Nothing But Trouble (6 page)

Pulling in a deep breath, she stood from her
chair and took one last bite of her bran muffin. The thing was
roughly the equivalent of eating cardboard. Topped with sand. She
barely managed to swallow the bite, and walked out of her office.
The second she stepped into the quiet hallway, Erica greeted her
with a smile. The girl wasn't that much younger than Rebecca, had
curly brown hair, thick black lashes and dimples in her cheeks.
Erica always wore a smile and had a kind word to say to everyone
she was around. Rebecca had always liked her. She was wonderful
with the kids and was just about the best P.A. Rebecca had ever
seen.

"Your first appointment is in Exam Three,"
Erica announced.

"Thanks." Rebecca walked to the sink and
washed her hands. After scrubbing up, she went through the door to
the third exam room and was greeted by the blue eyes of Danielle.
Rebecca managed to keep the surprise off her face when locking
gazes with the woman. Seated on the exam table, with a cell phone
in one hand, was a thin girl with long blond hair. Danielle smiled,
though Rebecca would call it more of a grimace, as though the sight
of Rebecca made her skin crawl.

Whatever. Rebecca hardly had enough room in
her head to worry about what R.J.'s former lover thought of
her.

Rebecca sat at the round stool in front of
the counter and plastered a smile on her face. Erica had left the
laptop open to Lindsey's chart. "Good morning, Lindsey." She turned
to face the girl. "How are you feeling?"

"Good," she responded with a small smile.

"She just needs a refill of her Adderall,"
Danielle jumped in, as though Rebecca had just crawled out from
under a rock and had no clue what she was doing.

She gestured toward the laptop. "Yes, I see
she's due for her three month checkup. Let's start with your blood
pressure."

The girl didn't so much as glance up from her
phone as Rebecca performed the necessary tests. If any signs of
loss of sleep, appetite or change in vitals were present, then
either the dosage had to be changed or the drug was to be removed
from the patient all together.

All of Lindsey's vitals were normal. Still,
Rebecca had a hard time understanding why Dr. Gross would put the
girl on such a high dose of the medication, especially since
Rebecca didn't see an ADD evaluation form in the girl's file.
Normally, the parent was given a sheet to be filled out by
themselves and teachers at school to evaluate the child's level of
inattentiveness. There wasn't one. And Lindsey seemed like a normal
ten year old. She wasn't twitchy or talkative. Not so much as a
finger moved, aside from the thumbs that were flying over the
keypad of her phone. From what Rebecca could tell, the girl was
very low key.

"Yes, she's been doing well," Danielle butted
in. "No signs of change." She glanced at her watch. "I hate to rush
you, but I have to get to work."

Rebecca retained her focus on Lindsey and
tried to ignore the girl's mother. "We're almost finished. I just
have a few questions to ask. Your weight looks good, but how's your
diet been? Any change in appetite?"

"She eats like a horse," Danielle chimed in
again. Her words were accompanied by an awkward laugh that Rebecca
didn't find comforting.

Despite her dislike for the woman, Rebecca
smiled at her then turned her attention to Lindsey. "Okay,
Lindsey," Rebecca said, so that Danielle would get the hint to let
her daughter answer for herself. "How have you been sleeping?"

"Good," she muttered with a lift of one
shoulder, that Rebecca thought was supposed to be a shrug.

Rebecca referenced the girl's chart. "I see
no change in weight, so that's good. And everything else seems to
be normal. I'll go ahead and write you another prescription." Even
though Rebecca wasn't comfortable giving a ten year old 30mg of
Adderall XR, Dr. Gross had been doing so for several months, and
all Lindsey's major vitals were in good shape. She made note of the
information in the computer program.

"Are still using the same pharmacy?" she
asked, while typing on the keyboard.

"Yes," Danielle answered briskly.

Rebecca shut the laptop and stood from her
stool. "Okay, then. Tina at the front desk will fax the new
prescription to the pharmacy. Just check out with her and go ahead
and schedule your next three month checkup."

"We'll do that. Come on, Lindsey."

