice.

  "You'll never be able to trust them again, until you find one who deserves your trust, honey," Terri said and put a hand on her forearm.

  "Well, I hardly think that Chase Rhodes will fit that bill. He's too pretty, he probably has to beat women off with a stick. I think he might be a player...any man with a smile like that..."

  "You'll never know, unless you get to know him."

  "What about you? You've been divorced what--five years? I don't see you getting back in the saddle..." Jenny deflected trying to change the subject.

  "I didn't just get thrown out of the saddle, honey, my husband was a serial cheater, and damned good at hiding it...that's kind of hard to recover from."

  "Excuses...like you said, until you can find another one to trust, you'll stay broken."

  "You sure know how to shut me up, huh? Feed me my own bullshit and make me choke on it," Terri laughed then took a sip of her beer.

  "Turnabout is fair play, right?" Jenny said.

  "I reckon it is..." Terri agreed. "Let's go get something to eat, since we're the only ones who can stand us."

  "Sounds good," Jenny agreed and huffed out a relieved sigh that the inquisition appeared to be over for now.

  ***

  The next morning Jenny was paying for her unusual indulgence in five glasses of wine the night before. A dull ache throbbed behind her eyes, and her brain was pretty sluggish even after two cups of strong black coffee. And of course, since there was going to be a full moon tonight, it would turn out to be one of her busiest days.

  The Emergency Room was packed to the rafters with migraines, ear infections and runny noses, a toddler who felt like his nostril was the perfect place to shove a peanut, along with a couple of their regular hypochondriacs with various complaints, and one real emergency, a guy who got in a fight with a chainsaw while trimming his trees and lost. She was working on the last guy trying to get his bleeding under control, so they could take him into surgery and reattach his hand.

  "Terri, put more pressure on that artery," she told her nurse. "Did you call the surgeon?"

  "Yes, he's on standby upstairs," Terri replied.

  "Someone call and let him know we're on the way up," Jenny said.

  "You sure you can't just sew me up, Doc?" the man on the table asked her fearfully.

  Jenny smiled tightly at him. She knew her patient was scared, but surely he could see from the amount of blood all over her and him, and his dangling appendage, that he needed surgery. And if she didn't get him up there soon, he could lose that hand.

  "Wish I could, Mr. Carter, but this needs to be cleaned out in surgery and reattached. They'll get the neurosurgeon to help reattach the severed nerves, so you can regain some mobility in it. Dr. Sims is a great surgeon, he's going to take good care of you," she reassured him as she pushed the bed toward the door with her trauma team surrounding the bed.

  They moved quickly to the staff elevator then up to the surgery floor, where they passed him off to the team waiting by the double doors to the operating room. Jenny took a moment to get herself together and corral the adrenaline pumping through her.

  Terri put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "You okay?"

  "Yeah, it's just been a heck of a morning, so far," Jenny said and looked up at the clock on the wall. The morning was gone, it was almost noon, and it didn't look like she was going to make it to say goodbye to Chase Rhodes after all.

  Oh well, she'd take that as a sign. The crazy decision to agree to go to dinner with him was steeped in alcohol anyway, never a good way to make decisions. Terri had finally convinced her after glass of wine number five to give him a chance.

  She'd been like a dog with a bone, until Jenny had agreed to it last night. In turn, Jenny had made Terri agree to accept
the next time someone asked her out too. They'd made a pact, a pinkie swear, and it looked like her end of the bargain was already doomed.

  "Let's get back to the zoo...that kid with the peanut is next," she told Terri with a chuckle and they made their way back downstairs. "I think I need a decon shower though...ugh," Jenny told her looking down through the protective plastic shield over her face at her scrub gown. Yanking off the shield, she pushed into the biohazard room and threw it in the trash and took off her gown and gloves then disposed of them too.

  "Unless more patients came in while we were upstairs, most of the ones left are non-critical...I can put them off for a few, if you want to do that," Terri offered.

  "Nah, I'll just change real quick," Jenny told her then stripped off her scrubs and put on a clean pair. When she was dressed, they exited the room and walked to the elevator to head back to the Emergency Department.

  When they rounded the corner by the check-in desk, Jenny saw a massive bouquet of red roses. There had to be at least three dozen stuffed into a huge vase. Someone had been a good girl, Jenny thought and grinned at the triage nurse who was almost obscured by the flowers.

  When they passed the desk, and headed down the hall the nurse called out. "Um, Doc Anderson, these were delivered for you."

  "Me?" Jenny said and her heart skipped a beat, fluttered around in her chest before righting itself. What the hell?

  Jenny turned and walked back to the desk and saw a white envelope on a stick poking out from the middle of the buds and snatched it out. Why her hand shook as she pushed back the flap and pulled out the card, Jenny did not know, but it did.

  Terri walked up behind her and craned her neck to peer around Jenny to see what the card said. Jenny moved to the side and held it closer to her chest, then looked down at it.

  Doc, thanks for patching me up. I was sorry you didn't make it up to my room today, before they cut me loose. Please have dinner with me? No pressure for anything else, I just want to get to know you better and thank you.