Practice Makes Perfect (5 page)

Stepping up to the male victim, Paige frowned. “Take the ice off the burn immediately.”

“I told you to use butter,” a woman on the side muttered and reached for the tub.

Ian stopped her. “No butter, either. Ice can cause tissue damage and any ointment or butter traps heat in the burn.”

Paige inspected the man’s arms. Both were red and mottled. “You need to go to emergency. These look like second-degree bums, but I can’t be sure they’re not third. In any case, they need treatment.” She reached for his wrist. “I’m going to take off your watch.” Slowly she removed it. The man moaned; she swathed both arms in the clean linen she’d asked a waitress to bring.

Paige looked at Ian. He was inspecting a younger woman whose hands were burned. “Palms and fingers, looks like second or third degree to me.” He smiled at the girl. “You need to go, too, young lady.”

“Is there any sterile gauze here?” Paige asked.

Someone produced a first-aid kit. She undid the gauze pads and inserted them between the girl’s fingers. Then she wrapped both hands in more fresh linen.

Together she and Ian gave a few instructions and in less than ten minutes, the victims were on their way to the hospital, driven by the club manager.

As they stepped out of the kitchen, Ian slid his arm around Paige. It felt...good. “See, Paige, honey, we make a great team. We’re going to be dynamite together at the Center.”

She drew away. Obviously she didn’t like the sound of that.

Frankly, Ian was surprised that he did.

o0o

THE PORCH SWING creaked as Nora gave it a push with her foot. A soft light at the door bathed her and Dan in its mellow glow, and the spring air enveloped them. Nora sighed against his shoulder.

“Something wrong, love?” he asked, kissing her hair.

She still couldn’t get used to his open affection. Oh, she’d known for years that he loved her, though he’d never spoken the words until Mary died. But to have him touch her, pamper her, appreciate her as a woman was like a gift from God.

She squeezed his hand, inched closer. “Not wrong, exactly.”

“You’re worried about Paige.”

Nora nodded. “Why would she agree to work at the Elsa Moore Center?”

“She’s a pediatrician, Nora. She works with children all the time.”

“I know. I was concerned about her choice of career in the first place, but this? The girls she’ll be treating will remind her of her own past. It will open old wounds.”

Dan was silent for a moment. She loved the way he thought before he spoke. She loved everything about him. Moonlight turned his angled features soft, and she couldn’t see the gray that liberally sprinkled his hair now. Finally he said, “Maybe old wounds need to be opened, Nora. Lanced. I worried that giving up her baby would come back to haunt Paige at some point.”

“Because she never dealt with it? Never talked about it?”

“Uh-huh.” He pushed the swing again. “You tried to get her to open up.”

“That didn’t work. I don’t think she’s ever discussed it with anyone. Not even Jade.”

They were silent. The crickets chirped loudly and the swing swayed. “You can’t protect her, honey.”

“I know. I just hope Ian didn’t bulldoze her into doing something that’s going to cause her pain.”

Dan smiled. “I like that boy.”

“I like that he cares so deeply about things.”

“They’re very different, aren’t they?”

“Paige cares,” Nora said defensively. “She just hides it better than most of us.”

“I know she does.” Dan’s tone was gentle. “I just meant she doesn’t show her feelings.”

“She’s cautious. She doesn’t trust easily.”

“Why would she, after the hand she was dealt?” Again the quiet. “We’ll keep an eye on her, like we’ve always done.” In a swift and surprising move, he tugged Nora onto his lap. “Now kiss me, woman. I’ve waited years for you and now I can’t get enough.”

“What about the—” She didn’t finish. Her mouth got busy and her mind turned to mush. She forgot about the girls upstairs in Serenity House. She forgot about Paige. For now, anyway.

A WEEK AWAY from opening, construction on the Elsa Moore Center was just shy of being finished. As the four doctors and one physician’s assistant met in the small conference area, hammers pounded in the background, and the smell of paint wafted down the corridor.

Paige watched as Ian ran the meeting. His color was high and his smile wide as he talked about schedules and supplies and the mechanics of operating his new center. “Since we’ve agreed to use as much of the available space as possible for patients, we’ll double up on offices, if that’s all right.”

Marcus Volpe, a semiretired internist, asked, “Who gets the pretty ladies?”

At the end of the table, staff psychologist Elliot Emerson smiled.

