Chapter Eight

When Lila got up the next morning, she felt absolutely wiped out. If possible, she was even more tired than the day before. It was as if her get-up-and-go had physically gotten up and left.

“You’re just burning the candle at both ends,” she told the tired-looking reflection staring back at her in the bathroom mirror. “And maybe a little in the middle as well.”

The shower did not invigorate her the way it usually did.

Dragging herself over to her closet after her shower, Lila pulled out the first things she found and got dressed. She was staring down the barrel of another grueling day, but at least she had a doctor for part of it, she thought. And after Everett left for Houston, maybe she would get lucky and be able to scrounge up another volunteer physician to conduct the house calls that were left on the list.

Determined to make herself look a little more human than what she saw in her mirror, Lila patiently applied her makeup. She succeeded in making herself look a little less exhausted—or at least less like someone who had recently been run over by a truck. The last thing she wanted was to have Everett take one look at her this morning and breathe a sigh of relief that he had dodged a bullet thirteen years ago.

Lila was still struggling to pull herself out of what was for her an atypical funk when she drove to the Foundation. This just wasn’t like her, she thought. No matter how tired she felt, she never dragged like this, as if there was lead in her limbs.

C’mon, snap out of it! she silently ordered.

Just like the day before, when she drove into the parking lot, she found Everett sitting in his car, waiting for her.

When Everett saw her car approaching, he quickly got out of his vehicle. The cheery greeting on his lips didn’t get a chance to materialize because he took a closer look at her as she got out of her car.

“Are you feeling all right, Lila?” he asked her.

So much for makeup saving the day, Lila thought. “I’m just running a little behind,” she answered, deliberately being vague. Changing the subject, she asked, “Do I have you for half a day—or less?”

Rather than give Lila a direct answer, Everett told her, “Why don’t we play it by ear and see?”

Lila put her own spin on his words. Everett was setting the stage so he could bail whenever he felt as if he’d had enough. Not that she blamed him, she thought. The man had already given a hundred and fifty percent of his time yesterday, far more than she had the right to expect, and she couldn’t be greedy.

The hell she couldn’t, Lila caught herself thinking. After all, this wasn’t about her. This was about all those people who were counting on her to find a way to keep them healthy—or get them healthy—and at the very least, that involved having a doctor pay them a house call.

“Okay,” Lila said with all the pseudo enthusiasm she could muster as she opened the passenger door for Everett. “Let’s get started.”

“How do you do this every day?” Everett wanted to know after they had made more than half a dozen house calls.

“Doctors used to do this all the time,” she told Everett.

It took him a moment to understand what Lila was referring to. He realized that they weren’t on the same page.

“I’m not talking about the house calls,” Everett told her. “I’m talking about seeing this much poverty and still acting so cheerful when you talk to the people.”

“I’m being cheerful for their sake. An upbeat attitude brings hope with it,” she told him. “And hope and perseverance are practically the only way out of these neighborhoods,” Lila maintained.

Everett was more than willing to concede the point. “You probably have something there.” And then he blew out a breath, as if mentally bracing himself for round two. “How many more people are on that famous list of yours for today?” he wanted to know.

It was already closer to one than to noon. Did he know that, she wondered. They’d been at this for hours and she’d assumed that no matter what he’d said on the outset, she just had him for half a day.

“Don’t you have a plane to catch or a car to drive?” she asked.

“Trying to get rid of me?” he asked her, an amused expression on his face.

“No, on the contrary, trying not to take you for granted and start relying on you too much,” Lila corrected. And in a way, that was true. That had been her downfall all those years ago. She’d just expected to be able to rely on Everett forever. And look how that had turned out, she thought. Determined to pin him down, she asked, “How long did you say you could work today?”

“I didn’t, remember?” he reminded her.

“Right. You said, quote, ‘why don’t we play it by ear and see,’” Lila recalled.

“Well, it still seems to be going, doesn’t it?” he observed, his expression giving nothing away. “Who’s next on the list?” he asked, redirecting her attention back to the immediate present.

Eyes on the road, Lila put one hand into the purse she kept butted up next to her and pulled out the list of patients that she’d put right on top. All she needed was a quick glance at the page.

“Joey Garcia’s next,” she answered. “Joey’s the baby of the family,” she added, giving Everett an encapsulated summary of his next patient. “He’s got two big sisters and two big brothers and he always gets everything after the rest of the family’s gotten over it.

