Page 9 of All I Need (Hearts of the South)
Lorraine gestured and hit the buzzer. “Don’t know why they don’t just give them their own codes, as much time as they spend in this place.”
Savannah ignored the grumbling. Lorraine was damn good at her job. Savannah could stomach a little bellyaching for that.
The door swished open, and she frowned at the two men who entered.
“Really, Rob, texting my patient while he’s in exam?” She shook her head at her brother-in-law, his investigator’s polo neatly tucked into pressed khaki slacks. Mr. Tall-and-Too-Bad-He-Was-Already-Taken accompanied him, making even brown-and-tan polyester look good.
Rob shrugged, his smile holding no genuine apology. “We’re friends. We wanted to make sure he was okay.”
“He says it’s only a sprain?” Real concern lurked in Troy Lee Farr’s vivid blue eyes.
Savannah relented, relaxing her hardass exterior a tad. “It is. Give him a couple days off of it, and he’ll be running with you two again.”
Rob snorted. “Clark does not run.”
“I don’t keep up with your friends. That’s your wife’s job.” Savannah waved an airy hand. “Anyway, he’s all yours.”
“Thanks.” Rob swept a narrow-eyed glance over her face. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” She pretended to misunderstand his concern. Her lungs tightened, heat burning up her nape. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
He regarded her steadily, green eyes gentling. She didn’t shift under that serious gaze of his, under the sympathy that made her chest hurt and the memories surge to the surface. She was perfectly all right. This situation was nothing like that night, and she was nothing like the woman she’d been then, either. Sure, she was edgy, but she could blame that on Rob and his bringing up the past. She could be proud of how well she’d handled the whole incident today.
She glowered at him. “Try not to tie up my exam room too long, would you?”
He didn’t budge in their visual battle. “You should come over tonight.”
Uh, no. He’d tell Amy she’d had a medic in the ER, then her little sister would be all soft sympathy and cloying concern. Everything Savannah didn’t need. “Can’t. I have a non-date with my neighbor.”
One of Troy Lee’s eyebrows winged upward. “A non-date?”
“Yes, kind of like a non-fat latte, meaning it doesn’t have any fat in it. We’re watching a movie.”
Troy Lee and Rob exchanged a frown full of male confusion. Brow furrowed, Troy Lee tucked his thumbs in his gun belt, leather creaking. “So it’s a date, without any dating in it.”
“Kind of.”
“What exactly does that mean?”
Which part didn’t he understand? And Rob said the guy was a rocket scientist. She decided to try speaking more slowly. “It means…we’re hanging out and watching a movie. No expectations, no entanglement…just a movie. A non-date.”
“You can’t simply call it hanging out?”
“Go talk to your buddy, would you? Find out what happened.”
“We know what happened.” Rob shrugged. “Someone phoned in a bogus call on a throwaway cell and then shot at them. Clark tripped and sprained his ankle. Neither he nor Jim got a look at the guy.”
“And you told him he couldn’t work for three days.” Troy Lee clicked his phone off. He slanted a glance at Rob. “How big an ass am I that I kinda, sorta wish they’d hit Jim? Not fatally, but…”
“A major ass.” With one hand, Rob shoved him toward the exam room. He grinned at Savannah. “Jim is his wife’s ex.”
Savannah shook her head. He was irrepressible. No wonder Amy adored him. “Go get your statement so I can have my exam room back.”
The two walked away, and she expelled a slow breath. Okay, she’d actually handled the whole incident well, considering. Sure, she was edgy, but the panic hadn’t crowded in and the memories weren’t pressing down on her. Maybe she was finally on the way back to being whole again.
* * * * *
Emmett stared at the email on his phone, a blend of anxiety and excitement tightening his gut. He’d snagged an interview for the jail administrator’s job. In less than twenty-four hours. Maybe he had something to offer a department after all, even outside a patrol car.
