Forever Rain (Rain Will Fall Trilogy #1) (2 page)

I had my nursing degree to fall back on if the business didn’t do well, but I was determined to make it work. Although the past couple years has been stressful due to the economy and hospitals cutting back and opening their own in-house nursing agencies, I was grateful for the opportunity to own my own business and worked very hard to keep it viable. Any money that I had saved from the first few years, I invested back into the business. Recently I took out a loan to expand the business in San Francisco. My market research showed the need for agency nurses there. Now I just needed to get contracts in the hospitals and keep everyone working.

My phone rang again. “Zoe here.” My voice was clipped as I swerved out of the way of a metro bus.

“Good morning, Miss Caine.” It was Grace, my receptionist.

“Hi, Grace, I’m almost at the office,” I informed her. Mornings were busy and this one was no exception.

“I wanted to give you a heads-up, Miss Caine, that the air conditioner is out again. I got in a few minutes ago and put the fans in place. I called maintenance and they should be here soon to see what the problem is.”

“Call Lenny and let him know as well. Maybe he will spring for a new cooling system.” Lenny was the landlord and owner of several small shopping strips around the Houston area.

“Will do, Miss Caine.” I hit the disconnect button as I pulled my car into the small parking lot.

Chapter 2

Stepping out of my car, I took in my attire, glad that I’d chosen a simple white shift dress with some floral design scattered along the bottom. The dress came just above my knees and complimented the Antonio Melani pumps quite nicely.

When I entered the office, Grace was on the phone so I mouthed good morning to her and headed into my office. I opened the door and took in its sparse decor of a small sofa, a bookshelf in the corner, and two chairs in front of my desk. A few personal photos and my diploma hung on the wall.

I set my computer bag and Coach purse on the desk and opened the blinds of the only window in the room. The heat and humidity was typical for Texas summers and this morning was no exception, but with no central air circulating, the warm air from the fans wouldn’t do much to keep us cool.

Once again, I wished that I could afford to move the office to a newer or more updated building, but money was tight and I was in the process of expanding the business. I also offer more benefits to my employees, which is an added cost to my tight budget, but necessary for employee retention. I lifted the hair off the back of my neck, then rummaged through my purse for a ponytail holder.

“So, tomorrow is the big day.” Veronica, my Director of Nursing, and one of my best friends, came in and sat down. Veronica was beautiful. Her mixed heritage from a Latin mother and Caucasian father gave her skin a light olive coloring and gorgeous caramel color eyes. She was wearing her long, glossy black hair in a fish bone braid today that hung down her shoulder and lay on one side of her well-endowed chest.

“Don’t remind me. I don’t think I’m ready and hope I still fit in the dress I bought a few weeks ago.” I scowled at her from under my lashes, but my eyes were playful.

“Gaw! Get over it already.” She blew an exasperated breath. “This party will do you some good. You have been totally dedicated to the company and hardly socialize or do anything fun anymore.” She fiddled with the stack of papers in her hands. “But really, Zoe, we appreciate the sacrifices that you’ve made. Despite the stressful times, you work harder to make sure we all take a paycheck home. Much appreciated.”

I was touched by her kind words and told her so.

“Yeah, you’re right. I will be in the party mood by tomorrow. It will be fun, plus I have not had a taste of my favorite friends in a bottle for a while like Grey Goose and Don Julio.” I grinned at her from across my desk. Like me, Veronica was a native Houstonian. We met in college, got our first nursing jobs at the same hospital and she was determined to be at my side when I told her of my plans for the agency.

“So, let’s get some business out of the way then.” Veronica opened the Apple laptop computer as Andre strolled in with Starbucks coffee for all three of us and sat in the other chair. We started our morning with the usual 30-minute meeting.

Andre reported that Gail was having some X-rays done, a couple more nurses that had minor issues he resolved, and other nurses that reported to the various hospitals in and around the Houston area who got to work on time. The morning was business as usual. Andre and I worked on two more contracts for hospitals in San Francisco. I was also looking at market analysis for hospitals and their need for temporary nurses in Atlanta.

