The Hero's Sweetheart Read online

  After paying the clerk, she handed him the tip.

  “Wow, this is a lot. Thanks, ma’am.”

  “Sure. One thing... I don’t want anyone to know who paid the remainder. Promise me?”

  He looked up from writing the receipt. “Okay. But what if Major General Sullenberger asks?” The delivery guy didn’t look like he wanted to get on Jack’s bad side. Still...

  “Tell him it was taken care of anonymously.”

  She put the paid-in-full-with-cash receipt in Sully’s safe and closed it securely, deciding not to tell anyone she’d paid the bill. That way, no one would feel bad if they were unable to help in the same way.

  She’d think of other ways for the crew to help.

  She gripped her phone and thought about calling the hospital. She normally could do her schoolwork online but had a mandatory EMT class tonight at the college for a certification that she could not miss. She had a clinical tomorrow evening. She’d just show up at EPTC early and see about Sully. He was like family whether Jack liked it or not.

  She couldn’t stay away, not knowing what was wrong or what the call was about. It frustrated her that Jack didn’t feel inclined to tell her how Sully was doing. Then again, he had no idea how close she’d grown to Sully. How would he react if he knew? Would he be angrier? More suspicious of her? Because she had no idea, she couldn’t risk his knowing.

  Regardless, she wasn’t going to let his silence deter her from being there for Sully.

  She just needed to figure out how to do so in a way that kept her off Jack’s radar.

  When the one o’clock shift change happened, they’d become so inundated with customers, the day-shift crew offered to stay and help the next crew through the crunch. Nevertheless, Olivia went to the time clock and swiped her card.

  Naem paused behind her. “What are you doing?”

  “Clocking out. But I’m still staying to help. I don’t want Sully to have to pay overtime.”

  Naem pulled his badge and clocked out, as well. Then grinned at Olivia.

  “Naem...”

  “It’s fine. Sully has helped us all out at various times. We owe him this much.”

  Darin approached. “What’s going on?”

  Patrice slipped between the two. “We’re working an hour or two for free.” She swiped her card through, too. “Every little bit helps, right?”

  Darin grinned. “I want in on this clandestine clocking out.” He sliced his card through, then went back to the grill. Olivia’s eyes filled with tears. None of them could really afford to do this, but the truth was, Sully may not be able to afford them not doing this.

  “God will pay us back, Olivia. Don’t look so shaken,” Naem told her.

  She looked at the precious soul. “You’re always so positive. Even when things get bad.”

  “Because things eventually get better,” he said. Then whistled as he got back to work.

  Though clocking out at one, Darin, Naem and Patrice stayed and worked until three. They’d all agreed to do it to help Sully and the diner. Yet Olivia felt nervous about Jack’s response.

  Hopefully Jack would let Patrice or Olivia do payroll and he’d never know. For the first time in her life, Olivia was truly grateful she had a problem processing letters but not numbers.

  Now, if she could just stop this rabid worrying over Jack’s eventual reaction, she’d be better off and more able to focus. She only had thirty minutes to study.

  But she couldn’t shake the nagging sense that because Jack was so conditioned by the military to rigidly follow rules, he’d be livid if he knew they’d worked off the clock.

  Therefore, she needed to try and keep him from knowing for as long as possible. Right?

  Jack came back later and went straight to his office. Two minutes later, he poked his head into the break room and held up his calendar with a stern but funny arch to his brow. “Are you the miscreant who desecrated my Ford calendar like this?”

  Olivia pressed her lips together but the pressure became too much. She burst out laughing. Jack shook his head and flopped the calendar overtop her head. “Payday’s coming, Olivia. You just started a war you can’t win.”

  While Jack did his best to act irritated, Olivia loved the laughter in his eyes.

  When she went to leave for the day, Patrice was snickering in front of her locker.

  Olivia peered around Patrice’s shoulder to find her locker completely covered in Ford bumper stickers. To the point where her locker was glued shut from them. “Really, Jack? Is that all you’ve got?” she hollered out the door and began ripping stickers off in order to get to her purse.

  Once in, she gasped. “He did not!” She yanked her favorite hoodie out, gasping at the message he’d written in bold blue ink above her Girls Have More Fun logo. He’d written FORD in similar letters so that her favorite hoodie now stated Ford Girls Have More Fun.

  She slammed her locker shut and pounded on his office door, behind which she could hear him snickering. “This had better not be permanent marker, Jack.”

  A deeper snicker met her threat. She had to admit preferring the pranking side of Jack over the surly, aloof side. She grinned on her way out the door saying, “Sully, you’re not even here and you know how to fix things.” A bittersweet wind swept over her. Olivia was all too happy to step in and razz Jack until Sully got well enough to take the razzing right back over. Please, Lord? In Your mercy, heal and restore him. Sully’s the only dad I feel like I’ve ever had.

  When she reached her car, she realized a note was blowing in the wind under her wiper. Thinking it was a sales or solicitation flyer, she pulled it out only to realize Jack had struck again. The note said, “To the contrary, Olivia, FORD=Found Often Rescuing Duramaxes.”

