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It hadn’t mattered what kind of problem Susie’d had, Tyler thought. Business, personal, whatever. If she needed a shoulder to lean on, he was there. And when she no longer needed him, he just as conveniently disappeared. That way, they could maintain the status quo. It was very important to Tyler to maintain their relationship just as it was. To not do anything that would risk what he hoped would be a life-long connection.
“And we appreciate all that you’ve done for her, thus far, more than we can say,” Luke continued.
Not about to be cast in the role of hero now, as he had been by the Carrigans back then, Tyler shrugged. As much as he pretended Susie was just another friend, deep inside, he knew that was not the case. Susie and he shared an intimacy, an ability to tell each other anything, he had with no one else, and that included his two triplet-brothers. Tyler sensed that for Susie, as close as she was to her family, she felt the same way about him. She could unburden herself to him in a way she could not confide in anyone else.
It had been that way from his very first visit to her hospital room. It was that way now, and always would be, he figured, no matter who else came and went in their lives. And if the past was any indication, other people would always come and go, since neither he nor Susie had the desire to marry and settle down.
Aware the Carrigans were waiting for him to continue explaining why he felt the need to butt into a family matter that was clearly none of his business, or should not have been, anyway, Tyler said, “I’m glad you appreciate what I’ve done for your daughter, but it’s a two-way street. Susie has been there for me, too, when I’ve needed her.”
Luke drained his tea. His expression shifted into Overprotective Father mode. “Unfortunately,” Luke stated evenly, “we also know Susie needs a lot more in her life than you can give her as a go-to friend.”
Meg held up a hand before Tyler could comment.
“Getting Susie to admit that, however, has proved difficult,” Meg concurred with Luke, like a mama bear protecting her cub. “Which is why her father and I have taken matters into our own hands and given her the nudge she needs to get out there and really start living her life again. Not just day to day, the way she has been, Tyler, but with a real eye toward the future and all she has left to experience.”
“I HEARD YOU STOPPED BY my folks’ this morning on your way to the clinic.”
Tyler looked up to see Susie framed in the doorway of his office.
He pushed back from the endless paperwork that occupied him the first and third Saturday afternoon of every month. He had hoped she wouldn’t find out about his visit.
“Can’t keep anything from you, can I?” he teased.
As expected, Susie refused to let his cajoling get him off the hook.
She sauntered in, looking beautiful in jeans and a white V-neck T-shirt. Four oddly shaped pearls hung pendant style around her neck from a thin piece of brown leather necklace, two more adorned her ear. Tyler smiled. Susie liked to accessorize, and her tastes ran to the unusual.
“They thought your interference was sweet but ill-advised.”
Tyler noted her wavy blond hair had been drawn into a low ponytail at the nape of her neck. He knew Susie only put it back like that when the length and weight of her glossy mane was bothering her. “I take it that means there is a Bachelor Number Two on the schedule?”
She lounged next to his desk, engulfing him in her sexy flowers and citrus perfume. “Gary Hecht. A statistician. I’m meeting him for a half an hour at the driving range this evening.”
With effort, Tyler shifted his gaze from the subtle curve of her hip, to her face. He tossed his pen down on his desk, rocked back in his chair. “I didn’t know you golfed.”
Susie made a face. “I don’t. But he does.” Humor glittered in her amber eyes as she acknowledged with a toss of her head, “I figured that would keep his attention focused on something other than me and make the thirty minutes go a heck of a lot quicker.”
“Glad to hear you’re really getting into the spirit of things,” Tyler drawled.
Susie hopped up on the edge of his desk. She put her hands on either side of her, kept one foot on the floor, and swung the other leg back and forth.
“Which is where you come in,” Susie said.
Tyler’s hand dropped to her fingertips, curled over the edge of his desk. As always he marveled at the feminine sight. Given how much time she spent rooting around in the soil, he would have figured her hands would show the wear and tear. True, her nails were neat and short. And she almost never wore any jewelry on her hands. But her palms were every bit as silky smooth as the rest of her.
Struggling to keep his attention focused on the conversation, Tyler returned, “Oh, yeah?”
Susie nodded agreeably. Devilry colored her low tone. “I want you to accidentally on purpose show up there about the time I am supposed to leave to facilitate my exit, if things get sticky. They may not, but better safe than sorry.”
