Too hot to sleep (15 page)

“M
AYBE
I
HOULD MOVE
to Denver,” Georgia said, wiping her nose. “I’m sure my brother-in-law would help me find a job.” She tossed the tissue into the garbage can next to the kitchen sink, and grabbed a fresh one for a hearty blow.

For the first time since Georgia had known her, Toni was speechless, and had been since she’d divulged the shocking truth. Her friend could only shake her head, which Georgia feared would come off from all the wagging.

“Jesus, Toni, say something.”

“I’ll help you load the moving van.”

Georgia’s face crumpled as a new wave of stinging tears assailed her. Her shoulders shook from abject shame and humiliation and something worse—disappointment. Disappointment that she had started to think that Ken Medlock was a decent guy, maybe even someone she could love. Maybe even someone who could love her back.

Her heart shivered, overcome with sadness.

Toni hugged her, and allowed her to cry for several long moments, then led her to a kitchen chair. “You sit while I fix us something cold to drink. Hmm. Did you know your refrigerator light is burned out?”

Georgia nodded, then sat down heavily. At least the
super had honored his word and fixed her programmable thermostat while she was at work this morning. Wouldn’t it be nice if she could simply reprogram her heart? Although, with her technical ineptness, she’d probably wind up losing a kidney.

She held her head in her hands, picturing Ken running next to the bus, looking for her. What had driven him to come after her—guilt over his behavior? Fear that she might report him to a superior? Certainly not concern for how she felt being manipulated like a hunk of warm wax.

The things she’d said to him…
Oh, God.

The phone rang, sending Georgia’s heart into her throat. She and Toni exchanged looks, but she allowed it to ring two, three, four times and roll over to the machine. Her own voice invited the caller to leave a brief message, then a beep sounded.

“Georgia, this is Ken.” His loud, deep voice penetrated the air, the microphone broadcasting in stereo sound.

Her sob turned into a hiccup. How dare he call her?

“If you’re there, please pick up.”

She sat rooted to her chair, her eyes narrowed at the machine.

He sighed. “Look, I don’t blame you for never wanting to talk to me again. I can imagine what you must think of me. I just wanted to say that…I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Georgia. It started out as innocent fun, and it got out of hand. Once I got to know you, I wanted to tell you. I
tried
to tell you at the reception before we…well, you know.”

Toni shot her a raised-eyebrow look. Georgia closed her eyes.

“I was even trying to think of a way to tell you today—that’s why I wanted us to be alone.” He grunted. “Although I can’t honestly say I would have, because things seemed to be going well between us, and I was hoping…”

Georgia opened one eye. He was hoping?

“I was hoping…”

She opened the other eye. He was hoping?

“I was hoping you wouldn’t hate me.”

She frowned. Too late.

“I’m sorry I deceived you, but I swear, I meant everything I said when we were on the phone.”

Toni pursed her mouth.

After a pause, he said. “Well, I won’t bother you again. I just couldn’t let things end like this. I’m sorry, Georgia.”

The call disconnected and the beep sounded again. She wiped her eyes. Her face and body ached with pent-up emotion.

Toni set two glasses of pink lemonade on the table and sat down in an adjacent chair. “Well,” she said, lifting hers for a drink.

Georgia sniffed. “Well, what?”

“Well, he sounded apologetic.”

She scoffed. “He’s sorry, all right—sorry he got caught.”

Toni sipped, then asked, “What was all that about the you-know at the reception?”

She stared into her glass, but knew her face was just about as pink as her drink.

“Georgia?”

She sighed. “We made out in a storage closet.”

“Ah. So that’s where he disappeared to. I thought you were leaving to call Rob.”

“I was,” she said miserably. “But he followed me, then we kissed, then we heard someone coming, so we hid in a closet, then one thing led to another.” She covered her mouth and breathed through her fingers. “And the whole time, he knew.”

Toni put her hand over Georgia’s on the table. “Okay, let’s break this down. You thought you were calling Rob and dialed Ken’s number by mistake.”

