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With a choppy sigh she flexed her fingers until this sensation passed. Like the first time, the symptoms didn't bother her for long. Just enough to make her aware something was wrong.
She tore her gaze from her hand. Obsessing over a phantom illness was not how she wanted to spend her weekend off. She was lucky to have two whole days off in a row. She fully intended to enjoy them.
And she would. Glancing at her watch, she tried to think of the best way to plan her day, considering all the various errands she had to run.
Maybe she should wait to leave until Alec had called.
Wait a minute, since when did she plan her life around a man?
Not since she'd been sixteen and infatuated with Ethan Wade, the quarterback of the football team who hadn't known the bookworm-school-valedictorian had been alive. The thought made her wince.
With the determined motion, Jillian swept her purse off the counter, intending to head outside. The pager app on her phone vibrated. Despite herself, she quickly pulled it from her purse. The number flashing across the display didn’t belong to the hospital.
The hospital administrator calling from home? Or Alec?
She turned and walked back into the kitchen, dropping her purse back on the table. Taking a steadying breath, she pressed her finger on the number flashing on the screen, to connect the call.
“This is Alec Monroe,” he said by way of greeting.
Hi, Alec.” She placed a hand on her abdomen, willing the butterflies in her stomach to settle down. What in the world was wrong with her?
“Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.” His deep voice held a note of warmth, unless she was totally imagining it. “Would you have time to go out for lunch?”
Lunch? She stared off in the distance, imagining her blank calendar. Today was Saturday, and she knew full well she didn't have other plans. She wanted nothing more than to go, but Alec wouldn't be happy to hear she couldn't help him. “I'm sorry, Alec, but I haven't heard back from anyone in hospital administration yet.”
“That's all right,” he assured her. “I have something else I want to talk to you about.”
“You do?” Interest peaked and she quickly gave her consent. “Sure, I'd love to have lunch. Ah, where would you like to meet?”
He hesitated and she wondered if he was about to protest her plan of meeting at the restaurant, insisting on picking her up instead. But she was pleasantly surprised when he didn't. “Do you like Italian? We could meet at Giovanni's, say, around 11:30?”
“Giovanni’s is perfect. See you then, Alec.”
Jillian disconnected from the call, already shaking her head at her own foolishness. She was acting like a goof.
This wasn't a date. This really wasn't a date.
Ha! Maybe if she told herself that often enough, she'd figure out a way to believe it.
Alec wanted to ask her about something else. Like what? No doubt he had medical questions of some sort. A few of the men she dated in college had seemed to want to know all about various disease processes once they'd known she was a medical student.
She clutched her purse to her chest, feeling the same uncertainty she'd experienced back then, going out on her first date. Yes, as a late bloomer she hadn’t gone on a single date until college.
The guy had been nice enough, but their relationship hadn't gone anywhere. In fact, none of the men she dated on and off during college, and in the years since had evoked deep feelings on her part.
Maybe because none of them had been anything like Alec. He was different. He put his life on the line for others, yet oozed masculinity and sensual awareness in a way she'd never experienced before.
She would be lying if she didn't admit that his magnetic attraction made her secretly thrilled to be seeing him again.
CHAPTERTHREE
Alec hated working weekends, not appreciating the way the job cut into his personal time with his daughter. He always felt bad when he had to depend on his parents and siblings to help watch his daughter, but then Andrea had mentioned taking the kids to the water park and the excited glint in his daughter's eye had convinced him it was better for her to go with his sister. Beth, Andrea's daughter, was about Shannon's age and the two of them had become almost inseparable over the past six months.
The knowledge should have made him feel less guilty about working on Saturday, but didn't. At least he had off on Sunday, something to be grateful for.
He arrived at the restaurant early, having finished interviewing the neighbors around the area where the shooting had taken place sooner than he'd anticipated.
Standing in the shade of the building, he waited for Jillian, seeking respite from the hot sun. The hours he'd spent gathering information hadn't revealed much about why the two teenage boys had fought, but Evergreen Doe did have a name.
