Page 30 of Break My Fall

He was too. The radio on his desk squawked an alert.

Meredith sat up straighter. “Do you need to get that?”

“Not yet. I don’t respond to every call. My men are good at what they do, for the most part.”

“But?” Meredith prompted him with a smile.

“But there are only so many of them. I wait for them to decide if they can handle it, and they know I’m here tonight. If they need another set of hands, they’ll message me.”

Meredith wiped her hands on a napkin. “You’re a good boss.”

“I don’t know about that. I try to be the kind of boss I would want to have. Give them the support they need but not get all up in their business. It’s a fine line. I’m not always successful.”

“That’s not how I hear it.”

The blare of voices coming through the radio pulled him away from the question he wanted to ask in response. As he listened to his officers explain the situation, he couldn’t stop the mix of relief and regret that flooded through him as he realized he was going to have to cut his evening with Meredith short and wouldn’t need to continue the conversation about his past.

Being with her was agonizing, and yet, he craved it. He didn’t want to think about what a psychologist would do with that.

“You have to go.” Meredith stood and put the lid down on the pizza box. Then she gathered the plates and napkins.

“I do. But don’t clean up. It will be here when I get back.”

“Oh no it won’t. Your office would smell like stale pizza. Stale pizza smell is revolting. You don’t need revolting when you returnfrom a call. Go. I’ve got this. I’ll clean up and head home. We’ll talk more later.”

She looked at him then, her hands full of trash, and caught him staring. “Go! Fix the problem. I’ll be praying for the family.” She gestured toward his radio. “I got the gist of that. Car in the ditch. Crying kids. Kids love you. They’ll settle down when you get there and charm them.”

He blinked a few times. There’d been nothing but honesty and maybe even a little bit of respect in her words. She wasn’t teasing. She believed what she said.

Her confidence warmed him more than the heavy jacket he pulled on, and he held onto that as he walked into the night.

An hour later, he was sitting in Meredith’s office with a sobbing eight-year-old. The little girl had latched onto him and refused to let go, so now he was sitting in a dental chair as Meredith prepped her instruments.

She’d had time to go home and change, but she hadn’t been in bed when he called and asked her if she could come back to see what could be done about sweet Lisa’s teeth.

“Okay, Lisa.” Meredith said he could charm kids, but he had nothing on her ability. “Dr. Shaw told me that except for these broken teeth, you’re good to go. Once we get you fixed up, you’ll be able to head home with your family.”

Lisa’s mother was on her way to the hospital in Asheville with what Dr. Shaw suspected were shattered tibias. Lisa’s father was still at Dr. Shaw’s office with her younger brother, Caleb.

The car came around a curve, an animal ran out across the road. The dad swerved. Lost control. Slammed into the side of the mountain, which was bad, but not as bad as if he’d gone off the other side of the road and sliddownthe mountain.

Airbags deployed all over the car. Lisa’s mom had her feetpropped up on the dash at the time of the wreck, and the resulting tibial fractures were why Gray never allowed anyone to put their feet up in any vehicle he was driving.

Lisa had been buckled in, but she’d been taking a drink from a cup. At some point during the swerving, hitting the side of the mountain, and the side airbags deploying, the cup met her mouth and broke two teeth off.

There’d been a lot of blood and Lisa had been full-on hysterical. Understandably so. But when Dr. Shaw got to her, she looked her over, told one of Gray’s men to call Meredith, and assured everyone that Lisa would be fine.

Meredith, for her part, had never failed to respond to an emergency request in Gossamer Falls since she’d moved back to the area and set up her practice. Her aunt, Carol Shaw, was the only doctor in town. Meredith was the only dentist. If Carol said Meredith was needed, Meredith came.

That was the kind of person she was.

Gray brushed Lisa’s hair from her face. “I know your mouth and face hurt, sweetheart, but I need you to sit in this chair and lean your head back so Dr. Quinn can take a look.”

Lisa grabbed him with more strength than an eight-year-old should possess. Gray looked to Meredith for guidance.

“Lisa, I get it, baby. I do. You’ve landed the biggest catch in the county, and you don’t want to let go. I don’t blame you. But he’s too big to sit in the chair with you.”

Gray had been focused on Lisa but found himself unable to look away from Meredith as she continued to coax Lisa to relinquish her hold on him. Did Meredith really think that? That he was the biggest catch in the county?

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