  She giggled despite herself. Then an uncomfortable sensation seeped into her as she wondered how much of her family history Sully had shared with Jack—her mom was a mechanic who specialized in Duramax engines.

  The thought of Jack knowing her past and hard upbringing made Olivia feel a little too vulnerable for comfort.

  She’d come to Eagle Point to get away from her childhood, not to be reminded of it.

  This thing with Jack was getting more complicated by the minute...which was the last thing she needed.

  Chapter Five

  Jack set aside the new diner policies-and-procedures manual that he’d been working on when a knock sounded at Sully’s hospital room door the next evening. He rose to greet the visitor and to let the person know to be quiet since Dad was finally resting after he’d had an allergic reaction to a medication.

  He opened the door to see Olivia standing there. She was in a deep purple hospital scrub uniform and startled upon seeing him.

  “I heard he had a setback. I just came to check on him,” she said with slight trepidation.

  Jack stepped back and waved her in, whispering, “He’s stable now but resting. We should keep our voices down.”

  She nodded and peered around him to where Sully lay in the bed. Jack turned back to study Olivia as she watched his dad sleep. Worry lines creased her forehead. If she was faking how much she cared, she was a great actress. “Have a seat,” he offered, indicating the recliner.

  She shook her head. “That’s okay. I need to get started soon. I’m on my clinical rotation shift here at EPTC.”

  He nodded but concern riddled him for her.

  Olivia looked weary, her features were becoming more drained by the day. He hadn’t been at the diner much since coming to the hospital yesterday. “You look tired. How late did you stay at the diner after I left?”

  She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “I clocked out around one.” She averted her eyes and Jack got the distinct impression she was keeping something from him.

  “That’s not what
I asked. How late did you stay?”

  “Until three.”

  His jaw clenched.

  “I don’t mind.”

  “That’s not the point.” It was a liability for her to work off the clock. Why had she? He really didn’t know what to think of it. He took in her attire, and her EPTC badge, which read that she was a student from Eagle Point Community College.

  “Do you get paid for being here?”

  She hesitated before answering. “No. It’s just for the clinical hands-on part of my training.”

  “You had to be here at what time?”

  “Four. I’m an EMT student.”

  “Right. I remember you mentioning that now.” That explained her having medical knowledge when she’d kept him informed on his flight home from Afghanistan. He remembered that he’d intended to explain heart rhythm abnormalities to her.

  Jack studied her tired eyes and drawn features. “What time do you have to work until?”

  Her eyebrows furrowed. “Just until eight.”

  No wonder she was tired all the time. “How many days per week do you do this?”

  She folded arms across her chest in what he’d come to know as her defensive maneuver. “Why are you interrogating me, Jack? I don’t see how this is any of your business.”

  He’d been asking because he was concerned about her, and her health and well-being. But he didn’t want her knowing that just yet, for some reason. Nor that he was capable of kindness, thoughtfulness and genuine care for the people around him.

  No, he wasn’t ready to show that side of himself to Olivia just yet.

  “If it negatively impacts your work at the diner, it is my business.”

  Her countenance deflated and he wished he hadn’t been so harsh.

  “I try very hard not to let that happen,” she said with the kind of edge that gave him the distinct impression she was on the verge of either tears or clobbering him. Maybe both.

  Her eyes avoided him in favor of studying his dad. “So, he seems to be resting okay?”

  “Yeah, now. He had a reaction to a medication. Amoxicillin.”

  Her jaw dropped. “What? How? They knew he was allergic to penicillin.”

  “I didn’t.” That Olivia knew dinged Jack’s ego. “How did you know that?”

  “He told me all of his medical history, in case of an emergency. I told the paramedics. They wrote it on the chart.” She shook her head. “This should never have happened.”

  Jack motioned her to the hallway where he flagged down a nurse and inquired. She confirmed after comparing the input record to Sully’s hospital chart. “Miss Abbott is correct. The allergy is listed here. It didn’t get transcribed onto his hospital chart.” The nurse looked distressed and highly disturbed about it, as did Olivia. Which meant someone was in trouble.

  While Jack fought anger at the staff person responsible for the error, he also knew people weren’t perfect and that he’d needed enough grace of his own, especially early in his military career.

  Yet, those weren’t the only thoughts occupying his mind.

  Intruding somewhere in the middle of the medication muddle, a part of him was touched by the fact that Olivia had the presence of mind to tell the paramedics about the penicillin allergy.

  Which could only mean that his father meant more to her than Jack had first realized.

  * * *

  Olivia had made enough mistakes of her own to know the important part was owning up. She felt bad for the person who’d made the error, yet concern for Sully outweighed it. A mistake like that could kill someone. Precisely the reason Olivia needed to be sure and study hard so she didn’t make a similar mistake once on the job. She wanted to be a good EMT.

  Jack, however, looked ready to take someone’s head off.

  “Thankfully it didn’t affect Sully’s airway,” she said to tame Jack’s temper. “Just hives.” She knew because one of Sully’s nurses had been kind enough to keep her updated from the report. She hadn’t known that the offending drug was amoxicillin, though. Just that he’d reacted.

  “But the next time could be life threatening,” Jack said more to Olivia than the nurse.

