didn’t know when Cathy would be ready to leave, but he didn’t want her to be somewhere waiting, so he went straight to the front desk.
“Hey, Carol Ann, I’m here to give Cathy Terry a ride home when she’s ready to leave. Can you let somebody know?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
Duke chose a seat that would give him a clear view of the hall. He didn’t know how Cathy was going to take his reappearance, so being quiet and cordial might be his best bet. He was fine with cordial, but as Hope and Jack were fond of telling him, being quiet wasn’t one of his better traits. He had a tendency to talk before he thought about what was coming out of his mouth, and he blamed it on having no one to answer to but himself.
While he was waiting, Dan Amos came in with a bloody rag wrapped around his left hand. Duke heard him say he might be needing stitches, and then they rushed him back into the exam area.
A few minutes later, Dan’s wife, Alice, came running inside.
“What exam room is Dan in? He’s here somewhere getting stitches.”
“He’s in 3A,”Carol Ann said.
“Thank you,” Alice said, and went through the double doors into the ER on the run.
Duke continued to wait, thinking to himself how fast someone’s life could change, and remembering the day that drunk driver hit Hope head-on as she was coming in to work. If it hadn’t been for her long-lost sister’s appearance on that day to donate blood, Hope would have died.
He glanced up at the clock. It had been over two hours since he’d dropped Cathy off here. He was beginning to worry that she might be seriously hurt when the doors suddenly swung open and an orderly appeared, pushing Cathy out in a wheelchair.
Duke stood up and smiled.
“We meet again. I happened to be getting a haircut when the call came in about you needing a ride home, and since I brought you here, I thought it would be okay with you if I took you home.”
Cathy hated to admit it, but she was actually glad to see him. Even though their acquaintance had been brief, he was one less stranger to deal with.
“Of course it’s okay, and much appreciated,” she said.
“I’m parked nearby. Give me a couple of minutes, and I’ll pull up to the entrance.”
The orderly pushed Cathy to the door as Duke left at a lope.
“We’ll wait inside until he arrives,” he said.
Cathy heard but didn’t comment. She was watching Duke Talbot run across the parking lot, wondering how old he was and guessing maybe late thirties, early forties, but then she decided it didn’t matter. She wasn’t looking. And if he wasn’t already married, it was likely he had someone special in his life. Unless he was a complete jerk, anyone that good-looking would surely not be alone.
Within a couple of minutes he was at the entrance. He had the door open and waiting when the orderly wheeled her out. But when she tried to stand up, he just picked her back up as he’d done when she fell, and had her situated in the front seat of the truck and buckled in before she could brace herself for the impact of his touch.
Duke was rarely uncertain what to do, but today was an exception. He already knew she was leery of men. He didn’t know why, or who had hurt her, but he didn’t want his name on that list.
He got in, then glanced at her.
“Can I assume the fact that your ankle is wrapped instead of in a cast means it’s a bad sprain and not a break?”
“You may,” she said, and then grinned. “The rest of me is okay, too, minus a little skin. Kind of embarrassing, actually, since I hiked halfway across the country without so much as a stumble.”
Duke blinked. “You hiked?” Then he stopped and took a breath. “By yourself?”
Cathy’s smile tightened as her eyes narrowed. “Shocking, isn’t it? A woman who can take care of herself without a man.”
“I didn’t mean it like that,” Duke said, and started the truck. He left the hospital parking lot and then drove back to Main Street.
“Which way from here?” he asked.
Cathy was already regretting the challenge in her last comment. The man had been nothing but kind. A little bossy maybe, but it was only out of concern for her well-being.
“When you get back to Main, turn left. Then turn right at the stoplight, go