Her Texas Family (2 page)

Even though Graham was close to six feet tall, Cash towered over him. His friend passed him in inches...and brawn. The fact that Cash ran a ranch from dawn till dusk and Graham saw patients inside all day might have a little something to do with that second thing.

“I can't believe you're finally here!” Olivia took a step back from her sister, her brown hair contrasting with Lucy's sunshine blond. “Where have you been? I thought from the last time I talked to you that you were going to get here an hour ago.”

“Flat tire.” Lucy grimaced.

“Where's your car? Did you change it? What happened?”

Lucy laughed, a lyrical sound that tightened Graham's throat. Was he coming down with something? There'd been a lot of rash/fever combinations in the office last week. It was either that or this woman had some strange effect on him.

Definitely had to be germs.

“Still on the road. No, I didn't change it because I didn't want to unpack everything. And Graham stopped and ended up giving me a ride.”

Olivia's gaze jumped to him. Seemed she hadn't noticed his arrival. But then, he would guess Lucy's entrance anywhere would pretty much overshadow anyone else's.

“Thanks for taking care of my little sister, Graham.”

He nodded.

“Yeah.” Lucy flashed bright white teeth in his direction. “Thanks for the ride.”

He opened his mouth but no sound came out.

Olivia bent to eye level with Mattie while Graham still choked on his words. Or lack of them. Honestly. What was wrong with him?

“Hey, Mattie. It's good to see you.” Her hand trailed along one of Mattie's brown pigtails, coaxing a grin from his daughter.

“Mattie is practically a superhero. She swooped in and saved me from having to make the choice between a long walk or unloading my car.” Lucy shared a fist bump with Mattie, her head tilting in his direction. “Along with her trusty sidekick.”

Graham's mouth gave in to a slight curve at the acknowledgment. He'd take the demoted status just for the look on his daughter's face.

Lucy turned to Cash. “About my car. I thought maybe I could borrow your truck. I'll change the tire. I can do everything if you'll just let me—”

“What?” Cash snorted. “You really think I'm going to send you back out to take care of a flat tire on your own? What kind of brother do you think I am? I'll take care of it.”

By the way Lucy's chin jutted out, she wasn't satisfied with that answer. “I don't want you to have to deal with all of my stuff. The car's jammed full.”

“I have a thing for taking care of little sisters, and since Rachel up and left for college, you're stuck with my overprotective nature. I might even have a spare out in the garage we could use. And if I don't, not that much can fit into that tin-can car of yours anyway.”

“Listen, McCowboy.” Her finger poked into Cash's gray T-shirt. “I'm absolutely helping with the tire. Don't even think about going without me.”

McCowboy?

Cash shook his head, glancing at Olivia with amusement. “You did mention what a complex your sister has about accepting help.”

So it wasn't just Graham she fought. Good to know.

Lucy squeaked. “That's not true! I just accepted a ride to your house.” The woman beamed as if she should win a prize.

“Lucy's car is near the big oak tree that got hit by lightning when we were in high school.” Graham's lips twitched, and Lucy's eyes started dancing with mischief. She certainly wasn't embarrassed about her tree climb. He got the impression not much caused her to experience that particular emotion.

“So, Graham.” Olivia turned to him. “It's actually perfect that you picked up my sister. I wanted the two of you to meet.”

A cold sweat snaked under his collar. Was Olivia trying to set him up with her flighty sister?
Not
going to happen. Graham had already had the love of his life. Now he had Mattie and absolutely no desire to remarry. Olivia would just have to take her matchmaking ideas elsewhere.

“Lulu, Graham's office manager is out on maternity leave and he needs someone to fill in.”

What?

He hadn't expected that
.
And this conversation sounded like trouble. Yes, the woman who ran Graham's front office had gone on maternity leave unexpectedly early last week, leaving him completely strapped, but that didn't mean Lucy Grayson was the right person for the position.

“I think it would be a perfect start for you, Lulu.” Olivia gave Graham a look he couldn't quite decipher. Did she expect him to offer Lucy a job right here and now? Bend down on one knee and start begging?

Lucy studied him long enough to make him squirm, determination sparking in her eyes. “I do have a business degree. I don't have experience in a medical office, but I could learn.”

How was he going to get out of this? Graham wanted someone for the position who could walk right in and know what they were doing. Someone with experience. Exactly the type of person he'd been looking for since well before Hollie went into early labor. Unfortunately, after three different temps had filled in last week, Graham was beginning to think that person didn't exist.

