Page 15 of Forever and Other Lies

“Well, gentlemen, and Derek.” Jayna snorted again, “It’s been a pleasure, but I have City Hall business to conduct.”

She stood, fishing inside her purse, and pulled out a white ticket. “Seems Shamus was issued a noise violation for playing his bagpipes after 11 p.m., and I told him I’d take care of it.”

“Don’t look directly into the Meddler’s eyes,” Earl warned. “She’ll turn you into stone.”

“I’ll be careful,” Jayna waved as she crossed the street.

“That girl’s a hoot,” Earl commented.

“And not too hard on the eyes.” Norm gave Derek a pointed stare. “Why aren’t you asking her out?”

Derek stared at his grandfather. Seriously? Ask Jayna out. Was the old man losing his mind? “Because she’s Jayna Sutton! My little sister’s most annoying friend.”

“She’s rich,” Norm continued. “It’s just as easy to marry a rich girl.”

“I’m not looking for a girlfriend or a wife!”

“And that’s a damn shame. Some lucky guy will scoop that girl up and you’ll be one sorry ass when it happens,” Norm said sternly.

“You’d never have a dull moment with her,” Earl added.

“Well, I need to get my sorry ass to work,” Derek changed the subject. The coffee Jayna brought the men must be spiked because she was as far from wife material as he was from becoming someone’s husband. Not even if she was the last woman on earth.

Chapter 5

Not even if he was the last man on earth. Eleven hours later, Jayna was still seething. Where did Derek Brennan get off acting like she was the troublemaker instead of him? He was the biggest hell-raiser this town had ever seen.

Forcing her mind off him, she tried to concentrate on the charting for her chest pain patient. Her blue ombre nails tapped rhythmically on the keyboard as she typed in her nursing notes. But as she stared at the monitor, all she could see was Derek’s stupid face.

He had stood there, arms crossed over his chest, looking down his nose at her like she was about to corrupt his grandfather and Earl. Like the pair needed any help. They were the original hell-raisers of Blythe Landing.

Derek had even ruined the enjoyment of messing with Ophelia Meddler. When she walked into City Hall to pay Shamus’s noise violation fine, Jayna had still been angry.

“You can’t pay someone else’s ticket,” Ophelia stated in that nails-on-the-chalkboard voice.

“Where does it say that?” Jayna had shot back. “I see ‘issued to’ and ‘payable to,’ but I don’t see anywhere that it states the ticket can only be paid by the person it was issued to.”

Ophelia had let out a loud harrumph before handing over the debit machine. And if Derek’s high and mighty expression hadn’t still filled Jayna’s mind, she would have been able to enjoy the pissed-off expression that had taken over Ophelia’s.

The sliding doors opened from the ambulance bay. Lance and his partner, Sonny, wheeled in a teenager. Jayna closed out the patient’s chart and stood, a sudden smile replacing the frown. Lance was the perfect distraction to rid her of images of the Neanderthal. The paramedic was just simply perfection.

But he’s taken, she reminded herself. With great effort, she contained the eye roll as she watched Lance make goo-goo eyes at Greta across the room.

Lance and Sonny carefully transferred the injured boy onto the hospital bed, and Jayna grabbed a blank chart.

“What do we have here?”

Sonny grinned. “Meet our future Olympian. Once, of course, barn-roof skiing becomes a recognized sport.”

Jayna raised an eyebrow. “Barn-roof skiing?”

“He tried skiing off the Fraser barn roof. If he hadn’t caught so much air, he would have landed in the hay bales at the bottom,” Lance explained.

Jayna knew the farm. The barn had a steeply sloped roof that did kind of resemble a ski jump.

“What’s your name?” Jayna asked the teenager.

“Derek Ainsley.” The teen grimaced in pain when she touched his swollen and bruised left leg.

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