felt good against her fevered skin. “I feel terrible,” she said in a hoarse tone.
“You’ll be better soon,” he promised.
He carried her in the back way. An elderly nurse was waiting for them with a gentle smile. She led them into a cubicle and went out to get the doctor.
JL deposited Cassie on the examination table and dropped into one of two chairs against the wall.
Before he could speak, a young woman with thick chestnut hair and dark eyes came into the room. She was wearing a white lab coat and there was a stethoscope draped around her neck.
She glanced at JL curiously and then at the redhead on the table. “I’m Dr. Lorna Blake,” she introduced herself.
“Cassie Reed,” came the hoarse reply. “Thanks for seeing me.”
The doctor frowned. She put the stethoscope against Cassie’s chest and had her breathe and cough while she listened. She looped it back around her neck, took Cassie’s temperature, and asked questions, a lot of them.
“I’m pretty sure it’s bronchitis,” she said. “I need to send you over to the hospital for a chest X-ray. . . .”
“No. Please.” Cassie’s eyes were troubled. There was no way she could afford that.
The doctor sighed. “All right. I’ll send you home with antibiotics and instructions, but if you’re not better in two days, I want you back here and you’ll definitely get an X-ray then,” she added firmly.
“Okay,” Cassie said.
The doctor filled out a prescription and handed it not to Cassie, but to JL. “Go to bed,” she added to Cassie. “Plenty of fluids. Take the antibiotic. Got cough syrup?”
Cassie nodded.
“Acetaminophen for the fever,” the doctor added.
“Okay,” Cassie agreed.
“Thanks, Lorna,” JL said as he lifted Cassie from the table into his arms.
She grinned. “You’re welcome.”
He sighed. He knew what was coming later. He’d never brought a woman to his high school friend as a patient, not even that she-shrew he’d been engaged to. It was unusual to see JL so concerned about anyone’s health. He was sure Lorna sensed a romance.
JL gave her a speaking glance as he walked out the back door with his patient. Lorna was still grinning when she shut the door behind them.
* * *
JL stopped by a pharmacy on the way home, leaving the engine running so that the heater would stay on, and Cassie wouldn’t get chilled while he coaxed her prescription out of an amused pharmacist inside. He didn’t have to wait. The pharmacist was dating Lorna, so they’d have plenty to talk about on their next evening out, JL was sure.
He drove Cassie home. By then, her father’s car was parked at the door. Roger Reed opened it for them as JL carried her inside, straight to her bedroom. He deposited her gently on the bed.
“I heated up supper. You’re staying for it, right?” Roger said pointedly.
JL hesitated.
“I made strong coffee,” Roger added.
JL glanced at Cassie. “Okay,” he said.
She smiled, her eyes bright with fever and delight.
“You can have yours in bed,” her dad told the patient.
“Okay, Dad. Thanks.”
He just smiled.
He punched the microwave, where the first of three plates was waiting to be heated. When it was done, he added utensils and a napkin and gave them to JL to take to Cassie on a tray he’d found earlier under the cabinet.
“Can you manage this?” JL asked her as he propped the tray on her legs.
“Yes, it’s fine,” she said.
He paused to read the directions on the antibiotic and shake a capsule out into her hand. She took it and he gave her a spoon and the cough syrup. She knew it was useless to argue. She took that, too.
He smiled. “You’ll be better in no time.”
“Thanks. For everything.”
He brushed back her wild reddish-gold hair. “I’m sorry, about what I said,” he told her with genuine regret. “I’m not good with people.”
She managed a smile. “Me neither.”
He stood up, searching for more words, but he couldn’t find any. He smiled, turned, and went out to the dining room, where her father had two plates sitting on the table, along with two mugs of steaming, strong black coffee.
“I didn’t know who you were,” Roger told him in an apologetic tone as JL sat down. “I’m truly sorry. I’m not really good at working with the public. It’s pretty much a life-changing experience,” he added with a soft chuckle.
JL just nodded. The man had a very cultured voice, like that of a radio announcer. It sounded oddly familiar.
“Not your fault,” JL said after he’d sipped coffee. “I never came