  “Can I see his chart?” Olivia asked the nurse, who looked at Jack. He narrowed his gaze at Olivia but nodded. Olivia read over Sully’s allergies and her concern grew. Not one of Sully’s many allergies had made the transfer from the ambulance chart to the medical record. Jack was absolutely going to freak...and for good reason.

  Olivia kept her voice even as she handed the nurse back the chart and said, “The rest of his allergies aren’t listed here. Please make sure his new family doctor and all future caregivers know Sully also has a severe allergy to shellfish.”

  “Which means he can’t take sulfa drugs,” the nurse said, scribbling notes down. Olivia avoided Jack’s searing gaze. He had no reason to be angry with her. She hadn’t created this problem. In fact, she was fixing it. He ought to be grateful. Instead, he looked grumpy. Maybe with himself?

  “Anything else?” the nurse asked Olivia, turning her back slightly to Jack.

  Olivia wished the nurse wouldn’t face away from Jack. That wouldn’t go over well.

  “Yes,” Olivia said, trying to position herself to bring Jack back into the circle of conversation. “He also reacts to pecans and bananas. His skin breaks out with certain Band-Aids and blisters if he touches rubber bands. So I suspect he has a contact latex allergy as well, though Sully denies it.”

  A doctor Olivia had never seen before approached and joined the conversation as the nurse compared the records.

  “To be on the safe side, we probably need to list latex as an allergy,” the doctor said.

  The nurse added, “We’re latex-free here at this facility, so he should be fine. But some smaller facilities still use latex in some supplies.”

  That the doctor and nurse were telling Olivia all of this and not Jack appeared to be frustrating him beyond belief. His eyebrows were scrunched together and he had that telltale set to his jaw. The doctor extended the clipboard toward Olivia. “Can you sign this form?”

  “Excuse me, I’m Sully’s medical power of attorney,” Jack said firmly, eyeing the doctor.

  “Oh, my mistake. Miss Abbott just seemed to know more. You are...?”

  “His son.”

  The doctor gestured between Olivia and Jack. “Are you two related, then? Married?”

  Jack and Olivia shot several steps away from each other.

  “No!”

  Absolutely not!”

  The doctor’s eyebrows rose. “Well, all righty then. Divorced?”

  Jack scowled.

  Olivia glared at both of them. Then, feeling a blush creep up her neck and into her face at the thought of being married to Jack, she turned to go start her shift.

  “Not funny, Edna,” Olivia said to the medical records clerk as she snickered and snorted in the corner. Edna had evidently heard the hallway exchange and found it humorous.

  “You should’ve seen Jack’s face. He looked about to blow a gasket.”

  “Don’t tick him off. I have to work with him at the diner.”

  “Right. Lucky you.”

  “You’re funny.”

  “No, I mean it. He’s a cutie. I’d put up with his rigid, rule-following, no-compromise, no-nonsense, military personality just to be able to stare at him for a few hours. Guy’s gorgeous and built like a tank.”

  Olivia rolled her eyes. “He’s young enough to be your grandson.”

  “He’s not too old for you, though.” Edna winked dramatically.

  “That’s so ridiculous it’s obscene.” The notion that she’d ever be remotely interested romantically in Jack or he in her? Nonsense.

  That she’d blushed around him all day dur
ing that last shift at work just had to do with the heat being on full blast in the diner because of the customers being cold and nothing more.

  By the time her shift ended a few hours later, Olivia was ready to drop. Her feet felt as if they had blisters on the bottoms of them. She groaned and stretched her achy back.

  “A bunch of us are heading out to catch a flick at the dollar show. You coming?” Edna asked.

  “Thanks, but I have to skip it. I still have to pick up some supplies before the next storm hits.”

  “All right then. Catch you later.”

  Olivia waved to her nutty but adorable elder friend and then said goodbye to nurses Kate, Lauren and Caleb and doctors Mitch, Ian, Cade and the rest of the trauma crew that had graciously taught her so much on incoming trauma cases tonight. She needed to get some ride-along hours with the ambulance service next semester. She really looked forward to that.

  She pushed open the EPTC door to frigid wind. She pulled her coat tighter and braved the snowy parking lot. Midway, she spotted Jack’s Ford. An idea formed.

  Unable to resist jabbing him and continuing the good-natured ribbing over liking opposing car makes, she pulled out her notebook and a roll of bandage tape from her medical bag. She wrote FORD=Found On Road Dead next to the Ford emblem on the truck where he’d see it. “And we score one point, Sully,” she whispered toward his hospital room window. Then, snickering to herself, she hurried to her car, looking forward to the warmth of the heater. She turned the ignition over.

  Nothing.

  Whaaaat?

  She pulled the key out and tried again. Nothing. No sound whatsoever. Just a dead click.

  “You have got to be kidding me.” She tried again. Still nothing.

  “Come on, you silly car.” Olivia tried unsuccessfully for several more moments before going out and opening her hood. She knew quite a bit about the engine and fiddled around with it but couldn’t find the issue. Everyone from her EMT class had left, so she couldn’t bum a ride. She peered over at the trauma center as two ambulances pulled in, shooting down her idea to go inside and ask for a hand with her car.