The Doctor's Devotion (Love Inspired) (4 page)

Whatever it took to regain the bond and have more time to cherish with him, like old times. Before Mitch.

“What’s today’s agenda?” Lauren asked politely to break the tension, ease Mitch’s embarrassment and Grandpa’s concern.

Mitch wiped his mouth. “I’m driving to the trauma center to check on last night’s patients. Then returning to knock out some stuff on Lem’s summer to-do list.”

“For which I’m glad.” Lem’s arm draped over Mitch’s chair.

Just great. More Mitch and less Grandpa.

She clenched her teeth until her jaw hurt.

Mitch stood. His height always took her by surprise. He carried plates to the sink. Grandpa nudged Lauren. She rose to help Mitch with dishes, even though she wanted to be nowhere near him.

Grandpa also tried to help. Mitch waved him back. “You cook, I clean, remember? That’s the deal.” Mitch grinned and shooed Lem to the living room.

It galled her all the more. Why hadn’t
she
thought of giving Grandpa a break?

Lauren found herself glaring at Mitch before she could stop. Thankfully her back was to Grandpa. She peeked to be sure.

Lem eyed the television and didn’t offer a clue that he’d picked up on Lauren’s struggle. In fact, he looked overjoyed at the prospect of retreating without an ounce of argument.

Highly unusual for Grandpa, whose work ethic wouldn’t let him see someone else working without stepping in to help.

Rather, he grinned all the way to his easy chair and appeared perfectly content to leave the two of them alone.

Keyword:
alone
.

His suddenly sturdy countenance depicted an inner well-being that left Lauren with a distinct impression. Perhaps Lem’s fear of perishing at seventy had more to do with worry over her than himself? That made sense. Especially in light of Grandpa’s grounded faith and trademark talk of the hope of heaven.

Dread gave way to a sick feeling inside Lauren. Did Grandpa hope she and Mitch had a future together? And did that hope seem to invigorate and enliven Grandpa?

She studied Mitch and dearly hoped Grandpa’s trust hadn’t been sorely misplaced.

Chapter Five

W
hat was she thinking?

Mitch would really like to know. He watched Lauren with magnified interest for the third chore day in a row after breakfast at Lem’s.

“We got a lot done yesterday. Thanks for your help.”

She shrugged. “No reason for me not to.”

He eyed her attire and grinned. “Not many women can rock a vintage pair of farmer’s ratty denim overalls. But you do.”

Cheeks tinged, she quickly spooned scraps into the trash. Mitch was glad to know she became embarrassed as easily as him. Or maybe her skin was rosy because she was riled. He’d been here so much, chipping away at Lem’s chore list before the trauma center got too busy for him to manage both.

Also for Lem’s sake, he needed to keep peace with Lauren. She obviously had a problem with his friendship with Lem. Humor might defuse the situation. At least the immediate tension.

Wordlessly, she joined him at the sink. Her bracelet jangled as she slid it off and set it on the windowsill. Sunlight swept through the panes and painted a golden shine to her hair, woven in a loose, classy braid coiled over one shoulder. She batted and blew at flyaways curling into her face.

He turned on the water. “For the record, I like your hair even when it’s misbehaving.”

She paused while setting a dish in his soapy water. Met his gaze and smiled in a drawn-out way that made Mitch see a sharp resemblance to one of Lem’s ornery impending grins.

“You don’t expect me or my hair to stop misbehaving just because you’re here this week, do you?”

Mitch chuckled and began scrubbing dishes. Fresh citrus scents permeated the air. “Hardly.”

Something unsettling oozed out of him, like suds from the sponge he squeezed over a dish. She’d said “this week.”

She must not realize his eating with Lem was an every-morning ritual, even when they didn’t have a mile-long chore list. She was liable to go from zero to mad and stay there the second she found out. And she’d find out soon enough.

Days before Lauren told Lem she was coming, Lem had given Mitch the summer to-do list. Much-needed home-improvement projects, knowing Mitch had limited time before the trauma center took off full force in the fall. Mitch wasn’t about to neglect Lem’s requests, because in addition to worrying about Lauren, Lem fretted over things breaking down in and around his house.

Mitch regretted that her warmth would cool and her smile dim when she learned how tightly his life was twined with Lem’s, but it seemed inevitable. Jealousy was the only reasonable explanation why her beautiful eyes radiated anger every time he interacted with Lem.

Didn’t she know she didn’t have to always live like the outsider or waste one more breath believing she didn’t belong? How sad was that?

