Right off, she devoured three pickles. Then a masterful corned beef on rye. Chips. Cole slaw. Since she picked at the crumbs after that, he figured she was still hungry, so he ordered dessert. Apple cake with whipped cream.
Then more pickles.
He leveled a sandwich, too, which took all of a minute and a half. So while her mouth was full, he took the opportunity to start a conversation. Im guessing that before the evening news, the whole town will know that you fainted twice this morning, that were having lunch together and theyll likely be speculating on whether were sleeping together.
She dropped her fork, which he took as encouraging. So he went on, My theory is we might as well sleep together, since weve already been branded with the tag.
She dropped her forkagainbut then she just squinted her eyes at him. He didnt see temper this time, just reluctant humor. Hey. Do you usually flirt with women you think are pregnant by someone else?
Not usually, no. In fact, never. He retrieved a couple fresh forks from the table next to them, then went back for another couple. Who knew how many she would need before this meal was over. But I keep finding your situation, well, unique. You came home because you were really worked up about your grandfather. But theres no guy here. If you had a guy, hed have to be a class-A jerk not to be with you when he knows you need help.
Wow. That analysis and conclusion is just stunning.
Yeah, my mama always said I was a bright boy, he agreed with his best deadpan expression. So my theory is theres no guy to stop me from moving in on you.
This time she had to chuckleclearly in spite of herself. Ive been doing a lot of hurling and fainting. Most guys would run in the opposite direction.
Most guys havent been through medical school.
Thats an answer?
What can I say? A first-year resident loses any chance of being embarrassed ever again in his life. Some things just come with life. Now whats that expression about?
She lifted a hand. I was just thinking. I had this sudden instinct that you just might be a hardcore, card-carrying good guy. She put a stop sign into another hand gesture. Im not accusing you of anything terrible. I just didnt expect to even let a positive thought anywhere near you. So Im just saying. If I was ever going to trust a doctor again as long as I livewhich Im notit might have been you.
Ah. Its the doctor thing thats a problem. Youre such a relief.
Relief?
Practically every single woman in this town has been feeding me, taking care of me, fluttering her eyelashes at me. All their mamas think of doctors as being a terrific catch. You know, dumb as a fish that just needs the right bait to sucker in. Youre so much more fun. Id ask you out but Im afraid if we had a good time, youd quit disliking me, and then where would we be? Not having fun together anymore. Its not worth the risk. Still, I dont see why we shouldnt sleep together. That doesnt have to interfere with your giving me a constant hard time. We could just redirect all that passionate energy a little differently when the lights go off.
She cupped her chin. Did anything you just said make a lick of sense?
He didnt care if he was making sense. Shed had a rotten morninga stressful visit with him, then a stressful visit with the lawyer, no easy answers about her grandfather. And he hadnt known until hed sneaked the information that the father of her baby was both a doctor and a louse.
She was flying solo. Flying solo with a pregnancy and no help in sight.
But hed gotten her fed. And teased. And almost laughing. Shed forgotten it all for a while.
Sometimes that was the best a doctor could do. Offer some stress relief. There was no way any doctor could cure all ills much less all wrongs.
When she glanced at a wall clock, he did, too. He was startled at how much time had passed. Ruby was going to kill him. He was ten minutes late for his first afternoon patient.
Yeah, I didnt realize how late it was, either. I need to get back to my grandfather.
He put some money down, knowing the Feinsteins wouldnt give him a check, and eventually steered her to the door. There was the usual gauntlet of Hi, Doc! and Ginger, so glad to hear youre back in town and other ferocious attempts to stall them. He kept moving them as fast as he could.
Outside, the sky was pumping out clouds now. A whiskery wind tossed paper and litter in the air, lifted collars. The temperature was still warmish, somewhere in the sixties, but there was rain in the wind, and the bright sun kept hiding from sight.
I see your car, he said.
You dont have to walk me there. You have to be in a hurry to get back to your office.
It all comes with the service. A lady faints, she gets walked to her car.
What if she isnt a lady?
If a wicked woman faints, she still gets walked to her car. Its in the rule book.
What rule book is that?
The South Carolina Rules for Gentlemen rule book. My mom made me memorize whole passages before I was four. She called it getting ready for kindergarten. Walking next to her felt like foreplay. It was kind of a test of rhythms.
Whether they could walk together, move together in a natural way. How his height worked with hers. Whether she could keep up with his stride. Whether she wanted to. Whether she galloped on ahead when he wanted to amble.
Fast, too damned fast, they reached her rust bucket of a Civic. She dipped in her shoulder bag for her car key, found it, lifted her head and suddenly frowned at him.
What? He had no idea what her expression meant. Even less of an idea what she planned to do.
She popped up on tiptoe, framed his face between her soft palms and kissed him. On a guys scale of kisses, it was only a two. No tongue. No pressure. No invitation.
More just a short, evocative melding of textures. Her lips. His lips.
Like a meeting of whipped cream and chocolate.
Or like brandy and a winter fire.
Or like the snug of gloves on a freezing morning.
Or like that click, that electric high-charge surge, not like the million kisses youve had since middle school, not like the any-girl-would-do kisses, but the click kind. The wonder kind. The damn it, what the hell is happening here kind.
She pulled back, sank back, cocked her head and looked at him. Her purse fell.
He picked it up. Her keys fell. He picked those up, too.
When he got his breath back, he said carefully, Do we have any idea why you did that?
Ive been known to do some very bad, impulsive things sometimes. Even if I regret it. Even if I know Im going to regret it later.
