you’ve arranged your surgery.”
“I’ve tentatively scheduled the procedure for Monday.”
Surprise ricocheted through Adam, mirroring the shock on Madison’s face. Had his father been that certain she would agree?
“This Monday? You’re only allowing me what’s left of the weekend to make arrangements?”
“Wishful thinking on my part, I suppose, but I want to beat this disease, and the sooner we get started the better my chances,” he said with just the right touch of earnestness. But his father had always been a master manipulator. “I called the surgeon as soon as Adam told me you were coming.”
Adam watched the war wage in Madison’s eyes, and he wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d changed her mind.
“I’ll be back tomorrow night. Let me know where I’m staying.” She pivoted and stalked from the room, her slim figure as rigid as a steel beam. The front door snapped shut behind her.
Silence descended on the room. Moments later the sound of Andrew’s truck engine struggling to turn over carried to them. It took three attempts before the ignition caught.
“That went well.”
His father’s smugness infuriated Adam. “I have to hand it to you, Dad. That took balls. What made you sure she’d agree?”
“I know Maddie.”
It had always irritated Adam that he’d tried for years to win his father’s approval, but from the moment Madison had waltzed into their lives she could do no wrong in Danny Drake’s eyes.
Adam whipped out his cell phone. “I’ll make the hotel arrangements.”
“No hotel. Madison’s family.”
“The motor home only has one bedroom,” Helen pointed out.
“That’s why she’ll stay here with Adam.”
The words hit him like a sucker punch to the gut. “Me? Why?”
“I’m not putting her on the sofa bed in the motor home when I’ll probably be up and down all night, and our house is far from being habitable—with walls ripped down and wires hanging everywhere. You have two empty bedrooms.”
“I don’t want that viper here.”
“No talking about her like that. And Madison’s going to need transportation. While I like that she’s still sentimental enough to drive Andrew’s truck, it doesn’t sound as reliable as she claims it is.”
“You’re going to rent a car for her?”
“No. You’re going to drive her to and from the office. We’ll send Andrew’s truck to my mechanic and have him take his time on the repairs.”
Adam gaped at his father’s audacity. “Are you out of your mind? I don’t have time to babysit or play taxi. I have a job.”
“You have that hospital running like a well-drilled army unit. It’ll survive if its administrator cuts his days a little short while Madison’s in town.”
Was that the compliment he’d waited a lifetime to hear or just another form of manipulation? “Dad—”
He joined Adam by the window and clapped him on the shoulder. “Adam, I need you to make sure she gets to work on time each day. I can’t lose patients over this health scare. The medical bills from this treatment are going to be astronomical even after my health insurance pays its part. I don’t want to burn through my retirement paying them off. Your mother and I will need something to live on...if I make it through this.”
Damn it. He was being manipulated. But his father’s points were valid.
“We’ll have dinner together every night Madison’s here. Helen will cook all of our favorites. Just like old times.”
Old times, his ass. Life would never be the same again. If his father believed otherwise, then he was in for a reality check. And it irritated Adam that his father, who’d never been late or left the office early a single day in his career, expected Adam to do so.
“You’re asking too much.”
“Fine. Call Madison. Tell her never mind. I’ll cancel the surgery and take my chances with the chemo-radiation cocktail.”
Once more Adam had underestimated his father. Danny Drake knew which buttons to press to get what he wanted.
“Fine. I’ll handle it.”
* * *
MADISON CRADLED THE phone, marked the last name off Tuesday’s appointment roster then leaned back and massaged her throbbing temples. She was already beginning to regret her decision to help Dann—Dr. Drake.
He’s not friend or family anymore. Keep it strictly business.
A key turned in the lock, and the front door of the clinic opened. Her assistant’s blond head appeared in the gap. Piper stepped inside, scanned the empty waiting room with confusion puckering her forehead.
“Hi, boss. I saw your truck outside. Why are you here on a Sunday? Did we have an emergency? If we did, you should’ve called me.” She came around the registration counter and into the workspace she usually occupied.
“It’s not the kind of emergency that required me to pull you away from your family. I was going to call later and explain. There’s going to be a change in our scheduling for the next couple months.”
“Is something wrong? Are you okay?”
Physically, yes. Mentally, no. Madison sifted through the facts. Piper knew more about her past than anyone else. In a weak moment Madison had confided that her husband and unborn baby had died and that Madison had sworn off men and romantic entanglements forever. But that was all she’d shared, and she preferred to keep the rest on a need-to-know basis.
“I’m fine, but my former father-in-law has cancer. I’ve been shanghaied into substituting in his veterinary practice for him while he undergoes treatment.”
Worry filled Piper’s eyes. “What about our clients?”
And her job. Madison understood the concern. “I’m only subbing on Mondays and Tuesdays. We’ll operate on our regular schedule the rest of the time.”
“Where’s his practice, and is your truck up to that many road trips?”
“Norcross, Georgia, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed about the truck.”
Piper bit her lip and shifted on her feet. “Is he paying you?”
In the shock of the moment payment had never crossed her mind. “We didn’t discuss that, but I suspect not. I’m actually repaying an old debt. He helped me with my internship.”
“Madison, I don’t mean to get into your business, but you see a lot of patients on the barter system. We don’t make enough to cover that many hotel stays, and with one of your
