Chapter Twelve

She remembered.

Although Lila tried very hard not to, over the course of the next few days she began to remember why she had fallen in love with Everett to begin with. Not because he was so devastatingly handsome—which he still was, perhaps even more so—but because he was so kind.

Kind and thoughtful and caring.

She’d witnessed those traits in action while accompanying Everett on the house calls they’d paid together before she’d gotten ill, and now she was witnessing it up close and personal while he was taking care of her and nursing her back to health.

In essence, Everett was very quietly waiting on her hand and foot. He made sure she drank plenty of fluids. He prepared a soft, bland diet for her, then slowly substituted food with more substance when he felt she could handle it. The progression took close to a week because he told her he didn’t want to rush things and risk her having a setback.

By the end of the fourth day of her convalescence, Lila had gotten comfortable enough with him to allow herself to share a few old stories about people they had known back in high school.

Since she had left Houston thirteen years ago, he was in a far better position to tell her what some of the people they had grown up with were doing these days.

“Remember Jack Logan?” Everett asked, bringing up another name as they were sharing a lunch of soup and sandwiches in her room.

It took Lila a moment to put a face to the name. “Oh, you mean the guy who expected every woman to faint at his feet just because he looked their way?” She remembered that Jack was always telling everyone he had big plans for himself. “Whatever happened to him?”

Everett smiled, remembering how brash and abrasive Logan had been. “He still lives in Houston and works at the airport as a baggage checker.”

As she recalled, that didn’t exactly match up to Logan’s lofty goals. “Is he still a lady-killer?”

He looked at Lila and answered her with a straight face. “Only if he fell on top of one. I saw him recently. He must have gained over a hundred pounds since graduation.”

Lila tried to stifle a laugh, but she couldn’t help herself. Somehow, that seemed like poetic justice. Logan had always been cruelly critical of anyone he felt wasn’t as good-looking as he was. His remarks were always particularly hurtful about women he viewed to be overweight, even if they were carrying only a few extra pounds.

“He was always such an egotist,” she said when she stopped laughing.

“That part hasn’t changed,” Everett told her. Finishing his meal, he wiped his mouth and put down his napkin. “I think he just sees his expanding weight as there being more of him to be impressed with.” He looked at Lila’s plate. “Are you finished?” he asked, nodding at her tray.

“Yes.” As Everett removed the tray, she told him, “You know, you really don’t have to wait on me hand and foot like this.”

For the time being, Everett placed the tray aside on the bureau. He could take both trays to the kitchen the next time he left the room.

“Well, I’m here and there’s not that much else to do,” he reasoned. “So, to my way of thinking, I might as well make myself useful.”

“That’s another thing,” she said, picking up on the fact that he was still in Austin. “I’m keeping you from your practice.”

His eyes met hers for a long moment. And then he said, “Maybe I like being kept.”

Lila felt herself growing warm and she didn’t think that she was having any sort of a relapse. At least not the kind that involved the flu.

She did her best to steer the conversation in the initial direction she’d intended.

“What I’m saying is that you don’t need to take care of me anymore. I’m getting better all the time.”

“That’s because of all the excellent care you’ve been getting.”

Lila smiled, shaking her head. Everett had always had a way with words. “I won’t argue with that.”

“Good,” Everett said with finality. He had brought her that day’s TV schedule earlier for her to look through. He picked it up now and thumbed through it. “Now what would you like to watch this afternoon?” he asked. Watching TV after lunch had become a ritual for them the last few days, something he felt that they both looked forward to. “There’re some pretty good old movies on the Classic Channel and I found a station that’s streaming a lot of those old sitcoms you used to like watching.” He named a couple of specific programs.

Hearing them cited, Lila looked at him in surprise. “You remember that?” she marveled.

“I remember a lot of things,” he told her. He had committed a great many things to memory about her, Everett thought.

Lila could feel her heart racing even though she fiercely ordered it not to. She’d been this route before and she knew exactly where it ended. Nowhere, leaving her with an ache in her heart. She did not want to go there, not again.

