Forget Me Not (Love in the Fleet) (13 page)

“Ouch. Don’t ask.”

“Ah, still not gettin’ any. It’s been a couple of weeks. Come on, man. What’s wrong with you? Still got the cat?”

“Yeah. Now Daisy Mae knows how a girl’s supposed to behave. She loves me. I can’t sit down without her climbing all over me. You should see it. I got scratch marks on my knees from when I’m wearing shorts. She sits in my lap, purring and kneading her claws into my legs.”

“But no scratch marks on your back from the good doctor, huh?” Mikey laughed and hung his helmet up in his locker.

“Not yet.” Sky pulled off his flight gear. “It’s funny. My cat hates Daisy—that’s the vet…”

“You named your cat after your vet?”

“Yeah, what’s wrong with that? Anyway, Daisy Mae hates all the female staff at the clinic—and the chick I was seeing the night we found her. But the men? That cat goes to every one of the guys. And you know what she loves to do? She lies on her back, with all four paws going every which way and she sleeps that way. Now if I could get Dr. Daisy on
her
back. Ooh, baby.”

“Yeah, whatever, Sky. You’re so full of shit.” Mike laughed and walked out of the locker room.

Sky glanced down at his watch. 1500 hours. Sat down, elbows on thighs. Exhaled disgustedly. Here he was talking about his cat as if it was the love of his life—not that he didn’t like her. And not that she wasn’t helping him sleep better. But there had to be more to life than this. What had he done to drive Daisy Schneider away? And was it even worth trying to figure it out?

He looked right. Looked left. No answers in either place. And then and there he finalized his decision not to swing by the clinic, or drive to the Boys and Girls Club either. This relationship stuff was too much work
.
So the hell with it. He’d firm things up with the YMCA and do the fly-in next week. Then he’d be done with it—and her.

It was obviously over. She’d made it perfectly clear last week that she did not want him in her life. He told himself she was probably lousy in bed anyway, probably reverted to an ice queen. He understood that line of thought was most likely bullshit, but it seemed to help momentarily.

And his plan to get her back had backfired last night at Portside Manor. Course he’d passed a pleasant evening with George—until things got dicey there. So George had lost a co-pilot too. Sky whistled low. Not sure if he ever wanted to go there with the old man. He wondered if George had nightmares too.

Oh, well. Another reason not to pursue things with Daisy. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about leaving her bed in the middle of the night.

Yeah, loser. You’d have to get into her bed first before you could leave it.

“Fuck it,” Sky said as he kicked his locker shut. He missed her. He missed Daisy so much, he’d carried around a dull ache in his gut all week. If this was what being in love was like, Sky wasn’t sure he wanted any part of it. And besides, he had his pride. Maybe he’d go out and party tonight. Find some hot chicks…

But he didn’t want hot chicks. He wanted Daisy. So he’d just drag his sorry ass home with his tail tucked between his legs and spend the evening...? He knew he’d spend the entire evening thinking about her. Okay, so he’d pick up a six-pack. Shit. He’d still spend the entire evening thinking about her.

Drinkin’ and thinkin’.

“Hey, Sky, I think there’s something wrong with your cat.”

That’s how his roommate greeted him at the door and Sky knew he was right. Daisy Mae not only didn’t welcome him, but she barely woke up when he petted her. Her blue eyes were bloodshot, listless, dull, and her nose felt hot to the touch. Did cats run fevers? He didn’t know, but he knew where he was headed as he scooped her up with one hand and grabbed her carrier with the other.

There was no sweet-talking his way into an exam room today. Lillian understood immediately Daisy Mae was truly sick and sent him right back to an exam room. When Dr. Daisy opened the door, she let out a sigh upon seeing him.

“Wait—” he said. “There’s something really wrong with her. I think she’s got a fever. Look at her. She’s too sick to even hiss at you.”

“Okay.” Daisy plugged her stethoscope into her ears, “Let’s have a listen.” She looked up at him, standing there like a worried father. “She does have a lot of congestion. When did this start?”

Sky’s heart pounded. Some of it was being in Daisy’s presence again, but the rest was concern for his cat. He hadn’t realized how attached he’d become to his furry new best friend. “I don’t know. She seemed fine when I left for the base this morning. Is she going to be okay?”

