Her Texas Family

Chapter Two

On Tuesday morning, Lucy sat behind a wide receptionist desk in Graham’s medical office and stared at the blinking black beast in front of her. Some might call it a phone. Lucy deemed it an instrument of torture. It boasted a number on the small gray screen—one that kept growing as the number of people waiting for her to answer increased. When Graham’s nurse, Danielle, had trained Lucy on it early this morning, she’d called it the queue. Lucy didn’t have such a nice name for it.

It scared her more than spiders or spam.

On Sunday night, she and Graham had hammered out a few details. An agreement of sorts. They’d agreed to give working together a try. He’d put a lot of emphasis on that last word, and Lucy felt an underlying sense of tension that normally didn’t invade her life. Graham probably thought she was completely unqualified for the position. And he’d be right. Which meant she needed to prove herself today.

She knew her opportunity to work for Graham had everything to do with God and Olivia making it happen and very little to do with her office skills—which were nonexistent.

On Monday, when Lucy had moved into her above-garage apartment in town—the one her sister had lived in last year—she’d scanned the paper for any other job openings she might be qualified for, just in case working for Graham didn’t pan out.

There weren’t any.

Since her move to Texas had come up quickly, Lucy hadn’t had time to save. She didn’t have any reserves for covering an extended period of time without work. And since she absolutely refused to ask her parents or Olivia and Cash for money, she needed this job.

How hard could it be? she’d thought. Answer a phone. File some charts. But after a few of the calls she’d already fielded this morning, Lucy was afraid to touch the flashing beast in front of her. Since timidity wasn’t in her nature, she took a steadying breath and yanked the receiver up, pressing it to her ear.

“Dr. Redmond’s office. May I help you?”

“This is Walt Birl. Who’s this?”

Another favorite question of the morning. Who was she? What was she doing in town? And from two grandmothers—was she interested in meeting their grandsons?

“Lucy Grayson. I’m new to town. I’m running from some unsolved crimes in Colorado. What can I do for you, Mr. Birl?”

Stunned silence.

Lucy winced and looked at the phone as though she could see his reaction through the small black holes. Oops. Perhaps not her best move. Wasn’t she planning to be professional today? Prove to Graham he hadn’t made a mistake in hiring her?

When she put the phone back to her ear, loud cackling greeted her. “I like you. Listen, I have a rash I need to discuss with someone.”

Don’t pick me. Don’t pick me.

“It’s kind of round, though there’s a few spots—”

“Mr. Birl, you really need to speak with the nurse or schedule an appointment with Dr. Redmond. I’ll be no help at all.”

“Okay. Transfer me to Danielle, then.”

Lucy sighed with relief, then pressed a few buttons on the phone, hoping the call actually went to Danielle’s phone and voice mail in the back.

She dived into the waiting queue. It took her almost two hours to wade through the calls, partially since everyone had to get the lowdown on her before talking medical business. Finally, the screen didn’t show anyone on hold. Lucy did a happy dance, chair sliding back and forth with her movements.

“What are you doing?”

She screeched. Graham had come down the hall during her happy dance...with a patient. Thankfully the frazzled mom with a toddler on her hip simply waved and walked out the front doors.

Lucy motioned to the phone. “Just celebrating getting through the phone calls.”

“Oh.” Graham sported the same look of confusion he’d been wearing when he’d stopped to help with her flat tire. “Okay.” He shrugged and disappeared down the hall again. Even slightly snarly, the man still managed to look good. He also had impeccable taste in clothes. A crisp white button-down shirt and black dress pants. A tie that teased some of the lighter flecks of green from his eyes. He reminded Lucy of an actor on a television show she used to watch. Definitely Hollywood for this small town.

Digging into her purse, Lucy plucked out her phone and texted her sister.

What are you doing?

When it beeped a response, Lucy gave a silent cheer. Liv almost never responded to texts during the day because she was normally in the middle of teaching one of her French classes at the high school.

Between classes. How’s the first day?

How to answer that?

Exciting.