“Right.”

“Then the next day, you met Ken when he came into the E.R. with a dog.”

“Right.”

“Well, he couldn’t have very well planned to hit a dog just to bring him in.”

She shook her head. “No, Ken wouldn’t do something like that. It was coincidental, I’m sure.”

“But when he found out your name, he figured out who you were?”

Georgia bit on her lower lip, trying to remember their initial introduction. “He asked me if he knew me from somewhere, then said he knew a guy named Rob who dated a woman named Georgia, and I asked him if he was talking about Rob Trainer.”

“And he said yes?”

She nodded, then her eyes went wide. “I must have called him Rob on the phone. He made up the part about knowing a Rob just to see if I was the person who had called him!”

Toni nodded. “Sounds reasonable.”

Georgia smacked herself on the forehead. “The note.”

“What note?”

“When I was leaving the hospital that day, Melanie gave me a note and told me that Rob had been called out of town.”

“And Ken overheard this conversation?”

She nodded.

“So he knew Rob was out of the picture for a few days.”

“But he couldn’t have known that Rob wouldn’t call, or that my message recorder was fouled up.”

Toni shrugged. “I guess he figured he’d take his chances.” She grinned. “You must be good.”

Georgia blushed.
They
had been good.

“I just think it’s amazing that you were torn over breaking up with Rob because you felt like you guys were making headway, when the guy you were really making headway with was the same guy you were lusting and feeling guilty about.”

She squinted. “I think I followed that.”

“You get the gist.”

Georgia sipped her lemonade. “Mmm. What did you put in here?”

“Rum,” Toni said, pointing to the bottle on the counter. “Take a big drink. What was Ken referring to when he said he meant everything he said when you all were on the phone?”

She froze.

“What?”

“Well, there was one night—no, never mind.”

“What, Georgia?”

“There was one night when I thought Rob was going to tell me that he loved me, and I got all panicky.”

“You mean
Ken
was going to tell you.”

“Well, at the time I thought it was Rob.”

“So why did you get all panicky?”

She swallowed a mouthful of spiked lemonade. “Because…I suppose I knew that I didn’t love Rob.”

“Because?”

“Because…” She glanced at her friend and sighed. “Because I was falling for Ken.”

Toni squeezed her hand. “Then don’t you see? This is perfect! He likes you, and you like him.”

She shook her head and groaned. “But how could I? I barely know the man.”

“So? You knew Rob for ten months and that didn’t help. You didn’t even know he had a criminal record, for heaven’s sake.”

But Ken probably did, which could explain why he’d kept asking her about her relationship with Rob. She frowned. There was something honorable buried in the fact that he could have told her, but hadn’t, although she couldn’t sort it all out at the moment.

“But the man played me for a fool. He knows things about me. Private things.”

“And you know private things about him.”

True, she conceded. And some deep dark part of her was slightly relieved that at least a third man hadn’t been involved in her web of lust. At least she’d had phone sex with a man that she—what?

Cared about? Maybe.

But trusted? Never.

K
EN STOPPED
in front of the E.R. doors to County and rubbed his scratchy eyes. He hadn’t gotten a wink of sleep last night, worrying about Georgia, stewing in the misery of what he’d done to her.

Interspersed among the despair, of course, were more positive images. Of her at the mall, flustered after their encounter, laden with shopping bags. Of her taking his blood, then goading him into rallying his buddies for a good cause. Of their kiss in the park, when she’d tasted like sweet relish and fresh air. Of her running through the church parking lot in that filmy blue dress. Of her sitting on the floor of his living room, playing with Crash. Of their frenzied lovemaking in the dark closet. Of the light of possibilities in her amazing blue eyes when she’d come to the station yesterday seeking his help, never imagining he was the guilty party. Some superhero.

Last night had crawled by, and since Franks had fixed the air conditioning unit, he couldn’t blame the temperature. But he’d discovered that the fires of regret could be just as hot as the Southern sun.