“Yes, I’m sure it’s some kind of upper respiratory infection.” Daisy checked the cat’s ears and throat. “Let’s try her on antibiotics for ten days and see what that does. Here.” She pulled out a syringe. “This will get her started. I’ll prescribe some pills to give her at home this week.” As she finished with the shot, she said, “There. That ought to fix the problem.”

He knew he should just put the cat back in her cage and walk out the door. But just seeing Daisy Schneider again knocked every common sense impulse to leave her alone right out of his head.

“What?” Daisy asked.

He hadn’t realized he’d been staring at her. Sky glanced away, eyes flickering around the room before coming back to hers. “Is there anything we can do to fix our problem?”

“I don’t think so, Brian.” She opened the cage door and Daisy Mae was only too happy to climb back inside to get away from her. “I’m pretty sure I’ve made it clear that seeing each other is not a good idea. I’m sorry if I led you on, but I don’t think things with us are going to work out.”

Sky’s stomach churned. His heart ached. This was not going as planned. “You can’t deny we had something going before I left town. Are you going to tell me that kiss in the surf meant nothing to you?”

Daisy grabbed a squirt bottle and sprayed the exam table, wiping it up with a rag, while staring him down. “So this is about sex? I should have guessed.”

“No, it’s not about sex. Jesus, Daisy.” And then when Daisy looked at him with her bluey-green eyes, it was all over. “Goddammit, Daisy. I don’t know why—the way you send mixed messages—but I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with you.”

Her mouth dropped open. She huffed out a breath. “You wouldn’t know love if it smacked you in the face,
honey
.”

“Not true. I fell in love with you the moment I met you.”

“You fell in love with my
rack
the moment you met me.”

And although he commanded his eyes not to look down, they disobeyed a direct order and swept to her breasts before ricocheting back to her face. A glimmer of a smile on his lips. “Well, that didn’t hurt.” Then turning serious, he added, “The one on your car!”

“Oh, you are impossible,” Daisy cried. “So now he loves me,” she said to Daisy Mae, who felt well enough to hiss at her now. “I bet he tells that to all the girls to get them into bed.”

Sky jerked back as if she’d slapped him across the face. He hoped she could see the hurt radiating from him. “You know I may be a lot of things, Daisy Schneider, but I am honest and I have never said that to a woman to get her into bed.”

“Are you telling me you don’t want to sleep with me?”

“I didn’t say that.” She had him flustered now. He raked his hand through his hair. “Actually, I’ve never used the ‘L’ word in a sentence with ‘I’ and ‘You’ before with any woman.”

“What? Are you going to stand there and tell me you’ve never said ‘I love you’ to a woman at
all?
Ever
?”

He turned his head to mull it over. Rubbed his crew cut, chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second, then looked back at her innocently, “Does my mother count?”

“No, your mother does not count.”

Aha. He saw her lip twitch at the corner. “Then I swear I haven’t.”

Daisy went back to squirting the table. “Brian, you’ve known me what? Two weeks?”

“Sixteen days and…” He glanced at his watch. “Eleven minutes.”

He thought he saw another shadow of a smile as Daisy finished wiping the stainless steel surface. But maybe not.

“I’m sorry, Brian, I think it would be simpler if we didn’t see each other any more.” Then gently, she added, “I mean, maybe you should think about getting another vet.”

Get another vet? That was the last straw. First she’d thrown his profession of love back in his face but now she was throwing Daisy Mae out on her ass too.

“Fine
,
sweet
heart!” He gathered up the dregs of his pride, clicked the cage shut, and stormed down the hall.

He couldn’t believe he’d blurted out he was in love with her. His mantra had always been “Run on anything if there’s already two outs
,
”
so he figured he’d had nothing to lose. But apparently he had.

Because Sky Crawford had just lost his heart.

The vet tech was at the desk when he checked out. Her name was Melissa or something. Didn’t matter, since he’d been told to
get another vet.
“And no, I don’t need a follow-up appointment,” he snapped at her as he slapped his credit card down on the counter. “I won’t be returning.” He noticed Lillian filing records, watching him. Just because Daisy was a bitch didn’t mean he had to be rude. “Lillian.” He nodded his head.

She nodded back. “Cap’n Crawford.”

