2. Prescription For Love

“I know. Forget it.” Flann waved her off. Her ego wasn’t so sensitive she couldn’t hear something good about someone else. No doubt Abby was great at her job. She wouldn’t have risen to the top at a competitive program as she’d done without being excellent. Besides, she’d seen for herself how good Abby was. Glenn was obviously taken with her, and that bothered her more than the commentary on how well Flann ran the ER, and that was just plain ridiculous.

“Abby said if you got down here before she was free, to take a look at your leg,” Glenn said. “Three is open.”

“It’s fine. It can wait.”

“That’s not what I heard.” Glenn closed the chart and regarded her with a steady, unwavering gaze.

Flann recalled Glenn had been a ranking officer in the military. She never talked about it, but it showed in her demeanor. She wasn’t going to budge, and Flann had to admit a dressing change was probably a good idea. She blew out a breath. She was being an ass on just about every level. “You’re right. Thanks.”

Glenn was halfway through the dressing change when Abby poked her head in through the curtain.

“How’s it looking?”

“Fine,” Flann said from her perch on the treatment table. Glenn sat on a stool in front of her, cleaning the incision with sterile saline.

Abby stepped up behind Glenn, rested a hand lightly on her back for balance, and leaned forward to study Flann’s leg. “It looks pretty good. Some swelling. If you can manage to keep off it for the rest of the day, it would help.”

“I will if I can,” Flann said.

Abby squeezed Glenn’s shoulder. “Thanks for taking care of that, Glenn.”

Glenn glanced up, giving Abby a smile. “No problem.”

“When you’re done, I think we’re clear to sneak out of here for a while. Glenn, can you give me a ride?”

“Sure.”

“We should probably take two cars,” Flann said quickly. “In case we have to come back at separate times. Why don’t you take Presley and Carrie back in Carrie’s car, Glenn? I’ll ride with

Abby.”

Abby’s brows rose. “Glenn?”

“Sure.” Glenn rose, wrapped a fresh gauze quickly and efficiently around Flann’s thigh, stripped off her gloves, and washed her hands. “I’ll tell them to meet us in the parking lot.”

“Great.” Flann carefully climbed down from the treatment table and pulled on her scrub pants. She was aware of Abby watching her, and the tingle in her belly that started every time Abby was near ratcheted up a notch. She took her time tying her scrubs, and when she looked up, Abby’s gaze was still on her. Flann couldn’t read what was behind her pensive look, but she knew she liked it.

“Ready?”

Abby nodded, still thinking about Flann’s long, agile fingers sliding the green ties through her hands. Clever, sensuous fingers. She turned away. “We should go. We might not have much time.”

Presley met them in the parking lot and gave Abby her keys. “See you there!”

Abby pulled out first, hoping the drive back to Presley’s would be less adventurous than the trip in to the hospital had been. In daylight, everything looked both less forbidding and more devastated than the night before. The road crews must’ve been working around the clock too. Downed trees had been cut and dragged to the side to clear the roads. Uprooted trees and fields smashed flat by the high winds punctuated the countryside. They passed a white farmhouse and red barn looking bucolic in the bright sunlight, tall stalks of corn waving in the fields. A quarter mile farther on, bent and broken cornstalks lay strewn across pastures surrounding a tumbled-down barn and a house with portions of the roof missing.

“This is terrible,” Abby said. “It’s not just property damage. These fields are people’s livelihoods.”

“I know,” Flann said. “It’s still early enough in the season that some of these fields can be replanted, though. Everyone who lives out here is a survivor. Nature has been trying to drive us out for a couple hundred years, but it hasn’t won yet.”

“Have you ever thought about leaving?”

“Oh,” Flann said lightly, “for a while. When I first got to the city for medical school, I was pretty seduced by the

life.”

Abby grinned and shot her a look. “Don’t you mean nightlife?”

Flann grinned back. “Well, it’s not as if there’s an abundance of available females in this area. So, yeah, I was a little taken with the increase in the dating pool.”

Abby laughed. “I don’t doubt it. Where did you go to school?”

“My father’s alma mater. Vanderbilt.”

“Southern girls at that. That must have been a change.”

“It worked out pretty well for my father.”

“But neither you nor Harper came back with a bride.”

“I wasn’t looking for one, and Harper

well, I guess Harper was waiting for Presley.”

Abby smiled, taken aback by the seriousness in Flann’s voice. “That’s a terribly romantic thing to say, Dr. Rivers.”

“What, you don’t think I have any romantic tendencies?”

“I think I’d better not comment on that.”