But somehow, she just couldn’t seem to convince herself to turn away, to choose a different path. She tried to assuage her conscience by telling herself that this was only for a little while.

Lila shrugged in response to his question. “I don’t know, you pick something,” she told him. The next moment, she threw back her covers and swung her legs down. “I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

“I need to use the bathroom,” she informed him with as much dignity as she could muster.

All the other times she’d felt the need to go, Everett had taken her arm and walked her to the bathroom as if they were out for an evening stroll. It was obvious to him that this time around, Lila was attempting to assert her independence. Not that he could blame her. In her place, he’d try to do the same thing.

Everett took a step back, allowing her space so she could get out of bed. However, he still kept a watchful eye on her.

On her feet now, he could see that Lila was still rather unstable. She took a single step and her right knee buckled.

Everett’s arms were around her instantly, keeping her from landing on the floor. When he drew her back up, her body slid ever so slightly against his.

It was only for a second, but it was enough. Enough to send sparks flying between them and throwing old longings into high gear.

Everett caught his breath, silently ordering himself to remain steady instead of pulling her closer to him and kissing her the way he wanted to.

Instead of making love with her the way he desperately wanted to.

Only extreme self-control kept him from acting on the impulses that were urgently telegraphing themselves throughout his whole body.

“I know you wanted to do this alone, but maybe I should just walk with you to the bathroom this one more time,” he suggested.

“To keep me from doing a pratfall?” she asked ruefully.

Her ego stood as much of a chance of being hurt as her body, so he tactfully rephrased what she’d just asked. “So you don’t risk bruising anything if you do happen to fall,” he told her. “So, is it okay?” he asked, waiting for her to give him the go-ahead on this.

She sighed and then smiled at him. She realized Everett was trying to spare her feelings. “Well, the old saying is that pride always goes before a fall and I don’t want to fall, so I guess I’ll have to just tuck away my pride and let you walk me to the bathroom one more time.”

Everett laughed softly. “Good call,” he congratulated her. “You’ll be doing solo runs again before you know it,” he promised.

Sitting on the edge of Lila’s bed, Everett set aside his stethoscope. He’d just finished giving Lila her latest examination.

“Well, your fever’s gone,” he told her. “You’re keeping your food down and your color’s definitely back. And when you talk, you no longer sound like someone who starts their mornings with a shot of scotch and a cigarette. Although I have to say that I was getting kind of used to hearing that sexy voice. I might actually miss it,” he admitted, smiling fondly at her.

“Well, I won’t,” Lila assured him with feeling. “I thought I sounded like some kidnapper placing a ransom call.” She looked at him hopefully. “Does this mean that I’m being cleared for work?”

Everett nodded. He closed his medical bag and set it on the floor.

“Our little unofficial holiday is over,” he told her, then in case there was any doubt, he added, “Yes, I’m clearing you for work.”

Lila didn’t take her eyes off him. “And you’ll be going back to Houston?”

“I will,” Everett confirmed. He knew he had to be getting back, but there was a part of him that didn’t want to leave.

If he were honest with himself, he’d admit that he’d used nursing Lila back to health as an excuse to spend more time with her.

The last thirteen years had been filled with work, at times almost nonstop. He knew now that he had been trying to fill the emptiness—the gaping void that losing her had created—with work. Work and the occasional woman. None of them ever measured up to Lila simply because no one had ever even come close to making him feel the way Lila had.

The way she still did.

“But I’ll still be coming back to Austin a lot,” he told her, never breaking eye contact. “To see Schuyler and help her out with some things,” he added, not wanting to scare Lila off. He paused for a moment, then, despite the advice Schuyler had given him, he asked, “Is it all right if I call you when I’m in town?”

After the way that he had put himself out for her, she hadn’t expected Everett to ask permission to call her. She assumed he’d think he’d earned the right to call her any time he wanted to.

“How can I say no to the man who nursed me back to health?” she asked, trying to sound as if she was amused by his question.

