“Can I help it that I know what I like?”
The waitress ignored his question and shifted her attention to Lia. “For you?”
“The meatloaf, please, with steamed vegetables.”
The waitress glanced back at Maverick. “See? At least she likes to try something new now and then.”
Women must be genetically predisposed to band together against men. The waitress could have mentioned the ten month stretch when Lia had eaten nothing but salads, but no. That would have meant siding with Maverick in some weird, twisted way.
He reached for his water and took a long drink.
“I think you might like him.”
Maverick stared across the table again. “Who?”
“The guy I met. The one who’s coming to the auction. I think you’d like him.”
“Oh?”
She shook her head. “Did you forget how to use your words? It’s good to talk in sentences. In fact, some women even prefer that.”
He extended his hand toward the sweetener packets. Since when was he the fidgeter? “Lay it on me. Why do you think I’d like him?”
“He does something computery.” Her nod was decisive.
“Lots of people do computery things. Can you be any more specific?”
“Um. He works for a private employer.”
“Oh, that helps.”
“It does?” Her eyebrows lifted.
Maverick nodded. “He’s one of the millions of people in America who works with computers and isn’t employed by the DOD. Piece of cake.”
Lia rolled her eyes. “No need to make fun of me.”
He reached across the table and gave her folded hands a light nudge. “I’m just teasing. Asking you to describe technology is like asking Watts to explain football. Sometimes it’s too funny not to try.”
She stole the sweetener packets from him and started sorting them herself. “Have you decided what to wear to the bachelor auction?”
“Did you have to remind me? Swim suits. That was your idea, wasn’t it? All because I said women should be auctioned off too. Making it a swimsuit auction is your way of getting back at me. I invited someone to meet me there. Then I saw the message about swimsuits.”
A quiet laugh escaped her. “That wasn’t me, I promise. It sure is funny, though. Besides, who cares? She’ll adore you. So what’s her name?”
His eyebrows lifted.
“Can’t blame a girl for trying.”
“I’ll tell you after I’ve met her. I think you’ll like her.”
“Just make sure she doesn’t have a shellfish allergy before you take her out for seafood.”
Maverick shook his head. “Already covered. No known allergies. But thanks for having my back.”
Lia chuckled. “Have you decided what to wear?”
“Watts is coming home that weekend. She said she’d help me. Has some brilliant idea or something.”
“Um. Is that wise? We’re talking about the girl who dyed her hair camouflage for her senior prom.”
Maverick leaned his head back against the seat. “I’d forgotten that. This is going to be bad, so very bad.”
“Maybe not. I mean, she could…”
He lifted one of his eyebrows and stared at Lia.
She sighed. “I can’t lie. This has disaster written all over it. A backup plan might be in order.”
“And hurt my sister’s feelings? I’d rather walk out on stage and embarrass myself in front of five hundred strangers than disappoint her. She’s trained in hand-to-hand combat. I’m pretty sure she can take me down and have me unconscious in two-point-five seconds.”
“You’re a good brother, you know that? Watts is blessed to have you.”
“I’m the one who’s blessed. Ferris and I would have grown up to be perfectly ordinary people if it wasn’t for her. Can you imagine anything more boring?”
Chapter 15
Friday was always a busy day in the ER, but today seemed to be even busier than usual.
Lia walked into cubicle 9A and came to a sudden stop. “What are you doing here?”
“Long story.” Agent Whitehall grimaced at her.
“What? Did you ask someone the wrong question?”
“Me? I’m the picture of tact and gentility.” He rolled his left shoulder, and his lips thinned.
“How’d you hurt yourself?”
“Hit and run. A woman was trapped in her car with a baby in the back seat, and I smelled gas. I had to get her out.”
Lia glanced down at her tablet and saw the police notes in his file. They matched the tale he told. “So you manhandled the door?”
His lips twisted in a half-hearted scowl. “Something like that.”
“That’s probably easier in a DC walkup with a cheap wood door than on the Beltway with cars made of steel and chrome.”
He smirked. “I’m pretty sure this car was more fiberglass than steel.”
She extended his left arm and rested one of her hands on top of his shoulder as she moved the wounded arm to test its range of motion. “Did you get the woman and her baby to safety?”
Agent Whitehall nodded. “She and the baby are fine. The gas leak ended up being small, and the car never caught fire. Could have saved myself all this trouble if I’d known that.”
“Sure. And stand by while a woman and baby are breathing in gas fumes.”
He shrugged his uninjured shoulder. “You’ve got me there.”
Lia continued to rotate his arm into different positions. “Can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“You’re Secret Service, right?”
“Last time I checked.”
“Did they ever catch the person who shot President Taylor? You know, back before he was president.”
Agent Whitehall stiffened and looked like he’d taken a swig of ipecac. “Not yet. Why do you ask?”
She released his arm and began tapping information into her tablet. “When I realized Secret Service was interested in the network security issue, it got me to thinking. What would Secret Service care about our hospital? Then I remembered that President Taylor was treated here after his shooting. We’ve cared for a couple of vice presidents here, but… It just seemed like it might have something to do with President Taylor. He wasn’t president yet back then, but whatever is going on has to be important for Secret Service to be involved.”
