Simon Fairchild dragged the surgical cap from his head and sauntered down the hallway, rolling his shoulders.
Six hours of surgery.
Six hours on his feet, standing in one place.
Six hours of his back reminding him that he wasn’t exactly a young man anymore.
Not that he was ancient. Hell, he hadn’t even hit middle-age.
He’d only turned 39 a month ago, but his back had a tendency to get cranky since a leaping-from-an-airplane injury he’d sustained during maneuvers about eight years ago. Standing in one place for several hours always made it tighten and ache, which made longer surgical procedures a challenge.
He headed to the cafeteria and grabbed a chicken salad sandwich since the bagel he’d scarfed down before entering the operating room was long gone. He sat down and had just taken his first bite when his cellphone rang. One glance at the name on the screen had him chewing and grinning.
“Hey, what’s up, beautiful?”
“For starters, I don’t think you should call me that.”
“And why not?”
Jamie Rooney was one of those women who wore her beauty as naturally as a flower wore its petals. She didn’t have to try to impress anyone with a lot of makeup or fancy clothes. She was stunning all on her own. Soft tawny-brown skin, long brown hair with streaks of auburn highlights, big brown eyes, and a body kept fit by her chosen profession.
“Well you certainly wouldn’t if you could see me right now,” she said. “I’m disgusting.”
Simon laughed at her self-deprecating assessment. “I’m sure that’s not true.”
“No, it is. I just came out of my last class. I’ve taught one yoga class, two Pilates classes, and two aerobics classes today. I’m sweaty and stinky and gross. I need a shower. And I’m certain that I look anything but beautiful.”
“You’ve taught five classes and your work day is over? It’s not even two o’clock.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So I’m in the wrong business. I’ve been in surgery for the last six hours and I still have one more surgery to go. At least that one won’t be anywhere near as long as the first one.”
“Oh, you poor baby. Is the rich surgeon tired?”
Simon threw back a hearty laugh, drawing the attention of everyone in the cafeteria, but he didn’t care. “Hey, wait a minute. I work for Uncle Sam, girlie. Ain’t nobody getting rich up in here.”
Jamie laughed with him. “No, I mean it. You poor thing. You should sit down.”
“Yeah, I can hear the sympathy in your voice. It warms my heart.”
“Now, now. Sarcasm doesn’t become you.”
Simon chuckled. They were always so good together over the phone. He only wished they’d had more opportunities to see if their chemistry was as good in person.
Not that they hadn’t spent any time together at all. They had, but only on a couple of occasions. The first was at Hope House last Christmas, where they’d met.
Meeting the potential love of your life at the shelter for abused women where your younger sister worked was not something Simon would recommend. It certainly wasn’t what he’d set out to do. But an unlikely friendship had been forged. Now daily phone calls and FaceTime sessions had been the norm for them since New Year’s Eve.
Four months of friendship and laughter and longing, from a distance.
“Listen, I was mostly calling to say thanks again for last weekend.” Jamie sounded apologetic, and Simon knew what she was getting at.
“Would you stop it already?”
“What?”
“I told you, I had a great time hanging out with you last weekend.” It was the truth. Spending time with her in person had been the best. “You don’t need to keep thanking me like I did you a favor or something.”
“But you did do me a favor! A huge one.”
“I drove down to Cincinnati and escorted you to your cousin’s wedding. That was a date, Jamie, not a favor.”
He’d spent last weekend letting her lead him around from one family gathering to another, making polite conversation with people he didn’t know, and playing the smitten-and-doting date.
Well, that part wasn’t hard.
“You saved me from having to go alone, Simon. And from my mother’s constant attempts at fixing me up with someone nice and safe.” Her tone took on the condescending air of a parent in I-told-you-so mode, and Simon couldn’t help but grin.
He was aware that Jamie’s mom no longer trusted in her ability to choose a suitable boyfriend for herself. And after all that Jamie had gone through with that asshole who would beat her, Simon couldn’t say he blamed Mrs. Rooney. He only wished the woman wasn’t so convinced that he was more of the same. Jamie’s mother hadn’t exactly been welcoming to him at any point during the weekend. But he understood.
“I apologize again for the way she treated you.”
“Your mom means well, you know?”
“Yes, I know she does. And I know she just wants the best for me, but she is driving me crazy.”
“Jamie—”
“I love her, Simon. I do. Ordinarily my mom is my best friend. But ever since Frankie died right before Christmas and I came back home to Blue Ash, she won’t let it go.”
Frank Johnson was the man Jamie had lived with for the past two years. The man who had charmed her and isolated her away from her family. The man who’d spent most of their two years together controlling her, dominating her, and beating her.
The son of a bitch had gotten his though when he’d been hit by a truck right after the last beating he’d given Jamie.
Gotta love instant karma.
“She harps on it constantly,” Jamie continued. “Like I’ve got no clue that my relationship with him was a nightmare. Like I didn’t live through it for two terrifying years. Like I wasn’t the one getting smacked around every other day.”