“I’m not asking you to see me as the man who nursed you back to health,” Everett pointed out. “I’m asking you to see me—” he paused for a moment, looking for the right phrasing “—as an old friend.”

The silence between them grew until she finally said to him, “I couldn’t say no to that, either.”

“Glad to hear it,” he told her.

He let out the breath he’d been holding. Honestly, he really hadn’t known what Lila would say in response to his question. He wouldn’t have put it past her feelings of self-preservation to tell him that seeing each other again wouldn’t be a good idea.

But now that she had agreed, he saw that there was something far greater than self-preservation going on between them.

He could feel it.

And it was not just on his end. Nor was it just wishful thinking.

There was something tangible and real pulsating between them, ready to spring to life at the slightest bit of encouragement.

But even with all that, Everett knew he had to tread lightly. One wrong step and it could all crumble right beneath him, sending him plummeting head first into an abyss.

“Hi, are you free for dinner tonight?”

“Everett?” Lila was immediately alert. She’d answered her cell phone just as she’d walked in her front door, thinking it was someone at the Foundation working late, calling with a question.

But it wasn’t.

“I didn’t expect to hear from you this soon,” she said.

It had been six days since she had gone back to work and he had returned to Houston.

“Well, I’m only in Austin for a few hours,” he explained, “so I thought, if you’re free, you might want to get together.”

There it was, she thought. Her way out. He was handing it to her.

If you’re free.

That was all she had to say to him. That she wasn’t free. That her evening was already spoken for and she had somewhere else to be. And knowing Everett, he would accept that, murmur his regrets and that would be that.

The problem was, she didn’t want to take this way out that he was handing her on a silver platter. She wanted to see him. The truth of it was, after seeing him every day for almost a week, she missed him.

She knew that she shouldn’t feel this way. Knew that she needed to cut Everett out of her life before he became a habit. But then on the other hand, this was only going to be dinner. And dinner would last for a few hours at most, nothing more. She knew that Everett was far too conscientious to lie to her, especially for some ulterior motive. If he said he was only here for a few hours, then he was in Austin only for that time.

Those few hours might as well be spent with her, she thought in a moment of weakness.

“I am free,” she heard herself saying, sealing her fate, at least for the next few hours. “We can do dinner if you like. And I promise not to pass out this time,” she added with amusement, remembering the last time they were in a restaurant together.

“Oh.” He pretended to sound as if he was sorry to hear that. “Too bad,” he told her. “I was looking forward to playing the hero, sweeping you into my arms and carrying you to my car.”

“I think being the hero once would be enough for any guy.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Everett speculated. “It’s kind of addictive if the hero has the right damsel in distress to save.”

That definitely conjured up an image, Lila thought. “I never envisioned myself as a damsel in distress,” she told Everett.

“I wouldn’t have thought of you as one, either,” he admitted. “I guess the world is full of surprises.” Then he changed topics. “Well, like I said, I’m only in Austin for a bit, so where would you like to go?”

“Seeing what happened the last time when we went to the Italian restaurant, how about Chinese food?” Lila suggested.

“Sounds good to me,” he told her. He would have said the same thing if she had suggested strolling through the park, eating ice cream cones. He just wanted to see her. It had been six long days during which time he had forced himself not to call her just to see how she was doing. Or to hear the sound of her voice. He didn’t want Lila to feel as if he was crowding her, or worse, as if he was stalking her.

But it hadn’t been easy.

He had spent six days with her when she’d been ill with the flu and he had quickly gotten used to seeing her everyday. Not seeing her was hell now, but he couldn’t behave like some privileged adolescent who was accustomed to having his every whim indulged—no matter how much he wished.

This was too important for him to risk messing up again. So he treaded lightly.

“If it’s okay, I can be at your place in half an hour. Or is that too soon? Do you need more time?”

“Actually, I need less if you’re close by. I just got home from work and I still look very businesslike, so I don’t need to change.”

He preferred the temptress look he’d seen on her, but to remain safe, he thought that it was best to go along with the business suit.

“You always look good no matter what you have on.” And sometimes even better the less you have on, he added silently. “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”