The idea of rescuing her yet again was not unappealing, although Tyler pretended it was.
Watching how the autumn sunlight streaming through the open blinds brought out the honey-gold in her hair, he regarded her with mock exasperation. “And what do I get for this?”
Susie tapped the pad of her index finger against her chin in a parody of thoughtfulness. “Uh…fresh flowers for the reception desk?”
Tyler rocked back in his chair and clasped his fingers together behind his head. As far as interruptions went, this was the most pleasurable one he’d had in quite a while.
He feigned a disagreeable attitude. “You know I could care less about anything floral.”
Unless it’s a fragrance, adorning your skin.
Tyler didn’t know why, her particular pheromones, maybe, but Susie made perfume—any perfume—smell incredible.
She squinting at him playfully and finally offered up a new bargain. “How about…hmm…I iron some of your shirts?”
His preference for unstarched cotton was a running joke between them. He fingered the pine-green oxford he was wearing. “I like ’em rumpled.”
Susie swung her leg back and forth. “I’ll plant a tree in front of your ranch house.”
“It would just get in the way of my tractor when I mow.”
Trevor wanted his off time and the chores he had to do around his Healing Meadow ranch to be as easy as possible.
“Okay, then—” she batted her eyelashes at him flirtatiously “—I’ll pay for dinner.”
“Now you’re talking.”
She held up a cautioning finger. “But it can’t be here in town. It wouldn’t be sensitive to ditch one date and then publicly go right out and eat a meal with another.”
Tyler tried and failed to keep an amused grin off his face. “But it would be okay to do it behind Bachelor Number Two’s back?”
Susie huffed and hopped off his desk. She strode back and forth restlessly. “Whose side are you on?”
As if she even had to ask. “Yours. Definitely.”
“All right.” Susie paused and circled her waist with her hands. She tilted her head at him thoughtfully. “So where do you want to eat?”
Tyler shrugged. “You know the area every bit as well as I do. Surprise me.”
GARY HECHT TURNED OUT to be shorter than Susie by a good inch and a half, and movie-star handsome, Susie noted. He also had a great golf swing.
“I gather my parents told you I had leukemia when I was a teenager,” Susie picked a spot near the end of the Armadillo Acres driving range, and set her bucket of balls down on the grass.
“Yes, they did and I immediately ran the statistics.” Gary set his bucket down to the left of hers and plucked a custom club from his golf bag.
He removed the cover and ran his hand lovingly over the stem of the stick, and onto the wood head of the club, his fingers tracing the loft, as if to ensure it were still in perfect shape.
He regarded Susie with scientific enthusiasm. “Do you know that you have a greater chance of getting in a fatal car accident or contracting a deadly form of pneumonia than you do of getting cancer again?”
“No. I can’t say I did,” Susie said drily.
Her attempt at humor was lost on the insurance company actuary. This could be a long thirty minutes.
She loathed being stuck with a humorless companion. Being on a date with one was even worse.
Gary caught her dissatisfied look. “Illness doesn’t scare me, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Satisfied all was in order with his driver, Gary placed a golf ball on the tee and paused to line up his first shot. “And if most people looked at the numbers, I don’t think it would scare them nearly as much, either. Modern medicine has done great things when it comes to improving life expectancy. Thanks to all the research being done, and new protocols developed, the odds of living a long, healthy life are getting better all the time.”
Susie supposed she was living proof of that.
Now, if someone could just convince Emmaline Clark the odds were on her side, too.
“Do you talk to all your dates about this?” Susie lined up her shot, too. She swung as hard as she could. The ball went a measly twenty-five yards.
“Oh. Definitely,” Gary said. A look of pure bliss crossed his features. “I love numbers.”
Susie nodded. “I can see that you do.” She watched Gary make a perfect line drive.
It looked as if he loved golf, too.
Gary nodded in greeting as another customer made his way past them to take up a position on the other side of Susie.
Susie started to nod, too, when she caught a whiff of man and cologne that was all too familiar. She took a good look at the cowboy ambling by, in a striped golf shirt she could swear she had never seen before, his usual denim jeans, and what looked like a pair of bowling shoes.
He kept his eyes on the green.
Gary frowned at the way Susie’s mouth was hanging open. “You know him?” Gary inclined his head at Tyler McCabe.
