Chapter 3

"You'll need to stay off your foot for the next few weeks. It's a pretty bad sprain, but luckily, nothing was broken." Abby's latest patient was a ten-year-old boy who'd sprained his ankle after his friends had dared him to climb a tree.

The boy nodded, his mother giving him a look of exasperation. "What did I say about doing dares?" she exclaimed. "You'll break your neck someday!"

"I didn't break my neck, though," the boy replied.

Abby bit back a smile. After speaking to the mother about her son's aftercare, Abby glanced at the clock outside in the hallway. Almost lunchtime. Had four hours already passed since she'd arrived? She'd been working nonstop today and hadn't even gotten a chance to have a cup of coffee.

You never knew what would happen in the ER on any given day. Some days, it was a ghost town, and then on other days, it was like the entire town decided to have a heart attack all at once.

"Room 125 needs a blood draw," Janine said as she handed Abby another chart. An LPN and one of Abby's favorite coworkers, Janine was no-nonsense and always worked hard. She wasn't squeamish, and she didn't complain when she had to change bed pans or clean up various bodily fluids.

"Thanks. What's the lowdown on this one? Possible undiagnosed diabetes?" Abby asked.

"Seems like it. He has all the symptoms: excessive urination and thirst plus the sweet-smelling urine."

Abby looked through the chart before tucking it under her arm. "Thanks. Hey, want to get lunch together today?"

"If we don't end up getting a hundred more people coming in here today, sure," Janine replied with a wry look.

After Abby had done the blood draw and sent it to the laboratory for further testing, she had to stifle a yawn. Her feet hurt, and she needed something to eat. She probably had time to snag something from the cafeteria—

"I need to get a prescription," she heard a gruff voice say only a few yards away. Then: "Can I talk to the nurse at least? Abby Davison? She attended me."

Janine nodded as Mark Thornton spoke in a pained voice, his expression grim and his skin pale. What was he doing here? Had he hurt his arm again?

"I heard my name," she said as she approached the pair. "I can take over from here,” she said to Janine. “I set his arm yesterday."

"I'll be down the hallway if you need me," Janine said before walking away.

"Have you re-injured yourself? You don't look good." Abby touched his forehead. No fever, which was a good sign. But a sheen of sweat covered his brow.

"No, my arm's fine." He winced. "I need that prescription again."

She raised her eyebrows. "Again? What happened to the first one?"

"I threw it away." He looked both defensive and embarrassed. She couldn't help but feel sympathetic toward this strong man who thought he could power through any pain by sheer force of will. Considering how he looked right this second, he wasn't doing too well.

She was about to scold him, but she bit her tongue. At least he'd come to his senses and accepted that he needed help.

"Here, sit down," she ordered, guiding him to a nearby chair. "How much pain are you in on a scale of one to ten?"

"Eight point five, I guess."

"Let me find the attending physician so he can write you a new script. And then you'll actually get it filled this time?"

He nodded, grimacing. "That's why I'm here."

Abby explained the situation to Dr. Smythe, who was wary about giving out another prescription for pain medication.

"Tell this patient of yours that he's lucky we were able to get him a new prescription so quickly. We can't exactly hand out narcotics like candy,” Dr. Smythe said.

Abby nodded. "Thanks for this."

She returned to Mark, but before she gave him the prescription, she said, "Do you want someone to call this in now? What pharmacy do you use?"

He looked dismayed by the question; Abby had a feeling Mark very rarely went to the doctor or pharmacy. Getting Janine, Abby had her find the nearest pharmacy to fill the prescription.

Abby sat down next to Mark after explaining the situation to Janine. "Can you drive home? You shouldn't drive after taking Vicodin."

He rose from his chair, frowning down at her. "I'll be fine. Thanks for getting this done so fast."

"Of course. It's my job."

Abby wondered, not for the first time, why this man had demanded that she come stay with him. Was he lonely? She couldn't help but feel for him if that were the case. Lately, she had felt lonely too, like she was adrift with no one to throw her a rope to pull her back onto dry land.