So that was just a bad impulse. He shook his head. Sure came across like a great impulse to me. Before she could try selling him any more malarkey, he said, I stop to see your grandfather at least twice a week. Always short visits. He pretends its not about his health. So do I. Which is to say Ill see you soon. Very soon. And thats a promise.
But not soon enough. His heart slammed.
Of course, that was the man talking, and not the doctor. Sometimes it was okay to be both roles but not with her, he sensed. Never with her.
Ginger had barely pulled in the drive when the rain started. It was just a spatter when she stepped out, but the sky cracked with a streak of lightning by the time she reached the porch.
Ginger had barely pulled in the drive when the rain started. It was just a spatter when she stepped out, but the sky cracked with a streak of lightning by the time she reached the porch.
Thunder growled. Clouds started swirling as if a child had finger-painted the whole sky with grays. Pretty, but ominous. Inside, she called, Gramps? Im home! The dark had infiltrated the downstairs with gloom, somehow accenting the dust and neglect that seemed everywhere. Still, she heard voicesand laughtercoming from the kitchen.
At the kitchen doorway, she folded her arms, having to smile at the two cronies at the kitchen table. The game looked to be cutthroat canasta. Money was on the table. Cards all over the place. From the time shed left that morning, a set of dirty china seemed to have accumulated on the sink counter, but the two old codgers were having a blast.
She bent down to kiss her grandfather. Got a huge hug back. And for now, his eyes were lucid and dancing-clear. Youve been gone all day, you little hussy. Hope you spent a lot of money shopping and had a great old time.
I did. The two rounds of fainting and encounters with Ike were locked up in her minds closet. Her grandfather recognized her. Had a happy, loving smile for her. Cornelius, youre getting a hug from me, too, so dont try running.
Cornelius pretended he was trying to duck under the table, but that was all tease. He took his hug like a man. Cornelius was smaller than she was, and possibly had some Asian and black and maybe Native American blood. For certain no one else looked quite like him. Ginger had never known whether her family had adopted him or the other way around, but he and Gramps were of an age. Neither could manage to put a glass in the dishwasher. Neither obeyed an order from anyone. And both of them could while away a dark afternoon playing cards and having a great time.
All right, you two. Im going upstairs for a short nap.
Go. Go. She was promptly shooed away, as Cornelius chortled over some card played and both men issued raucous, enthusiastically gruesome death threats to each other.
Apparently the morning had been tough on her system, because once her head hit the pillow upstairs, she crashed harder than a whipped puppy. She woke up to a washed-clean world and the hour was past four. After a fast shower, she flew downstairs to find her boys on the front veranda now, rocking and sipping sweet tea and arguing about a ball game.
When Cornelius saw her, he pushed out of the rocker. We was thinking you might not wake up until tomorrow, you were looking so tired.
I was a little tired, but Im feeling great now.
Cornelius nodded. Im headed to the kitchen. Got some supper cooking. Cant remember what all I started right now, but should be ready in an hour or so.
Thatd be great, you. She planned to head into the kitchen and help himbut not yet. Her grampss eyes were still clear, still bright. She pulled a rocker closer to him, sat down.
Gramps. All these years, you had Amos Hawthorne managing the land, running the farm. But no ones mentioned him, and I havent seen him around.
Thats because hes not here anymore. I had to fire him. I dont remember exactly when it happened. But he stopped doing what I told him. He badgered and badgered me, until I said Id had enough. Let him go.
Ginger gulped. So whos handling the tea now? The shop? The grounds?
Well, I am, honey child. Me and Cornelius. We closed the shop after He frowned. I dont know exactly when. A little while ago.
Okay. So whos doing the grounds around the house? The mowing. The gardens and trees and all.
Cornelius and I had a theory about that. We need some goats.
Goats, Ginger echoed.
Yup. We have a heap of acreage thats nothing but lawn. Goats love grass. Wouldnt cost us a thing. The goats could eat the grass without using a lick of gas or needing a tractor at all.
Ginger was getting a thump of anxiety in her tummy again. So right now we dont have a lawn service or a farm manager?
We both think goats could do the work. Theyd be happy. Wed be happy. Dont you think that sounds like fun, sweetheart?
I do. I do. Shed inherited the ability to lie from her father. Gramps, do you know who did your taxes last year? I mean, do you have an accountant in town?
Why, honey, you know your grandma does all that. I always oversaw the business, the farm. But it was your grandma who did all the work with figures. We never depended on outsiders for that kind of thing. Why are you asking all these questions? We can do something fun. Like play cards. Or put out the backgammon board. After dinner, we could take the golf cart around before the bugs hit.
He was right, Ginger realized. There was no point in asking any more questions. Every answer shed heard so far was downright scary. There appeared to be no one running the place. Not the tea plantation. Not the house. Gramps seemed under the impression that Grandma was still alive, still there with him. The whole situation was more overwhelming than shed ever expected.
Ginger wondered if she could somehow will herself to faint again. It certainly helped her block out things earlier that day. Except that fainting brought on Ike, as if he had some invisible radar when anything embarrassing or upsetting was happening to her.
She still couldnt figure out what possessed her to kiss him. Hed been a white knight, sort of. And shed been starving and hadnt realized it. And a simple gesture like a hug or a kiss just didnt seem like that big a deal.
But it was.
It was a big deal because she already knew she was susceptible to doctors.
She also knew that impulsiveness got her into trouble every time. A woman could make a mistake. Everyone did that. No one could avoid it. But the measure of a woman was partly how she handled those mistakes.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Shed been trying to drill that mantra into her head. A doctor might seem like great husband potential for lots of womenbut not her. Doctors invariably put their jobs first, their own needs, and played by their own rule book.
Ike for sure played by his own rule book.
Keeping her heart a long, long way away from him was an easy for-sure.