before the doors, Mac stood for a moment as they opened before him, just watching the sheets of rain coming down. The parking lot closest to the building looked as if it was going to be submerged any minute.
The gutters had to be clogged again, he thought.
The problem with living in an environment that typically saw rain only a few months a year, if that, was that people grew lax about things like sewer systems and gutters.
He’d heard that traffic accidents on the freeways were up, as well. People tended to want to escape the rain and drove with less caution than usual.
“Trying to cool down the rest of the hospital, Dr. Mac?” Jorge asked him.
When Mac looked at him, raising an inquiring brow at his meaning, the man nodded at the black rubber mat beneath his feet.
“You do know you gotta step off that if you want the doors to close again.”
Max laughed at the well-intentioned jibe. “Just bracing myself for the run to my car, Jorge.”
Jorge peered outside. At the far end of the lot, a car drove by sending a three-foot-high splash flying in their direction.
“Gonna get wet, braced or not,” Jorge told him philosophically.
Looking over Jorge’s shoulder, Mac saw Jolene hurrying in their direction. Preoccupied, she didn’t appear to see him. He’d made inquiries and knew that her shift was over for the evening, as well. Timing couldn’t have been better. She was carrying an umbrella in her hand.
“Truer words were never spoken.” He raised his voice slightly, getting her attention. “But if I wait for a lovely lady to come by with an umbrella, I won’t get wet at all.”
Picking up the cue, Jorge turned around and nodded a greeting just as Jolene joined them.
Jolene’s glance swept suspiciously from one man to the other. The last time two men had looked at her like that, they’d been hoping to borrow her Organic Chemistry notes in college. “What?”
Despite the rather cool interaction he’d endured earlier, Mac smiled at her. “Going home?”
Her response was guarded. She’d heard about what had happened with Tommy’s father the other day, everyone at the hospital had. And she had to admit she’d been impressed. But that still didn’t change her opinion about doctors in general and MacKenzie in particular.
“And if I am?”
Mac looked at the tan umbrella she was carrying. It matched her raincoat. “I thought you might want to do the neighborly thing and share your umbrella so I can get to my car without getting soaked.”
Though he wanted to watch, Jorge tactfully withdrew. He liked Dr. Mac, but his money was on Nurse DeLuca. As a rule, men didn’t like to be seen losing and he could relate to that.
“See you,” he said cheerfully, leaving.
“Bye,” Jolene murmured, but her attention was on the man who had designs on her umbrella—mainly, she knew, as a means to an end. Today her umbrella, tomorrow her clothes. “Number one, we don’t live in the hospital, so we’re not neighbors,” she pointed out. “And number two, it was raining this morning, how did you keep from getting wet then?”
“I didn’t.”
His smile was definitely too engaging, too disarming, she thought, annoyed. She had to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t easily taken in this way.
With effort, she shrugged disinterestedly. “Guess you’ll just have to get wet again.”
Mac shifted so that he was in front of her, blocking her way. The wind was coming from the opposite direction and no longer finding its way in through the opened doors. “Aren’t you up for a good deed, Nurse Frosty?”
The look she gave him could have frozen a bonfire. “I already gave at the office.”
Moving around him, she opened her umbrella and took a step out. She could feel him looking at her with eyes that were soft and soulful. Annoyed with herself, she relented and turned around.
“Oh, all right, c’mon,” she bit off. When he was quick to join her, she discovered that there wasn’t as much room beneath her oversize umbrella as she’d thought. He was standing much too close. “Where’s your car?”
He pointed off into the distance, beyond the security guard’s post. “In the other lot.”
Jolene sighed. It figured. “Mine’s right over here.” She indicated a small, red Honda.
Peppy and reliable, he thought, looking at the vehicle. He wondered if the same could be said for its owner.
“Good.” He slipped his arm through hers. “Then you can drive me.”
Jolene stiffened immediately, shrugging him off. “It’s not going to work, you know.”
His look was a mixture of raindrops and innocence. “What’s not going to work?”
“You trying to charm your way into anything,” she informed him. “I’ve had my shots against people like you.”
He was tempted to ask her just what she meant by that, but then let it go. “Everyone should always keep their inoculations up-to-date. But all I’m trying to charm my way into is your car.”
Step one, she thought. “Why didn’t you bring an umbrella?” she asked again.
He liked looking into her eyes. They were so green, they reminded him of fields of clover. He could easily get lost in them. “Didn’t think I was going to need it.”
She stared at him incredulously. “It was raining this morning.”
When she wrinkled her brow like that, a small vertical line formed just above her eyes. He had the urge to smooth it out with the tip of his finger. He kept his hands at his side. “What can I tell you? I’m an optimistic kind of guy.”
They had reached her car. She gave him a disdainful look. “That wouldn’t be my word for it.”
“Are you always this easy to talk to?”
She hit her security beeper. All four locks popped open. “This is my car, you getting in or not?”
“Since you put it so nicely—” He saw the look she gave him, like she was going to jump in and leave him standing there. “I’m in, I’m in.” He laughed as he quickly pulled the door open. Getting in, he put on the seat belt and settled back for the short ride to his own car. “So, what happened in your life after you were voted Miss Congeniality?”
She put her key into the ignition. “I scalped my first doctor.”
“Ouch.”
“Exactly.” Starting the car, she pulled out of the parking spot.
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