Desert Rogues Part 1. Susan Mallery

shook her head. “We’re trying to limit wait times for anyone not here with chicken pox. The last thing we need is an adult outbreak.”

      The clinic door opened and Victoria waddled in.

      Oh, no. “Give me a sec,” she told Noah. Rushing toward the front door, she ushered Victoria back outside, reaching for a bottle of hand sanitizer as she went. “No! No! Get out...”

      Victoria frowned as they walked into the hot sun. “What are you doing? I have a checkup with Dr. McCarthy today and I have to pee.” Her eyes widened as she held her baby bump. “This kid is using my bladder as a trampoline.”

      “We will have to reschedule and you’ll have to pee somewhere else.” Lindsay took Victoria’s hands and pumped the sanitizer on them. “There’s an outbreak of chicken pox in there.”

      Victoria immediately took several steps away from the clinic, furiously rubbing her hands. “Is it serious?”

      “Sixteen cases so far today.”

      Victoria moved farther away from her.

      “I’m fine. Nathan and I had them as kids. Mom sent us to go play with Jonathan Turner when he had them one summer.” Lindsay had had to miss Brownie summer camp that year and instead had been stuck in the house all week with Nathan.

      She could understand the logic now, but try explaining it to an eight-year-old who missed summer camp.

      “Anyway, let’s rebook your appointment for next week...” She paused, remembering what Rachel had said about Victoria passing out. “You know what, I’ll stop by your house tomorrow morning and take your blood pressure and some routine tests.”

      “Since when does the clinic do house calls?” Victoria eyed her suspiciously. “Rachel told you I passed out, huh?”

      Okay, her sister-in-law couldn’t blame this one on her.

      “Yes. She was worried about you.”

      “Who else knows?”

      Lindsay suppressed a sigh. She deserved that. Her reputation around town as the local one-stop-gossip-shop wasn’t entirely baseless. She did like to gossip...as long as it didn’t hurt anyone. “I filed it under patient confidentiality. Now, go home and rest and I’ll see you tomorrow morning, okay?”

      “Thanks, Lindsay.”

      Parked in the visitor space, Luke jumped down from the driver’s side of the truck when he saw his wife approach. He frowned, but then waved to Lindsay once Victoria explained the situation to him.

      She smiled and watched Luke lift Victoria into the passenger seat.

      That should have been her, she couldn’t help but think. Oh, well, maybe someday... Well...not someday with Luke, but someday with someone else. Someone better.

      Yeah, right, as if that were possible.

      Back inside the clinic, she returned her attention to Noah. “Sorry about that.”

      “What was that? I mean, it’s no secret Vic’s not your favorite person, but kicking her out of the clinic is kind of harsh, don’t you think?” He smiled as he leaned against the counter.

      Lindsay laughed for the first time that day as she pushed his arms away from the counter. “Seriously, this place is infested, don’t touch anything,” she said, disinfecting the counter with sanitizer wipes for the millionth time and handing him the sanitizer, which he refused. “And I sent Victoria away because she’s pregnant and the virus can harm an unborn child.”

      “Oh, wow, didn’t know that.”

      She flipped through his paperwork to make sure everything was there. “So, everything came back normal and you’re cleared to fight.” She’d delivered the good news through clenched teeth.

      He took the paperwork. “Why do you disapprove of fighting so much?”

      She was sure they’d had this conversation already. “It’s pointless and brutal. Two men hitting each other... I guess I don’t see how that can be considered a sport.”

      “There is technique involved,” he said. “And a lot of training and conditioning...”

      “I’m sure there’s more to it than I know.” Or want to know. She picked up the next file. “As fascinating as I’m sure it is, I have to get back to work.”

      “What are you doing later?” He blocked her path to the waiting area.

      “Working.”

      “You’ve used that lie already.”

      She pointed to the crowded waiting room. “It’s hardly a lie.” Today.

      He grinned. “Okay, so what you’re saying is if you didn’t have to work tonight, you’d have dinner with me?”

      “Not at all. What I’m saying is, if I didn’t have to work tonight, I would need to come up with a lie.”

      * * *

      “I...JUST...DON’T...GET...IT,” Noah panted between punches on the heavy bag an hour later.

      On the other side Brandon held the bag as he continued his rain of jabs and strikes on the worn leather. “Look, man, I’d like to help you, but women troubles are not really my thing.”

      “We haven’t even made it to troubles yet, she just straight-out refuses to even have dinner with me because I’m an MMA fighter. It’s actually kind of prejudiced.” Noah threw one final jab, then hit the mat at his feet in push-up position. “I mean, it’s like she assumes fighting is all I am.”

      “Isn’t it?” Brandon asked, adding a stack of weights on his back.

      Noah struggled with the last two, his forearms burning after the intense twenty-minute circuit set. “No way.”

      He wondered what his coach would think if he knew about the outreach program. Since coming to Brookhollow, he’d made some great friends, Brandon and his brother Jordan included, but he was careful about what he chose to reveal about himself.

      The families he’d met in the small town were so different from his own. They were supportive of one another, divorce was rare and his friends... Though they’d had their struggles they had never had to wonder where their next meal would come from or have to help their passed-out father to bed after far too many drinks.

      Revealing the good he was trying to do would only spark conversation about the bad in his past. And he’d moved away from that. He wanted his friends to see him as the man he was now.

      “I’ve got other things going on,” he said noncommittally as he rolled onto his back and brought his left knee and right elbow together in a crunch.

      “The thing is,” Brandon admitted, “I’m not getting your attraction to her.”

      “You’re kidding, right?” How could the men in this town be so blind to Lindsay’s appeal? She was smart, beautiful, kind... Impossible to reach. He was no stranger to chasing a pretty woman, but he’d believed her when she’d said she wasn’t interested. He just wasn’t sure he could accept that answer. Not this time. Not with her.

      “Okay, maybe I’ve pegged her wrong. So enlighten me. What does it for you?”

      “For one, she’s a knockout.” Noah did his twentieth crunch and his stomach started to burn. He loved that feeling, so he pushed on.

      “I’ll give you that. She’s definitely one of the more attractive women in town,” Brandon said.

      Noah let out a deep breath as the crunches got tougher and his abs hardened.

      “And she’s educated,” he huffed, recalling how Brandon’s sister had filled him in on all the details on Lindsay the first night he’d noticed her at Bailey’s Thursday-night self-defense class at Extreme Athletics.