Andre went to his office to finalize our travel plans to go to San Francisco for our meetings with hospital administrators next week.

During the course of the day I met with a few more nurses who were new hires and were going through the paces of exams and competencies with Veronica. After my standard boring lunch of Chobani yogurt, a banana and Vitamin Water, I headed back to my office when Grace notified me that I had a call from my boyfriend, Robert Royden.

“Hi, Robert. How are you? Is your mother more amenable with her new nurse? Did you get my text this morning about the limo that Jenna rented to take us to Austin tomorrow?” I usually asked all my questions at once, as Robert would rather speak uninterrupted.

He answered my questions and continued to tell me about his day, uninterrupted. “Hello, sweets. My day is going well although it could be better. I met with mother’s attorney yesterday. He said mother will need to cut back on her traveling or do without her private duty nurse. She did not take well to the news and has taken to her bed again. I think he’s being a little unreasonable and I told him so.”

I looked out of my window at the busy street in front of the building as I listened to the latest dilemma of my possible future mother-in-law and tried to follow along. Since some of the hospitals had their own in-house nursing agency, several hospitals did not renew my contract. I had expanded my agency to private duty nursing a year ago. My clients were wealthy and able to afford private nurses, whether it was medically necessary or not.

“…Sadly, sweets, that includes you, too.” Shit! I’d lost him somewhere in the one-sided conversation and tried to catch up as he continued…” Don’t take it personally that she won’t see you next Wednesday for dinner. She’s upset but will revert back to herself soon.”

I scrambled to interject something intelligent in the conversation as Robert paused as if waiting for a response from me.

“Don’t worry about it, Robert. I, ah…that is, you will help her figure it out.” Really! I can’t believe that is the best I could come up with. Was it too late to make a New Year’s resolution? I didn’t care, I was making one anyway…pay keen attention to anything your boyfriend has to say. Yes, I can do that.

“Sorry about the limo, lovie. I will fly to Austin tomorrow evening. This ordeal with her attorney has upset her and I need to make sure she will be OK for the weekend.”

“I understand, Robert. I will miss your company on the ride to Austin. Until tomorrow night then.” I felt a little guilty for not insisting that he stay in Houston, but I also wanted him to attend the party.

“Thank you, sweets. Goodbye.”

And just like that the conversation was over. I looked down at the phone and convinced myself that Robert was good for me, just what I needed in a companion. At 40, he seemed like an old soul. We’d met at a charity fund raising event six months ago for battered and abused women. He was representing his company law firm. On a very small scale, I donate an item for the silent auction like I’ve always done over the past few years.

Robert was very sweet that night and gave me a ride home. I had attended the event with one of my best friends, Mia Lambert, who swore she had the worst headache of her life and had to leave early. She then texted me and said that Robert caused her horrific headache due to his boring stories and my audacity to actually listen to them.

She was such a brat! But I loved her dearly and the following week she showed up at my office with lunch and asked my forgiveness for being rude and ditching me. Mia was from a very rich Texas oil family. Refusing to go in to the oil business, she’d defied her father’s wishes and became a nurse. To her father’s delight, upon graduating from college she decided to follow in her older brother’s footsteps and work in the family business after all…but as the Director of Nursing in the company’s employee medical clinic.

The afternoon was just as busy as the morning. At 6 p.m., I stood at my desk allowing the blood to flow into my now aching legs. The private duty patients all had nurses lined up for the weekend shifts, the hospitals that requested nurses were staffed and Andre and I had face to face meetings next week in San Francisco with several hospitals for possible contracts.

I powered off the Mac computer and the company name and logo scrolled across the flat screen…

Bluebonnet Nursing Agency.

My mind was drawn back to the gorgeous painting in my reception area. It was an original by G. Harvey, one of America’s renowned Texan artists.

It had been painted from a photograph that was taken 10 years ago and housed in a rustic wooden frame. The painting was a field of bluebonnet flowers, with a girl in the distance walking in the field, her head turned to the side. She was looking back at the camera, a gorgeous smile on her face, her dress billowing in the wind around her knees.

