The Nurse's Secret Suitor

Her face hardened. “I have no interest in that anymore. I served my time.” She smiled stiffly up at him, which almost made him trip over himself as he paused to let her pass. “I do have an interest in downing a Sully’s Super Chili Burger, however.” She grabbed his shirt and steered him there.

Bossy little thing. Of course, she’d been a drill sergeant.

Once inside the diner, she advanced as though she owned the place and set the duffel inside the owner’s office door. She gestured for Caleb to do the same with the rucksack he carried. Reading the confusion on his face, she answered his silent question.

“Sully’s owner reminds me of my grandpa. They were war vets and served at the same time. Sully lost all his military stuff in a house fire. All he has left is what’s in here.” She gestured at war memorabilia on the diner walls. “I figure this stuff means more to him than to me.”

Alarm trickled through Caleb as well as a sense that she was making a rash decision. “You’re really sure about getting rid of these?”

“I am.” She lifted her chin, face dared him to talk her out of it. “That’s my old life. I don’t want reminders of it.” She raked harsh eyes over his T-shirt’s army triathlon emblem.

He could see that Kate’s walls were granite-hard and fortress-high now, unlike the vulnerability she’d displayed in the garden at Mitch’s wedding. If she’d only open up like that to BB, then that was yet another reason why the masquerade needed to continue.

Caleb glanced through Sully’s office at Kate’s hard-earned and respectably decorated past, abandoned and crumpled in two heaping bags on the shoe-scuffed floor, and squelched the urge to tell her she might regret giving it all up and walking away. After all, did he really know her well enough to make that call?

You know her better than she realizes, down to the satiny feel of her lips and how her chin quivers when she cries, something whispered inside him. Probably his unwieldy conscience.

Would Kate be livid once she found out he was BB? Probably. But if BB made her life better now, the wrath was worth it. Right?

“You look like something’s on your mind.” Expressive eyes watched him intently as he motioned her into a booth. Hair spilled over her shoulders as she scooted in. She’d grown her dark brown, cropped military hair out to luxurious lengths.

He almost commented on it but clamped his mouth shut, sat and stared ahead. Some things were better left unsaid. “It’ll work itself out.” He slid a menu her way.

She leaned in. “Sometimes talking about it helps.”

A laugh choked out of him. “Trust me, not this time.”

The waitress brought ice water. Kate sipped hers like a regal princess. He resisted the urge to guzzle his. Manners were in order. She was, after all, a lady. “Thanks, Caleb.”

“For?”

She shrugged. “Friendship. Hanging out. For getting me.”

“I get you?”

She grinned. “Yeah. I think you do.”

Caleb sliced a piece of nut-dusted French bread for her.

“I could use a friend,” she added. “Bri’s strapped with wedding plans. I’m not the type who thrives alone. I get into too much trouble.” Mischief brightened her gorgeous eyes.

He laughed and tried not to dwell on how astonishingly pretty she was when she smiled. “Somehow, I can believe that.”

“See? I told you that you get me. It’s proof we’re going to be great friends.”

The waitress, a pale-skinned waif with coal-black hair, came back and took their orders, then left them alone again. “I’m glad we’re both comfortable with just being friends,” Kate continued. “Otherwise, people in town might try to fix us up.”

Caleb struggled not to choke on his water. “R-really?”

Kate nodded. “Yeah, besides our waitress and a few others, there aren’t many people our age in town, so everyone seems to think a newly arrived single man must be my Prince Charming.”

“But that’s not what you think,” he said, even though he already knew the answer.

“Nope. I’m not interested in you romantically. It’s nothing personal!” she hastened to assure him. “You seem like a great guy, and I’m glad we’re going to be friends. But you’re military all the way, and that’s not what I’m looking for.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. I’ll only be around for a few months anyway, and then hopefully it’s off to ranger school, so it’s not like I have time for romance, either.” He thought he saw a flash of disappointment cross her face, but it was gone before he could be sure.

“So we’ll make the most of the months as friends. After all, we’ll be spending a lot of time together with fund-raiser meetings and the work we’ll do together to ready props. Plus, Ian texted Mitch and informed him you applied at EPTC part-time as a surgery tech. Mitch called Ian first thing this morning.”