She glanced up from her tablet when he didn’t say anything. He was rubbing his shoulder. Or avoiding eye contact if her inner conspiracy theorist was to be believed.
“Am I crazy?”
He finally made eye contact and gave her a wink. “Now, if I knew something — which I’m not saying I do — it’d be illegal for me to tell you. In fact, it’d be illegal for me to tell you I don’t know anything, either. National security and all that. As for you being crazy… maybe you should check with a doctor about that one. I’m not qualified to say…”
“Your interpersonal skills could use a little work.”
“You wound me. I’m as charming as the day is long.”
“What, on the winter solstice? The shortest day of the year?”
Agent Whitehall’s bark of laughter filled the cubicle. “So can I go home now, or what?”
Lia shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like anything’s broken or torn, but this was only a cursory exam. My suggestion is ice and acetaminophen. Talk to your primary care physician about getting an x-ray if it’s still causing you discomfort in forty-eight hours.”
“Can’t you x-ray it now?”
“I’m not in the habit of ordering tests I think are unnecessary.”
“As long as you can clear me for work without the x-ray.”
“Oh…” She glanced from her tablet back up to the agent. “I still recommend forty-eight hours off.”
“Not gonna happen.” His voice was commanding and his headshake decisive, but the hint of a smile that touched his lips softened the response.
She sighed. “Fine. Let
me see if I can find an open spot in the radiology schedule.”
A few taps on the tablet later, and Lia peeked up at Agent Whitehall. “You’re in luck. They have an opening in the Mammography Department.”
“The what?”
“The mammography department. Where women get mammograms.”
Agent Whitehall glanced down at the front of his shirt. “Um…”
Lia shook her head. “Sorry. The Radiology Department is laid out weird. Most x-rays are taken care of on the east side, but there’s one small x-ray room on the west side. That’s where I found an opening. You have to go to the Mammography Department to reach it, though. I’ll go print your paperwork out, and have you on your way.”
She left the cubicle and headed for the printer. He was required to check in for his x-ray at Mammography’s front desk. Should she tell him that or let him figure it out on his own?
She hadn’t yet decided when Dr. Zagel’s voice rang from across the bullpen. “Code Gusher in 2B! Code Gusher! All hands on deck!”
Oh, boy. The hospital administration had warned him not to use that one. She jogged back to Agent Whitehall, handed the paperwork off to him. “Susie at the front desk will tell you where to go. You’ll have to wait around for someone to read your results, but Radiology can give you a work release. Even with the federal code on the request, it’ll take a while. You might want to stop in the gift shop and get a book.”
Then she was out of his room and heading for 2B at top speed. She arrived in time to hear a string of curses fly from the doctor’s mouth. She moved the curtain aside and stepped into the cubicle. She didn’t ask. The scene told the story.
Heaps of bloody bandages littered the floor, Dr. Zagel’s face was a thundercloud of anger, and two nurses crowded close to the body, one squeezing air into the patient’s lungs with the Ambu bag and the other providing chest compressions. They couldn’t stop until the doctor called time of death.
“Dr. Zagel.” He ignored her, and Lia tried again, louder. “Dr. Zagel.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before glancing at his watch. “Time of death, 4:35pm.”
The two nurses stepped away from the body. Lia would say something to them, but not right now. They all still had patients in other cubicles who needed their help. Lia pivoted in the small space, ready to go. That’s when she noticed her shoes. Blood had pooled on the bed and run off the edge, dripping down onto her left foot and coating the shoe.
She would have rather ended up with vomit on them than a dead man’s blood. Vomit was easier to wash off… and to forget.
Lia trudged toward the parking garage.
There was something about watching a man’s lifeblood drain away that made a person think. She kept getting hung up on small things. In the whole big scheme of life, how she looked didn’t really matter. There were so many things that were life or death, but what she saw in the mirror wasn’t one of them. Neither was her dating life.
Peace rolled through her in waves. She was loved by the One who mattered. He loved her when she was full of energy and when she was bone tired. He loved her when her life was orderly and when she was a mess. He loved her when she ate a greasy burger and when she ate a dressingless salad. He loved her even on those days that she had a hard time loving herself.
Thank you, God.
She wouldn’t lie to herself and say the battle was over, but she could take a second to thank God for the insight He’d given her.
“Hey.”
Lia’s head lifted, and all the weighty thoughts she’d been mulling slipped away. “Maverick. What are you doing here?”
“I heard about a death in the ER. I didn’t know if it was one of yours or not, but I thought maybe you could use a friend.”
“Not mine, but I was there.”
“Do you want to catch some dinner and talk?”
She shook her head. “I’m tired. I need to get home while I’m still alert enough to drive.”
“Okay. Can I at least give you a hug first?” The dim lighting of the parking garage turned his hair midnight dark while it stole the color from his eyes and replaced it with shadow, but he was still the same Maverick. A friend. Someone she could rely on.