Mitch studied her as she dried the dishes he set in the drain. Water glistened off her hands as she rescued a spoon he missed in the rinse water before the disposal gobbled it.

She hit a switch and the noise faded. Citrusy clean scents permeated the kitchen. Horses clomped and pistols
pop-popped
from Lem’s favorite vintage Western show on a TV Mitch had set up in Lem’s living room.

She peered over her shoulder at Lem and smiled. It plied his heart like putty and softened it to clay.

Out of respect for Lem’s care concerning Lauren, how could Mitch reach out and pull her in? Pulling away from Lem wasn’t the answer, even though that’s probably what Lauren would prefer Mitch do. Loneliness plagued Lem enough, and Mitch wasn’t about to abandon him on purpose.

On the spurs of the rowdy Western show came a comedy, as evidenced by Lem’s whooping laughter. The sound made Lauren’s face beam like a thousand moons at midnight. Her iridescent eyes and effervescent expression mirrored happiness he felt inside.

Their gazes connected then darted to the floor.

She poured Lem a fresh cup of coffee. Mitch resisted the urge to tell her Lem preferred the red chipped cup. She’d learn.

Mitch’s penchant for being helpful put him in trouble at times. Lauren obviously knew how particular Lem was about certain things. She stacked plates and organized dishes exactly how Lem liked it, which was “how he had always done it.”

Coffee cups came and went, but the cherished never left.

Lauren would learn that in time. He refused to infringe on the sacred, and she and Lem had shared losses that immortalized them from ever letting the importance of one another go.

She was just insecure right now, was all. Hopefully.

The lower cabinet creaked as she opened it. Haphazardly stacked pans toppled out onto her toes. Mitch hunkered next to her to help restack the storage space.

“Thanks,” she murmured.

“Sure.” He lifted heavy pans as she held the cranky-hinged cabinet door. “I’ve been meaning to fix that. Time gets away from me.”

“I know the feeling,” she said softly, surprising him. Vulnerable eyes flitted to his then to where Lem cackled at the TV. Then her gaze lowered to the floor.

She needed to know Mitch wasn’t a threat. He had no intention of stealing her grandfather away from her. He also had no intention of pulling back on the reins of his and Lem’s familylike relationship just because it rubbed her wrong.

The solution was to share Lem. The problem was on her end. She needed to come to the realization of how irrational her ire was. Even still, compassion tried to take up residence next to Mitch’s resolve not to let her anger influence his actions.

Disarmingly quiet, she hung the damp dish towel on a rack affixed to the wall then joined Lem. Mitch found a screwdriver. He grew intent on working the creaks and kinks out of the cabinet. And from this uncomfortably tense and trying situation.

Mitch would be here long after Lauren left. Lem needed stability in his life. Lauren had made it perfectly clear she didn’t intend to stay past summer’s end. That reality made Mitch sad for Lem, who desperately wanted Lauren close. Had she any idea how deeply Lem ached for her and her nearness?

Hopefully Lauren didn’t have the kind of self-absorption that his ex possessed which led her to decimate important relationships in her life.

He shouldn’t liken Lauren to Sheila. But the recent breakup still smarted. Perhaps he should withhold judgment and extend grace, as Lem taught him growing up.

Lauren reentered the kitchen with a funny expression. “Trash runs tomorrow. He asked us to clean out his fridge.”

On the way to it, Mitch caught sight of Lem, sniggering over his coffee cup as he eyed the pair. “I’m sure he did.” Mitch shook his head.

Lauren reached in and started checking dates on goods while Mitch peeled the lids of leftover dishes and looked with fear.

Lauren set about helping him. Only, she popped the tops off, poked her nose inside and smelled the contents.

“You are brave.” He indicated the containers. “No telling how long some of that stuff has been in there.”

“Ew!” Lauren’s nose pinched as she clamped a lid back on a bowl. “I don’t think those beets were supposed to be pickled.”

Mitch laughed and tried not to enjoy her response too much.

She shook her head and surveyed the fridge contents. “I’ve never seen anyone with so many butter containers in one place.”

“He likes using them for storage. Not just food. He has an entire garage wall lined with shelves of butter tubs. Full of batteries, bolts, nuts, nails and everything imaginable.”

Her lovely smile dimmed, making him wish he’d kept quiet. Last thing he wanted to do was cause her to have to contend with more hurt. He was just trying to make conversation.

All these containers and no way to butter her up? Think, Mitch.

“Wanna help me wash?” Mitch lifted a dozen empty tubs.

“Of course.” She also took an armload to the sink and they began doing the dishes. Again. This time the silence between them leaned toward sweet instead of stilted.

