Doctor to the Rescue

Instant annoyance hit that he’d taken a second look.

“Hey, Crash!” he called so he wouldn’t startle her by just running up next to her. “Cool the turbojets.”

She turned and nearly tripped over a rut. Alarm sliced through him. He reached to steady her as they slowed. “Close call.” He eyed the hot-pink cast that had given her away.

“Not as close as the goose who nearly took me out.”

“It is called Gosling Way,” he teased, referring to the walk-run trail adjacent to Duckshore Drive, which circled the water and led to Lakeview Road. It connected the trauma center and Landis Lodge to a residential area around Eagle Point Lake, where he and Mitch had homes built while overseas and planning this trauma center amid what felt like a million combat surgeries.

Bri’s cheeks were red and her breathing labored enough he knew she’d been running awhile. “Where’s T?” she huffed.

“Tia’s still sleeping. Kate’s watching her in the doctor’s lounge for me.”

Bri looked at him sharply. “At the trauma center?”

“Since I don’t have a call room in my home, yes.”

Bri veered off on the Gosling Way trail that led to Eagle Point Lake’s pavilion behind EPTC. Ian followed, sensing she had something to say. Once she caught her breath, she pulled the lone iPod plug from her ear. That she only wore one and let the other dangle told him she was a serious runner, same as him.

“Still planning on the Library marathon?”

She nodded, and swigged water. “Yeah. You?”

“Yes. I’d be in trouble otherwise.”

“That’s right. I heard you helped Lauren’s grandpa Lem organize it to fundraise for community projects.”

“How’d you hear that?” He propped a foot on a concrete picnic table beneath the covered pavilion. It needed a new coat of paint. But like everything else in Eagle Point, money was tight, so upkeep of public parks suffered. Ian aimed to change that. If he was raising Tia here, he wanted it to thrive.

He realized Bri never answered. He leaned in.

She nibbled her lip. “Kate and Lauren organized a prayer and praise gathering here on Tuesday nights. They named it PRAYZ.” Bri drew a fortifying breath, as if afraid to say the rest. “Mitch comes. He requests prayers for you and the trauma center a lot. He wants your fundraising efforts to succeed.”

He eyed his watch. “I should get back. Tia will be waking soon.” He turned back. “Be careful with your—”

“Arm. I know.” She fell into step beside him, but for some reason all he wanted to do was get away. From her and the weird way it made him feel for people to air his personal life in public. And who prayed at a lake, anyway? Mitch, of course. Yet, he knew Mitch and his prayers were why Ian had made it through his divorce and deployments intact. He sighed. “Thanks for...never mind.”

He wasn’t convinced yet the prayers were working.

“Did you get called in again last night, Ian? You seem...”

“Beastly?” he bit out. Held her gaze and didn’t dare let his face soften. “Yeah. Saturday nights are almost as bad as Friday with drunken accidents and parties. No one died, though.”

“That’s good.”

“That’s debatable.”

She paused. “That means...?”

“The dad of the girl we saved is a private investigator. He checked around and found the guy who supplied the kids with alcohol. The P.I. first threw punches, then threw the guy out a second-story window. Now he’s in jail.” Ian smirked. “The offender who supplied underage kids with alcohol is in neck-to-ankle traction.”

“Was that before or after EMS brought him in to you?”

Ian laughed, surprised by her humor. “Before.”

She sighed. “We really need to get that teen hangout going. After the cabins, of course. And you really need to let me come to your house and watch Tia when you get called in.”

At the trauma center lot now, he checked his phone. Kate hadn’t texted. He motioned Bri toward the lodge. “I’ll walk you home and work on renovations until Kate texts me Tia’s awake.”

“Think about what I said, Ian. Your house is a four-minute jog from mine. But I can make it in two.” She blushed. “I timed that route this morning. You have a beautiful place.”

“You will, too, once the lodges are fixed up. You did a nice job with your personal cabin.” Ian walked her to her door. “I’ll be back with my truck in a bit.”

He really wanted to run another lake lap, but that would take time he needed to get crackin’ on Bri’s second cabin.

He finished replacing windows when Kate called. “She awake?”

“Yes, but I need to borrow her for a few hours.”

“Okay, what—”

“None of your beeswax. Christmas secrets.”

“That’ll give me time to get Tia’s gift, too.”

Kate scoffed. “You ruin everything, you big brute.”

“I’ll pretend to be surprised.” A terrible feeling went through him. “Kate, don’t be disheartened if, when you bring the whole buy-Daddy-a-present-thing up, Tia doesn’t want to get me anything. She’s still resentful and angry over her life being turned upside down. Right now, she considers me the enemy.”

“Take heart, Ian,” Kate said in childproof tones. “Tia is the one who brought it up. This was her idea. She asked me to take her.”

Emotion throbbed behind Ian’s eyes, and it took a second to compose himself. “Thanks, Kate.” He hung up and turned.

Bri stood in her patchy yard with iced teas and a curious expression. He dipped his head so she wouldn’t see evidence that he really wasn’t all that strong. Aerosmith riffs blasted his phone again. Kate’s camouflage monkey avatar lit the screen.

Had Tia changed her mind? Decided to give him nothing for Christmas except a hard time? He swiped the phone face. “Hey, Kate.”

“Hey. Bri nearby?”

“Yeah, need to speak with her?”

“No. Walk nonchalantly away, out of her hearing range.”

Kate never lost her military leader bossiness. Ever. “Okay, what’s up?”

“At PRAYZ the other night, Bri casually mentioned not being able to shop and decorate her place for Christmas because of her arm. I think facing this first holiday without her mom has given her a case of the winter blues. She could use some holiday cheer. Take care of that for me? Like, today?”

“Sure.” The sad thought dawned on Ian that, if someone didn’t intervene, Bri would be spending Christmas all alone. “You planning on taking Lem up on his invitation to come over and join him, Lauren, Mitch and a bunch of the pararescue jumpers for Christmas Eve dinner?”