Rebecca left the exam room and washed her
hands again. Even though they weren't dirty, just being in the
presence of that woman made her feel unclean. That was an unfair
statement, she knew, because she didn't know the woman from Adam.
But something about her rubbed Rebecca the wrong way.

Could it be because she was R.J.'s lover? And
obviously still had some kind of feelings for the man?

Ridiculous.

Preposterous.

Okay, maybe there was some thread of truth to
that. But Rebecca wasn't naïve. R.J. had always drawn women to him
like bees to honey. It was something she'd accepted a long time
ago.

With Danielle, there was more than that. It
was something more than just rubbing Rebecca the wrong way. She
knew it had something to do with Lindsey's appointment. Rebecca had
treated kids with ADHD and had prescribed Adderall many times. From
what she could tell, Lindsey didn't fit the typical profile of Type
1 ADHD.

On the other hand, the girl wasn't even her
patient. It wasn't her place to question Dr. Gross. He'd been
practicing pediatrics for twenty-five years and was well-known in
the town. It was her hope to someday take over his practice and run
it herself. Over the past two years, Dr. Gross had earned her
respect. He treated every child like they were his own. She'd
learned a lot from him, and hoped she could continue to learn even
more.

She pushed thoughts of Lindsey aside and
prepared for the next patient, who was due to arrive in fifteen
minutes.

So, why couldn't she help but think that
something wasn't right?

It was 7:15
before
Rebecca had been able to call it a day. And thank goodness she'd
opted to wear flats, because what a day it had been. There had been
too many patients for her to be able to stop and eat lunch. The
mediocre bran muffin had hardly satisfied her appetite. By two
o'clock dizziness had set in, and she'd had to force herself to
stop and eat a sandwich. That hadn't lasted long either, and now
she was so hungry she felt nauseous.

All she wanted to do was soak her aching
bones in a hot bath, sip some red wine, and say
buh-bye
to
the world for the next ten hours. Unfortunately, reality always had
other plans. Her pantry was down to the bare bones, and her dry
cleaning had been ready to be picked up for over a week.

Oh, and there was the little matter of paying
R.J. his deposit. If her luck were to hold out, he wouldn't be
there. Or maybe she could toss the check in the general direction
of his shop and hope he received it.

She shook her head as she locked up the
practice and walked to her car. Hadn't she just said the other day
that she was adult enough to handle him? That R.J. still shouldn't
be affecting her like this? For some reason, these days it seemed
worse. Like every time she was around him, her resolve grew weaker.
Her body had a harder time not reacting to him, as though it were
tired of resisting him and was ready to give up. But she had to be
strong. There had never been any future for them. Hell, there had
never been a present for them. Just that one night when R.J. had
snuck in through her bedroom window, slowly lifted the nightgown
over her head and took her virginity like the bad boy thief he
was.

She'd turned nineteen the week before and had
been in no hurry to give her body over to just any guy. But, then
again, R.J. had never been just any guy. She'd known from the
moment she'd met him, that he'd be different.

As he'd laid himself on top of her, she'd
screamed to herself,
Don't do this! He'll shatter you!
At
that point, she'd been beyond listening to her own warnings. Just
seeing him standing in her room had obliterated what willpower
she'd had left.

In the years before, Rebecca had considered
R.J. a friend, even though she'd always had the hots for him. But
after that night, things had changed between them, just as she'd
known they would. R.J. had made a point of staying away from her,
and even his demeanor around her had taken a subtle shift.

It had become clear that R.J. had no longer
considered her a friend. Not only that, but she'd watched him move
on from her to one woman after another until she'd lost count. The
reality had been hard to swallow, and she'd been forced to accept
R.J. for what he was: a carefree playboy. And definitely not for
her.

Even still, she'd fallen for him hard and
fast. At first it had seemed impossible to live with the feelings,
knowing he didn't reciprocate them. Like walking around with heart
outside her chest. Being held by a man who'd taken it with little
effort. After time, she'd learned to bury the feelings and live
with them. Of course, that hadn't been easy, and the years she'd
gone off to medical school had been a huge relief.