“I know everyone around here.” Susie flashed Tyler a tight, officious smile.
This hadn’t been their deal.
Tyler had been supposed to show up at seven-thirty, at the end of her “date” with Bachelor Number Two.
Instead, Tyler had showed up at the beginning and positioned himself in perfect eavesdropping position.
How was she supposed to concentrate on giving Gary Hecht the attention he deserved with Tyler right beside her? It was like going on a date with her parents!
Not to mention, Tyler’s golf shot was worse than hers and he kept getting his balls in her lane.
Turning her back to Tyler, Susie looked at Gary. “Tell me more about your job,” she said.
Another thing Gary loved to do was talk about his life.
For the next forty minutes, she could hardly get a word in edgewise. Finally, both their buckets were empty. “Want to get more balls?” Gary asked.
“Actually, I think I’m going to have to call it an evening,” Susie said. They gathered up their gear. “But there is something I’d like to talk to you about—in private.” She flashed her most persuasive smile at her companion—the kind she saved for very special and or important occasions—and walked off.
TYLER COULDN’T BELIEVE IT. Susie’s date had been one of the most self-absorbed men he had ever had the chance to come across, yet Susie was acting as if Gary were heaven’s gift as she sauntered off with him, arm in arm.
He quickly emptied his bucket, picked up the clubs he’d borrowed from one of his cousins, and headed back to the window.
“Nice outfit, Doc.” The girl behind the counter winked.
Tyler grinned. The shirt had cost him all of five bucks at the thrift shop. “You like it?”
“It’s real eye-catching.” The teenage clerk popped her gum. “Real, uh, orange. And green. And white. And striped.” She looked down at his two-tone footwear, so different from the boots he usually wore. “I like the shoes, though.” She gave the brown-and-beige leather a thumbs-up.
Funny, Tyler thought they were the ugliest things he had ever seen. They felt unsubstantial, too.
With his bagful of borrowed clubs slung over his shoulder, he headed for the parking lot. Susie was standing next to Gary Hecht’s white sedan, writing what appeared to be her phone number on a piece of paper.
“Call me,” he heard her say as he passed by. “And we’ll set something up as soon as possible.”
“Okay. I will.” Gary smiled and leaned forward to brush his lips against her cheek in a standard Southern goodbye.
It was the kind of casual kiss a neighbor gave a friend. But it burned him up.
Almost as much as the sight of Susie hopping in the cab of her pickup truck and driving off without so much as a glance in his direction.
What the…
Tyler jumped in his pickup truck and drove after her. He’d expected her to laugh at his getup. Much as the teenage clerk had.
Susie had a great sense of humor and right about now Tyler felt she needed a little extra laughter in her life.
Unfortunately, his choice of clothing had apparently done little to amuse her because she did not stop until she reached the small shotgun-style house tucked away behind the landscape center she owned.
Rectangular in shape, the one-story, century-old residence was located behind three large greenhouses and the rows of trees and saplings for sale, and was hence, well separated from Carrigan Landscape Center and Design.
Her business closed at six o’clock on Saturdays. The parking lot was deserted. The two of them were very much alone, which suited Tyler just fine. He didn’t want anyone else overhearing what he had to say to Susie.
Tyler got out of his truck and followed her up onto the porch.
She whirled to face him. Twin spots of pink color emphasized the elegant bones of her cheeks.
“Are you mad at me?”
Susie snorted in contempt. Lifted a brow. “Gee. You think?”
Tyler exhaled in exasperation. “Why?”
Susie set her chin. “I asked you to give me an out if I needed one.” She stepped nearer. “Not chaperone the entire outing!”
Her stormy attitude added fuel to the fire of resentment burning within him. Tyler looked her up and down in a manner meant to irritate her, lingering on the curves of her breasts beneath the white T-shirt, the wide leather belt cinched around her slender waist, and the trim fit of her bootleg jeans, before returning his gaze, ever so slowly, ever so deliberately, to her flashing amber eyes. “You act like I interrupted something.”
Susie’s lids narrowed. She glared at him through a fringe of thick honey blond lashes. “As it happens, you were!”
“You like that guy?” Tyler still couldn’t believe she was giving the self-absorbed statistician a second chance to call her or go out with her or whatever.
