Always (20 page)

Chapter 10

      Sue looked over the list of activities she had planned for Jeremy Cole and shook her head. Just reading it exhausted her.
 

      Horseback riding, rafting, hiking, a
frijole
sculpting contest, a Bluegrass Festival, and a visit to the Florissant Fossil Beds would keep him busy. Jeremy would definitely not be bored, nor would he have time to spend with Taylor. Besides, Ryan would enjoy all the activity. School wouldn't be out for another three weeks, but this would be like summer vacation.

      All rolled into one three-day weekend.

      The front door opened and she looked up with a scowl, expecting another drop-in patient. Instead, one of the handsomest men she'd ever seen strolled through the door.
Hello
.

      He was impeccably dressed in a dark blue suit and red tie. His hair was wavy and almost black, with one curl falling rakishly across his forehead. Her heart did a little flutter as he approached, flashing a million dollar smile.

      "Good afternoon," he said in a smooth, deep voice.
 

      "Good afternoon." Sue straightened and returned his smile. "What can I do for you?"
Oh, please let me do something for you
. It wasn't every day a guy walked through the door from the front cover of
GQ
. Okay, so that never happened in Digby.

      "I'm Dr. Cole. Jeremy Cole?"

      "Oh.
Oh
." Sue leapt to her feet and shook his hand. "I'm Sue Wheeler. We spoke on the phone yesterday, and I sent you the fax." She paused, trying to reconstruct their conversation. "I thought you were coming tomorrow."

      "Change in plans." Jeremy smiled again. "Is Taylor here?"

      "No, she just left for lunch."
Thank goodness
. Sue turned over the piece of paper containing Jeremy's itinerary. "Taylor's been working very hard since she got here."

      "I'm sure." He looked around. "It's quite clean for a, uh, veterinary clinic."

      Sue bit back her retort. The guy needed some enlightenment. Otherwise, he wasn't bad. For her, though–not for Taylor. Definitely wrong for Taylor.

      "Since Taylor's been so busy, she asked me to arrange some activities for this weekend," she explained, crossing her fingers behind her back. "We wouldn't want you getting bored on your first visit."

      "Ah, I see." He frowned, his brow furrowing, then he met her gaze again, his chocolate brown eyes sweeping the length of her.

      Heat oozed slowly through Sue and she smiled again. "I'd better call the Columbine and find out if they can take you a day earlier than planned." She reached for the phone book, hoping old Mrs. Lewellyn wouldn't blow this one despite all of Sue's coaching. After punching the number in, she waited for an answer, but the voice mail came on instead.

      "Mrs. Lewellyn," Sue said, ignoring the recording's instructions. "Jeremy Cole is here a day early and–"
 
She smiled at Jeremy, who was still staring at her with those incredible eyes. "Oh, a skunk? How dreadful. No, I understand. Yes, I'll give Dr. Cole your apologies. Thanks." She hung up the phone and summoned her best storytelling abilities for the whopper she was about to impart.

      "I gather there's a problem?" Jeremy quirked a brow, making her want to reach up and brush that stray curl away.

      "Yes, I'm afraid so." Sue drew a deep breath, trying to remember all her well laid plans. She hadn't bargained on Jeremy being quite so handsome. Flustered, she closed the phone book and returned it to her desk drawer, crossing her fingers behind her back again. "A skunk got into the cellar at the Columbine, and they've had to close for fumigation."

      "Well, I'll just have to stay with Tay–"

      "Nonsense, I have a guest room, and this will make it easier for us to get to all our activities this weekend."

      "But what about Taylor's house?"

      "Hey, there's no furniture in her guest room, and I won't take no for an answer," she pressed, praying that Ryan and Patches hadn't been playing in that room. "I'll turn on the answering service and we'll head over there right now and get you settled."

      Jeremy shook his head. "I think I should talk to Taylor before you go to so much trouble."

      "No trouble at all." Sue waved her fingers and retrieved her purse. "Besides, Taylor's on call all weekend. You'll barely get to see her."

      "Oh, I didn't realize..." Jeremy sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I guess I have no choice but to take you up on your kind offer."

      "That's right." Sue gave him what she hoped was her sexiest smile. "You don't."

*
 
*
 
*

      The weekend was slow. No emergencies...and no Jeremy. Taylor spent her hours at the house, waiting for Jeremy to call. He'd come to see her, but he was with Sue.

      Sue. The woman who'd destroyed Taylor's relationship with Gordon. Wasn't one man from Taylor's life enough for Sue?

      However, when Sunday morning came and Jeremy finally called Taylor to make a breakfast date, she realized how relieved she was not to have had him underfoot all weekend. It was time to tell Jeremy they had no future.

      She met him at Gertie's Diner, where he announced plans for white water rafting that afternoon. His eyes glowed with excitement, and he was wearing jeans, hiking boots and a denim shirt. She'd never seen this side of him before.

      He rattled on for forty-five minutes about all the adventures Sue and Ryan had taken him on this weekend. Taylor was amazed, and not a bit jealous. The reserved, impeccably groomed yuppie had vanished, and the transformation was all positive.

      "Jeremy, I'm glad you're having a good weekend," she said, reaching for her coffee and taking a sip. "It was kind of Sue to fill in for me while I'm on call." And Taylor couldn't help but wonder about Sue's motives. Of course, Jeremy was attractive. Perhaps it was nothing more than that.

      "The only time I've ever been to the Rockies before was skiing in Aspen." He shook his head and raked his fingers through his hair, mussing it nicely. "This has been an incredible experience. Once I adjusted to the altitude, that is." His cheeks reddened.

