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He shook his head. “I told her I’m staying at a hotel. I haven’t actually checked into one yet, but I didn’t want to stay at her house where I wouldn’t feel free to come and go as I wished.”
“There’s no need for you to find a hotel tonight,” she said after only a momentary pause. “Though I’ll have to get up early for work.”
“That wouldn’t bother me, as long as I wouldn’t be in your way.”
“No, not at all. Tomorrow’s my last day of work for the week. After that, I’m off until Monday.”
“The privilege of being a fourth-year resident.”
“True. I scheduled these days off months ago, the same time I cleared those couple of days for BiBi’s wedding. I figured I would need the break after rushing around to interviews and the wedding and then more interviews, not to mention my responsibilities at work.”
He nodded. “I put this week on my schedule some time ago, as well. I’ve got to be on call the whole week of Christmas this year, so figured I’d take this week, instead.”
“You didn’t mention you’d be visiting your family here for Thanksgiving.”
He shifted a little uncomfortably in his seat, then figured he might as well be completely honest with her. “That’s because I didn’t decide to do so until a few days ago.”
She studied his face, and it wasn’t hard to tell what she was thinking. “You came to see me?”
Again, he chose candor rather than evasion. “Mostly. I mean, I’ll visit my relatives while I’m here, but I was hoping to spend as much time with you as possible. I know it’s short notice, and you probably have other plans for your days off. I should have called and discussed it with you before just showing up on your doorstep, but like I said, it was sort of a spontaneous decision. I don’t act on impulse very often, and I guess I haven’t handled it very well…”
He was rambling. It was a almost a relief when Madison cut him off.
“It’s okay. I’m glad to see you. And I don’t have any big plans for the next few days. I was just going to kick back and relax a little before diving into all the preparations for the end of my residency program.”
“I won’t get in your way,” he promised. “I can entertain myself. But if you have some free time…”
“I’ll make time,” she assured him, reaching out to cover his free hand with hers. “I’m glad you’re here, Jason.”
He laced his fingers with hers and allowed himself to relax. “So am I.”
She seemed content with that explanation. There was no discussion about what he hoped to accomplish with the visit; what, if anything, he expected beyond this latest long weekend adventure. And that was just as well, because darned if he’d know what to say. He still wasn’t entirely sure himself why he’d been compelled to come to Little Rock, but he’d been honest when he’d said he was glad he had. He was more relaxed, more contented now, here in her rather scruffy little apartment, eating noodles at her table with its mismatched chairs, than he’d been since she’d left Dallas.
After the weekend ended, and he had to get back to his life there…well, it remained to be seen what would follow that. But he was becoming increasingly sure that he would still not be ready to say a permanent goodbye to Madison.
Madison was putting her coffee cup in the dishwasher, getting ready to leave for work the next morning, when Jason wandered into the kitchen, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans and a rather dazed look on his face.
“Where do you keep your adhesive bandages?” he asked, holding a wad of blood-soaked bathroom tissue to his forehead. “I didn’t want to rummage around in your cabinets looking for any.”
“What have you done? Sit down and let me look at that.”
His hair still wet from his shower, he let her push him into a chair, though his expression was sheepish. “Shower accident,” he explained succinctly.
She grimaced. “I forgot to warn you that the shower head is ridiculously low and the tub tiny.”
“My own fault. I turned too abruptly to rinse off and caught the edge of the shower head with my forehead. It’s not bad, just split the skin, but you know how a cut there will bleed.”
To her relief, he wasn’t downplaying the incident. It really was a shallow cut, certainly wouldn’t need stitches or special care. A bandage would hold it together until it stopped bleeding, but he wouldn’t even need that for long. “I just bought a new tin of bandages. I think I stashed them in the pantry—yeah, here they are.”
Carrying the tin back to the table, she efficiently closed the still-seeping wound. “There you go. And a kiss to make it better,” she added, leaning over to brush her lips an inch or so above the small bandage.
He grinned and pulled her onto his lap. “Do all your patients get that extra little treatment?”
Looping her arms around his neck, she shook her head. “I reserve that for a very select few.”
“Glad to hear it.” He covered her mouth with his.
She had to make herself get out of his lap a few minutes later, then laughingly ward off his hands as she headed for the door. She didn’t want to leave…but she couldn’t be late for work, either.