The physician’s assistant, Carol Camp, rolled her eyes. “Marcus, don’t you know, in this day and age, that comment could be construed as sexual harassment?”

He winked at her. “At my age, my dear, that would be the highest of compliments.”

A mother of four who was interested in working a couple of days a week, Carol said, “I’ll share with Marcus.”

Ian glanced at Paige. “That leaves you and me, Paige.”

She felt a blush creep up her neck. “Really? I just assumed as director you’d have your own office.”

“Nope.”

“What about Elliot?” She’d been trying very hard to ignore the psychologist. She hadn’t known one was going to be on board.

“Elliot will have a separate space for counseling. He’ll keep his desk and records in there.”

Paige bit her tongue, literally.

“Paige?” Elliot asked. “Is something wrong?”

Busying herself with the yellow legal pad in front of her, she asked, “Wrong? No, why?”

“Well, quite frankly, you scowled when I was introduced, and you seem...unhappy about my being here.”

Ah, the joys of working with Dr. Freud. “I’m fully aware of your reputation at Elmwood, Elliot. You do good work educating medical students in psychology.”

Elliot’s green-eyed gaze bored into her. His dark-blond hair was cut perfectly in a short professional style. Quite a contrast to Ian’s mane. On anybody else, Ian’s style would be feminine. Instead, he looked like Samson in a white lab coat.

“But something’s bothering you about me, Paige, I can tell.”

Okay, she’d voice her opinion. “Truthfully I was surprised a psychologist was asked to join the Center. Young mothers, even unwed ones, aren’t necessarily screwed up.”

Ian braced his arms on the table in front of him, a man defending his child. “No one’s saying that, Paige. It’s just common sense. If the women who come here can’t afford medical care, something’s not working in their lives. Elliot has done a great deal of aptitude testing, job counseling and career seminars, as well as being Elmwood’s finest psychologist.”

Again Paige forced herself to relax. Her problem really had nothing to do with Elliot. It was personal and was about comparing herself to the patients who would be coming to the Center. That was, after all, why she’d balked at taking the job. “I wasn’t criticizing Elliot. I was just making an observation.” She smiled at the other doctor. “I agree that we’re lucky to get you.”

He settled back, but seemed to study her like a patient with an ailment he couldn’t diagnose.

Ian dealt with logistics, talked about the opening and generally played cheerleader for the Center. “I guess that’s it,” he said finally. “I look forward to working with all of you, and again, thanks for becoming part of the team.”

Standing, he signaled the meeting was over. He walked Carol and Marcus out. Quickly Paige gathered her things. Discomfited by Elliot’s observation, she wanted some time alone to collect herself. But she turned to find that the psychologist had come up behind her. “I hope you meant what you said, Paige.”

“Of course I did.” She gave him a warmer smile this time

His return smile was a sexy one. “I’m looking forward to working with you.” He extended his hand. “And getting to know you better.”

“Me, too.” She accepted his handshake.

He let go and turned; Paige saw Ian standing in the doorway.

“Good night, Ian,” Elliot said, on his way out.

When they were alone, Elliot told her, “He’s married, you know.”

“Excuse me?”

“Dr. Mesmerizing Eyes is married. He took quite an interest in you. You might be wise to stay away from him”

“First off,” Paige practically sputtered, “I don’t need to be warned against getting involved with a married man.”

“Have you been? Involved with a married man?”

Her mouth dropped open. “That is so none of your business.”

“Answer it, anyway.”

She narrowed her eyes on him. “No!”

“No, you won’t answer it, or no you haven’t been?”

“Both.”

He smiled at having flustered her enough to give him the information he sought.

“And second, I won’t have you poking into my personal life.”

“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all. “But office romances interfere with work. I’m just being cautious.”

“You have nothing to worry about, Ian. There won’t be any office romances here.”

Again the interested look. It made her want to bolt. “Tell me something else.”

“What?” The exasperation in her voice was evident even to her own ears.

“Elliot was right. You were upset to find him on staff, I could tell. Why?”

Because Paige didn’t like to lie, she’d become a master at evasion. “Look, Ian, I agreed to work with you, not be your friend. I think this center is a worthwhile endeavor, but I don’t like to get close to my colleagues. If there’s a reason I’m uneasy about Elliot being here, it’s not something I want to talk about.”