What gave him the nerve, Mitch didn’t know, but he rested his elbow against hers as they worked together. Just as in surgery. Like a team. Surprisingly, she didn’t resist.

Joy rose when she squeezed the detergent bottle and giggled. He loved the sound and intended to ensure Lem heard it more. Lem worried himself sick over Lauren.

Not only that, laughter seemed to deter her from the frank jealousy she possessed over his friendship with her grandpa.

Lauren stilled then stiffened. He peered at what she did.

Photos on the fridge. As many of Mitch with Lem fishing and doing other recreational activities as there were of her and Lem.

She narrowed her gaze, turned fiercely on Mitch.

“Yeah, we like to have fun,” he said. “I don’t see the problem.”

“There lies the problem. You don’t see.” She swept her hand toward the fridge surface as though tempted to sweep the photos away, but stopped and eyed Lem. Her hand dropped with defeated finality. “Fishing was
our
thing. Always. Just me and Grandpa.”

“This isn’t a competition, Lauren.” Mitch touched her arm gently.

She jerked it away—not so gently. “He isn’t
your
grandpa.”

He was, though. Sort of. Not by blood maybe, but by tears and time invested and years of talks of dreams and fears. “How about next time we go fishing, you go with us?” Mitch offered.

“How about next time we go fishing, you stay home?”

Stunned by the amount of scorch in her words, Mitch formulated his own retort but scaled back the rudeness. “Lem’s life will go on as normal. Period.”

She’d have to learn to live with it. Lem had reached out like a dad to Mitch growing up, and he wasn’t about to abandon Lem over mismanaged emotions and envy. Hopefully soon she’d see how irrational, abrasive and self-destructive her jealousy was.

Otherwise she was in for a miserable summer. So was he.

And so was Lem. Which is why Mitch needed to cool his jets and try. Attempt to reason with her instead of letting his sympathy wane every time she opened her mouth. Problem was, every third time she opened her mouth, acid spewed out.

He leaned in and softened his tone. “Look, if we don’t nip this tension between us now, Lem will get wind of it and worry.”

That seemed to snap her to her senses. Thankfully the anger didn’t make an ugly encore, and envy managed not to rear its head. Mitch doubled his efforts to listen more than he spoke. It worked. Slowly they began less caustic verbal exchanges, sparring at first then funny and sincere.

It was obvious they were both putting their best foot forward. For Lem’s sake, of course.

They had a second set of dishes done in no time flat, yet Mitch could have stood there talking easily with her all day.

Talking turned to laughing, which turned into total hilarity when Mitch kept pushing the plastic bowls down only to have them pop up again. She giggled every time it happened. He did, too. The shared humor drastically disintegrated the tension.

“Help me hold them down?” Mitch entreated after another bowl bobbed up and flung an airborne glob of soap in his eye.

“Think physics. You have to turn them sideways and fill them at an angle. See? The water and the air stop resisting one another and meet halfway.” As she showed him, their hands touched. Their motions startled then slowed at the pleasant but wholesome sensation. Not only that, her carefully exacted comment about meeting halfway held unmistakable emphasis.

He met her gaze. “Meeting halfway sounds better than fighting constantly.”

The depth of beauty and bravery in her smile plunged all rational thought into disarray. He had not expected it.

Seemed to him they took their time near the end of the butter bowl baptizing marathon.

Afterward Lauren washed the table. “Mitch, are you going to the trauma center today?”

“No. I’m going tomorrow after I come here and clear out Lem’s gutters. I’ve already rounded at the center today.”

“May I come with you tomorrow, to check on Mara?”

“The texting teen?” He hadn’t meant it to come out so abrupt. But seriously, what was Lauren’s draw? The girl killed someone with whatever string of words she’d felt too important to pull over for. Talk about a death sentence.

Mitch’s annoyance regained ground.

“Yes.” A wary expression accompanied Lauren’s answer. Perhaps his ire was a little overdosed. Yet hadn’t his dad’s life been snuffed out by an equally distracted driver?

Mitch scrubbed the opposite end of the table with fervor. “Suit yourself. But just to warn you, Mara’s still on a ventilator, unconscious. There’s also a possibility I’d get held up at the center because the other surgeon who’s been graciously covering for me is on call at Refuge Memorial, his primary hospital.”

Mitch really did not want Lauren getting attached to Mara. Nothing good could come of that. Right?

The stubborn set to her jaw resembled Lem’s when things—like tractors—didn’t go his way. “I’ll take my chances.”