Get a second opinion. A third one, too, if necessary. I’m biased, but Dr Cline is an excellent surgeon.” Excellent at breaking hearts, too, but May didn’t need to know that. No matter what happened between her and Adam, he was by far the best surgeon in the area. “Perhaps you can schedule an appointment and let him look over your CT and Dr Mills’s notes.”
May nodded. “Dr Cline was my first choice, but he rescheduled my appointment first due to your grandfather and then again due to something personal. John didn’t want me to wait another week and I ended up seeing Dr Mills.”
Liz tried to hide her surprise. Adam had rescheduled appointments beyond the days he’d taken off with her following Gramps’s death? Why would he do that? Where had he gone? What had he done?
Who was he with?
“John wants me to go to a larger hospital,” May continued, oblivious to the turmoil rocketing through Liz. “One in Jackson.”
Liz doubted Jackson held a finer surgeon than Adam, but refrained from saying so. The thought of him rescheduling patients had her mind spinning.
“Just you get that second opinion,” she said firmly in an effort to hide her dismay.
“Enough about me.” The older woman waved her hand dismissively, as if her problems were no big deal. “How are you holding up?”
Maybe she hadn’t hidden her dismay so well.
For the briefest of moments Liz thought May was asking about the gaping hole in her chest, but no one knew about that. Fortunately Kelly had been spending quite a bit of time with Jason. Liz hadn’t seen her friend until that morning, by which time she’d sort of pulled herself together and hadn’t had to explain why her heart was so tattered. Kelly had asked, but they’d been interrupted and Liz hadn’t been forced to go into any details.
Until May’s revelation about Adam rescheduling appointments, she’d done a good job holding her act together.
May asked about her grandfather, though.
“As well as can be expected, I suppose.” Considering everything. “I miss Gramps, but am trying to remember the good times we shared and move on with my life.”
True. Regardless of what was going on with Adam, Liz would move forward with her life. For years she’d put her grandfather first, had planned to put Adam first for the rest of her life, but if he didn’t want her love, she’d still find happiness. Perhaps she’d travel, see a bit of the world as a traveling nurse.
May looked pleased. “It’s what he’d have wanted.”
“Yes.” Gramps had wanted great things for her. Great things like Adam.
She bit the inside of her lip and forced her thoughts elsewhere.
She chatted with May for a few more minutes, made sure she was comfortable, then went to check on her own patients.
Liz was pleased to find them all recovering as expected without complications. Two of her five patients were Adam’s, which meant she’d have to see him.
Her stomach lurched at the thought. God, she wished whatever was going on with her stomach would pass. She’d taken a handful of antacids yesterday and had obtained a little relief, but this morning her nausea had been right back. Truthfully, her stomach hadn’t been right since Gramps’s funeral. No wonder. She missed him so much. And then all this with Adam.
Stress definitely took its toll on a person’s body but hopefully her nausea would soon pass and her appetite would return.
Recalling May, she decided that if her symptoms persisted much longer she’d have to see a doctor just to get reassurance.
“Everything OK with your patients?” Kelly asked when Liz arrived at the nurses’ station. Her friend eyed her with worry.
“All’s well at the moment.”
Both nurses knew how quickly that could change.
Kelly punched her personal code into the medicine cart that tracked each nurse opening the medicine dispensing device. “I’m going to administer this, and then you’re going to tell me what you have planned for this weekend. Jason’s having a cookout and I want you to come if you aren’t busy.”
This weekend? Liz racked her brain, trying to recall what was going on the upcoming weekend. The fourth of July. She’d be working a twelve-hour shift on Saturday and Sunday.
The previous year’s Fourth of July celebration sprang into her mind. She closed her eyes, picturing Adam and herself sitting on a blanket in the city park. They’d been holding hands, staring up at the bright, exploding lights in the sky. Adam had leaned in, kissed her in the magical way he had that had made fireworks rivaling those in the night sky go off inside her chest.
“Liz?”
She opened her eyes and stared into the object of her fantasy’s blue eyes. He still looked tired, but it was so wonderful to see him that Liz fought throwing her arms around him. “Adam.”
She hadn’t seen him since they’d made love. Since he’d held her, kissed her, admitted he needed her. Unfortunately, she barely recognized him as the same man who’d made love to her. He looked grumpy.
“Were you daydreaming?” He frowned, appearing for all the world like he couldn’t stand being near her. “Your mind should be on your job.”
Liz did a double-take. Not once had Adam or any doctor had cause to complain about her treatment of any of the patients in her care. Not once. Regardless of what was going on, or not going on, between them personally, she hadn’t expected him to attack her professionally.
“Pardon?” she asked, thinking that perhaps she’d misread his tone, his look. Maybe she was being overly sensitive because she was so hurt he’d left without waking her.
“Lives are in your hands.” He didn’t meet her eyes, but instead scribbled something on a notepad. “You shouldn’t be daydreaming.”
“I wasn’t.” But she had been, she thought guiltily. Daydreaming about him when he so obviously didn’t want her to be.
But why wouldn’t he even meet her eyes? Why did she get the impression he was hiding something from her? That he’d been hiding something for weeks? Something beyond his hot and cold attitude toward her?
Yes, he’d left her house without saying her goodbye, but she loved him, wanted him in her life, and wasn’t giving up without a fight.
Regardless of what had changed, Adam did have feelings for her. She knew he did. She wasn’t going to let whatever was happening between them tear them apart without at least fighting for their relationship.
“Perhaps I was daydreaming just a little,” she admitted, giving what she hoped was a bright smile. “Kelly mentioned the Fourth of July and I was thinking back to last year.” She willed him to look at her and as if he felt the force of her thoughts, his gaze met hers. “You kissed me for the first time that weekend. Do you remember?”
He looked startled that she hadn’t reacted to his antagonistic remark. Had that been what he’d been hoping for?