Then she'd moved back home and all it had
taken was one look from those deep green eyes for all the feelings
to come bubbling to the surface.

Despite all that, and the years since then,
she still wanted him. Her insides still turned to Jell-O when she
was around him. She still heard him whispering in her ear, telling
her how incredible she felt. Even now, as she started up her car
and headed to his shop, her body reacted.

She'd given her virginity to R.J. Devlin, and
in return he'd ruined every other man for her. Part of her resented
the hell out of him for that. And the other part smiled, because
she knew she'd take the secret of them together to her grave.

A few minutes later she pulled into the
shop's parking lot, and parked her car close to the office
entrance. A few days ago, the place had been hopping with music and
men tinkering with engines, or whatever men do in a car garage. Now
the place was so quiet, Rebecca wondered if anyone was around. She
assumed his Chevelle was parked around back. Or not. Maybe she
could get away without seeing him after all.

The door to the front reception area was
open. She walked, in but didn't spot anyone. From there, she walked
through the back door that led to the shop. All she saw were cars;
some of which were high up on lifts and others were nothing more
than the metal frames. She spotted her father's car on the other
side of the room. Still no R.J. And he didn't answer when she
called out his name. He knew she'd be coming, so where was he?
Would it be inappropriate for her to walk back to his office? She
went anyway, just because she was dead tired and wanted to get this
over with.

As she got farther down the hallway, she
heard voices, one male and one female. The male's was definitely
R.J.'s and she was pretty sure the other one belonged to Danielle.
She came to a stop in his office doorway and spotted the two of
them working. R.J. was seated at his desk, doing something on the
computer. Danielle was next to his chair, leaning over so far that
Rebecca swore those breasts of hers would come toppling out of her
shirt and smack R.J. upside the head.

And yeah, that was probably the woman's
plan.

Stop hating. You don't even know
her
.

The other woman spotted Rebecca first. She
straightened and pinned her with those freaky blue eyes. They held
an accusatory glare, as though to say, "What the hell are you doing
here, you inadequate little thing?"

Yeah, I'm not too pleased to see you
either
.

Funny, how they'd just met and had already
developed a dislike for each other. Rebecca wasn't the sort of
person to go around disliking people for no real reason. In her
book, everyone got a fair chance. Until they screwed it up.
Danielle was the first person that Rebecca had disliked on sight.
And every time the woman opened her mouth, Rebecca's displeasure
grew even more. The feeling was so out of character for her, and
Rebecca couldn't figure out why Danielle rubbed her the wrong
way.

"Hey," R.J. said when he finally laid eyes on
her.

Her heart rate immediately picked up, and she
tried to squash down the light-headedness that always accompanied
being near him.

"I have your check," she announced as she
took the folded slip of paper out of her purse.

He leaned back in his chair and looked her
over. "Okay," he responded. "Why don't you go finish this up?" he
said to Danielle. He held out a stack of papers to her, which she
took without saying a word. The woman must have sensed R.J.'s
dismissal and not liked it. She stalked out of the office with
sharp clacking sounds made by her platform heels. Rebecca would
have taken a moment to admire the woman's exceptional taste in
shoes if she hadn't found herself alone with the man who could turn
her brain into mush with a simple tilt of his mouth. And then
Rebecca was left alone with R.J.

Just the two of them.

All. Alone.

He stood from his chair and came around the
desk toward her. His long legs took slow and deliberate steps,
bringing him closer and closer to her. She refused the back away,
because she needed to prove, both to him and to herself, the she
could handle being that close to him. Because if R.J. knew, which
he probably did, he would no doubt use it against her. She refused
to allow him that tactical advantage.

"Thank you." He plucked the check from her
hands and shoved it in his pants pockets. The sleeves had been
ripped off his black t-shirt, which was noticeably cleaner than the
white shirt he'd had on before. Powerful shoulders gave way to
defined, muscled biceps. The tan cargo pants he had on sat on lean
hips and accentuated his long legs. All in all, R.J. Devlin was a
spectacular specimen of a man. Not an ounce of fat riddled that
fantastic body of his.