Olivia was still talking about the possibility of Lucy working for him, how it would be a great fit, how it would be beneficial for both of them.

Graham could only stare. He felt as though he was sliding down a treacherous slope with little chance of rescue.

“Sorry, Red.” Cash looked far too amused and not nearly concerned enough. “I don't think there's any saving you from this one.”

“Seriously? You're just going to leave me hanging? I am never prescribing anything for you ever again.”

Cash laughed. “I can't imagine anyone going up against Liv and coming away with a win. Trust me, I know from experience.” His gaze slid to his wife, filled with enough admiration that a twinge of jealousy came over Graham.

Graham remembered that look, that feeling, well. He'd give anything to look at his wife like that again. But those days were gone, and he was healing. He was moving on. Just not into another relationship.

Unfortunately, at the moment, his friend was right. By the look on Olivia's face, she was going to win this battle. Graham wanted to run for the door. Either that or rewind the evening and not stop at the sight of a stranded yellow Beetle.

“What do you think? Should we give it a try?” Lucy looked so hopeful that something in him tugged. She couldn't be worse than the temps, could she? Maybe he was overreacting about the fact that he'd found her up a tree on the side of the road. Perhaps they could help each other out.

She'd have to be trained, but he'd figure out that part. Besides, it wasn't as if he had any other choices lined up.

Graham would usually pray about a decision like this. Take his time. Wait on God's guidance. But he was desperate. Desperate enough to hire a woman who looked like a model, smelled like sunshine and didn't have a lick of experience.

Her words came back to him. A try, she'd said.

The tension in his body untangled. That was what he would do. He'd hire her on a trial basis. That way, when she couldn't do the job, he'd have no issue letting her go.

Chapter Two

O
n Tuesday morning, Lucy sat behind a wide receptionist desk in Graham's medical office and stared at the blinking black beast in front of her. Some might call it a phone. Lucy deemed it an instrument of torture. It boasted a number on the small gray screen—one that kept growing as the number of people waiting for her to answer increased. When Graham's nurse, Danielle, had trained Lucy on it early this morning, she'd called it the queue. Lucy didn't have such a nice name for it.

It scared her more than spiders or spam.

On Sunday night, she and Graham had hammered out a few details. An agreement of sorts. They'd agreed to give working together a try. He'd put a lot of emphasis on that last word, and Lucy felt an underlying sense of tension that normally didn't invade her life. Graham probably thought she was completely unqualified for the position. And he'd be right. Which meant she needed to prove herself today.

She knew her opportunity to work for Graham had everything to do with God and Olivia making it happen and very little to do with her office skills—which were nonexistent.

On Monday, when Lucy had moved into her above-garage apartment in town—the one her sister had lived in last year—she'd scanned the paper for any other job openings she might be qualified for, just in case working for Graham didn't pan out.

There weren't any.

Since her move to Texas had come up quickly, Lucy hadn't had time to save. She didn't have any reserves for covering an extended period of time without work. And since she absolutely refused to ask her parents or Olivia and Cash for money, she needed this job.

How hard could it be? she'd thought. Answer a phone. File some charts. But after a few of the calls she'd already fielded this morning, Lucy was afraid to touch the flashing beast in front of her. Since timidity wasn't in her nature, she took a steadying breath and yanked the receiver up, pressing it to her ear.

“Dr. Redmond's office. May I help you?”

“This is Walt Birl. Who's this?”

Another favorite question of the morning. Who was she? What was she doing in town? And from two grandmothers—was she interested in meeting their grandsons?

“Lucy Grayson. I'm new to town. I'm running from some unsolved crimes in Colorado. What can I do for you, Mr. Birl?”

Stunned silence.

Lucy winced and looked at the phone as though she could see his reaction through the small black holes. Oops. Perhaps not her best move. Wasn't she planning to be professional today? Prove to Graham he hadn't made a mistake in hiring her?

When she put the phone back to her ear, loud cackling greeted her. “I like you. Listen, I have a rash I need to discuss with someone.”

Don't pick me. Don't pick me.

“It's kind of round, though there's a few spots—”

“Mr. Birl, you really need to speak with the nurse or schedule an appointment with Dr. Redmond. I'll be no help at all.”

“Okay. Transfer me to Danielle, then.”

Lucy sighed with relief, then pressed a few buttons on the phone, hoping the call actually went to Danielle's phone and voice mail in the back.

She dived into the waiting queue. It took her almost two hours to wade through the calls, partially since everyone had to get the lowdown on her before talking medical business. Finally, the screen didn't show anyone on hold. Lucy did a happy dance, chair sliding back and forth with her movements.

