Dillon nodded. “I’m sure one of the shops will have them. But I think it might be best if you send your husband for one. You need to stay off of that foot, remember?”
“I remember,” Mrs. Bixby grumbled as she hobbled out of the reception area into the hall.
Turning to Erika, Dillon gave her his full attention. “Was your meeting with the mayor successful?”
Just one look into Dillon’s eyes and Erika knew he was thinking about their last kiss, just as she was.
“The mayor’s easy to get along with,” she answered lightly. “He agreed with everything I want to do.”
Dillon laughed, then sobered as Mr. Lindstrom ambled into the reception area. Erika tensed, not knowing what was coming next.
After looking from Dillon to Erika, Lindstrom addressed her. “Jeff told me the truth a little while ago—about that chocolate bar. About your talk with him. Things I should have said to him. There will, of course, be no lawsuit. I should have explained better what could happen to him if his allergies got out of hand. But even I didn’t want to think about that kind of reaction, let alone put fear into him.”
Erika understood just how Mr. Lindstrom felt, the responsibility that weighed on him as a parent. Every day she had to make decisions about Emilia and she didn’t know if they were right or wrong. “I think Jeff will be more careful himself now,” she replied, knowing how guilty Lindstrom must feel.
“The two of you saved my boy’s life, and I’d like to make up for the grief I caused you.”
“You don’t need to make up for anything, Mr. Lindstrom,” Dillon assured him.
“Nevertheless, I want to. I don’t know if you’re aware of it or not, but I have a jet at my disposal,” Mr. Lindstrom explained. “I thought maybe tomorrow the two of you would like to fly to Las Vegas for the day.”
When Erika glanced at Dillon, she realized he was remaining silent because this was going to be her choice. She wasn’t quite sure what to say. But then looking into her heart, she knew what she had to do, even though she’d never traveled outside of a hundred miles of Thunder Canyon. “Mr. Lindstrom, thank you so much for the offer. I appreciate it. But with my work schedule weekends are the only real time I get to spend with my little girl. I hope you understand. I’m sure if Dillon would like to get away—”
Dillon cut in. “I appreciate your offer also, but like Erika, I’m going to decline. I’m just settling in here and I think it would be better if I stick around.”
Dave Lindstrom looked from one of them to the other. “I can see why I like the two of you. You both have a solid sense of responsibility. Well, if ever either of you need anything, just let me know.” He offered them both business cards. “All my numbers are on there. If you ever need my assistance in any way, I’ll be glad to help out. Jeff and I will be here until after Frontier Days.
“Well, I won’t keep you any longer.” He shook Dillon’s hand and then Erika’s. “I’ll be seeing both of you around.” With a grin and a wave, he left the infirmary.
“If I had said yes to the trip to Las Vegas, would you have gone?” Erika asked, knowing exactly what a trip like that with Dillon could lead to.
“I would have, if I could have gotten Dr. Babchek to cover.”
Her voice was a little shaky as she asked, “And what would the two of us have done in Las Vegas?”
“We would have gone to a show, toured the city, eaten in one of the spectacular restaurants.” Then he touched the side of her cheek with the back of his hand. “And we would have gotten to know each other a little better.”
His touch made her insides tremble and she hated feeling vulnerable to him. She hated the idea that he could get to her like this.
“And what would you have expected in return?”
Dillon tilted his head and studied her for so long she began to feel very uncomfortable. Finally, he said, “Erika, why do you expect the worst whenever you’re with a man?”
“I don’t expect the worst. I just expect to be let down.”
“Then you haven’t been associating with the right men,” he replied with a lifted brow.
She felt her cheeks burn. Was she wrong to lump him in the same category as Scott?
He checked his watch. “I’m expecting a patient in ten minutes and I need to go over her chart.”
For a moment Erika thought he was angry with her until he said, “For what it’s worth, I admire your devotion to Emilia. Only a good mother would have made the choice you did.”
Then he was walking away from her and she realized how much she wanted to be held in his arms.
“So tell me about Dr. Traub,” Constance Rodriguez said as she sat at Erika’s kitchen table after church on Sunday, watching her granddaughter pull a toy duck around the table. It quacked every once in a while, making Emilia giggle.
This conversation wasn’t going to be an easy one to have, Erika realized as she stood at the stove and flipped an omelet. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you like working for him?”
“One of the reasons I accepted the position was to have weekends off. It was so wonderful to have yesterday and today with Emilia. A seven-day rotating schedule just didn’t seem to give me as much time with her.”
“I agree, having a weekend with her must seem like a wonderful gift. But I didn’t ask if you liked the schedule.”
Erika took her attention from the frying pan and looked at her mother. “I like him.”
“More than like him?”
When she thought about their kisses, she felt her cheeks coloring. “I’ve only been working with him for a short time, Mom.”
“Erika …”
She lowered the heat on the burner, trying to decide what she wanted to say.
“Okay, I more than like him. So don’t say what you’re thinking.”
“How do you know what I’m thinking?” her mother asked ingenuously.
“I can imagine. I know the mess I’ve made of my life before. I won’t do that again. I know Dillon is leaving in a few weeks. Still—He makes me feel as if I’m his equal. He’s respectful of me and he … he …” She certainly couldn’t tell her mother that Dillon was hot, absolutely smoking hot from his head to his toes. “And he’s kind.”
“That’s not what you were going to say, Erika Rodriguez. I’m not too old to notice a good-looking man. I just don’t want you to like him for the wrong reasons.”
“What would those reasons be?”
Emilia ran around the table, the duck catching on one of the table legs. When she started to fuss, Erika crouched down, pointed to the string and showed her how to unwind her toy until it was free again.
“I understand he comes from money,” her mother said. “He’s a doctor. He’s older than you are. I can see how you would look to a man like that to … take care of you.”
“Mom, how can you say that? For the past three years, all I’ve wanted to do is to live on my own, mother on my own, take care of Emilia on my own.”
“And it’s hard, isn’t it?” Her mother’s eyes searched for the truth.
“Yes, it’s hard. But it’s also satisfying. I’m working to build a future for two. That gives me motivation and a goal. My life isn’t just about me anymore, it’s about the two of us. I don’t like Dillon because of everything you mentioned. I like him because—”