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Chapter 101: Unwelcome interruption
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Diagnosis: Love Chapter 102: Not the guy I need to see
DEACONIf I needed one more reason to be pissed off for life at my father, he'd just given me one. Emma had been about to respond to my promise. She'd been close to saying something-and I clung to the hope that it was what I wanted to hear, not a regretful blow-off. But I'd never know now, because my father, the man who'd abandoned my dying mother and me, the one who'd never stuck around long enough to be more than a shadow in my memories, was a patient in my hospital. Emma trailed behind me as I stalked angrily down the hall with Mira toward the room she'd indicated. "Deacon, hold on. You need to know all this." I came to a sudden halt, and Emma nearly ran into my back. Out of instinct, I caught her arm to steady her even as I wheeled around to face Mira. Emma's hand slid down my forearm to folded itself into mine, a silent comfort that she somehow seemed to know I needed. "What?" I barked at Mira. "What else do I need to know? Did he tell you why the hell he came here of all
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 103: Decisions, decisions
EMMA"Night, night, baby boy! Blow Daddy a kiss! Daddy's blowing you a kiss. Kiss Mama for me. I love you, sweet boy. Daddy loves you so much." I stood in the hallway outside of George Brewer's room and listened to him talk to his baby son on video chat. I'd been working in oncology almost since my medical work had begun. Not only that, I'd also grown up hearing stories of both tragedy and triumph from my father's long career. By now, I should've been inured to the sadness that cancer could bring. But apparently not, because here I stood, tears in my eyes, listening to my patient love on his baby over video. George's news was good. He was continuing to respond to treatment, and the supplements that we'd added to his plan were doing everything we'd hoped. He was as healthy as a man his age with his stage of pancreatic cancer could expect to be-maybe more so. Even so, I knew the numbers. I'd read the statistics. The probability that George would be around to cheer in the audience wh
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 104: Unexpected visitor
DEACONI'd grown up in the country and was accustomed to the noises of the farm. Bugs chirping, crickets singing, frogs croaking, the groan of tree branches in the wind-I was used to all of those sounds. When I went away to college and then med school and then my residency in Gainesville, I'd learned to live with the city's soundtrack: honking cars, the air brakes on buses, and people shouting in the street. Living in the town of Harper Springs was some kind of happy medium, I decided as I sat in the dark of my living room, shaking the glass in my hand to hear the ice clink. I had the bugs and crickets from the farm along with the distant noise of cars and the occasional siren. Tonight, even though my windows were shut and the air conditioning was humming, I could hear the sound of a baseball game. My next-door neighbor was an older gentleman who liked to sit on his front porch and listen to the games on his ancient radio. Since he was more than slightly hard of hearing, he had that
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 105: One more for my baby
DEACONI rose to my feet abruptly. "I need another drink." Emma drained her glass and rattled the ice. "I wouldn't say no to a refill, either." I was about to turn back to retrieve her empty glass, but she'd gotten to her feet, too, and was following me across the room. I could feel the heat radiating from her body as I poured our drinks. As much as I tried to ignore her effect on me, she was slowly and steadily destroying my paltry defenses. "Do you want anything to eat?" I almost babbled the question, just out of the need to say something that didn't sound sexual. And yet, even that . . . Emma stood next to me, her gaze dipping down to below my waist before she raised her eyes to me. The molten softness of her lips was nearly my undoing. Slowly, she shook her head. "No, thanks. I'm okay." We both returned to our seats, keeping our distance as if by taciturn agreement. Once Emma was curled in the corner of the sofa again, her drink in her hand, she cleared her throat. "
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 106: I'm not leaving
DEACONI framed her face with one hand. "I'm not going to leave you." Her eyelids lowered, and her tongue slipped out to swipe over her lips. "Again." "I'm staying here. With you. For you, Emma. I'm not going to run away again, babe." She lifted her face. "Now tell me again . . . but don't use words this time." I didn't have to be asked twice. Reaching down, I lifted Emma up to my lap, angling her head so that it rested in the crook of my elbow. With my fingers on her chin, I coaxed her to tip her mouth to me. The last time I'd kissed Emma had been the night we'd celebrated the publication of her study about ventilators and acupuncture. We'd had champagne, and I'd been giddy enough to breach the walls she'd kept up since I'd returned from Slovenia. But that night, Noah had still been in the picture. Oh, they hadn't been dating yet, but I'd known the direction he was heading. That kiss had been stolen, a moment of time that couldn't go anywhere. But tonight, everything was
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 107: Good morning, sunshine
EMMAMy first conscious thought the next morning was that my air conditioner wasn't working. For one head-spinning moment, I panicked, thinking I was back at the trailer, and everything that had happened in the last eighteen months-my cabin, Noah, Deacon-was all a dream. But after I blinked my eyes open, I realized that the air wasn't warm or muggy the way it was when I was in a building that didn't have a/c. No, it was just that there was something next to me that was emitting a crazy amount of heat. When that something moved slightly and sighed, I remembered. Oh. My. God. I shifted my legs and winced a little. I was slightly sore; Deacon and I hadn't exactly taken it easy on each other last night. Or early this morning, for that matter. We'd more than made up for the year or so we'd been apart. The whole thing had been . . . different. Oh, there was a wonderful familiarity, that easiness of being with a man who'd been a lover before. I'd fallen back into the rhythm easily,
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 108: Busted
EMMA"Hey!" I tried for a casual, carefree smile. "What're you doing here? Did we have plans that I forgot about?" He chuckled and met me halfway, leaning down to kiss my cheek and then sweep me into a hug. "No, this was a random drop-in. I have to be at the hospital later today, so I thought I'd drive over early and see if I could take you to breakfast on the way in." He slid me a sideways glance as we walked up the porch steps together. "Imagine my surprise when you weren't here at seven in the morning." "Oh?" I didn't owe Noah any explanation, I scolded myself silently. We weren't dating, and I was a free woman. It wasn't any of his business-except that he was Noah, my friend, the one in whom I'd confided almost everything for a long time. It felt weird not to tell him. But maybe it would be weirder to tell him. Or maybe I'd just-"I called the hospital to see if you'd gone in early, but they told me you weren't supposed to be there until this afternoon." "Yeah, I worked lat
Diagnosis: Love Chapter 109: Busted, part 2
DEACONWhen I walked into the hospital about an hour after Emma left my house that morning, I definitely was feeling lighter than I had all week. The problems I'd left here the day before hadn't gone away-at least, I assumed that Ted was still in his room, trying to terrorize my staff-but I had a better outlook on everything in my world.Amazing what getting laid can do for a man.It wasn't just the sex, though thank you sweet Jesus for that because it had been incredible. No, I decided, it was mostly the reconnection with Emma, talking with her and feeling as if we'd finally managed to bridge that break that I'd created when I'd taken off for Slovenia. Suddenly, the future held more possibilities than it had for over a year. I'd just gotten to my office and shrugged off my suit jacket when Mira knocked at the open door. "Good morning, Deacon." Our head nurse was holding a steaming cup of coffee in her hand as she lingered in the doorway. "Hey, there, Mira!" I grinned at her.
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