“Sure. I could go for one of those.”
He enfolded her in his arms and pulled her close. “I’m sure you did everything in your power.”
Lia rested her head against his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. She was ready to fall asleep where she stood. Maverick made her heart lighter, always had. Like everything would work out. He was a good friend, and standing in the circle of his embrace was the closest she’d come to a successful date in months.
He withdrew his arms and tucked his hands into his pockets, putting an end to their sort-of hug. “Are you ready for tomorrow’s informal, non-black-tie gala affair?”
She missed his touch, but that didn’t make sense. This was Maverick. A hug from him had never felt weird before, so why were her insides turning to jelly?
“Earth to Lia.”
She took a deep breath and tried to push away the quivering that had taken up residence in her middle. “I will be after I take a shower and get some sleep. Did you sort out your swimsuit situation?”
“Watts arrives early afternoon, and she’s refused to tell me what she found for me to wear.”
“Oh dear.”
“Exactly. She’s bringing Wesley with her, too.”
“Not for me, I hope.”
Maverick shook his head. “Seems they’re dating now. Ferris has already gone through the folks’ house and removed most of the pictures mom had on the walls.”
Huh? “Why…?”
“When Watts was in the seventh grade, Johnny Baker said he didn’t want to go to the dance with her because her hair was too short. She cried. That’s when Ferris started collecting dead animals.”
“Dead…? You’re kind of creeping me out.”
“He bought them wherever he found them. Yard sales, estate sales, you name it. They’re all stuffed, not just dead. I probably should have said that part first.”
“Um…” What could she say to that? “Ferris has always had a unique sense of humor.”
“Unique. Ha. Nice one.” Maverick scratched his chin. “He’s transformed Mom and Dad’s house into a taxidermist’s paradise. And a sister’s boyfriend’s nightmare.”
“Oh, dear.” The woman who fell in love with Ferris someday would need to be special. A bizarre sense of humor wouldn’t hurt either. “I can’t believe your folks are letting him.”
“They’ve sort of been out of town for the last two days. They should arrive home around the time that Watts and Wesley roll in.”
Lia covered her eyes. “Oh dear, dear, dear, dear, dear.”
“I hid a video camera so we can catch everyone’s expressions as they come in the front door.”
Lia chuckled. “You’d better retrieve your swim costume from Watts before she steps over that threshold because if she sees what you let Ferris do first, she may torch whatever she brought.”
“I’m not convinced that would be a bad thing.” Maverick took the keys from her hand and unlocked the car door for her. “Your chariot awaits, m’lady. Text me when you get home so I know you made it safely, ’kay?”
“Will do.”
Maverick closed the door and stood there as she drove away.
Lia arrived home, but the urge to crawl into bed had abandoned her. What was a girl to do when she was home alone and not ready for sleep?
She sent Maverick a “made it” text before flipping the TV on and finding one of her favorite police procedurals. Then she reached for her laptop and booted it up.
A HeartGram from Rick awaited her.
Looking forward to seeing you. As requested, I’ll be wearing a pink shirt. I sure hope that’s your sense of humor showing through and not some crazy obsession with pink-clad men. If you ask for pink pants next, we might need to talk.
Hope you had a good day at wor
k. Since I don’t know what you do, I’m not sure if that means an uneventful one or a busy one. It should be fun to fill in the blanks once we meet.
In the meantime, I should go try on my swim trunks and goggles.
See you soon.
Lia hit the reply button and started typing.
You’re such a hoot. Yes, I am a pink-obsessed crazy. I buy everyone pink socks for Christmas and only date men who wear pink underwear.
She looked at that last part. Funny, but too suggestive. She backspaced.
…and only date men who drive pink cars, although mopeds are also acceptable.
I’ve enjoyed this chance to get acquainted with you without all the day-to-day stuff imposing. It’s added a bit of mystery to the whole thing.
So tomorrow I’ll be looking for the mysterious man in the pink shirt.
She’d been so fed up with men in general when Rick had first reached out to her that she’d suggested guidelines. No specifics about jobs or family. He’d agreed, so he must not have found her request too bizarre.
They’d spent over a month exchanging messages almost every day. She knew about his heart for God, his sense of humor, and a few quirky things like how many words per minute he could type and how nervous he’d been when he left home for college.
Lia would have laughed if a character in a movie had said that, but she felt like she knew him on a deeper level. There was something good and wholesome in him. She couldn’t help but feel like God was nudging her in his direction.
Why, then, as she finally climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep, were her thoughts all about Maverick and that hug he’d given her? Why was Maverick’s cologne suddenly so sexy if God wanted her to date Rick? Did God want her to date Rick, or had she just assumed that?
Chapter 16
Maverick watched her drive away.
What was he doing? He was supposed to be over the temporary insanity. But then he’d put his arms around Lia, drawing her close. He’d only wanted to comfort her, but the smell of her shampoo had filled his head. Was it his fault she fit perfectly against his chest?
Love at First Laugh: Eight Romantic Novellas Filled with Love, Laughter, and Happily Ever After Page 27