A Home in Hill Country (Harlequin Heartwarming) by Roxanne Rustand Page B
Authors: Roxanne Rustand
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gently back. “Do needles bother you? Maybe you’d better sit for just a minute. You’re a little pale.”
He jerked his arm away. “I don’t need your advice, missy. Now leave me be so I can dress.”
She lingered close by, anyway, as he stood, wavered a little, then seemed to regain his color. “I’ll go on out to the front desk and see if your records have come yet.”
She’d gathered her lab tray and was almost to the door when he barked her name. “Yes?”
He’d shrugged into his shirt and was starting to do up the first button, but his gaze was pinned on her face with an intensity that made her shiver.
“I don’t know why you’re back in town, and I don’t much care. But you keep away from my son, you hear?”
CHAPTER SIX
D R . H ERNANDEZ HAD PROMISED that a nurse would arrive the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend. She hadn’t mentioned that he’d be balding and burly, with a massive tattoo of an 18-wheeler on his left upper arm and a gold-capped front tooth.
“I’m Max Zimmerman.” He shook Kristin’s hand with enough force to make her wince, his eyes sparkling behind trendy wire rims at odds with the rest of his well-aged biker image. “Boy, howdy. Thought I’d never get here today. Dr. Lou did my health exam, blood work and TB-tine at the main clinic this morning, and then I must’ve watched six orientation videos. I’m still on a caffeine high from trying to stay awake.”
Kristin had been in a dark mood since Clint and Ryan left a few hours earlier, but now she grinned at Max. “It’s great having you aboard.”
He followed her second glance to his truck tattoo and smiled ruefully. “My clinic jacket will cover it. I got a little wild in my days after the service, and unfortunately wasn’t content with a simple ‘Mom.’”
Though he had that, too, along with a heart and the name Rosalie on his other muscular forearm.
She gave him a tour of the building, ending up at the front desk where she offered him a seat and pulled up an extra chair for herself. “You and I will be on our own for a while, until things pick up. I understand that, for now, you’ll handle the phone. We’ll make sure the insurance and billing forms are complete, but they’re computerized and bookkeepers at the main clinic will handle them.”
“Good deal.” He opened the appointment book with obvious relish and flipped through some of the pages. His face fell. “There’s hardly anyone in here.”
“Today is our first day. Doc Grady died a few years back, so it might take a while. There’ll be notices in the Homestead Herald and some of the papers in the surrounding towns.”
“And the town should grow, with the Home Free homesteading program. I understand you and I are both part of it…though I didn’t fit the preferred family profile.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Still, I had nursing skills to offer, and I’ll have a small-engine repair business on the side. They gave me a house at the end of Pecan Street, with a shop building in back.”
“How long have you been in nursing?”
“I was a medic in the service for a few years. I wanted to go to college afterward, but justcouldn’t hack it given some of the stuff I was still dealing with. Nightmares, flashbacks—you know the drill. I ended up driving a truck for a while.”
Kristin tipped her head in silent acknowledgment of all he’d gone through. “What made you change jobs?”
“After my wife died, I went back to school. Seeing what those nurses did for her made me want to give back something, you know? They made all the difference.”
The pain in his voice sounded so fresh that she wanted to give him a hug. “I’m sorry about your loss.”
“I miss her every day.” He flipped back to the current date in the appointment book. “I see you had a patient this morning. How’d that go?”
“Not the best start.”
He gave the name a second glance, then looked up at her in surprise. “Clint Gallagher. The
He jerked his arm away. “I don’t need your advice, missy. Now leave me be so I can dress.”
She lingered close by, anyway, as he stood, wavered a little, then seemed to regain his color. “I’ll go on out to the front desk and see if your records have come yet.”
She’d gathered her lab tray and was almost to the door when he barked her name. “Yes?”
He’d shrugged into his shirt and was starting to do up the first button, but his gaze was pinned on her face with an intensity that made her shiver.
“I don’t know why you’re back in town, and I don’t much care. But you keep away from my son, you hear?”
CHAPTER SIX
D R . H ERNANDEZ HAD PROMISED that a nurse would arrive the Tuesday after Labor Day weekend. She hadn’t mentioned that he’d be balding and burly, with a massive tattoo of an 18-wheeler on his left upper arm and a gold-capped front tooth.
“I’m Max Zimmerman.” He shook Kristin’s hand with enough force to make her wince, his eyes sparkling behind trendy wire rims at odds with the rest of his well-aged biker image. “Boy, howdy. Thought I’d never get here today. Dr. Lou did my health exam, blood work and TB-tine at the main clinic this morning, and then I must’ve watched six orientation videos. I’m still on a caffeine high from trying to stay awake.”
Kristin had been in a dark mood since Clint and Ryan left a few hours earlier, but now she grinned at Max. “It’s great having you aboard.”
He followed her second glance to his truck tattoo and smiled ruefully. “My clinic jacket will cover it. I got a little wild in my days after the service, and unfortunately wasn’t content with a simple ‘Mom.’”
Though he had that, too, along with a heart and the name Rosalie on his other muscular forearm.
She gave him a tour of the building, ending up at the front desk where she offered him a seat and pulled up an extra chair for herself. “You and I will be on our own for a while, until things pick up. I understand that, for now, you’ll handle the phone. We’ll make sure the insurance and billing forms are complete, but they’re computerized and bookkeepers at the main clinic will handle them.”
“Good deal.” He opened the appointment book with obvious relish and flipped through some of the pages. His face fell. “There’s hardly anyone in here.”
“Today is our first day. Doc Grady died a few years back, so it might take a while. There’ll be notices in the Homestead Herald and some of the papers in the surrounding towns.”
“And the town should grow, with the Home Free homesteading program. I understand you and I are both part of it…though I didn’t fit the preferred family profile.” His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Still, I had nursing skills to offer, and I’ll have a small-engine repair business on the side. They gave me a house at the end of Pecan Street, with a shop building in back.”
“How long have you been in nursing?”
“I was a medic in the service for a few years. I wanted to go to college afterward, but justcouldn’t hack it given some of the stuff I was still dealing with. Nightmares, flashbacks—you know the drill. I ended up driving a truck for a while.”
Kristin tipped her head in silent acknowledgment of all he’d gone through. “What made you change jobs?”
“After my wife died, I went back to school. Seeing what those nurses did for her made me want to give back something, you know? They made all the difference.”
The pain in his voice sounded so fresh that she wanted to give him a hug. “I’m sorry about your loss.”
“I miss her every day.” He flipped back to the current date in the appointment book. “I see you had a patient this morning. How’d that go?”
“Not the best start.”
He gave the name a second glance, then looked up at her in surprise. “Clint Gallagher. The
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