Caleb perked up. “You think I got the job?”

Kate grinned. “I mess with his and Mitch’s to-do list all the time. You’re top of the list for him to call for an interview. Well, after SpongeBob.”

He chuckled. “You wrote that in, or what?”

She shrugged. “You know from being a military medic that humor is what gets us through hard nights and heavy case loads.”

He nodded slowly, enjoying having that military and medical connection with her. Maybe being friends with her while keeping the secret from her wouldn’t be awkward after all. Sure, he wasn’t as smooth as he’d been as BB, but they were still getting along.

“We’re bound to run into each other at the trauma center and in surgery,” she continued. “Plus, Bri and Ian invite me for dinner once a week, and I assume, since Bri can’t stand to leave anyone out and you’re her beloved brother, you’ll be there.”

Caleb coughed. He’d swallowed a piece of ice whole when she said beloved brother. Okay, yeah. Totally awkward here. After he recovered, Caleb leaned in. “Good point. Look, you don’t have to try so hard to convince me to be friends, Kate. That’s not like you, anyway.” He grinned. “I’m fine being friends with you. To friendship?” he suggested, lifting his water glass in a toast.

“To friendship,” she agreed, clinking her glass against his.

Chapter Four

Kate had been right about one thing—Caleb had been told in no uncertain terms that he was absolutely required to attend weekly dinners with his sister, Ian, Tia and Kate. And that’s where he found himself the next week’s Thursday evening, grinning as he watched his soon-to-be-niece give the doll he’d brought her a “ride” on the back of her puppy, Mistletoe.

The cotton-on-ginger-colored dog pranced in a regal circle, but the entire back half of the dog wagged as he stopped and peered up. Caleb, looking down at him, was met with soulful brown eyes, a playful bearing, a happy pant and breath only a puppy could get away with. His expectant, hopeful expression matched Tia’s mischievous one.

“It’s a toss-up as to which of you is cuter.”

Tia’s increasingly comical antics caused him to chuckle. He’d about decided that someday having a little girl wouldn’t be half bad. Caleb glanced over to see Kate watching them with an approving smile as she chopped apples in the kitchen for a fruit salad. He grinned back at her and winked.

For a guy with limited experience dealing with kids, his babysitting gig seemed to be going pretty well. Sure, Bri and Ian were there to step in if anything went wrong, but they were so wrapped up in each other, he wasn’t sure they’d notice if he and Tia set the kitchen on fire. Things had been so busy for both of them lately that he knew the engaged couple needed time together.

Two beepers sounded. Bri shrank in disappointment. Ian and Kate sobered and pulled out their chiming cell phones. Caleb’s grin faded as he stood, instinctually knowing Ian’s creasing forehead meant something bad was headed to the trauma center. Tia quieted, and the dog seemed to sense her unease because he moved closer.

“I’m sorry, babe. I gotta go.” Ian kissed Bri’s forehead, hugged Tia then followed Kate, already out the door. Every nerve ending in Caleb strained and ached to go with him. He’d been doing combat medicine for so long it felt strange to sit back and watch an emergency go by without running headlong to help.

Bri sighed. “He’s been on call four days in a row. With Mitch and Lauren away, and Dr. Lockhart, the anesthesiologist, taking some personal time, the trauma center is short staffed. He really has no choice but to be there,” Bri said, as if to convince herself it was all right and temporary.

But Caleb could tell she missed Ian and he her. The center had erupted with traumas this week and the engaged pair barely saw each other in the two weeks since Caleb had been here. Even then, they’d only waved in passing when Ian came to pick up Tia. No wonder Bri’s renovations had fallen behind. She couldn’t take a child into a construction zone. Caleb grew even more thankful he’d received military leave. His sister and her cabins needed him.

Caleb felt heartsick at her disappointment over not being able to cook for her fiancé and not getting to enjoy the meal, much less the evening, with Ian. Caleb rose from the rug to meet her in the kitchen but she bravely waved him back down and approached the carpet, instead.

“What did you decide to name her, Tia?” Bri asked in a light tone and brushed a hand down the doll’s long, flaxen hair.