I shook my head to clear the memories of the painting and its depiction of the 20-year-old girl, so much in love and full of hope. Thankful for the knock on the door of my office, I called for the person to enter as thoughts of the carefree, idealistic girl were pushed back into the recess of my mind as a sad unfulfilled dream.

The last one to leave, I made my way out to my car, an Infiniti G37 sedan, and headed Midtown to meet Mia and Veronica for a margarita at Cyclone Anaya’s Mexican Kitchen. Pulling the keys from my purse, I handed them to the valet who winked at me. I smiled back at him and went into the restaurant to meet my friends. The place was packed which was typical for a Friday evening. I grinned as I saw them waving to me on the outside patio and headed their way.

“Not that you don’t look great, chick, but you look like you need one of these.” Mia greeted me with a hug and placed the frosty mug of frozen goodness in my hand. I took a long sip of the margarita and plopped down in my seat. We immediately started talking about the party, the limo for us, and a party bus that Jenna rented for several of my Houston friends that didn’t want to drive to Austin.

All three of our phones were buzzing with texts, Facebook messages and tweets with news of the party tomorrow night. We giggled and flirted with some guys at the table across from us. One of them bought us a round of drinks for my birthday. He blatantly hit on Mia and charmed her the entire hour we were there.

We had a two-limit drink since we were our own designated drivers. The valet reluctantly handed over the keys to Mia while ogling over her convertible Aston Martin. I shook my head at the attention she drew. As if she wasn’t gorgeous enough with platinum blonde hair, a petite size four, and baby blue eyes, she drove an equally gorgeous car. Outrageous in all that she does, Mia loved attention and got plenty of it wherever she went. Veronica and I grinned at her as she slid into the uber swanky car and sped off. The guy that was flirting with her on the patio stood up at the table and whistled. His friends gave him a hard time since Mia hadn’t given him her phone number. More relaxed now that I had some time to unwind from my busy day, I headed home.

I called Jenna and chat about the party tomorrow night. She filled me in on the activities taking place in her backyard. Along with tending her magnificent yard, Rojellio, her gardener, tended to her botanical garden and greenhouse that has been featured in
Nature and Botany
as well as
House & Garden
and
Southern Living
magazines.

After taking a shower, I gratefully slipped into a nightshirt, poured a glass of chardonnay and sat on the small patio in my backyard. Reluctantly I allowed my mind to drift to my parents. I did not have the privilege of knowing or having any memory of them. I’m often told that I look a lot like my mother. I miss not having the structure of a traditional family that so many of my friends did have, but I was grateful for all the love and affection that Aunt Suzette showered on Jenna and me.

Since she was 7 when our parents died, Jenna remembered them well and took on the role of my protector after their passing. It seemed hard for her to give up that role in my life even now that I was an adult. When she was away at college, she called me every day and we would chat about our life and missing each other. She listened to me complain about boys that I liked who didn’t know that I existed, or not fitting into the popular groups of girls that always seemed to date the entire high school football and basketball boys’ teams.

Despite not being the most popular girl in high school, I managed to do well with grades and was on the track and field team and my tennis game wasn’t bad either. I also made some great friends along the way, like Jeremy who was a math genius, who’d gotten a full scholarship to MIT. He’d covered for me more than once in my junior year when I dated a boy that Aunt Suzette did not approve of. I was thrilled that he would be coming to the party as he was living in San Francisco since starting his own IT company a few years ago.

I finally slid into bed between the cool cotton sheets a little after 10 p.m. My weary body, helped along with the alcohol, pulled me into a deep sleep. I dreamt of the girl in the field of bluebonnet flowers and how much in love she was with her boyfriend.

Chapter 3

Saturday morning I dressed in a long cotton summer maxi dress, with sandals, and pulled my long hair into a ponytail, sans make-up.

Mia walked into my bedroom and shoved a Starbucks Grande Caffe Latte with a shot of double espresso into my hand. I greedily gulped the hot, delicious liquid.