She came face-to-face with Chase in the hallway by the staff lounge. Alone.
“Oh. Hi there.” Flustered, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Or she tried to. It was an old habit she hadn’t dropped when she’d cut her hair short. The last time she’d seen Chase her hair had been halfway down her back. Now it didn’t even cover her ears.
“Hi.” Chase looked as if he was surprised to see her as well. He cleared his throat, and his gaze skittered away from hers. “Uh … you cut your hair.”
“Yes. Yes, I did.” How awkward was this? Very!
“It looked better long.” He looked at her as if remembering or trying to remember how it had looked on her before.
“Yes, well. Suits my lifestyle now.” She tried to walk around him at the same time he tried to walk around her, and they ended up bouncing off each other.
“Sorry.”
“Sorry.” She stomped a foot. “This is so annoying.”
“What is? Running into your old lover or being told you look better with long hair?” Chase took a step back and paused, interested in hearing the answer. He crossed his arms and waited for her, knowing he wasn’t going to like any reason she had. Why should he? She was the one interrupting the status quo of his life. That didn’t come without risk or consequences. Did she think he was just going to accept her unexpected presence with open arms and forget how she’d destroyed his life? She was the one who’d walked away, not him. If he admitted his part, that he’d let her go, that he hadn’t chased her down and made her stay, he’d have to look too closely at things best left in the past. At least, that was what he felt right now.
“Well, both, but mostly running into you when I hadn’t expected it.” Okay. There it was, out in the air between them. The honesty he could appreciate.
“Imagine my surprise when I saw you in the trauma room.” He raised his brows and looked down at her. In the past he’d considered her height cute. She was short, but she’d hit him at just the right place when they’d been wrapped up in each other. He blew out a breath at the unexpected memory.
“There was no way to avoid it.”
“Seriously? I had no advanced warning. You could have called me.” Dammit. Someone should have called him and let him know she was coming.
“And what? Warned you I was going to be working in the ER and might run into you? For all I knew, you weren’t even here, or were married with six kids.” Big. Fat. Lie. She still had friends in the hospital, and they’d let her know he was still there. Still single. Still hot. Very hot.
“I see.” He stiffened, and his eyes went icy. “Danny could have told me.”
“Why? We’re old news, right? Now we’re just two professionals working together, and the rest doesn’t matter, does it?” What mattered was that her heart was palpitating, her breath was tight in her throat, and her legs didn’t want to move. Old news. Right. Denial was her BFF.
“Yes. Well. I can be professional, and I’m certain you will be, too.” The ice hadn’t left his veins, but at least he was being civil. That was more than she should expect from him. And there was nothing he could do about her presence. She was a good nurse, so he’d have to keep his personal reasons to himself. They had no bearing here.
“Of course. I expected nothing less. I’m sorry. I should have gotten word to you.”
“Yes, you should have. It would have been simple courtesy.”
At least she’d apologized and some of his irritation dissolved. Maybe he could overlook it, maybe not, but it was a situation he was going to have to deal with.
“Again. Sorry.” She glanced away. “I was going to grab some coffee then head back out there.”
“Pot’s on the right. Creamer and sugar in cupboard above.” Dammit. Why had he said that? He didn’t care how she took her coffee any longer. Why had he told her that when he hadn’t meant to?
“You remember how I take my coffee?” Surprise showed in her eyes. Blinking those big blue eyes of hers, she held his gaze for the first time since he’d seen her again. What was she looking for? Hell, what was he looking for? The past revealed in each other’s eyes? Hardly.
“I never forgot.” He paused for another second and took a long slow look over her. “Anything.” With that declaration he pushed away before he said something truly stupid and headed into the main part of the ER. How in the world was he going to get through three months with her underfoot, under his skin? Had he just lied to her and himself by telling her he could be a professional? The way he felt now was nothing close to it. What he felt was … ripped open. Raw in a way he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in the years since she’d broken him and left town.
He was a physician, an ER doctor and an emergency surgeon, and proud of what he’d accomplished in his career. He was a professional, and he saved the lives of trauma victims every day. That was why he was here in this hospital. But if he were being honest with himself, so was Emily. She was a damned good trauma nurse with excellent skills. The hospital had had a turnover of staff in the last few months, and they needed quality staff, hence the number of travel nurses presently in the hospital. Experience didn’t come easily or without cost. He knew that, and he was forced to admit she’d worked damned hard for hers.
She also had the unfortunate, firsthand experience of being on the receiving end of a terrible trauma, which made her uniquely qualified to be doing the kind of work she did.
Not wanting to travel down that bumpy road again right now, he moved forward, moved toward the next patient, the next chart, the next issue in front of him, despite his memories wanting to drag him back into the past.
The day progressed more slowly in the afternoon. Staff came to him with more mundane issues that kept him busy, but he still felt as if he were walking through water up to his chest. Slowly, trudging along. The oppression of the past weighed heavily on his mind and his spirit.
“Dr. Montgomery? Chase?” The words eventually penetrated his brain that someone was calling to him.
“Yes?” He frowned as Liz and Emily stood beside him.
“I was going to introduce you to our new travel nurse, but I think you’ve met before, right?”
“Correct.” That was the simplest, most unemotional way to present it. Dry.
“Okay. One less thing on the checklist to do.” She gave an awkward smile. “I see. Sorry to bug you.”
“No problem.” Keeping all expression and emotion from his face was getting harder to do, and he felt himself gritting his teeth. Thankfully he had a good dental plan, because he would probably be doing that for the next three months.
“Actually, I had a question for Dr. Montgomery about a new patient.” Emily spoke to Liz, but looked at Chase. Professional. Cool. Fine.
“Sure. What’s up?” He could do it, too. Really. He leaned back in the desk chair and raised his hands over his head, waiting for her to speak.
“I’ll catch you later,” Liz said, and moved away.
Emily filled him in on the background of the patient in question. “This is a twenty-five-year-old male who is accustomed to being in the outdoors, hunting, fishing and camping. He’s complaining of joint pain, fatigue, and general malaise. I’m going to put in a lab request for the usual workup, but I was wondering if we should test for Lyme disease as well.”
Chase frowned as he thought about the details of the case and processed the facts. Concise, important symptoms, and a little detective work to boot. Smart, beautiful and still sexy as hell. Dammit. “Is he running a fever?”
“On