Lol. Yeah, rt. R u still at work? Have u caused any trouble?

Lucy’s lips curved. Her sister knew her too well.

Yes and no.

Though Lucy had simply meant to answer Liv’s questions in order, the humor in it made her perk up. Let her sister wonder a bit at that.

Lucy?!!!??

She laughed and slid the phone back into her purse. It took her a few minutes to figure out how to print the updated appointment schedule so she could pull the patient charts for the rest of the day. Once she did, Lucy did a pirouette on her way to pick up the sheet from the printer located in the far left corner of the reception space. Now that the phone calls had slowed, she was doing okay. Maybe she’d get the hang of this job faster than she’d expected.

Graham walked into the reception space and dropped some charts on top of the pile on her desk that needed to be reshelved, then turned and scanned the files.

“Just grabbing my next appointment. I’m sure you haven’t had time to pull anything with handling the phones this morning.”

“Thanks.” That was nice. Maybe the man didn’t just speak in grunts all the time. Actually, she knew he didn’t. She’d heard him being great with the patients. And she’d seen him interact with Mattie the other night. Graham looked at his daughter as if she made the sun rise and set each day. From what Lucy had gathered in the short time they’d been together on Sunday, she agreed with that assessment. Mattie was supercute with her red glasses, glossy hair and bright, inquisitive green eyes that seemed to quietly observe everything around her.

Seeing Graham act so sweet with Mattie had melted Lucy a bit.

But he certainly hadn’t sprinkled any of that sugar in her direction. With Lucy, he kept a polite distance and only spoke caveman.

She considered the way Graham obviously adored Mattie to be his best quality. Second best? His choice in cologne.

Inhaling, she inched closer to his back as he faced the charts. Woodsy. Spicy. Definitely worth a second sniff. She leaned in just a bit more.

Graham grabbed a chart and turned, almost bumping into her. Lucy jumped back, not realizing how close she’d migrated in her efforts to breathe him in.

He stared at her, those dark, stormy eyes wide.

“Sorry.” She took a step back. “I—” Want to smell you? Nope. Not first-day-on-the-job words.

Graham’s brow furrowed. “You okay?”

“I’m great.” You just smell distractingly good. What kind of cologne is that? Would it be weird if I requested you wear it every day? Would it be even worse if I grabbed your perfectly knotted grass-green tie, tugged you forward and buried my nose along the collar of your shirt?

Graham made his way past her, pausing by the edge of the desk. “We’ll turn off the phones for lunch. I need to grab Mattie from school. She has a half day today. But Danielle can answer any questions you have after you’re done eating.”

“Sounds good.” Lucy pasted on a bright smile and waited until Graham disappeared down the hall before letting it fall from her face. Phew. That had been a close one.

She searched the shelves filled with rows and rows of manila folders reaching up to the ceiling behind her desk and along the wall. Looked as though the chart she needed was on the top row. She glanced around. Not a stool or chair to be found besides the rolling one behind her desk. At five and a half feet, Lucy wasn’t necessarily short—unless she compared herself with her sister or father—but she was pretty sure she needed some assistance to reach the top row.

She rolled the office chair over, aligned it in front of the shelves, then dropped to the ground and locked the wheels into place. Lucy stood and put one foot on the chair, then changed her mind and unzipped her brown, high-heeled boots. She removed them from her feet, rather proud of herself for taking the time to ensure her safety. She’d learned her lesson about climbing in heels.

Her outfit for the day—an army-green dress that swished above the knee, cinched with a multicolored belt and accessorized with an assortment of mismatched beaded bracelets—wasn’t exactly ideal for climbing on a chair. But Lucy would make it quick. She’d grab the chart and be back down before anyone knew what she’d been up to.

After giving the chair a test shove to make sure the wheels didn’t roll, Lucy stepped up, toes digging into the leather. She heard the front door to the office open but kept her concentration on the charts. Scanning the names until she found the one she needed, she slid it from the shelf. The chair moved under her feet. She gasped and reached for the shelf, dropping the file in order to hang on with both hands. The grip stopped her movement. A shaky, relieved breath whooshed out, causing dust to fly off a few files in front of her. Another close one.