“However, according to my records,” she said, trying to recall what she had entered on her tablet, “I don’t think anyone in the family has had the flu or gotten the vaccine this year.”

“Well, I guess we’re about to find out, aren’t we?” Everett speculated as she pulled the car up before another house that looked as if it might have been new over fifty years ago.

Lila got out on her side and immediately found that she had to pause for a moment. She held on to the car door for support. Everything around her had suddenly opted to wobble just a little, making her head swim and the rest of her extremely unsteady.

Realizing that she wasn’t with him as he approached the house, Everett looked back over his shoulder. “Something wrong?”

“No.” Lila refused to tell him she’d felt dizzy, especially since the feeling had already passed. She didn’t want to sound whiny or helpless and she definitely didn’t want him fussing over her. “Just trying to remember if I forgot something.”

Everett thought that sounded rather odd. What could she have forgotten? “Did you?”

“No,” she answered rather abruptly. “I’ve got everything.”

He played along for her sake. She didn’t look as if she was herself today.

“I don’t know how you manage to keep track of everything,” he told her as they approached the Garcias’ front door.

“It’s a gift,” Lila told him wryly. She forced a wide smile to her lips as she fervently wished that she’d stop feeling these odd little waves of weakness that kept sweeping over her.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the front door. It swung open immediately. The next moment, she was introducing Everett to a big, burly man who appeared to be almost as wide as he was tall.

“Mr. Garcia, this is Dr. Everett Fortunado. He’ll be giving you and your family your flu vaccinations,” Lila told Juan Garcia and the diminutive wife standing next to him.

The couple went from regarding Everett suspiciously to guardedly welcoming him into their home.

“The children are in the living room,” Mrs. Garcia said, leading the way through what amounted to almost railroad-style rooms to the back of the house.

As he walked into the living room, Everett was immediately aware of five pairs of eyes warily watching his every move.

Everett did his best to set the children at ease, talking to them first and asking their names. He explained exactly what he was about to do and what they could expect, including how the vaccine felt going into their arms.

When he was done, he surprised Lila by handing out small candy bars to each child. “For being brave,” he told them.

“That was nice of you,” Lila said as they left the Garcias’ house twenty minutes later.

Everett shrugged. “Candy makes everything better.” He got into the car. “I thought you said they called you.”

“Well, sometimes I call them,” Lila replied. She could feel Everett regarding her quizzically as she pulled back onto the street. “Mr. Garcia is very proud. He doesn’t like accepting help. He’s also out of work. I thought he and his family could do with a little preventative medicine so that if a job does come up, he won’t be too sick to take it. He’s a day laborer when he’s not driving a truck,” she explained. When Everett didn’t say anything, she elaborated on her statement. “The man has five kids. If they all came down with the flu, it would be guaranteed pure chaos. This was a preemptive strike.”

That was one way to look at it, Everett thought. Obviously Lila was focused on doing good deeds. “So when did you get fitted for the wings and halo?” Everett asked her.

“I didn’t,” she answered crisply. “They were left behind by the last department manager.” She kept her eyes on the road, not trusting herself to look at him. Sudden movements made her dizzy. “I just try them on for size occasionally.”

“Oh.” He pretended as if what she’d just said made perfect sense. “So, how many more house calls do we have left?” he asked, getting serious again.

This time Lila didn’t have to consult her list. “We’ve got two more.”

“Just two more?” he questioned. Yes, they’d been at this for a long time, but he’d just expected to keep going until almost nightfall again, the way they had yesterday.

“Just two more,” Lila repeated. “And then you’re free.”

“Free, eh?” he echoed. He studied her profile. “How about you?”

“How about me what?” she asked. Had she missed a question? Her brain felt a little fuzzy and she was having trouble following him.

“Are you free?” Everett asked, enunciating each word clearly.

“Free for what?” she asked. She was still having trouble following him.

“Free for dinner,” he asked, then quickly added, “I thought that maybe, since we’ve developed this decent working relationship, you wouldn’t mind grabbing some dinner together.”

Lila pressed her lips together. All she’d been thinking about the last few hours was going home and crawling into bed. But she was not about to tell Everett that. She didn’t want to have to listen to a lot of questions.

So instead, sounding as cheerful as possible, she said, “I guess I do owe you that.”

“I don’t want you to have dinner with me because you ‘owe’ me,” he told her. “I want you to have dinner with me because you want to.”