Ken took a deep breath for courage. He simply had to see her again, and although he knew her address, he didn’t feel comfortable going to her apartment. The woman was already spooked. And the fact that Robert
Trainer hadn’t contacted him probably meant she hadn’t told her boyfriend the truth, which made him feel even worse.

The doors opened automatically, and he walked inside, panning the area for a glimpse of Georgia. His heart pounded in his ears.

“May I help you, Officer?” a woman at the admissions desk asked.

“Nurse Georgia Adams—is she working today?”

The woman pointed behind him.

Ken turned to see Georgia staring at him, hugging herself. At the sight of her sad, heavy eyes, he practically tore the hat he was holding in two. After a hard swallow, he walked toward her and stopped. “Georgia—”

“Why are you here?”

Mindful of the ears all around them, he grasped at the only straw at his disposal. “To have you check my blood pressure.” He took the fact that she didn’t throw something at him as a good sign and added, “Just as you ordered.”

“Anyone can take it,” she murmured.

“Please.”

She wet her lips, then inhaled and said, “Wendy, I’ll be in exam room three.”

Her voice was tight, and her body language closed as he followed her. Ken remembered the time he and Klone had entered an apartment building where an armed man had holed up after a bank robbery. What could it mean that he was more afraid now than he’d been then? And that the image of Georgia’s tear-streaked face in the bus window had wounded him
more than the lead he’d taken in the shoulder when they had rushed the criminal?

“Have a seat,” she said, sweeping her arm toward a sterile chair. He recognized the room as the same one in which she’d bandaged Crash. Ken closed the door behind them, then lowered himself onto the small chair.

“Georgia—”

“Your arm, please,” she said, holding out a blood pressure cuff.

He lifted his arm so she could fasten it tightly. She refused to look at him as she squeezed the plastic bulb that forced air into the cuff around his arm. When the pressure bordered on pain, she released the air, watching the gauge.

“It’s still a little on the high side, but within normal range for a man of your size.” She peeled off the device with a rip of Velcro.

“Georgia.” He curled his fingers around her wrist loosely.

She looked at him, her eyes moist, then jerked away. “Get out.”

He lifted his hands, then stood slowly. “I just wanted to tell you that I’m sorry.”

“So you said in your phone message.”

“I wanted to tell you in person.”

“I thought my lack of response would make it clear that I didn’t want to talk to you and certainly didn’t want to see you. But,” she said, her eyes pooling, her voice straining, “maybe you’re the kind of guy who has to be hit with a ton of bricks to get the message.”

Her words cut him like the blade of the madman
who had rushed the church. She was right. He was no better than that obsessed jerk who wouldn’t take no for an answer. That fool was probably also convinced that he was in love.

Ken stopped, mostly because his heartbeat had paused. It was a fair response from his body considering the revelation that had arrested his brain: He loved her.

“Don’t make me call security,” she whispered, then backed up against the exam table behind her. A solitary tear traveled down her cheek.

He’d never felt more helpless in all of his life. He was the biggest fool in Birmingham, maybe in the entire southeastern United States. A woman like Georgia Adams came along once in a lifetime—maybe. How ironic that he’d spent most of his adult life trying to figure out how to stay out of a relationship, and just when he was thinking about the possibility of maybe sort of trying to picture himself with one woman, she’d slipped through his fingers. No, he’d pushed her away with his games of deceit and manipulation. He didn’t blame her for hating him.

He strode out of the room as fast as his long legs would take him. Away from Georgia, so he couldn’t hurt her anymore. One thing he knew for certain: She was the hardest lesson he’d ever learned.

Ken had jammed his hat on his head and was nearly out the door when he heard a man calling, “Officer Medlock!”

He turned and conjured up a pleasant expression. “Hello, Dr. Story. Nice to see you again.”

