Page 14 of Dr. Alaska
What a disaster. He had invested time and emotional energy, and for what? Hard lessons had been learned. He flicked his thumb along the edge of the gurney pad. “Dee, you seem busy at work. How do you have enough time to dissect my nonexistent love life? What about your relationship future?”
His sister crossed her arms and bristled. Uh-oh. Watching her wrath was like standing under a spring snow cornice. One good gust of wind to dislodge it, and he’d be pulverized and buried.
He started to sweat under the uniform layers, topped by the windproof EMS coat. His brother-in-law’s death five years ago still stung. Dee had coped by throwing herself into her work.Head down, keep busy, as their parents often said.
Unbidden, an image of a certain person with sun-kissed cheeks and golden hair flashed in his mind’s eye. Was he missing an opportunity by keeping his head down and staying busy?
Yet, he’d been burned more than once. This latest time with Skylar hurt. They had done the long-distance online dating thing. They got along. She was witty and nice. Adventurous. Outdoorsy. She thought she had wanted the Alaska experience with Mav and dove in feet-first.
The isolation and challenges that came with this stark landscape quickly drove a wedge of resentment between them. Mav had tried to provide her with as many amenities as he could afford, and some he couldn’t afford. Still, he had done his best to make her comfortable. She didn’t last more than a few months into winter before she fled back to Nevada. On her way out, she tore emotional strips out of him when she criticized the crappy location, the failing lodge business, Maverick’s all-consuming EMT work that took him away from her side, and—worst of all—the smelly dogs.
“There’s no one on the horizon, sis.”
“You sure?”
He rubbed his chin as murmurs from the nurses and Bruce drifted back to him. He did not want to have this conversation. Not now and not here. He would bet twenty bucks that the middle-aged HUC’s typing was completely random so she could eavesdrop on the conversation. “Why are you pushing?”
“It wouldn’t be the worst thing for you to get out and see someone again. Be a normal human instead of burying yourself in EMS duties and running the lodge.”
“That lodge isn’t going to fail. I’ll make sure of it.”
“If you find the right partner.”
“What?”
“Pick someone who brings something to the table, Mav. Who can help.”
Was she suggesting being with someone because of money? No way. That was a cynical recommendation, even for Dee. “Come on. That’s not how I roll.”
“Two birds, one stone is all I’m saying.”
“No way. Besides—” Before he could close his stupid mouth, he said, “Who do you suggest in this small town? There’s not a lot of options, and certainly no one that can ‘bring something to the table’ in the way you’re suggesting. Or should I try again with someone from the outside who can hack living out here?”
“I know exactly who I’d suggest. Might do you some good to get back in the game.” She inhaled sharply. “Never m—”
“Sorry, but not going to happen. Not withher. Can you even imagine that delicate genius handling even a mild Alaska storm, much less being able to survive for any length of time out here? She’d probably break a nail deicing her car and then go running back to the lower forty-eight.”
“Mav.”
“That woman’s idea of roughing it is setting the winter thermostat to sixty-four degrees. I know because I helped her shop for warm clothes, so she won’t die out here.”
“Mav,” Deirdre hissed.
He shook his head. “Listen. Some people aren’t cut out for this place or this kind of work. She’ll be gone by mud season, if not sooner. If not, she’s probably using the time to look for an Alaskan husband, like on the shows.” That last bit came straight out of personal experience, damn it. He stopped talking.
Dee’s eyes went round.
He froze.
Aw, hell no. Not again.
He turned around.
His gaze slammed into narrowed brown eyes that glittered. If Lee could shoot lasers by blinking, he’d be cut into a million pieces by now.
“I mean…” Glancing back at his ashen sister, he asked Deirdre, “Would it kill you to warn me that she’s right there?”
Lee tapped the toe of her leather bootie on the floor and lifted her hands near her face. “Shecan hear you, and besides, you shouldn’t be saying those things behindherback.”