She jumped from the chair before it could cause further damage, bare feet landing on the floor with a thud.

Lucy found herself face-to-face with a young man who’d appeared behind the receptionist desk during her chart hunt. He screamed cowboy. Broad shoulders in a blue plaid shirt. Boots peeking out from jeans.

The skin around his brown eyes crinkled. “I apologize for being in your space, ma’am. When I walked in, I saw you wobbling on the chair and thought you might need a hand. Looked like you were about to take quite the tumble. And yet, here you stand.”

He had a Southern drawl and he’d called her ma’am. Yee-haw. “I appreciate the backup.”

“I’m the one who called to see if Doc Redmond could squeeze me in for this.” His right shirtsleeve was rolled up, a nasty-looking gash visible. He situated the cloth he was holding to fully cover the wound. “I’m Hunter McDermott. My family’s ranch edges your brother-in-law’s.”

She introduced herself, and dimples sprouted in his cheeks.

“The famous Lucy Grayson. Do you really think anyone in this town doesn’t know who you are?”

At least one person hadn’t.

“Sooo...” He stretched the word out. “I suppose you saw a bit of Rachel back in Colorado.” Hunter’s gaze flitted away before meeting hers again. “How’s she doing?”

Oh. Now Lucy knew the lay of the land. Wonder if Rachel Maddox knew she’d left behind one interested cowboy in Texas when she’d headed to Colorado for college.

“Rachel’s great. Busy with classes and off-season volleyball training. And not dating anyone that I know of.”

Interest flashed on his face before he cleared his throat. “That’s good, then. I mean, not that she’s not dating anyone. Just that she’s doing well. I—”

Hunter shrugged and shook his head, and Lucy’s amusement and pity for the guy doubled. He grabbed the chart she’d dropped—amazingly the contents had stayed anchored inside—and handed it to her. “Here you go.”

“Thanks.” Lucy stepped toward the desk to set the file down and stumbled over her forgotten boots on the floor. Though she didn’t exactly need it, Hunter reached out, grabbing her arms to steady her. They shared an amused grin.

“I’ll let Dr. Redmond know you’re here.”

“No need.” Graham spoke from behind Lucy, his curt tone zinging along her spine. “Come on back, Hunter.”

Hunter nodded at Lucy, then stepped around to the front of the reception desk.

“I’ll meet you in exam room two.”

At that, the cowboy disappeared down the hallway, leaving Lucy with a disgruntled Graham.

Uh-oh. Why did he look so upset? Was it something she’d done? She could just imagine the long list of complaints Graham could have against her. After all, she’d literally been thrown into the job this morning with very little training. Lucy hadn’t been taught much more than how to deal with the phone and a quick lesson on the appointment scheduling system. Had she mis-scheduled an appointment? Lost a chart? Offended a patient?

She didn’t know the answer. She only knew by the tension tugging on Graham’s mouth and the crease cutting through his forehead that whatever he had to say couldn’t be good.

And Lucy really, really preferred good.

* * *

Graham didn’t usually have to count to ten when dealing with Mattie, but Lucy Grayson might be harder for him to handle than his five-year-old daughter.

He couldn’t shake the sight of Hunter and Lucy standing so close when he’d walked into the front office. What had they been doing? There had to be a good explanation for why they’d been tangled up together. For why Hunter had been behind the receptionist desk in the first place.

Had to be.

“What were you just doing?” Though he attempted to keep calm, his voice dripped with irritation. And then, instead of giving her time to answer, the rest of his thoughts spilled out without permission. “I walked down the hall to find you practically in a patient’s arms, and a young man at that. How do you think that looks? What kind of reputation do you think that gives the office?”

Her mouth opened but no words came out.

Didn’t she have anything to say to defend herself? And why did she look upset with him?

A glance over his shoulder told him Hunter was in the exam room, door closed. Waiting. Graham couldn’t deal with Lucy right now. His patient needed sutures and that came first.

