Chapter
1
The mob of creatures waved signs
and circled him leaving no room for escape. No matter how he turned, he saw
another sign.
College debts. Medical school loans. Maxed
credit cards. Condo rental. Car repairs. Money for his dream house and dream
life.
A deep voice roared. His father? “You must
pay the debts. You must pay the debts.”
The squeaky voices of the creatures added to
the cacophony. They twisted the ends of their Dali-like mustaches.
From a distance, his mother’s voice cried
her own demands. “Michael, when will I see grandchildren? You know how badly I
want little ones to hug.”
Help! The word remained frozen.
* *
*
Michael West bolted upright and stared at the clock. Almost seven. He
rubbed his eyes. Not the weekend. Not his city walk-up where he’d collapsed
after a day in surgery and a night on call. He would be late for his first day
as junior partner of Grandvue
Hospital’s premier
surgical practice. He threw back the covers and dashed to the bathroom.
As he showered, remnants of the nightmare circled in his thoughts.
“Sorry, Mom,” he whispered. “No grandchildren for years. Until the mountain of
debts became a molehill he couldn’t take a wife.
With a towel around his waist, he shaved and charged into the bedroom. In
five years he could recycle those debts. Then he would be ready to give the
woman he selected the things he believed she deserved. He dressed in new gray
slacks, a starched white shirt, tie and a black summer weight jacket, grabbed
his medical bag and strode from the apartment to his car.
Though he wished for time to eat a hearty breakfast, on the way to the
hospital, he stopped at a deli for an egg and cheese bagel and a huge coffee.
Ten minutes later he sat in the doctor’s parking lot and ate like a starving
man.
After stuffing the remains in the take-out bag, he slid from the sedan
and brushed crumbs from his clothes. He scanned the lot. New car added to his
list of wants. His fuel-economy sedan looked like a waif among the luxury
sedans and sporty models. He strode toward the entrance.
“Michael, slow down.” The senior partner of the surgical practice waved.
Michael waited for Dr. Probst. “Good morning, sir. I didn’t expect to see
you here so early.”
The gray-haired man smiled. “Always the first. Good to see you’ve the
same habit. Three cases on the schedule. First one’s at nine.”
“Will I assist?”
“Eager to get your hands in?”
Michael grinned. “Sure am, sir.”
Dr. Probst chuckled. “How well I remember those days. Before we head to
the OR, we’ll make rounds. I’ll show you the surgical unit.”
“Sounds good.” Though he had visited the hospital when he’d been
recruited, he hadn’t been impressed with the unit.
“We’ve a new nurse manager. Young, efficient. Has performed miracles
during her five months in charge. She’s cracked down on the staff. You’ll like
her.”
Michael studied the older man. Was he being set up? Not going to happen. Casual affairs were his speed. He thought
about the nurse manager he’d met when the guys in the practice had wined and
dined him. She’d been old, steely-eyed and a thin-lipped smile making him think
young doctors were to be trained like puppies. Young might mean any woman under
sixty. If the new nurse manager was attractive and would be interested in a
fling in the company of a man with a five year plan, he might give her a try.
They rode the elevator from the basement to the second floor. When he saw
the nurse at the counter with a phone in her left hand and her right poised
over a keyboard, he halted and fought the urge to run.
“No.” He groaned. “Impossible.”
“Something wrong?” Dr. Probst asked.
Michael cleared his throat. Don’t
be an ass. “I never expected to see…” Help!
His inner voice shouted the final word of his nightmare.
“Zelda, come and meet the new addition to our group.”
Michael sucked in a breath. The bane of his youthful existence left the
computer and sauntered toward them.
His throat constricted. His gut churned. “You work here?” Duh. Could his foot fit any tighter in
his mouth? Why else was she dressed in a white uniform? And the lab coat
spelled administration. He took a second look. The uniform fit her slender body
to perfection.
Dr. Probst beamed. “Guess you know each other. Zelda is our miracle nurse
manager.”
Figured she’d find a way to plague him. He didn’t like the ideas swarming
like gnats in his thoughts. He batted them away. Sure, Zelda was attractive and
probably efficient but she was a cyclone centered on destructing Michael West
MD. Like visions seen by a drowning man, incidents flooded him. She had swamped
his high school romance with Allie and sent depth charges into his summer fling
with Bette.
Every time Zelda entered his space strange events occurred. He tripped
over invisible cracks in the sidewalk, dropped drinks and plates of food. In
her presence, he was an accident primed to happen.
His gaze focused on her. Boy had she changed. Short curly brown hair,
bright blue eyes, slender figure with tantalizing curves. An urge to taste her
kissable lips made him take a step toward her.
Whoa. This is Zelda. Not a chance.
He enjoyed living. His hands fisted and he tore his attention from her to his
partner’s briefing on the recovering patients and the ones awaiting surgery.
Zelda added comments, reported changes in conditions and mentioned
existing or pending problems. Michael realized she ignored him more effectively
than he did her. Still, he knew plans for destructing his life stirred like a
rising volcano in her head. They always had.
“Mrs. Greene’s going home today,” Dr. Probst said. “She’s to come to the
office in a week for staple removal.” He turned to Michael. “Write a
prescription for a pain med and antibiotics, same as she’s taking here. All the
info is on her chart.”
Michael went to the computer and entered his password. He pulled up Mrs.
Greene’s chart. He checked her meds and copied them to an electronic
prescription. Once done he sent the script to her listed pharmacy. He finished
the instruction sheet and closed the chart.
Dr. Probst laughed. “Took you less than five minutes. One of the reasons
we took you on. You can teach these old dogs some tricks.”
Zelda laughed. “Aren’t computers great? No more huge stacks of paper to
worry about.”
No more paper airplanes. Where
had that thought come from? Then he remembered Zelda’s many missives sailed over
the fence from her yard to his. He hid a smile as an idea of how to head her
off and keep their interactions on a strictly professional level.
He grabbed a piece of scrap paper and quickly wrote.
Dear Zelda, So glad to hear you’re doing so well in your chosen
profession. Let’s work to keep our relationship strictly professional. Unless
you need to talk to me about a patient, ignore me. Your former neighbor,
Michael.
He quickly folded the paper into an airplane. Should he? Naw. He’d leave it in her office. If he sent the paper
plane sailing toward her now, who knows what disaster would occur.
After rounds and charts, Michael followed the older man toward the
stairs. At the door of Zelda’s office, he paused and sent the paper flying to
land on her desk.
Dr. Probst arched a brow. “Something brewing between you two?”
“We used to be neighbors.”
“Aha, the girl next door.
. More like the pest, the
whirlwind, the terminator of relationships. He wasn’t about to explain his
tangled past with Zelda. He opened the stairwell door.
A voluptuous redhead exited. “Dr. Probst, good morning.”
Her throaty voice plus the stacked body sent Michael’s blood rushing
south. He smiled.
“Morning,” the older doctor said. “Gianna Hall, meet Michael West, our
new partner.”
“Pleased to meet you, Dr. West.”
Her smile showed interest and made promises he’d like to see kept. “Same
here.” He might have lingered but surgery called. “I’m sure I’ll see you
around.”
She ran her tongue over her lower lip. “I’ll make sure you do.”
Michael caught up to his partner. “She seemed nice.”
“She is. Gianna is the Clinical Psychologist for the Mental Health Unit.”
Now he knew where to find her. Michael smiled.
