She left the Bardons and then was pulled into another exam room where a little girl had a bone sticking out of her leg. That was an easy call. She was rushed to surgery. And still more patients came through the front doors.
They had to move through the patients quickly and call in their on-call staff to cover the deluge of people. They saw everything from minor scrapes to fractures and other serious injuries.
But by the time the day was over, Lindsey sagged against the wall as she sipped on an ice-cold Pepsi and smiled.
"How can you smile after the hell we've been through?" Katie asked, her hair sticking out in all sorts of new places, her mascara smeared, and her scrubs filthy.
"Because we didn't lose a single patient. I call that a good day," Lindsey told the girl.
"I will never say that Q word again," Katie said as she looked around.
"That might be wise," Lindsey told her.
"You ladies doing okay?" Dr. Stine asked as he came through the hall door.
"Great, Dr. Stine, thanks for asking," Katie said as she straightened up and attempted to brush back her hair. Lindsey wanted to tell her it was no use. There would be no helping that hair, not ever again.
"How did the little girl's surgery go?" Lindsey asked, finally pushing away from the wall and moving toward the lounge where she could take a rinse-off shower, change her clothes, and get out of the hospital. She would take a lot longer shower after she made it home. There had been too much grime on her this afternoon.
"It went great. She's not even going to have a limp when she heals," he said, obviously pleased.
The man might be slightly obnoxious and a bit too full of himself, but he was an incredible surgeon. She could appreciate that.
"Glad you were here, then," she said before moving toward the lounge door. He grabbed her arm again, an act she didn't like. She would really need to speak to him about boundaries.
"Want to go get a drink and celebrate?" he asked.
She was so shocked her mouth must have hung open. She turned back around to look at him, but didn't quite know what to say. Finally, her brain caught up to her vocal cords.
"I'm sort of seeing someone right now, but thanks for the offer," she finally managed. "Plus, I don't date doctors. It's too complicated."
He didn't seem in the least bit fazed. He just smiled at her and then finally let go of her arm. He took a step away before turning back and giving her the full force of his cocky grin.
"I like complicated. See you at the ball."
And just like that, he disappeared again. Lindsey retreated to the employee lounge and then got out of the hospital as quickly as she could. Her day had been messy. It was time to go home.
Hopefully her personal life would never be quite as complicated as her professional life was. It might not be if it weren't for Maverick. Like she said a couple of months ago, Maverick created complications.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Sitting in the den of Cooper's house, Maverick leaned back in the chair as he threw back another whiskey and cola. His brothers had called a meeting, but he wasn't in the mood for one. He finished his drink, got up, made a refill, and then sat back down.
He'd come to the hospital to take Lindsey out after work and had witnessed the interaction between her and the good doctor. His first instinct had been to smash his fist through the doctor's face. But something had stopped him.
Maverick knew his relationship with Lindsey wasn't going to last, but he didn't want to leave her devastated when it was over. That feeling of not wanting her to be alone and frightened had stopped him from killing the doctor, but just barely. Then he'd found himself backing away without alerting her to his presence.
He'd been pissed off ever since.
All he wanted to do was rush over to her place and stake his claim. He'd been doing that a lot lately, making love to her, holding her tight, even sleeping all night with her. He knew he needed to back off, but he couldn't quite make himself let go yet.
Why not?
He'd known from the beginning that it wasn't going to be permanent. His life had been so much simpler before he'd decided to make it his mission to help Lindsey.
"Are you with us, Mav?"
Looking up, he noticed both Cooper and Nick staring at him. How long had they been talking? Who knew?
"Yeah, I'm here. What's so important that I had to drop everything and come over here?" he asked, not even trying to cover up his bad mood.
"Is there something you want to share first?" Nick asked him with a smirk on his face.
"What in the hell is that supposed to mean?" Mav snapped.
"You're in a pissy mood. Not getting laid enough?" Nick said with a laugh.
Mav shot out of his seat and thought about pounding on his brother for a few seconds. He even had his fists clenched as he took a menacing step in his direction. When he saw the delight on Nick's face, he knew he was overreacting and needed to back off. He changed directions and went back over to the liquor cabinet.
"What I do or don't get is none of your damn business," he mumbled as he threw back a shot before mixing another drink and going back to his seat. As much as he'd love to knock his brother around, the liquor was beginning to kick in.
"I thought you wanted to box with me?" Nick said, leaning back as he grinned at Maverick.
"Nah. I'm good now," Mav said. "Just a lot on my mind. Let's get this show on the road."
"Damn. You sure go hot and cold, brother," Cooper said, sitting back and watching the show.
"Yeah, yeah, I know." Maverick was beginning to wonder why he'd been in such a bad mood in the first place.
Then the doctor hitting on his woman flashed through his mind, and he remembered all too well, making his blood pressure rise again. Nope. He pushed that image right out of his head. Lindsey would be much better off without him in her life in the long run. Still, their time wasn't quite over yet. They weren't finished planning the fund-raiser, and he just wasn't willing to let her go. Whatever his reasoning, though, he was still holding on when he shouldn't. Maybe it was really him who needed her and not the other way around.
"Get on with this. I have an early day tomorrow," Mav said, wanting to get out of his own head. He was tired of being in there.
"Our guy has new information on Ace," Cooper said.
That stopped all movement in the room.
"What's he got?" Nick finally asked.
"Ace isn't flying anymore. That's for sure. He's also placed a lawsuit against the family for his trust."
Mav let the words flow through him over and over again as he tried to process the words.
"Why in the world would he want to do that? We all had enough of our own money when Father made that stipulation in his will. Did he blow through it all?" Nick asked.
"I don't know why he's doing what he's doing," Cooper said with a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair.
"Will he win?" Mav asked.
"Does it really matter? The money is his. Do we actually care if and how he gets it?" Cooper asked.
"It's the principle. All three of us have grown up, gotten careers, done things to better our lives," Mav said.
"He won't win unless we all grant it," Cooper told them.
"And what do you want to do?" Nick asked.
Maverick really couldn't tell what his brother was thinking. It was obvious that Cooper didn't care if Ace got the money or not. Nick seemed on the fence. Maverick just wanted his brother back. Now he was worried that if he came back, he wouldn't want to be around the man he'd turned into.
"I just want to talk to him," Cooper said.
"I echo that," Maverick told them.
"And if we fight him, do you think he'll ever come home?" Nick pointed out.
"He might get the money and disappear all over again," Cooper said.
"We can't control him," Mav said with a sigh. "We don't have the right to control anyone." That was a lesson he really needed to learn.
"What has he been doing? Where's he living? What's going on in his life?"
"Maybe I can answer some of those questions."
The boys turned to the doorway and looked at Sherman, who was standing there looking in on them. His expression was sad as he moved into the room.
"Uncle Sherman?" Coop said.
"Is there something we're missing?" Nick asked.
"There's a lot your mother and I have kept from you," Sherman said as he moved over to an easy chair and sat down.
"Maybe it's time you tell us, then," Maverick said.
Sherman sighed. "Your brother was always different, right from the beginning. He was a hothead, but he does have a heart of gold inside. It's just buried deep down. He feels like he's been betrayed and he's not going to listen to any of us."
"Why does he feel betrayed? We were all in that room when Dad's will was read. We were pissed, but we got over it," Cooper said.
"It goes beyond the reading of the will, boys. It hinges on something before that. Some things happened that we didn't tell you about."