Dreams & Desires. Kat Cantrell

backyard, Parker was sitting on the steps of the upper deck, tapping away on his cell phone. So much for him leaving.

      * * *

      Parker heard the back gate open and looked up from his phone. Clare was cute when she was all sweaty, her hair a mess. “Good run?”

      She nodded, only slightly out of breath. “It got better when I ditched you. You were dragging me down.”

      “Do I still get my breakfast?”

      “Yes,” she said grudgingly. She opened the back door and disarmed the alarm. “But don’t expect anything fancy.”

      He tugged off his jacket and took a seat at the kitchen island. “Do I at least get coffee?”

      She reached over to the coffeemaker and pressed the start button.

      She used the term making breakfast loosely. What she should have said was that she would warm up breakfast for him. She “made” him one of those individually wrapped breakfast sandwiches out of the freezer.

      “Make yourself useful and get the juice out of the fridge,” she said, putting the sandwich in the microwave.

      He opened the refrigerator. Aside from the juice and various condiments, there were mostly just carryout containers.

      He had the distinct feeling that Clare didn’t cook, which was fine, as it was one of his favorite things to do. It was a little spooky the way they seemed so perfectly matched. It was like destiny, or fate or some other crap like that.

      Serendipity maybe.

      She took two glasses down from the cupboard for him to fill. Then the microwave dinged and she handed him the sandwich. “Bon appétit.”

      He bit in to find the middle still partially frozen, but the look she was giving him said not to push it. He forced a smile and said, “Delicious.”

      “As soon as you’re finished eating you have to leave,” she said.

      “Actually, it’s my day off. I can stay as long as I want.”

      She gave him one of those looks, and he grinned. Damn, did he love teasing her.

      “You look like a grown man,” she said. “You even sound like a grown man...”

      He grinned. “If it walks like a duck and talks like a duck.”

      “You’re going to make me late for work,” she said.

      “As your boss, I give you the day off.”

      “I don’t want to take the day off. I actually like going to work.”

      “That’s probably why you’re so good at it.”

      She shrugged. “Well...”

      “I’m serious, Clare. I’ve never seen a more efficiently run children’s ward. Your employees respect you. They look up to you. Sometimes they even fear you a little.”

      She blinked with surprise. “Really?”

      “You can be a little intense at times, and intimidating.”

      She frowned. “I don’t want them to be afraid of me.”

      “They fear your authority, not you personally. You hold everyone to a super high standard. You demand the best performance at all times. They don’t like to let you down.”

      She actually blushed. “I couldn’t ask for a better staff.”

      “They’re as good as they are because of you.”

      “I’m sure you had something to do with it, too. You’re incredibly easy to work for. I liked Dr. Mann, but he was incredibly arrogant. He was always right, and God help you if you disagreed with him. Especially in front of a patient. I’ve seen some really good nurses get fired for challenging his authority. And even if it turned out they were right, he would never admit it.”

      “Sounds like he had a God complex.”

      “Don’t get me wrong, he was a good doctor. Just not a very good person. I think he got into medicine for all the wrong reasons.”

      “We all have our reasons,” he said.

      “What were yours?”

      “Mostly to get laid,” he said, wiggling his brows. “Chicks love doctors.”

      “Chicks?”

      “That’s right, baby. They dig me.”

      She was trying really hard not to grin. “The 1960s called. They want their slang back.”

      He laughed and she cracked a smile.

      “Your time is up, daddy-o. Make like a tree and leave.”

      She was funny, too. And really snarky.

      Could she be more enchanting?

      Figuring he’d hassled her enough for one morning, he slugged back the last of his coffee, and then left.

      Parker spent the remainder of the day catching up on his reading. Medical journals mostly. Then he did some online research regarding Janey’s case. Once again, he found nothing that fit her symptoms. He finished around nine that evening, more frustrated than ever. Feeling restless and edgy, he headed over to the Texas Cattleman’s Club for a drink. Only a few tables in the lounge were occupied; Logan Wade sat at the bar, hunched over a beer. A hockey game played on the television, but he didn’t seem to be watching it. He just stared into the beer mug, mesmerized as he swirled the dark lager around and around. Barely a month ago, Logan had taken custody of his twin brother Seth’s baby daughter after Margaret, the child’s mother, died in a car crash giving birth. Paramedics were able to deliver the baby, who was surprisingly unharmed, but Margaret never regained consciousness. Margaret’s mother, in her grief over losing her daughter and believing that Logan was the baby’s father, left the child in his care. Logan swore he’d never met Margaret, and a blood test confirmed that he was related to the baby, but not the parent. So it had to be Seth.

      Parker took a seat next to him, and Logan greeted him with a very unenthusiastic, “Hey.”

      The bartender, without prompting, brought Parker his regular, a scotch and soda. “Who’s winning?” he asked Logan, but his friend stared at him blankly.

      Parker gestured to the television. “The game?”

      “Oh, right,” Logan said, and then shrugged. “I guess I have no idea. To be honest, I don’t even know how long I’ve been sitting here. Is it possible to sleep with one’s eyes open?”

      Parker chuckled. “Baby Maggie not letting you get much rest?”

      “She’s so fussy. Hadley keeps telling me it’s normal, but damn...” He shook his head in exasperation. “Don’t get me wrong, she’s my niece, and I love her, but I really wasn’t prepared for this.”

      “No luck reaching your brother?”

      He shook his head. “The navy took the message, but Seth is on a mission. Who knows when he’ll get it. If and when he does, there’s still no guarantee he’ll come back to claim her. I honestly don’t know what I would do without Hadley.”

      Hadley, Logan’s new bride, had come to work for him as a nanny, and the two had fallen hard for each other. It seemed as if everyone around Parker was finding their perfect match and settling down. A year ago that would have given him the heebie-jeebies. Now he wanted what they had.

      “She’s a keeper,” Parker said.

      The game went to commercial and the station broke in with a special news report. Both men looked up at the wide-screen behind the bar. Janey’s picture flashed across the screen with the caption “Abandoned Baby, Mother Found?” Parker sat up straighter, asking the bartender, “Can you turn that up?”

      According to the anchor, a truck driver who had been in the lot