He faced her again. “I need to help Hunter.” Plus, he needed to finish this appointment in time to grab Mattie from school so she didn’t have to ride the bus. He knew she didn’t like it, though she rarely complained. His daughter seemed to think it was her job to take care of him instead of his job to protect her.

“But I—” Lucy had finally found her voice. “I wasn’t—”

“We’ll talk about this later.”

Without letting her finish, Graham turned and walked down the hall. Exasperation snaked under his collar, mixed with a faint touch of guilt for being so short with Lucy. He paused outside the door to exam room two, loosening the knot of his tie. Somehow, he needed to get his mind out of the fog that had descended on him this morning.

For being a Tuesday, today definitely felt like a Monday.

Nothing was going according to plan. First, he’d wanted a qualified person to fill in for Hollie. Instead, he’d got Lucy. He’d known after their conversation Sunday night that Lucy didn’t have any experience working in a medical office. Her résumé sounded like an audition for a Broadway show. Yet he’d been desperate. And he knew she was, too. That, coupled with the pressure from Olivia, had prompted him to give working with Lucy a shot.

No pun intended.

The morning had been crazy busy, and Graham hadn’t really had time to observe Lucy. Except for the time he’d found her dancing in her chair, their close encounter by the charts...and then finding her and Hunter behind the desk together.

The unprofessional nature of what he’d seen grated. Graham had the niggling sense that he was missing some piece of the puzzle with Lucy. When he’d questioned her about previous employment on Sunday night, Lucy had been vague. She’d mentioned working at a dance school back in Colorado. Until...what? She hadn’t really said why she’d left. Only something about a “difference of opinion” with the owners of the studio. Now he wondered if there was more to the story. Had she been unprofessional there? What had gone on between them?

It was obviously something he needed to figure out. Along with whether he’d made a bad choice in hiring her. Did he need to let her go already?

The thought came with an underlying sense of relief.

Why?

Graham didn’t want to go anywhere near the answer to that question, because if he did, he’d have to analyze the fact that Lucy Grayson flustered him. She was...young. Flighty. And entirely too beautiful for her own good.

If Brooke were still alive, she’d never be okay with someone like Lucy working in his front office. Graham wouldn’t be, either. But Brooke was gone. And Graham should be able to have a receptionist without thinking of her as anything but that.

Only, seeing Lucy in Hunter’s arms...something had sparked in Graham that he hadn’t expected. A sense of jealousy. Where had it come from? He didn’t know. Nor did he want to explore it.

Lucy might be a good fill-in for Hollie on maternity leave, or she might not. The jury on that was still out. But as for any attraction Graham felt for the young woman?

That, he knew his answer to. He’d already had the love of his life. Dating, marriage, love...those things weren’t for him. Which meant attraction to his off-limits receptionist wasn’t an option.

Chapter Three

Lucy pushed out the doors of the medical office and screamed up at the mocking bright blue sky. Oh, my. Her heartbeats settled from outraged racing to annoyed drumming. That scream had felt good. She’d like to indulge in one more—this time in Graham’s presence. But he was still dealing with Hunter.

After Graham had headed down the hall, Lucy stayed until it was time to turn the phones over to the answering service. Then she’d waved goodbye to Danielle—who probably thought she was just ducking out to grab something for lunch—and headed outside.

She didn’t want to leave the only real job option she had in this town, but Lucy knew better than to let someone treat her the way Graham just had. His accusations had stolen the air from her lungs and the words from her mouth.

She and Hunter had been totally innocent in that situation, yet Graham assumed the worst.

Lucy didn’t like thinking a person was one thing and then finding out they were something completely different. At least with Graham she’d found out right away.

Unlike before.

Words spoken about her years earlier tumbled back. She could still hear Nate talking to his best friend, still picture his arrogant behavior.

After that, she’s all yours.

Indignation flared at the memory. Lucy had vowed never to let someone treat her with such disrespect again. Her independent, take-care-of-herself streak had started growing the day she’d overheard Nate, and it hadn’t slowed since.

