Free Love on a Deadline by Kathryn Springer Page B

planned it.
    Although the saucy wink Hollis gave him behind Mac’s back when she and Connor’s canoe glided away made him wonder if his little sister didn’t have a plan of her own.
    He steered closer to the shoreline and Mac frowned. “When you said detour, I didn’t realize we were going to portage the canoe.”
    â€œWe’re not.” Ethan peered over the side of the canoe. “Do you see that weed bed? Dad and I used to fish right here on Saturday mornings. We’d get up early and sneak out of the house before Mom and Hollis got up and—” Ethan’s throat closed suddenly, unexpectedly, sealing off the rest of the words. “Sorry.”
    â€œDon’t be,” Mac said softly. “Is that why you didn’t come back? Because there were too many memories?”
    Ethan wished he could say yes, because that would mean he was a sensitive guy. The kind of guy who’d been guided by his heart instead of blind ambition.
    The kind of guy a woman like Mac would respect. But she respected honesty, too, so Ethan told the truth.
    â€œI didn’t want to come back,” Ethan finally said. “My plan was to graduate at the top of my class in medical school and get a spot on Dr. Langley’s team at Midland Medical.”
    â€œWhat changed your mind?”
    The only way Ethan could answer that question was by asking one of his own. “What do you remember about my dad?”
    The tiny pucker between Mac’s eyes deepened. “When I was in first grade, I fell off my bike and skinned my knee. I saw your dad in the checkout line at the hardware store and I ran up to him to show him what happened.
    â€œThere were people in line but he knelt down right there and examined it, then he wrote something down on a piece of paper and handed it to me.” A memory warmed her smile. “It was a prescription for a hot fudge sundae.”
    That sounded like his dad, all right.
    â€œDad finished his residency at Midland, too, but he didn’t want to stay, let alone work in the trauma unit. Some doctors don’t like the stress of never knowing what’s coming through those doors, how you always have to be at the top of your game, but I thrived on the adrenaline rush.
    â€œLast winter there was a three-car pileup on the interstate. We were told to prepare for multiple injuries, some of them life threatening.” The night had become permanently etched in Ethan’s mind. “I wanted to show off my stuff to Dr. Langley and prove that I could handle the situation, but first I had to examine a guy who came into the ER. He had a high fever and complained of fatigue.
    â€œHe said he’d gone through cancer treatments two years ago, and I could tell he was worried it had returned. But I blew it off. Told him he probably had the flu and handed him over to a nurse as fast as I could . . . and then I forgot about him.”
    â€œThere were other people who needed you.” Mac waded into the silence.
    Ethan’s lips twisted. “We had enough help that night. I made a decision based on my best interests. Five or six hours went by before I even remembered to ask about my patient—and I couldn’t even remember the guy’s name. Bed Two. That’s what I called him. The nurse told me he’d been admitted for further testing, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that I should check on him.
    â€œIt was four in the morning but he wasn’t asleep. He was sitting up in bed and he looked at me . . . and I could tell he’d been having a rough night. But you know what he did?” The memory roughened Ethan’s voice. “He asked how I was doing. That was supposed to be my line. We ended up talking until the sun came up, and before I left, he asked if he could pray with me.
    â€œFor the first time in ten years, I actually took a day off to get my head on straight. I’d worked so hard to be like my dad—to honor his