Love On Call

Glenn swung around the cab of the truck while Margie and Blake jumped in next to Mari and slammed the door. Glenn trailed a hand over the edge of the dusty hood, her gait not quite steady. Her thighs trembled as if she’d been running a half marathon and had just hit the wall. Mari had just neatly kicked the feet out from under her, and she’d never seen it coming. Mari was a constant surprise—beautiful, tender and strong, and somehow able to slip at will inside Glenn’s defenses. Glenn didn’t even have to ask herself what she wanted whenever she looked at Mari. She knew with every atom of her being. She’d wanted to kiss her.

Glenn yanked open the door, jumped in, started the engine. “Buckle up, everybody.” She glanced over and saw Margie on Blake’s lap. “That means the two of you too. Figure it out before we get to the road.”

Beside her, Mari had already strapped in. Glenn kept her eyes face front. She wasn’t quite ready to look at her again without broadcasting every damn thing she was feeling. “All set?”

“Yes, fine.”

Mari’s thigh pressed against the outside of Glenn’s, but she had nowhere to move to escape the soul-singeing pressure. She needed to keep her foot on the gas if they were going to go anywhere, but even the slightest movement reminded her that Mari was next to her, very close. She could smell shampoo or perfume or something—a flowery sweet spicy scent that twisted her up and made her want to rub her face over the soft skin that smelled so good. She gripped the wheel until her fingers ached, and even then she could still feel them trembling. She hadn’t been hungry before, but she was ravenous now. And she couldn’t be. Couldn’t do anything about satisfying the need clawing at her insides. Hell, she couldn’t convince herself she wanted to.

Chapter Twenty

Mari watched the fields blur by, an artist’s palette of gold and yellow beneath patches of brilliant blue and gleaming white. The truck bounced rapidly along over ruts and dips in the cracked macadam road, throwing up clouds of dust that coated the windows and slowly hazed the view. On one side of her, Margie and Blake chattered on about their soon-to-be first day in the ER. Mari only half listened, and the two teens didn’t seem to notice they were the only ones talking, oblivious to the rest of the world as only the young could be. On her other side, Glenn had turned to stone. If she became any more rigid, she’d shatter like a statue left unshielded from the elements for so long its substance had begun to crumble. Mari wanted to touch her, to ease the festering tension, but instinct warned that was exactly the wrong thing to do. Instead, she clenched her hands together in her lap and stared out through the windshield, seeing nothing.

A cluster of long barns, random shed-like buildings, and an oval track with a grandstand climbing upward beneath a half roof came into sight. Handmade cardboard signs written with black Magic Marker posted on stakes in the driveways of houses along the way offered parking for five dollars. Glenn passed them all by and turned into the fairgrounds, stopping to pay a woman wearing a Rivers Hospital T-shirt holding a big white plastic collection bucket. A line of signs with arrows proclaiming Parking directed them to the five-acre lot behind the fairgrounds buildings. The grassy lot was three-quarters full, and Glenn drove slowly down a narrow lane between two rows of parked vehicles, following the directions of a line of teenagers waving orange batons to a free spot between a minivan and a pickup truck.

“Thanks, Glenn,” Margie said.

Before the truck had even come to a complete stop, Blake pushed open the door and jumped out. Margie hopped out on his heels.

“Take it easy out there,” Glenn called.

“Thanks, see ya,” they yelled in unison and jogged off in the direction of a cloud of smoke that smelled of roasting meat and hickory.

In an instant the two had disappeared, and Mari and Glenn were alone. Mari’s entire being focused on the spot where her leg still pressed against Glenn’s. She had no excuse to be so close and didn’t want to move away enough to break the contact. Glenn looked straight ahead, her fingers loosely clasping the wheel.

“What shall we do,” Mari asked after a moment that stretched forever.

“I thought we’d walk around a little bit, and I could introduce you to some of the people you’ll be working with.”

“That would be great, thanks.” When Glenn made no move to get out, Mari said softly, “Are you all right?”

Glenn turned to her, eyes glinting feverishly. “I’m not exactly sure.”

Mari’s heart double-timed in her chest. A breathless, light-headed sensation made her feel as if she might be about to float away. Glenn’s eyes bored into hers as if she was trying to read her soul. Glenn’s gaze fixed on her mouth. Glenn looked anything but calm and controlled. Mari swallowed. “Have I done something to upset you?”

“You have no idea,” Glenn muttered.