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“Yes, she is.” Alec glanced at his daughter, grinning as she jumped and skipped over the cracks in the sidewalk, making a game of their walk. Ruminating over Jillian wasn't smart. Shannon saying Jillian was nice was a far cry from bringing a woman into their lives. That was a complication they didn't need. He didn't have a lot of spare time on his hands or room in his life for relationship, even if the timing was better.
Which it wasn’t.
It struck him that a woman like Jillian deserved much more than being relegated to the bottom of his priority list.
CHAPTERSIX
Jillian didn't see Alec that night, or the one after that. Rafe had called her in for an interview, but she'd been disappointed Alec hadn't been anywhere around. The process of being interviewed wasn’t as horrible as she’d anticipated. The entire conversation was finished in less than fifteen minutes.
On Thursday she gave herself a stern lecture. It was time to stop acting like an adolescent schoolgirl, waiting for Alec to ask her to the prom. So what if he hadn't made the time to come and see her. The man certainly had his hands full between his career as a police officer and being a single dad.
If only she hadn't run into him at the park. Seeing him in his casual shorts and T-shirt, his cheeks darkened by early morning stubble, grinning with his daughter, had been enough to make her wonder what it would be like to see him like that every day.
The image was so clear she caught her breath. Dreams were one thing, but none of her previous relationships had prepared her for Alec. Every time he was near, she longed for his touch. Even the slightest brush of his fingers against hers had sent a tingle of awareness up her spine. It was difficult to think straight around him.
She gave her head a quick shake. Enough foolishness. All through medical school she'd been focused on her goal of becoming a doctor. Her parents had sacrificed a portion of their retirement fund to finance her education. Graduating at the top of her class had made her mother proud.
Some of her female counterparts had lamented the long hours required of their residency program, claiming their biological clocks were ticking away. She'd never understood the yearning they'd felt, not even when she'd done her obstetrics rotation.
Until now.
She couldn't deny the very tangible connection she felt with Shannon, especially when the girl had leaned against her so trustingly. They had a lot in common. They'd both lost their mothers, and they both cared about Alec.
“Jillian?”
She roused herself from her thoughts and turned to see Dr. Chris Donnell, the chief of staff, approaching. Instinctively she straightened her spine.
“Good evening, Chris. How are you?”
Her boss didn't smile. In fact, his brows were pulled together in a frown. He glanced around and then gently pulled her to a quiet area to talk. Her stomach clenched in warning.
“Do you have any idea who is stealing these narcotics?” His blunt question rocked her back on her heels.
“No. If I did, I'd tell the police.”
Chris pursed his lips. “I don't need to tell you, this situation is very disturbing. Anything you can do to find the guilty party and resolve this issue is of utmost importance.”
She swallowed hard at his stern tone. At the same time, she lifted her chin. Was he saying this, because he believed she was involved? She prayed that was not the case. “Yes, I completely agree. I’ve already been interviewed and have changed my password several times. I’m doing my best to keep things under control.”
He stared at her for a long moment. “I hope I haven't made a mistake in naming you as the interim medical director, Jillian. I need a true leader in this position.”
Her face burned at the implied reprimand but she forced a confidence she didn't quite feel into her tone. “We will find the guilty person. Assigning me this position was not a mistake.” She'd learned early on the best way to get ahead in a male dominated profession was to ooze competence while touting your abilities. In other words, act like a guy. “I'm the right person for this role. I'm sure we'll get to the truth very soon.”
Her boss gave a brief nod. “I hope you're right. I've had a private meeting with the police on this very issue. They've scheduled an appointment to review how the narcotic dispensing machine works. Please go and offer your assistance.”
“Of course.” It took a second for his statement to register. Alec was here? She glanced around the arena, and then spotted him standing off to one side next to Rafe. She crossed over, greeting them both, but a warm glow burned in her belly when Alec's gaze lingered on hers in a special, silent greeting.
“I thought you guys had already gotten a demonstration on this machine,” Jillian said.
“No, unfortunately things have been crazy.” Alec waved a hand. “Would you mind showing us how this works?”
Step by step she went through the mechanics of the dispensing machine noting the numbness and tingling in her fingers, curiously absent over the past few days, had returned. She kept up her routine of running three miles every other morning and so far she hadn't noticed anything different. The five percent chance of having multiple sclerosis or some other auto-immune disorder seemed more and more distant.
But that was just foolish, wishful thinking.
“Dr. Davis, there's a victim of a motor vehicle crash coming in,” Lacy informed her once she'd finished the demonstration.
She glanced down at her phone with a frown. “Oh? Why didn't we get a trauma call?”
