The Doctor's Undoing (Doctors in Training 3)

He couldn’t help responding to her naive statement with a short laugh. “Rude? Sugar, my family doesn’t know the meaning of the word.”

The song ended and they broke apart. Glancing around at the classmates who were studying them not-so-subtly, apparently sensing a quarrel in the making, Haley grabbed Ron’s arm and towed him out of the ballroom through a French door that led out onto a brick lanai. Surrounded by outdoor dining tables that had been covered for the winter, she t

urned to him, her breath hanging in the chilly December air when she spoke.

“You said you were going to keep a positive attitude about this visit. Your brother and sister are making the effort. You should, too.”

He looked at her in exasperation. Her dress had only fluttery strips of fabric where there should be sleeves, so she was probably freezing. At least he was wearing a jacket. He shrugged out of it and wrapped it around her shoulders, knowing she wouldn’t drop this until they’d gotten it settled.

He spoke rationally, hoping to convince her quickly. “They aren’t making that big an effort. Deb’s probably got some agenda behind this visit. She doesn’t usually make efforts unless there’s something in it for her.”

“That’s a very cynical comment.”

He shrugged. “Let’s just say it’s based on experience.”

“Still, if you want to mend fences with your family…”

He squeezed the back of his neck, feeling the cold seeping through his thin dress shirt. “Just give it a rest, will you, Haley? Not every family is as ‘Hollywood perfect’ as yours.”

Her eyes narrowed.

He knew that expression. He’d pushed another button. He hadn’t intended to snap at her, but considering the way the evening had gone so far, he was in no mood to deal with one of her upbeat lectures about how to fix his dysfunctional family whom she’d never even met.

She planted her hands on her hips, almost dislodging his jacket. She made a quick grab for it, clutching it angrily around her. “I have never once claimed that my family is perfect,” she said, the words escaping her in irritated little breath clouds.

“You didn’t have to. I just spent a near-perfect Thanksgiving with them, didn’t I? If you think it’s going to be like that at my family gathering, I’m afraid you’re in for a big shock.”

He didn’t know exactly why he was suddenly regretting asking her to join him. Maybe he really was just trying to prepare her for the worst. Maybe he was genuinely concerned that his family would get into one of their cutting quarrels, which would especially embarrass him after that Norman Rockwell holiday he’d just spent with hers.

Maybe he worried that once she saw where he’d come from, she’d have even less interest in accompanying him to where he was going.

He knew better than to say any of that aloud, of course. He was fully aware that his ramblings didn’t exactly make sense, even to him. Which didn’t mean they didn’t have some basis in fact.

He blamed himself for the impulsive invitation on the way to her parents’ home. Had he waited until after the near-perfect Thanksgiving meal with her family, he never would have put himself into this position. Especially after hearing her declare that she didn’t consider their relationship a particularly significant one, anyway.

She took a step forward and poked him in the chest, her eyes gleaming in the multicolored Christmas lights draped from the roof and looped around nearly every available surface. “You invited me to your family’s Christmas gathering and I’m holding you to that invitation, is that clear? If I have to go just to make sure that you do, then that’s the way it will be. I’m not going to let you give up on your own family without making at least one more effort to repair your relationship with them.”

God, he adored her. Those words he would probably never say lodged painfully in his throat when he muttered, “Okay, fine. We’ll go. But don’t blame me if it’s a disaster.”

“I’ll only blame you if you don’t make an effort,” she assured him, looking satisfied that she’d railroaded him into agreeing.

“Your lips are turning blue.”

She tucked her hands into his coat pockets and nodded. “I’m ready to go back inside. Everyone’s probably wondering what we’re doing out here, anyway.”

He caught her arm when she turned toward the door, and planted a long, hard kiss on her cold lips. “Just warming you up,” he muttered when he released her. He’d certainly raised his own internal heat level.

Blinking rather dazedly up at him, she cleared her throat and turned again toward the door, looking very much like a woman who had just been thoroughly kissed. Which should stop any conjecture that they’d been out here quarreling, he thought as he followed her back inside.

They left from Haley’s apartment early the following Saturday headed for the northeast Arkansas town of Hurleyville. Haley had never been there before; Ron assured her that she hadn’t missed much. With less than eight thousand residents, the town had been dying off ever since the mill had closed back in the ’80s. Ron’s father had been laid off from that mill; since then, he’d made his living mostly working on old cars in his backyard garage.

The weather was hardly auspicious for their visit. It was unseasonably warm for early December, the sky gray and overcast. Thunderstorms with the potential to turn severe were predicted for later in the day. The threat of tornadoes in December was unusual, but not unheard of in Arkansas. Haley crossed her fingers that the weather wouldn’t take an ugly turn before she and Ron were safely back in Little Rock that evening.

Looking at the skies as they prepared to climb into the car, Ron suggested they cancel the trip because of the weather threat. She sighed at the obvious ploy and told him to get behind the wheel.

Hefting a sigh, he fastened himself into the driver’s seat. “Just don’t say I didn’t warn you. And I’m not talking about the weather now.”

They’d barely gotten out of the Little Rock city limits when she reached for her netbook to start quizzing him for the upcoming shelf exam. Ron groaned. “Already?”