Page 3 of Hush

The door swung open again. Dr. Parker repeated the drill with the hand sanitizer, then approached them, his expression still warm, but with a hint of worry behind his eyes.

“So,” he said, settling onto the stool again. This time, he carried a thin laptop, which he placed on the desk next to Elise. After tapping a few keys, a series of images popped up. Dr. Parker slid a pen from his breast pocket, then pointed to an area she quickly identified as Jaden’s wrist, zooming in so Elise could see the fractured white bits of bone. She tried to pay attention, but his words all seemed to blend together:growth plate,swelling,repair. When he finished with the word “surgery,” she came back to planet Earth with a jolt.

“What?” she asked, trying not to sound alarmed in case it upset Jaden.

“Yep,” he said with a tight nod of his head. “But it’s very straightforward, and it will actually help him heal faster. He’ll be able to use it after only a few days in a cast.”

“Oh-kay…” Elise sighed, more to herself, nodding for good measure.

“We’ll do X-rays again in a few days to be sure, but I’m going to have my nurse flag this so you can get on my schedule next week.” He flashed his confident grin. “Sound good?”

Elise took this in, her mind thinking ahead to when she would return to the clinic and go through the process of checking Jaden in and getting him ready for surgery so she could let this doctor take him away from her.

Chapter 3

Ben

Ben dribbled the ball down the court, passed it, completed the play to shake his defense, then appeared under the net for the pass. A jump shot put them ahead another two points. With five minutes to go, he felt confident his three-on-three team would win the pickup game. For the past year, the gym had been his community outside of work, and, being an outsider, it made a difference in not just his physical health, but also his mental health. He still wouldn’t call these guys his homies or anything like that—friendships like that took time—but he at least had a group of guys who liked to play ball and drink a few beers after. It broke up the long days at the hospital and clinic. Not that he was complaining. Not after the disaster Ashley had orchestrated. He was lucky to have a job at all after what she’d done.

In an off-the-beaten-path place like this, the scandal seemed far away. But the idea that it could find him here had settled inside him like a pebble at the bottom of a lake. Sure, he had pictured himself a rising star in a big-city hospital, taking on all the sexy cases they could throw his way. But Ashley had made sure that would never happen. Truthfully, though, the town had grown on him. He planned to lay low and do his job, then maybe opportunities would surface down the road if he still wanted them.

“You get a date for the party yet?” his friend Kelly asked after the game. When Ben first arrived at Providence Medical, Kelly, a P.A., had been the first to introduce himself, making sure Ben felt welcome, including the invitation to play ball, which Ben hadn’t done since his undergrad years.

Ben rubbed his face with his towel. “No,” he replied. When he first moved to the quaint little vineyard town in the corner of the state, he enjoyed the attention of being a fresh face and a young, eligible doctor, by the way of a few one-nighters. It had definitely felt good to take a woman to bed after everything that had happened, but the disaster with Ashley had changed him. If he was truly being honest with himself, it had shaken the confidence he’d so easily enjoyed before.

But there was another reason he wasn’t prowling the town, one that was much more important: he didn’t want to come across as the town player. Not when he was trying to establish a reputation.

“How about that redhead you took out a few times? Bet she’d look good in a Santa suit,” Kelly said, grinning.

“Samantha?” Ben asked as they walked toward the locker room. He shook his head. “I sort of burned that bridge.”

Kelly nodded. “Are you telling me a foxy bitch like you can’t get a date?”

Ben shoved his friend. “I can get a date if I want,” he said, a little too defensively.

“Have you ever thought about trying out one of those dating sites?” Kelly asked as they entered the locker room.

“Seriously?” Ben replied. “Do I look like I need it?” he asked, flexing his bicep and mugging a suave expression.

Kelly smiled. “Of course not, man. It’s just…it’s Christmas. No one should be alone.”

“Who are you taking?” Ben asked to change the subject. He sat on the bench in front of his locker, then untied his shoes.

“Not sure yet. It could be Anabelle…or maybe Carmen,” he said with a shrug.

Ben raised an eyebrow. “Maybe both?” he said with a smirk.

Kelly chuckled. “Yeah, in my dreams,” he said.

Under the hot water, Ben tried to think positive about his prospects for the party the following Saturday. It was hosted by Mark, one of his teammates, and his girlfriend Michelle. Ben wasn’t sugarcoating it when he’d told Kelly about burning a bridge with Samantha. Even though she was likable enough and attractive, he’d discovered they had little in common. She kept leaving things in his car or at his house—an earring, her sweater—and it irked him. If she wanted to get together again, she just needed to say so. He didn’t play those kinds of games. Against his better judgement, he’d slept with her.

When he hadn’t called her back, she’d left him a scathing voicemail and a series of texts so bitingly offensive he’d had to block her number. How was he supposed to meet women—preferably someone normal—anyway? He wasn’t the bar-hopping type. Right now, he was working his ass off, taking on a giant caseload to prove his worth.

Some of his friends back home used various dating apps, but Ben wasn’t that desperate. Plus, something like that took time he didn’t have.

He closed his eyes and rinsed, scrubbing the last of the shampoo from his hair. The image of the mom and her son from the week before popped into his mind. Elise, wasn’t it? Heck, he’d be lucky if he remembered half his patients’ names. That frightened look in her eyes had stirred that place inside him, the one that wanted to make it all better. She must have come straight from work—he’d read in her paperwork she was a professor—because this town was too casual for the cream-colored blouse and skirt with two-inch pumps. She had delicate features, her hair pulled in a smooth twist, and soft brown eyes he wanted to see without the fear.

Why can’t I find someone like that to date?he thought.Someone normal.Though he’d never dated someone with a kid before. Not that he wouldn’t; he’d just never thought about it. Seeing the little guy so comfortable in the mother’s lap, but both so scared, had stirred the protective side that had lived inside him since he was a kid. He wanted to lift the woman into his arms. Reassure her everything would be okay.Let me make it all better, he’d say, kissing those soft red lips. With a groan, Ben shut off the shower and wrapped up in his towel, hoping nobody saw the way his cock liked that idea very much.

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