And then he let fly to both of them. He jerked his thumb toward the hall “What is wrong with her?” Neither of them said a word as Melissa handed him a bottle of pills. “Somebody needs to give
her
a pill. You know what? She
is
a pill. Jesus.” He continued to glare toward the exam rooms—and
her.
“Goddamn Ice Queen.”

The vet tech handed him the credit card receipt. “Dr. Daisy wasn’t always like that. I knew her in high school. She used to be a lot of fun. But, well, she hasn’t been the same since her husband died.”

A freight train roared through Sky’s head, blasting away his anger. She’d grabbed his attention in a chokehold. “Her husband
died?
”

“Yes.” Melissa glanced nervously back at Lillian. Lillian shook her head affirmatively at him. “Sorry, I thought you knew. Jack’s helicopter was shot down in Afghanistan a couple of years ago.”

Sky reached for the counter to steady himself.

Jack. He had a name.

And he flew a helicopter.

And he was killed in action
.

I don’t date military men, especially pilots.

What’s the matter? Crashed and burned?

Something like that.

Holy Mother of God. Could he have been more of an idiot?

Daisy lifted Mr. Miller’s Schnauzer to the exam table. Brian had been perfectly serious. There wasn’t any “ain’t I funny” look on his face when he’d said
he was in love with her.
He looked as innocent as the time he’d stood in that exact spot and asked, “You mean, kill the babies?” She’d been right about him. What-you-see-is-what-you-get.

And was it really such a bad thing? To have a man in love with her again?

Daisy turned as the door to the exam room flew open. Brian strode in and took her in his arms. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Daisy froze. Dumbstruck.

“Please forgive me for my stupidity and rudeness, but I didn’t know. Oh, my God, Daisy. I am so sorry,” he whispered into her hair.

Lillian must have spilled the beans. Daisy tried to apologize to the client with her eyes as Brian continued to rock her stiff body from side to side. Finally, he turned to Mr. Miller and said, “I’m sorry but Dr. Daisy is done for the day. Can you please re-schedule?”

Daisy extricated herself from his arms. “No, Mr. Miller. Brian, please let me finish with this patient and I promise to talk with you, but
please
…” she implored him through gritted teeth.

“No. Your husband
died
and you need to be held.”

Mr. Miller’s mouth dropped open. His eyes darted back and forth between the two of them.

Again beseeching the client with an apologetic look, she gave the dog the rest of its shots.
Her gaze flickered back to Brian and she hissed, “It happened two years ago. I don’t need to be held right now.”

“Yeah, but I just found out two minutes
ago, and you haven’t been held by me
.”

“I’ll just come back later for the rest of his exam, Doc,” said a flustered Mr. Miller, as he scooped up his dog and departed.

“Why didn’t you tell me he was killed in action? I thought you were divorced. Thought he broke your heart or something. Maybe he cheated on you. I didn’t know you were a
Gold Star Wife
.”

“It’s none of your business.” Daisy reached for the squirt bottle, but Brian took it out of her hands and set it back down, never taking his eyes from hers.

“Well I want to make it my business because I want you to be my business. And him being KIA is part of that.”

“Look, Brian, I have patients scheduled.”

“I canceled the rest of your day.

“You
what
?”

“And tomorrow too. Lillian is rescheduling them. Come on. Get your things. We’re going home.”

“You can’t do that.”

He put his arm around her shoulders and walked her out the door and down the hall to the front desk. Daisy protested all the way. “I am not…let go of…you can’t…” But he wasn’t listening.

“Okay, girls?” Brian asked the ladies. “You got everything under control?”

Daisy looked daggers at Lillian, who pointed to herself and shook her head no
,
then pointed at Melissa and mouthed out:
She told him.

“Dr. Daisy will be back on Monday.” He coughed dramatically. “Lot of nasty bugs going around this time of year. We’ll both take a long weekend and, uh, we’ll be all better.” He coughed again for good measure. “Oh, and Lillian, call the Boys and Girls Club. Tell them she won’t be there today.”

Daisy looked back at Lillian who was smiling broadly now. “Take your time, doctor. There’s nothing here we can’t handle.”

“What in the world
was that all about?” Daisy demanded in the parking lot as she pummeled his chest. “You can’t do this. You can’t make me leave. How could you cancel my appointments?” But her fists began to lose their fight and so did she.