Although acting like Mark, of all people, would be the one to throw her a rope would be ridiculous. He'd persuaded her to play housekeeper to keep her secret, hadn't he? Any man capable of that kind of manipulation was one she should stay clear of.

She wanted to ask him why he'd done it, why her, why now? She wanted to talk about what he expected her to do when she showed up on Saturday. Would he broadcast her little white lie to everyone in Fair Haven if she didn't show?

"Abby..." he said in a low voice. "I wanted to talk to you, actually—"

"Abby! There you are!"

She turned to see her ex-boyfriend, Derek striding toward her, like they were old friends running into each other.

What is it with these people showing up at my job? she thought miserably.

Derek looked handsome and happy, although Abby couldn't help but notice that he'd gained a little weight around the middle. He hadn't gotten new pants yet, and she wondered how much longer his belt would last before it finally gave out from the strain.

Derek was good-looking, but nothing above average, either. He was about five-eight, which he was sometimes self-conscious about. His best feature was his eyes—a light blue—but otherwise, he wasn't the type of person one found particularly arresting or memorable.

Not like Mark Thornton, with his dark eyes, his stormy features, his gruffness and broad shoulders. Mark was the type of man that you couldn't forget, and seeing the two men side by side, Abby couldn't help but compare them.

"What are you doing here, Derek?" she asked her ex, trying not to wonder what Mark's reaction was to this little scene.

"You look good, Abby. How are you?"

She was nonplussed and a bit irritated. She hadn't heard from Derek in the year since their break-up, and now he showed up at her work like this?

Derek embraced her. She stood stiffly, patting his shoulder before pulling away. When he placed a hand on her arm, she gritted her teeth. The only reason she didn't slap his hand away was because she didn't want to make a scene for the insatiable grapevine that was hospital gossip.

"I'm good. Busy. I need to get back to work here in a second.”

"Oh, I know how busy you get." Derek winked at her—winked! "But I thought I could take you to lunch today. I've wanted to see you for a while now." His voice lowered. "Can we talk?"

She opened her mouth to tell him hell no, when Mark cleared his throat.

"This is Mark Thornton," she said. "This is Derek Barry. My ex-boyfriend," she made sure to add, so Derek didn't try anything stupid, like say they were still together.

Derek's eyes creased in annoyance at that dig, but he shook Mark's hand. "And how do you two know each other?"

Before Abby could respond, Mark said in his deep voice, "Abby and I are dating. She's my girlfriend."

Mark hadn't planned to say those words aloud. In fact, he'd come to the hospital not only to get another prescription, but to tell Abby that their deal was off. He'd been out of his mind yesterday.

Now, though, he wanted to rub their fake relationship in her ex's smarmy face. The way he kept trying to touch Abby when she didn't want him to? How he smiled at her in that condescending way?

Mark wanted to rearrange the asshole's face right there in the hospital lobby.

Abby stilled beside him; she looked confused and shocked. But to his relief, she didn't contradict him.

And God only knew how satisfying it was to see the look of dejection on her ex's face right then.

"I didn't know you were dating somebody," Derek said. He frowned. "How long have you been together?"

Mark was about to tell him to shove off when Abby replied, "Not long. Now, I need to get back to work." She touched Mark's arm, and the brief sensation of her fingers on his skin was enough to set him ablaze. "Can you get home all right?" she murmured.

He swallowed. "Yeah."

"Then I'll see you this weekend."

His gaze fell on her lips, his heart starting to pound. The world faded away in that moment. Before he could consider his actions, he leaned down to kiss her.

She didn't pull away, thank God. He brushed his lips across hers—a mere touch—and then he pulled away. But that simple kiss, close-mouthed and sedate, set his blood boiling. He watched as a flush crawled up Abby's cheeks, which only filled him with satisfaction.

"Bye, Abby," he rumbled. He narrowed his eyes at Derek: a silent threat.

Mess with her, and you'll deal with me.