The little man looked like an opossum, but he had
an excellent reputation in the city. “I just wanted to let you know that after our conversation Saturday morning, I decided to remove the reprimand from Nurse Adams’s file.”

“Thank you,” he said, truly relieved at the one bit of good news.

“From your explanation, I realize she did her best to circumvent the situation.”

But as usual, Ken thought, he had pushed until he’d gotten his way, and in the process, had jeopardized the woman’s job. What a selfish bastard he’d become. Never opening himself to other people, never considering how his actions might affect others, never putting his own emotions on the line.

“My wife runs the city blood bank,” Dr. Story said. “I heard about you rallying your fellow officers to build the reserves. We’re indebted to you, Officer Medlock. If there’s ever anything I can do for you, just ask.”

Ken started to shake his head, then recalled his emotions after the church incident. He’d acknowledged that he could almost identify with the lunatic because if he were about to lose Georgia, he wouldn’t wield a weapon, but
he’d be mighty tempted to make a fool of himself somehow.

Georgia said she wanted an honest man. Well, he’d blown it up to this point, but he could at least be honest about how he felt about her.

Turning a smile toward the good doctor, he said, “As a matter of fact, Doc, there
is
something you can do for me.”

G
EORGIA LEANED
on the exam table, trying to collect herself.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She looked up to see that Toni had poked her head into the room. Georgia sighed and nodded. “What are you doing down here?”

“I had a break and I thought maybe you could use one, too.”

“Could I ever.” Georgia averted her gaze from her friend’s quizzical look as they headed toward the break room.

“Well, I thought you’d be glad to know that I just told Dr. Baxter that my name isn’t Terri.”

She managed a smile. “Good for you. What did he say?”

Toni grinned. “He said the only way he could remember the name Toni was to think of Italian food—you know, like rigatoni. Oh, and would I like to have dinner with him?”

Despite her own recent romantic disasters, Georgia was happy for her friend. “I knew you’d get your man.”

Toni’s smile dimmed. “Okay, Georgia, ’fess up. What’s wrong?”

Georgia glanced around, then said, “Ken stopped by.”

“No kidding? What did he say?”

She grunted. “Same thing—that he was sorry.”

“Maybe he is.”

“Well, that’s not good enough.”

“Georgia, what do you want him to say?”

She frowned. “Nothing. I want him to stay away from me.”

“Are you sure?”

She fed coins into a soda machine. “After what he did?”

“I’m not taking up for the guy, but anyone can make a mistake.”

“Toni, a mistake is adding two numbers wrong. The man has a fundamental character flaw—he’s a self-centered jerk who doesn’t care about other people.” She blinked back a wall of sudden tears. “He certainly doesn’t care about me.”

A voice she recognized as Dr. Story’s came over the intercom. “Please stand by for an important message.”

She winced. She’d forgotten to stop by for her personal copy of her official reprimand. What a fun errand
that
would be.

“Georgia, this is Ken.”

She missed her mouth and spilled her soda down the front of her scrubs.

Toni stared at her wide-eyed. “He’s on the intercom.”

“I love you,” he said, his voice strong and resonating. “I don’t expect this to change your mind, I just wanted you to know.”

Georgia dropped the can and allowed Toni to scramble for it while she processed Ken’s revelation. She heard muted applause in the halls, and several people walked by the vending room, giving her the thumbs-up.

“What are you going to do?” Toni screeched, jumping up and down.

She shook her head. “He doesn’t mean it.”

“Are you crazy? The man told you he loved you over the intercom, for heaven’s sake!”

“He’s just trying to ease his conscience. Men like Ken Medlock will say anything when they’re backed into a corner.” She should know—she’d seen her father’s sugary words and elaborate gifts melt her mother’s resolve. Well, she’d rather be alone the rest of her life than submit to a man on whom love would be wasted.

“You’re simply going to ignore him?”

Georgia fed more coins into the vending machine, albeit with shakier fingers. “That’s right. I’m simply going to ignore him.”

At least she would try.