Potato, po-tah-to, she thought. He’d come through for her, so she supposed that she could humor him. “I want to,” she answered quietly.

“Great,” he said. “Let’s go see these last two patients.”

The visits took a little longer than he’d come to anticipate, mainly because the second one involved more than just dispensing flu vaccinations to the two older children and their parents. Everett found himself tending to a pint-size patient with a sprained wrist that he didn’t even know he had.

Afraid of being laughed at by his brothers for being clumsy, when it was his turn for the vaccine, little Alan had tried to hide his swollen wrist.

Drawing him over to Everett, Lila had accidentally brushed against the boy’s wrist and saw him wince, then try to pretend he was just playing a game with her. The truth came out rather quickly.

“Never try to hide something like that,” Lila told him as Everett bandaged the boy’s wrist and then fashioned a makeshift sling for him. “They just get worse if you ignore them,” she told him.

Alan solemnly nodded his head.

“He’s been moping all day,” Alan’s mother told them as they were packing up their supplies. “Now I know why. Here,” she said handing Lila a pie, which, by its aroma, had just recently left the oven. “This is my way of saying thank-you.”

Lila declined. “As a Foundation worker, I can’t accept payment,” she told the other woman.

“Then take it as a friend,” Alan’s mother told her. “One friend to another. You will be insulting me if you don’t accept it,” the woman insisted.

The way she felt, Lila was not up to arguing. Pulling her lips back into a thin smile, she expressed her thanks, saying, “Dr. Everett will take it home with him. Maybe your gift will encourage him to return to Austin again soon.”

The woman was obviously pleased to play her part in coaxing the good-looking doctor back.

“Maybe,” she agreed, flashing a bright, hopeful smile at Everett.

“I wouldn’t have thought of that,” Everett told Lila when they were back in her car again. “That was quick thinking,” he complimented her.

Lila was hardly aware of shrugging. “I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but I didn’t want to set a precedent, either. Having you take it seemed like the only logical way out.”

“Still wouldn’t have thought of it,” he told her.

“Sure you would have,” she countered. “You’re the smartest man I know.”

No I’m not, he thought. He could cite a time when he’d been downright stupid.

Like thirteen years ago.

Everett studied her quietly as she drove. In his opinion, Lila had blossomed in the intervening years. She was no longer that stricken young girl who’d told him she never wanted to see him again. She’d become a self-assured woman who obviously had a mission in life. A mission she was passionate about, and that passion made her particularly compelling and exciting.

He found himself being attracted to Lila all over again and even more strongly this time than he had the first time around.

“Can you clock out once we get back to the Foundation?” he asked suddenly, breaking the heavy silence in the car.

“This actually is the official end of my day, so yes, I can clock out.”

“And we’re still on for dinner?” he asked, not wanting to come across as if he was taking anything for granted. He knew that winning Lila back was going to take time and patience—and he very much intended to win her back.

“If you still want to have dinner with me, then yes, we’re still on,” she answered cautiously. She made a right turn, pulling into the parking lot. “Are you sure this won’t interfere with you getting back to Houston? I feel guilty about keeping you away from your practice for so long.”

“Nothing to feel guilty about,” he assured her. “The choice was mine. And my practice is part of a group. We all pitch in and cover for one another if something comes up.”

“And this qualifies as ‘something?’” she asked him, a touch of amusement entering her voice.

“Oh, most definitely ‘something,’” Everett assured her.

My lord, she was flirting with him, Lila realized. She really wasn’t herself.

The next moment, there was further proof. “Lila, you’re passing my car,” Everett pointed out.

Preoccupied and trying to get a grip on herself, she hadn’t realized that she had driven right by the navy blue sedan.

“Sorry,” she murmured. “Just double-checking the schedule in my head.”

“Schedule?” he questioned. But she’d said there was no one left on today’s list, didn’t she? Was there some secondary list he didn’t know about?

“The list of patients,” she clarified.

“Did we miss anyone?” he asked, wondering if she was going to find some excuse to turn him down at the last minute.

She wished she didn’t feel as if her brain had a fog machine operating right inside her head. It was getting harder and harder for her to think straight.

“Lila?”

She realized that Everett was waiting for her to answer him. “Oh, no, we didn’t. We saw everyone on the list. I was just thinking about tomorrow,” she lied. “Let’s go have dinner.”

“Sounds good to me,” he replied, silently adding, Anything that has to do with you sounds good to me.