“Why are you sorry?”
Jayne thought it over for a minute. “I’m not sure. I wasn’t trying to tempt you…at least not much.” She gave him a soft smile. “I need to get past that doctor’s appointment. I love hearing about your travels. You said you went to Europe. Did you see Paris from atop the Eiffel Tower?”
“I did.”
He told her all about it, the desire growing inside him to take her some of those places himself. Over the meal it seemed as though they were learning everything they could about each other, like they were making up for lost time…or worried they might run out of time.
Chapter Seven
Jayne looked up as Doc Hawks came into the examination room. As always, his gentle smile and gray eyes calmed her. He’d been her primary doctor since the age of eighteen and had seen her through the original diagnosis and both relapses of Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He was friends with her parents, and she’d always felt secure in his care, more than just a patient number on a chart.
He sat on the rolling stool and laid her patient chart aside as he finished leafing through her paperwork. “Jayne, you appear well. I like the lively color in your cheeks. Have you ridden that bull yet?”
“I’m not living like I’m dying to quite that level, Doc. I see a touch of silver in those sideburns, but you’re still hunky as ever. You get that young debutante to marry you yet?”
Dr. Hawks’s barking laughter echoed off the walls. “No, she moved on to a young polo player when I chased her around the house with my walker.”
Jayne snorted with merriment. Doc was in good enough shape to take on a whole team of polo players. “Aw, she doesn’t know a good thing when she’s got it. Or did you also try poking her with your cane?”
Dr. Hawks hadn’t treated her like the daughter of his friends since the first cancer diagnosis. From that point forward, he’d treated her like a grown-up and they’d gotten to the point where they always kidded around. Perhaps the kidding between them had sprung up as his way of lightening her mood during treatments over the years. Whatever the case, she’d never considered going to a different doctor, even though she had a long drive back to Houston whenever she needed to see him.
He proceeded to examine her lymph nodes as she sat on the exam table in her paper gown. He palpated what remained of the swelling, which had dissipated considerably since Friday evening.
“Refresh my memory. When did you notice this?”
“Friday afternoon.”
“Size?”
“My index fingertip.”
“Night sweats? Fever?”
“No.”
He checked her ears and her throat, grunted, and then listened to her breathing. After opening the top of the gown, he palpated the rest of the lymph nodes in her neck. He glanced at her healed tattoo as he checked the lymph nodes in her armpits.
“Well, look at you, Miss tattooed risk-taker.” Dr. Hawks stood back and an expression of pride came over his face. “Moving on, are you?”
Jayne gave him a cheesy grin. “This old doc dude once told me that it was time to get out in the world and live my life. I’m taking his advice.”
“Old doc dude,” he mimicked in a disgusted voice as he unbuttoned the sleeves of his dress shirt. Jayne’s jaw dropped as he revealed forearms that were covered in tribal tattoos.
Jayne giggled as he showed her both sides. “Doc, that’s some major hotness. You need to stop hanging around debutantes and find a woman who appreciates a man with a sense of adventure.”
Dr. Hawks raised his hands in a supplicatory gesture. “Someday I’ll learn. Mom approved of her and that should’ve been my first clue. So, how is Divine, Texas, treating you? Besides the tattoo? Got a boyfriend? Bevy of boyfriends?”
Jayne burst into more giggles. “Um, no ‘bevy’ to speak of, but I do have a boyfriend. He’s here with me today. He’s also my artist.” She showed him the rest of the healed artwork in progress. It was Dr. Hawks’s turn to drop his jaw, but not in a creepy way. He had seen her in various stages of health and illness, and she didn’t feel uncomfortable with him seeing her exposed like that.
“How far does it go?”
She showed him and said, “He drew it just for me. No one else will ever have one quite like this. The shading and script lettering comes next.”
He nodded as she covered it back up. “I’m assuming he uses strict standards of hygiene?”
“Very. He knew about the swelling and that I was coming to see you today and postponed the second session last Friday night, even though, besides the hangover, I felt fine.”