Which meant she couldn’t stay working for Graham. Not if that was what he thought of her. Not if that was how he planned to treat her.

She should feel relieved leaving. Instead, pinpricks of disappointment riddled her skin.

She needed this job. Too bad Graham had reacted the way he had. Lucy could see now he’d never really given her a chance. He’d thrown her into the position with hardly any training and then he’d jumped to conclusions.

It wasn’t as though working as a receptionist in a medical office would end up on her Pinterest board for dream work. If Lucy let herself travel down that road, she’d wish her way into owning a dance school she could run under her own philosophy. But that option wasn’t on the horizon.

Lucy paused near her car as a school bus pulled up to the parking lot. The door opened and Mattie got off, clutching some things to her chest.

Hadn’t Graham said he was going to pick her up?

The bus pulled away, and Mattie dropped the items she’d been holding on to the grass between the sidewalk and the parking lot.

Lucy approached. “Hi, Mattie Grace.”

The little girl glanced up, shoving her glasses to the bridge of her nose. “Hi, Lucy.” One shoe was untied, but the rest of her looked perfectly put together. A bright, white shirt without a mark on it—something Lucy could rarely boast of accomplishing—a jean skirt, light-up tennis shoes and a pink fleece sweatshirt. The sight made Lucy realize she’d forgotten her jacket inside.

Double drat. Maybe she could live without it. After all, the weather in Texas was warmer than Colorado.

“What’s going on with your lunch?” Mattie’s pink-and-purple lunch box was open, leftover contents and containers spread on the ground. Lucy knelt, helping her put the items back inside.

“One of the boys kicked my lunch box on the bus and everything fell out.”

At Mattie’s quiet explanation, Lucy’s outrage spiked a few degrees. “Sounds like I should pay a visit to your school bus tomorrow.”

The girl’s smile was like the sun coming out from behind clouds. “It’s okay. He doesn’t bug me very often. My dad said he was going to pick me up so I didn’t have to ride the bus today, but he must have forgot.”

Oh, be still her heart. No matter how much Lucy didn’t like Graham right now, she knew he’d never forget Mattie. “I don’t think he forgot, sweetie. I think he just had a busy morning.”

Lucy barely resisted scooping the girl up in a big hug. They closed the lunch box and stood, slipping it into Mattie’s backpack.

After Graham and Mattie had left the other night, Olivia had told Lucy that Graham’s wife had passed away from cystic fibrosis at a young age—only in her twenties. Since then, it sounded like Graham pretty much worked and took care of Mattie.

As if her thoughts had summoned him, Graham came out of the office and jogged to his car, the beep-beep from his key fob interrupting the quiet. Since he was parked on the other side of the building, he didn’t notice them.

Lucy and Mattie shared a grin. “Told you he didn’t forget. Think we should stop him or let him go?”

“Let him go.”

Lucy laughed. “I’m not sure whether to be impressed or shocked.”

That earned her a giggle.

The thought was tempting. A trip to school and subsequent freak-out would serve Graham right. Smothering her impulse to let him suffer a bit, Lucy called out to him across the lot. He looked in their direction, shoulders sagging when he saw Mattie.

Since his adorable daughter was standing next to her, Lucy would figure out how to talk to Graham in a civilized manner. She would put on her maturity cape—at least, until no little ears were listening—and if she could manage it, beyond that.

He came over, dropped in front of his daughter and pulled her into a hug. Lucy ignored the tug on her heart. I will not like Graham. I will not soften toward him. When Graham buried his face in Mattie’s hair and inhaled as if he wouldn’t live another second without smelling her, Lucy lost the battle. The chant wasn’t working.

“Did you take the bus?”

Mattie nodded.

“Why didn’t you wait? I told you I’d come get you.”

“It’s okay, Dad. I didn’t mind.”

Graham ran a hand through his hair, causing the dark locks to stick out in every direction and reminding Lucy of a young boy. She skipped over the thought, concentrating instead on the irritation she’d felt inside the office minutes ago.