Doctored (29 page)

“How about hot chocolate?  Coffee will keep me up.”

“Hot chocolate it is, but don’t let the kids know or they’ll want some,” she answered quietly as she walked by Deanna.

Deanna resisted the urge to reach out and catch Madison in her arms.  As it was, it was a near thing as she caught the scent of perfume coming from the redhead’s body, a scent that was uniquely Maddie.  Deanna closed her eyes for a moment and corrected herself…it was Madison now.

* * * * *

“So who’s this doctor you’ve been seeing?” Scott asked the next time he dropped off the kids after a day of having them.

“Doctor I’m seeing?” Madison frowned, trying to figure out who he meant.

“Yeah, the kids keep talking about a Doctor Karney or something.  Who is he?”

Laughter bubbled up at his assumption as well as the incorrect name.  “Doctor Kearney, and she’s an old friend.”

“I never heard you talk about her,” he griped.  She was always correcting him.  He put the kids’ backpacks down in the hall.

“That’s because I knew her back before I met you.”

“And you are friends again?” he asked, confused.

“She started working here a few months ago,” she simplified.  He didn’t need to know any more than that.

“She eats here regularly now?”

Shrugging as though she didn’t care too much so that he wouldn’t realize how important Deanna was becoming to her, she answered, “Oh that’s an exaggeration, she’s only been over a couple of times.”  She also didn’t mention how many times they had been out to restaurants over the past months.

He seemed relieved that the doctor was a woman.  He wouldn’t have thought of a romantic interest there.  He probably just figured that Deanna was a new friend, or that was what Madison was hoping.  She was relieved when he dropped the subject and they began to talk about parenting things.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“You know your kids are going to be angry that they missed this,” Deanna teased as she picked up Madison in her Rover one Saturday morning.

“Well, Scott got tickets to the Dodgers’ game and wanted them this weekend.  I couldn’t disappoint them by having them make a choice,” she told her friend, but secretly she was thrilled to have this time alone with Deanna.  The kids liked her a lot and were all over her whenever they had dinner at Madison’s house.  She’d become Dr. D to them.

“Well, I hope you enjoy this,” she said as she put the last bag of Madison’s in the backseat of the Rover.

“I’ve been looking forward to it,” Madison confessed with a smile.  She had slathered herself with sunblock in anticipation of a day of sun with Deanna.  She’d smiled ever since she saw the blonde pull up in front of her house with a trailer behind the SUV carrying the two Waverunners.  She was right, the kids were going to be very upset that they missed this.  She hadn’t even mentioned it to them once she knew of the conflict of schedules.  She justified it that they were spending time with their father.  She had the weekend to herself, and Deanna to herself. 

“This is going to be so much fun,” Deanna responded with a smile as she got in and carefully pulled away from the curb.

“Yes, it is,” Madison agreed.

They chatted easily on their way down to the lake.  It had been recommended by one of the other doctors at the hospital and they had gotten up early enough that by the time they got to Puddingstone Lake the sun would be nice and hot.  Madison had packed them a cooler full of sandwiches and chips, and Deanna had a cooler full of ice, sodas, juices, and even a beer or two.  They had planned for a full day of fun in the sun.

After paying her launch fee, Deanna slowly backed the trailer with the two Waverunners down the boat ramp.  Once it was deep enough to offload them, she put on the parking brake and opened her door.  Madison opened hers and followed.  Together they removed the covers and ties to each of the Waverunners and Deanna slowly let the cable out until each was floating free of the trailer.

“Let me move this one over there and I’ll come back for that one,” she told Madison as she put on a vest.

“Do you want me to do anything?”

“Not until I get the second one off, then you can go park the SUV and trailer…somewhere in the shade if you can?”

“You trust me to drive that thing?”

“You can, can’t you?”

“Sure, but it’s an expensive setup….”

“I trust you,” she smiled from behind her sunglasses.  She walked out wearing diving socks and pulled herself up on the first Waverunner.  She pulled the key attached to the spiral plastic chain on her wrist and tried to start the Waverunner.  She had to prime it a second time before it started with a roar.  Slowly and carefully, she drove it to the side of the ramp before tying it off, hopping off, and returning for the second.

“That looks like so much fun,”
thought Madison as she watched how easy Deanna made it look.

Once the second one was started and Deanna was putt-putting away to the side with it, Madison hopped in the driver’s seat and slowly pulled up the ramp into a parking spot.  She was lucky, the angle of the trees was such that it was in the shade.  She began to close the sun roof, the windows, and to lock up the SUV.

“Everything okay?” Deanna said at her window and Madison jumped.  She’d been so careful about locking everything up, she hadn’t noticed the blonde walking up.  “You okay?” she asked with a laugh, seeing the redhead jump.

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack,” she told her, her hand splayed against her chest.

“Well, good thing I’m a doctor then,” she said with a grin.  Deanna helped her make sure everything was locked up.  She handed Madison a vest to put on over her swimsuit and t-shirt.  They were both wearing shorts.  “Do you have something for your feet?” Deanna asked.

“I couldn’t find those socks you suggested,” she didn’t mention how expensive the ones she had found were.  She simply couldn’t justify putting that into her budget this last week.

Deanna wasn’t fooled.  “I brought an old pair of mine, just in case.  They may be a bit large on you, but they grip well.”  She handed her a set of booties that Madison slipped on.  They felt funny, the neoprene trying to act like a second skin.

“You got sunblock?” Madison asked as she showed the spray she’d used on her arms and legs.  She was so much paler than Deanna.

“I used something at home, but I’m sure we will need more,” she answered and allowed Madison to spray her down as she turned.  “Let’s leave the rest of this stuff in the car until we need it.”  She put her car keys, her license, and some cash in a neat little canister that could be put around her neck and would float if it was tossed off or came off.  She had small floats attached to the spiral key chain for the Waverunners too.  “Come on, we’ll use the same one until you feel confident enough to use one on your own.”