“I don’t understand that kind of thinking. Life’s so short. And relationships are the most important thing.” He studied her. “But they aren’t to you, are they?”

Unnerved, she fumbled with her bag. They used to be. Until she lost her child’s father. And her own parents. And then Jade. “No, they aren’t.”

“What is?”

“My job. Helping people. Being the best—” She stopped.

“Being the best at what? Everything?”

Yes.
“Just my job. That’s why I agreed to work here. Not to find new friends.”

He hitched one hip onto the table. Today he wore slate-blue slacks and a blue pin-striped shirt under a taupe blazer. “You don’t trust many people, do you?”

No
. Well, maybe Nora. And Elsa. “I trusted your mother,” she said softly.

He looked like someone had given him the moon. “That’s a wonderful thing to say.”

She smiled.

“You trusted my mother. My mother trusted me. Maybe you could make that leap.”

“Ian, as I said the other day, we don’t know each other well enough—”

“And as I said, I’d like to change that.”

She shook her head. “You got me to work here. Be happy with that. Any relationship other than professional isn’t going to happen.” Shrugging into the jacket of her red linen suit, she picked up her bag. “The Center is a wonderful and much-needed facility, Ian. I’m happy to be a part of it.” Which wasn’t exactly true. “But that’s all.” Quickly she headed out.

She could feel his gaze on her back as she disappeared through the door.

o0o

THE SETTING SUN, a pink, fiery ball, still burned brightly. Paige was relaxing on her raft in her kidney-shaped pool. This wasn’t the Caribbean cruise she longed for, but it was a little bit of paradise in her own backyard, and she treasured the time she spent here.

The day had been eventful—scores of sick children, as usual, and a few cases of strep. She’d also gotten a list of patients she’d be seeing at the Center, and one was from Serenity House. Mary Ellen Barone was due to deliver in a few months, and Paige would be her baby’s pediatrician. Six degrees of separation was more like two. Everything seemed closely connected—the Center, Elsa Moore’s son, patients from Serenity House. How on earth had she become involved in all this?

Well, that was easy. Dr. I Always Get What I Want had engineered it.
You trusted my mother. My mother trusted me. Maybe you could make that leap
. Jeez, didn’t Ian Chandler ever give up on anything?

Paige heard a thump at the west end of the yard. A five-foot wooden fence circled the pool, but she could see a glint of copper-penny red hair through the slats. She’d recognize it anywhere. “Is that Miss Meli I see peeking into my yard?” she called out.

A skinny arm shot up straight above the fence and waved. Paige chuckled.

“Come on in, sweetie. Say hello.”

“Mama said not to bother you.” Paige could hear Meli but only see her hand.

“You won’t be bothering me. I’m lonely. Come keep me company.” There was some truth to that statement. Tomorrow was her day off—the last for a while, since the Center was opening soon—and she had no plans to see anyone.

Paige paddled the raft to the side of the pool, climbed off and crossed to open the gate. Outside was three feet ten inches of terror. Seven-year-old Meli O’Malley, one of Darcy Shannon O’Malley’s daughters. Meli’s bright red T-shirt and shorts were smudged with dirt. Skeins of red hair hung down her back and over her shoulders. Under the hair, big brown eyes peeked out of a freckled face. In her hands she held a baseball and glove.

“You look hot and sweaty,” Paige said to the little girl.

“Uh-huh.” Meli gazed longingly at the pool.

“Would you like to swim, Meli?”

“Mama said not to bother you,” she repeated solemnly

“I told your mom that you guys could use the pool any time, whether I was here or not. As long as an adult comes with you.”

“We swimmed in it Saturday when you were working.”

“I’m so glad. The pool doesn’t get enough use.”

Meli nodded enthusiastic agreement.

Paige said, “Why don’t you go back to your grandma’s and get your sister, Claire.” Darcy lived with her two daughters in the carriage house on her mother and stepfather’s grounds, right across the street from Paige. “Get your mom, too. You can all come for a dip.”

“Mama’ll be mad. Grandma, too.”

Paige cocked her head. Meli’s grandmother, Darcy’s mother, was not one of her favorite people. In turn, the woman seemed uncomfortable with Paige, probably because Paige reminded her of Darcy’s days in Serenity House. But most likely Meli wouldn’t get to swim without Paige’s intervention. “How about if I walk over with you and invite them myself?”