      
Jeremy Cole blushing
? He seemed so human. Taylor felt comfortable with him, but seeing him again reconfirmed the fact that he wasn't the right man for her. Even though he could help her get the research grant she'd always wanted, the thought of marrying him left her cold. She couldn't prostitute herself that way.

      "So have you given any more thought to letting me buy out your contract?"

      His question caught her off-guard and she chewed the inside of her cheek as she contemplated her answer. "It would be wrong to leave Digby without a doctor, Jeremy," she said carefully. "I won't do that."

      "Taylor, I–"

      "No, wait." She reached across the table and gave his hand a squeeze. "I have to tell you something else."

      "All right, I'm listening."

      She still couldn't get over the change in him, and she hoped it was permanent. "I've given us a lot of thought, and–"

      "We aren't right for each other," he finished, giving her a cock-eyed grin. "But we're still friends, and I think your gifts are being wasted up here."

      Stunned was an understatement. Taylor struggled for a few minutes to regain her composure. Letting Jeremy down easy had been far easier than she'd ever imagined. "How...long have you known?"

      He shook his head and chuckled. "Probably a long time, but this visit has made me realize a lot of things." He drew a deep breath. "I like it here, and I'm going to stay in Denver for a while to check out some things for Dad. Do you mind if I visit again?"

      "Mind?" A pleasing warmth stole through her that had nothing to do with physical attraction. Friendship. Jeremy Cole was much more appealing as a friend than a potential lover. "I'd love for you to visit, and I'll give you my brother's number in Denver. I'll give him a call and I'll bet he can show you around."

      "I'd like that." He smiled again. "Funny, before I flew out here, I planned on taking you back with me, kicking and screaming if necessary."

      "And now...?"

      He gave a nervous laugh. "I like it better this way. It feels...right."

      "Yeah, it does." Taylor relaxed for the first time since Jeremy's phone call at the clinic. Her pager beeped and she retrieved it from her purse. "Excuse me a minute. Cell phones don't work up here in the mountains, so I'll just use the pay phone."

      She spotted Sue and Ryan coming through the front door of the diner as she made her way past the infamous unisex rest room to the phone. After punching in the number displayed on her pager, she watched Sue and Ryan slide into the booth with Jeremy.       They looked good together. Really good. A smile curved her lips just as a woman's frantic voice answered the phone.
 

      "Dr. Bowen here, returning your call?" Taylor said.

      "Thank God," the woman said. "This is Laura Kenner. My little boy fell out of a tree and I'm afraid his arm's broken."

      Taylor asked a few questions and determined that there was no bleeding, and the boy's father had already immobilized the injured arm. Taylor instructed them to meet her at the clinic, so she could get an x-ray.

      She'd never used Gordon's x-ray equipment, so she dialed his number next. He sounded sexy and drowsy and her hormones darned near burst into song.
Down, girl
. "Gordon, I have a patient meeting me at the clinic in a few minutes." She described the situation, and apologized for not having him show her the x-ray equipment during regular office hours. He ignored her apology and agreed to meet her.

      She turned to make her way back to the table and found it empty. Jeremy had left cash for their bill and a scribbled note of apology for leaving. She smiled again, satisfied that the Jeremy problem was resolved permanently.

      As she drove the short distance to the clinic, she thought about her instantaneous and stimulating response to the sound of Gordon's voice over the phone this morning. She'd never responded that way to Jeremy, even when he'd kissed her. Sadness settled in her heart like a hunk of cold lead.

      Would she
ever
feel that way about another man?

      "Damn." She parked her VW behind the clinic and unlocked the back door. Flipping on lights as she went, she unlocked the front door and propped it open with a wedge of wood so the Kenners would know to come inside.

      They arrived a few minutes later. Little Adam Kenner was a four-year-old heartbreaker with a head full of blond curls and a cherubic, tear-stained face. Taylor asked Mr. Kenner to put his son on the exam table, then removed the towel they'd tied around the boy's waist to hold his arm stationary. Adam's sobbing grew louder.
 

      "I know this hurts," she said gently, feeling his fingers and lifting his sleeve to expose his upper arm, "but we have to see how badly you're hurt."
 

      "Can you give him something?" Mrs. Kenner asked, her lower lip trembling. "I'd rather have my own arm broken than see my baby hurt."

      "Not until I see the x-ray," she said. "If the bone has to be set, we won't want anything on his stomach. It won't be long now, though."

      "It's set up in here," Gordon said from the doorway.
 

      She hadn't even heard him come in. "Thanks." The Kenners followed her and Gordon down the hall to x-ray.

      "Hey, Adam," Gordon said in a cheery voice, "how's that mutt of yours doing?"

      "F-fine," the boy said, sniffling.

      "Well, that's how you're going to be, too." Gordon swung the x-ray machine away from the table. "You're the first human ever to have your picture taken here. That makes you pretty special, I think."

      Adam nodded and whimpered as his father lifted him to the table. Taylor showed Gordon which bones she needed x-rayed, and let him talk her through the process with his equipment.

      She sent the Kenners and Adam back to the exam room while she and Gordon processed the film. He clipped the x-rays on the viewer and flipped on the light. There were two breaks, but neither involved a joint. Even so, she decided to put a temporary cast on and send them to a specialist in Buena Vista first thing in the morning.

      Mr. Kenner questioned Taylor's decision and turned to Gordon. "What do you think about this?" he asked.

      Taylor's patient wanted a second opinion from the local vet? She controlled her anger and drew a deep breath as she measured the correct dose of a liquid pain medication for Adam.

      "Bill, I'm just a veterinarian, but I know one thing for sure."

      Taylor watched Adam's mother give her son the medication, trying to ignore the conversation between the two men. She failed.

      "Your son is lucky Dr. Bowen was here to treat him, and she's doing exactly what I would've done for your retriever."