Madison gulped.  She hadn’t anticipated sharing one of those things.  She envisioned her arms around the blonde’s waist and then in the same instance envisioned Deanna’s arms around her.  Neither prospect upset her and she could feel her heart beating hard in her chest.

Deanna, not realizing why Madison was being reluctant, spoke up, “Come on, it’s as easy as driving a car, and twice as much fun.”  She seemed oblivious to how Madison was feeling, but she wasn’t.  She had seen how sexy Madison looked in her swimsuit.  It was darker than the t-shirt she was wearing over it and she hoped at some point Madison would remove the t-shirt, and maybe the shorts, so she could enjoy the view of the swimsuit.  Meanwhile, she would have to be patient.

Deanna showed Madison the basic safety features of the Waverunner.  The keys were attached to her wrist on the plastic spiral key chain so that if she, as the driver, were thrown from the boat, it would turn the Waverunner off.  These Waverunners would turn in a circle, so you could swim to the back and pull yourself up on it, even in deep water.

“You do know how to swim, right?” Deanna asked, teasing her.

“Of course I do!” she returned, mock-indignant.

“Well, I never saw you swim in Africa.  How could I know?”

“Just be glad there are no crocodiles to feed you to here!”

Deanna joined in on the laugh.  They had found talking about Africa a lot easier since the first meal they had shared at Madison’s.  They still hadn’t spoken about why Madison had left or what happened after she left, but they were making progress, sharing stories about it now and then with the children.

Deanna started up the Waverunner and Madison got on behind her.  She found that there were handles on the vest that could pop out and she could hold instead of wrapping her hands around Deanna’s torso like she had envisioned.  She was slightly disappointed, but the fun of their first lap around the lake soon soothed any problems that could have come up.  Deanna took it easy so that Madison could feel how the waves chopped at the hull of the runner and how it affected driving.  She slowed as she came back to the boat ramp so they could change places and Madison could drive.

“This is such fun!” Madison called over her shoulder as she now drove carefully back out.  Deanna had warned her to take it slow until they got out beyond a certain point that was marked by buoys.  They didn’t need anyone to yell at them for hot-dogging it. 

“Let ‘er rip,” Deanna yelled back as she hung onto the handles on either side of Madison’s vest.

“Are you sure?”

“Can you handle it?”

Madison rose to the challenge as she opened up the throttle.  It felt different as she sped up and she could feel how easy it would be to lose control.  As she began to take a turn, she pulled a little too quickly and the Waverunner flung them both sideways and off its seat.  They both went into the air, her wrist connection to the key was released, the machine turned off, and by the time they were in the water it was turning in a circle back towards them.  They both came up sputtering.

“Oh, my gosh, that was great.  Are you okay?” Madison called as she looked to see a smiling Deanna.

“That was funny,” she responded as she began to swim towards the circling machine to get to the back of the seat.  Madison followed, using clean, strong strokes as she swam.  Together they arrived at the machine, which had stopped after its first circle and was floating in the lake.  The waves had caught up to them and made climbing on the back of the machine hard.  One by one they pulled themselves up onto it, breathing hard at their exertions.  “Wow, that’s a workout,” Deanna commented as they both finally got back on.

“I thought I was in shape,” Madison commented as she too was panting.

“You’re in great shape,” Deanna said before she could stop herself and then blushed.

Madison turned away, but not before a smile lit up her face at the unintended compliment.  She carefully pulled the connector at her wrist, the Slinky-like wristband holding it there.  She connected the key once again and started up the machine like she had seen Deanna do.  It started like a charm.

“Head back to the landing.  I want to race you on these things,” Deanna called in her ear.

Madison was still smiling as she dropped Deanna off.

“You hungry or thirsty yet?”

“No.  You?”

“A little thirsty, but I can wait a few rounds.  I want you to see what these things can do!”

They spent the next couple of hours going round and round on the course laid out on the lake.  There were buoys sticking up to show where they could drive.  A couple said ‘no wake’, so if they went over toward those, they could not be racing or revving up their boats.  They stayed away from those since speed was what they wanted at the moment.  They stopped for lunch and put more gas and oil in the fuel tanks.  Deanna kept a couple of extra plastic gas cans filled with the specially mixed fuel for just that purpose.  They filled both tanks, but only after they ate a lunch of sandwiches, juice, and water to stay hydrated.  It was amazing how much water they needed out in the hot sun despite being on the water.

“I’m taking this off,” Madison stated when they returned from filling the tanks with the empty gas cans.

Deanna got her wish as Madison removed her t-shirt and shorts and left them to dry out on the trailer.  Deanna followed suit, but didn’t see Madison’s expression at her toned body.  “Do you have any more of that sunblock?  We should probably use some more.”

“Yeah, um, yeah,” she agreed and turned away to grab some.

They raced some more, sending admiring glances each other’s way as they spun around and enjoyed cavorting on the water.  Finally, the course became a little boring and Deanna suggested they take it slow and explore the rest of the lake.  Also, they could chat easier as they putt-putted along and looked at the lake houses along the pretty shore.

“How about that one?” Madison pointed to one particularly nice house.  They’d been playing ‘what if’ about the different houses and if they owned one.

“I like that one, that gray stone is beautiful.  Look at that boathouse over there,” she pointed.  It was all in rich woods and couldn’t possibly be that old, it looked too pristine, and it hadn’t faded or weathered.

It was as they were coming round after going as far down as they could that they were attacked.  It came out of nowhere.  Neither of them had noticed, but they had been watched and targeted.  The huge bird came at them viciously and with the intent to kill.