Jamie’s voice rose half an octave with each sentence, and Simon wanted to take her hand and caress her face. He hated when she got riled up over that abusive jerk, and he wished there was some way he could wipe that asshole from her memory.
“It’s all right, Jamie. It’s over now, and you’re not in that place anymore, not physically or mentally. So don’t let your mom keep dragging you back to there, okay? Just because she can’t seem to let it go doesn’t mean that you can’t.”
There was a pause, and Simon wondered if she was truly upset.
“You’re absolutely right.” Her voice was much softer now, and Simon could hear the emotion in it. “Say that again, please.”
“What? Just because your mom can’t let it go doesn’t mean that you can’t?”
“Yes. That’s it exactly, you know? It’s like I’m trying so hard to move on from that relationship and all the crap that went with it. But my mom can’t stop herself from reminding me about it all the time. She keeps telling me that I have to move on from it, but she won’t let me.”
“Have you ever thought about pointing that out to her?”
There was another long pause, and Simon could hear the answer to that question screaming at him in the silence.
“No.” Her voice was small, almost a whisper. “I just don't want the argument.”
Simon knew what she really meant was that she didn’t want the confrontation. Two years of living with an angry, abusive boyfriend had trained her to avoid confrontation at all cost. It was something his sister, Sidney, once told him she’d gone through too after her own abusive relationship.
“So what are you going to do with yourself this week?” He changed the subject deliberately. They’d spent enough time on her asshole ex. He would talk about anything else if it kept her mind off that man. “Your week off starts now, right?”
“Yes. The gym is officially closed for the next week and a half so the owner can get the plumbing repairs seen to. Nothing like a forced vacation without pay.”
“Did you ever decide on how to spend your time off?”
“Well, I’d like to be able to go to that B&B across town that I told you about.”
“Yeah. That sounded nice.”
“Didn’t it? But I just don’t want to spend the money right now. That’s almost $800 for four nights. I’d rather not put that big a dent in my meager savings account right now. Even though I really don’t want to spend the whole week and half just sitting around the house with mom, doing nothing. Especially if all she’s going to do is keep trying to fix me up and throwing Frank in my face.”
“Why don’t you come spend a few days up here with me?”
The words were out of Simon’s mouth before he’d truly even thought about what he was saying. Now that they were, he instantly warmed to the idea.
“What?”
He could hear the excitement and the trepidation in her voice. She was intrigued.
And possibly terrified.
“Come up to Dayton and stay with me.” His voice took on a serpent-offering-Eve-the-forbidden-fruit quality.
“You’re not serious.”
“I’m completely serious. Come for a few days or stay the whole week and a half. Completely up to you.”
“I don’t know, Simon.”
“Why not? You don’t have any other plans. Unless you’re eager to meet all the eligible bachelors your mom might line up for you.”
Jamie giggled, and Simon grinned at the tinkling bells sound of it.
“Simon, I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”
“Why not?” She didn’t respond and Simon knew what she was thinking. “Is this because things heated up between us last weekend after your cousin’s wedding? Because we kissed?”
After the wedding festivities ended, Jamie accompanied him back to his hotel room for a nightcap. He’d opened the music app on his phone and they slow-danced.
That led to a heated kiss.
A kiss that threatened to lead to more.
Jamie hesitated, and he heard her breathy sigh over the phone. “We did a little more than kiss.”
Not enough. Simon pursed his lips to keep that thought from spilling out.
“Okay, so there was a small amount of heavy petting in there too.” He glanced around the cafeteria hoping no one was close enough to hear his side of this conversation. “Are you afraid that might happen again if you come spend the week with me?”
“Yes, I am.”
Her truth bomb exploded in his chest. He hadn’t really expected her to admit it.
“Hey, what did we agree to back when this friendship began? What was our foundation?”
“Mmm.” It was her only response.
“You remember. Come on, say it with me…”
“Pure, non-threatening, non-sexual friendship.” They recited the words in unison, and Simon nodded even though she couldn’t see him.
“I meant that, Jamie. If friendship is all you ever want from me, that’s what you’ll get. You put the brakes on last weekend and things didn’t go any further. And they never will. Not if you don’t want them to.”
“I know.”
“Do you?” It was a pointed question, but it was one he wanted her to really think about. “You know I hate to even speak his name, and Lord knows we have already spent way too much time talking about him today. But Frank Johnson was an asshole for the things he did to you. Not understanding that no means no even when it’s your girlfriend was just one of his many transgressions. It was every bit as abusive as his fists. Not to mention criminal.”
He stopped short of calling it rape, even though that’s how he felt. Jamie was silent, and Simon knew he’d made his point.
“Come to Dayton for the week. It’s no five-star B&B, but we’ll have some fun. I’ll take you out on the town, show you the sights. Ooh, bring your hiking gear. There are some great trails around here.” Hiking was an activity he knew they both enjoyed.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. John Bryan Park and Clifton Gorge. We’ll have a blast.”
“You have a spare bedroom?” she asked after another small pause. Now he had her hooked.
“You know I do.”
“Okay, I’ll come.”