“What are you doing?”

She screeched. Graham had come down the hall during her happy dance...with a patient. Thankfully the frazzled mom with a toddler on her hip simply waved and walked out the front doors.

Lucy motioned to the phone. “Just celebrating getting through the phone calls.”

“Oh.” Graham sported the same look of confusion he'd been wearing when he'd stopped to help with her flat tire. “Okay.” He shrugged and disappeared down the hall again. Even slightly snarly, the man still managed to look good. He also had impeccable taste in clothes. A crisp white button-down shirt and black dress pants. A tie that teased some of the lighter flecks of green from his eyes. He reminded Lucy of an actor on a television show she used to watch. Definitely Hollywood for this small town.

Digging into her purse, Lucy plucked out her phone and texted her sister.

What are you doing?

When it beeped a response, Lucy gave a silent cheer. Liv almost never responded to texts during the day because she was normally in the middle of teaching one of her French classes at the high school.

Between classes. How's the first day?

How to answer that?

Exciting.

Lol. Yeah, rt. R u still at work? Have u caused any trouble?

Lucy's lips curved. Her sister knew her too well.

Yes and no.

Though Lucy had simply meant to answer Liv's questions in order, the humor in it made her perk up. Let her sister wonder a bit at that.

Lucy?!!!??

She laughed and slid the phone back into her purse. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to print the updated appointment schedule so she could pull the patient charts for the rest of the day. Once she did, Lucy did a pirouette on her way to pick up the sheet from the printer located in the far left corner of the reception space. Now that the phone calls had slowed, she was doing okay. Maybe she'd get the hang of this job faster than she'd expected.

Graham walked into the reception space and dropped some charts on top of the pile on her desk that needed to be reshelved, then turned and scanned the files.

“Just grabbing my next appointment. I'm sure you haven't had time to pull anything with handling the phones this morning.”

“Thanks.” That was nice. Maybe the man didn't just speak in grunts all the time. Actually, she knew he didn't. She'd heard him being great with the patients. And she'd seen him interact with Mattie the other night. Graham looked at his daughter as if she made the sun rise and set each day. From what Lucy had gathered in the short time they'd been together on Sunday, she agreed with that assessment. Mattie was supercute with her red glasses, glossy hair and bright, inquisitive green eyes that seemed to quietly observe everything around her.

Seeing Graham act so sweet with Mattie had melted Lucy a bit.

But he certainly hadn't sprinkled any of that sugar in her direction. With Lucy, he kept a polite distance and only spoke caveman.

She considered the way Graham obviously adored Mattie to be his best quality. Second best? His choice in cologne.

Inhaling, she inched closer to his back as he faced the charts. Woodsy. Spicy. Definitely worth a second sniff. She leaned in just a bit more.

Graham grabbed a chart and turned, almost bumping into her. Lucy jumped back, not realizing how close she'd migrated in her efforts to breathe him in.

He stared at her, those dark, stormy eyes wide.

“Sorry.” She took a step back. “I—”
Want to smell you?
Nope. Not first-day-on-the-job words.

Graham's brow furrowed. “You okay?”

“I'm great.”
You just smell distractingly good. What kind of cologne is that? Would it be weird if I requested you wear it every day? Would it be even worse if I grabbed your perfectly knotted grass-green tie, tugged you forward and buried my nose along the collar of your shirt?

Graham made his way past her, pausing by the edge of the desk. “We'll turn off the phones for lunch. I need to grab Mattie from school. She has a half day today. But Danielle can answer any questions you have after you're done eating.”

“Sounds good.” Lucy pasted on a bright smile and waited until Graham disappeared down the hall before letting it fall from her face. Phew. That had been a close one.

She searched the shelves filled with rows and rows of manila folders reaching up to the ceiling behind her desk and along the wall. Looked as though the chart she needed was on the top row. She glanced around. Not a stool or chair to be found besides the rolling one behind her desk. At five and a half feet, Lucy wasn't necessarily short—unless she compared herself with her sister or father—but she was pretty sure she needed some assistance to reach the top row.

She rolled the office chair over, aligned it in front of the shelves, then dropped to the ground and locked the wheels into place. Lucy stood and put one foot on the chair, then changed her mind and unzipped her brown, high-heeled boots. She removed them from her feet, rather proud of herself for taking the time to ensure her safety. She'd learned her lesson about climbing in heels.

