Page 41 of Heal Me
“Hey! Do I need to be jealous?” Ric asked. “You’re mine.”
She didn’t respond right away.
“Kate? You there?”
“I’m yours? Are you getting territorial on me?”
Although there was humor in her voice, wariness was there, too. Was he getting territorial? They’d just started seeing each other and hadn’t discussed being exclusive since they were supposed to be keeping things casual. But as Ric thought about it, the idea of her seeing anyone else made him jealous.
What the hell is happening here? I’ve been doing casual for years. What I feel for Kate isn’t casual. How can that be?He thought his heart too battered from Lizzie. We just met a couple of weeks ago. This is nuts.
However, Ric was always honest with himself and he didn’t try to brush off his feelings. He was crazy about Kate and he didn’t want her dating other men. “I guess Iamgetting territorial, Kate. I didn’t expect to feel that way, but I do.”
“Ric, I think we should talk whenever you come back to town.”
“We’re not staying in Denver tonight,” Ric said. “Do you want me to come over?”
“Yeah. I should be home by seven.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then,” he said as Tyler came into his office with a dark expression. “Take care, Doc.”
“You, too.”
Ric hung up and looked at Tyler.
“I just got off the phone with George Stevens,” Tyler said. “It’s real. Lee Lisbon called him this morning. Looks like we need to put that meeting together after all.”
Ric rubbed his forehead. “I better get that email out asap. Hopefully that’ll provide reassurance. What do you want to do about Lisbon?”
Tyler gave Ric his shark’s tooth smile. “I have a couple of ideas. Let me run them by you.”
*****
At 6:30 that night, Kate knew that she wasn’t going to make it home by seven. She’d been called out to an area farm to help a cow with a breech birth and it had taken a long time to safely deliver the little Holstein calf. After spending three hours with her arm inside of a cow, she reeked of cow crap, sweat, and dirt.
There was no way that she could get home and showered in time to be ready for Ric. After the farmer thanked her again, Kate climbed tiredly into her truck and sighed before pulling out her phone and tapping Ric’s icon on the screen.
“Hey, Doc.”
The fatigue in his voice worried her. “Hi. Are you okay. You sound like crap.”
His warm chuckle in her ear gave her goosebumps. “Gee, thanks. You sound tired, too. Bad day?”
“Not bad, just tiring. I just hauled a heifer backwards out of a cow.”
“Been there, done that. Not fun. Would you rather reschedule?”
Despite being worn out, Kate didn’t cancel. “Not unless you do.”
“I was hoping you’d say that.”
Kate smiled. “I’m just leaving Carver’s farm now, so I won’t be ready until about seven-thirty. I need to shower.”
“Mmm. Too bad I won’t be there to wash your back.”
Feeling wicked, Kate said, “I still have duct tape and garbage bags.”
He laughed. “You’re on. See you in a bit.”
