“If I hire you, I won’t throw you in the fire. I promise to give you a couple of weeks’ orientation, where you can shadow me and my patients, and learn the system. Or as long as you need. I’m proud to say I’m the only doctor outside of Cheyenne that uses computerized charting. It takes a bit of getting used to, but in the long run—”
“I’m familiar with that, depending on the system you’re using.” County Hospital had been late to implement the charting system, and the one they’d used had been clunky, but she’d figured it out well enough.
“Great. So do you have any questions for me?”
Are you married? Do you have children? “Is there a benefits package, and how soon will it kick in—that is, if you hire me.” How desperate could she sound?
“As soon as the paperwork is processed, and you’ve completed your orientation, you’ll be covered.” Trevor pressed the intercom then pushed back from his desk.
“Yes, Doctor?” Rita’s chirpy voice was loud and clear and maybe a little too fawning.
“Could you bring in the new-employee paperwork?”
Julie inhaled, realizing she’d held her breath since her last question. “I’ve got the job?”
“It’s yours if you want it.” Trevor offered a far more genuine smile this time.
“Thank you.” Now Julie smiled, too, anxiety streaming out of her body.
Rita arrived with a packet of paperwork, and handed it to Julie, assessing her more closely as she did.
“You probably want to have your lunch before your afternoon patients, maybe call your wife, so I can fill this out in the waiting room, if you’d prefer.”
“No need. The clinic is closed on Tuesday afternoons. Otherwise, I’d introduce you to Charlotte, my nurse. I’ve got to finish up on Mr. Waverly’s chart anyway. Feel free to stay right there.” He went back to work but said as an aside, “Oh, and there isn’t a Mrs. Montgomery. Just my old man, and, to be honest, having dinner with him every night is enough.” He gave that charming smile over his laptop, slyly forgiving her for her none-too-subtle probing into his personal life. She pretended to be completely focused on the paperwork.
Though he did seem easy and open about still being a bachelor. She wondered if it had to do with being stuck in this small town taking care of his father while his brother lived the good life traveling and keeping two homes.
For the next several minutes, Julie filled in all the blanks about her personal information, but sneaked surreptitious glances at Trevor as she did. His mahogany-colored hair was still thick and wavy, covering the tips of his ears. After all this time, she remembered how she’d run her fingers through it the one night they’d been together, probably because she’d dreamed about touching that hair all that summer long. His square jaw was set while he typed away at his keyboard. He knit his brows and seemed very concerned about whatever it was he entered about poor Mr. Waverly’s condition.
Once, he glanced up at the exact moment Julie did and their eyes met then skipped away from each other quicker than water on a hot griddle. Even so, the visual contact slid through her center, further jangling her nerves.
The man deserved to know.
But she needed the job. No way would she tell him! Not now anyway. Oh, man, why had she even considered coming home?
Round and round her thoughts chased each other. She was at the end of her rope and James needed … well, a father.
With her mouth dry and her hands clammier than ever, she finished her employment paperwork and handed the packet to Trevor. His lips torqued in a rigid manner as he took them, as if they were something sacred, then he used the intercom and asked Rita to process everything before she left for the day.
“Want to start tomorrow?” he asked, without looking at one iota of Julie’s personal information, while handing everything over to Rita—who must have been standing right outside in order to get there so fast.
“The sooner the better,” Julie said, relieved she’d have a new job before her final paycheck from her prior job was due.
He smiled tensely, and once Rita had left with the paperwork, Trevor shot Julie an anxious glance. Was he changing his mind? He followed Rita to the door, closing it behind her, further raising Julie’s curiosity. What did he have up his sleeve?
“Listen,” he said, stretching his lower lip and biting on it, as if the words were stuck just behind his teeth. Instead of walking back around his desk, he sat next to her. She’d been right about his wearing boots—black gator belly-patterned boots, to be exact. She stared at them rather than look at Trevor. “I’d like to ask you to forgive me.”
What? She was unable to hide her reaction; her chin pulled in, brows shot up and she was quite sure her eyes bugged out—at least that was how it felt. She had a dreaded hunch about what he referred to, and for the record he did look contrite, yet she still couldn’t quite make her brain believe it. “Seriously?” Did she say that out loud?
He made the wise decision of not attempting to touch her or even get too close. Though he leaned in and sincerity flowed from his gaze. “Completely. I messed up that night. There was nothing honorable about what I did. I took advantage of—”
“Wait a second, I may have been tipsy—well, we both were—but I still knew what I was doing. I had a choice in the matter. Made a bad one, but nevertheless.”
Now he was the one studying his boots. “That’s not the way it should be, the first time, you know?” He looked back up and nailed her. “A lady deserves some romance and wooing that first time. And I never even had the decency to apologize.”
Oh, my gosh, he was going all chivalrous on her. Too late, buddy. She’d waited and waited for his call, which had never come. He’d had his chance to be honorable, but had never bothered. Even so, she decided to take the practical route.
“Now that I’m thirty-one, I can say with certainty that life isn’t always the way it should be. That’s just how it is sometimes.” Without thinking, she reached for his forearm and squeezed. “We were both slightly inebriated, as I recall, and I’ll let you in on a little secret—I went to that party hoping to see you. I couldn’t believe it when you were interested in me, too. So—”
How naive could she have been? Any male would be interested in a willing woman at that age. Yeah, she’d learned that lesson the hard way.
“That still doesn’t make it right,” he said. “It’s not like losing your virginity can happen more than once.”
True, but how often did a girl get bells and whistles and romance with her first time? At least that had seemed to be the consensus among her friends back then, and, crazy as it sounded, it had helped ease her broken heart.
“It’s weighed on my mind and I just wanted to set things straight since you’re going to be working for me.” He glanced down at her hand, still grasping his forearm, and her ringless finger. “I messed up that night, didn’t have a clue you weren’t like the girls at college. I took advantage of you, plain and simple. Please forgive me.”
The remorseful expression, coupled with those dark, pleading eyes,