Her outfit for the day—an army-green dress that swished above the knee, cinched with a multicolored belt and accessorized with an assortment of mismatched beaded bracelets—wasn't exactly ideal for climbing on a chair. But Lucy would make it quick. She'd grab the chart and be back down before anyone knew what she'd been up to.

After giving the chair a test shove to make sure the wheels didn't roll, Lucy stepped up, toes digging into the leather. She heard the front door to the office open but kept her concentration on the charts. Scanning the names until she found the one she needed, she slid it from the shelf. The chair moved under her feet. She gasped and reached for the shelf, dropping the file in order to hang on with both hands. The grip stopped her movement. A shaky, relieved breath whooshed out, causing dust to fly off a few files in front of her. Another close one.

She jumped from the chair before it could cause further damage, bare feet landing on the floor with a thud.

Lucy found herself face-to-face with a young man who'd appeared behind the receptionist desk during her chart hunt. He screamed cowboy. Broad shoulders in a blue plaid shirt. Boots peeking out from jeans.

The skin around his brown eyes crinkled. “I apologize for being in your space, ma'am. When I walked in, I saw you wobbling on the chair and thought you might need a hand. Looked like you were about to take quite the tumble. And yet, here you stand.”

He had a Southern drawl and he'd called her
ma'am
. Yee-haw. “I appreciate the backup.”

“I'm the one who called to see if Doc Redmond could squeeze me in for this.” His right shirtsleeve was rolled up, a nasty-looking gash visible. He situated the cloth he was holding to fully cover the wound. “I'm Hunter McDermott. My family's ranch edges your brother-in-law's.”

She introduced herself, and dimples sprouted in his cheeks.

“The famous Lucy Grayson. Do you really think anyone in this town doesn't know who you are?”

At least one person hadn't.

“Sooo...” He stretched the word out. “I suppose you saw a bit of Rachel back in Colorado.” Hunter's gaze flitted away before meeting hers again. “How's she doing?”

Oh.
Now Lucy knew the lay of the land. Wonder if Rachel Maddox knew she'd left behind one interested cowboy in Texas when she'd headed to Colorado for college.

“Rachel's great. Busy with classes and off-season volleyball training. And not dating anyone that I know of.”

Interest flashed on his face before he cleared his throat. “That's good, then. I mean, not that she's not dating anyone. Just that she's doing well. I—”

Hunter shrugged and shook his head, and Lucy's amusement and pity for the guy doubled. He grabbed the chart she'd dropped—amazingly the contents had stayed anchored inside—and handed it to her. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Lucy stepped toward the desk to set the file down and stumbled over her forgotten boots on the floor. Though she didn't
exactly
need it, Hunter reached out, grabbing her arms to steady her. They shared an amused grin.

“I'll let Dr. Redmond know you're here.”

“No need.” Graham spoke from behind Lucy, his curt tone zinging along her spine. “Come on back, Hunter.”

Hunter nodded at Lucy, then stepped around to the front of the reception desk.

“I'll meet you in exam room two.”

At that, the cowboy disappeared down the hallway, leaving Lucy with a disgruntled Graham.

Uh-oh. Why did he look so upset? Was it something she'd done? She could just imagine the long list of complaints Graham could have against her. After all, she'd literally been thrown into the job this morning with very little training. Lucy hadn't been taught much more than how to deal with the phone and a quick lesson on the appointment scheduling system. Had she mis-scheduled an appointment? Lost a chart? Offended a patient?

She didn't know the answer. She only knew by the tension tugging on Graham's mouth and the crease cutting through his forehead that whatever he had to say couldn't be good.

And Lucy really, really preferred good.

* * *

Graham didn't usually have to count to ten when dealing with Mattie, but Lucy Grayson might be harder for him to handle than his five-year-old daughter.

He couldn't shake the sight of Hunter and Lucy standing so close when he'd walked into the front office. What had they been doing? There had to be a good explanation for why they'd been tangled up together. For why Hunter had been behind the receptionist desk in the first place.

Had to be.

“What were you just doing?” Though he attempted to keep calm, his voice dripped with irritation. And then, instead of giving her time to answer, the rest of his thoughts spilled out without permission. “I walked down the hall to find you practically in a patient's arms, and a young man at that. How do you think that looks? What kind of reputation do you think that gives the office?”

Her mouth opened but no words came out.

Didn't she have anything to say to defend herself? And why did
she
look upset with
him
?

A glance over his shoulder told him Hunter was in the exam room, door closed. Waiting. Graham couldn't deal with Lucy right now. His patient needed sutures and that came first.