Not Quite Enough (Not Quite #3)(31)
Author: Catherine Bybee

Not yet anyway.

Back in the house, Monica was in the kitchen again, this time heating up soup from a can. Reynard’s children were sitting up at the counter talking obsessively about living in such a big house and how theirs had fallen down. It was as if their duty in life was to relay a play-by-play of their life to Monica as she cooked their lunch.

“A house this big is going to take your help to keep clean,” she told the kids. “Your mom has to be in bed for a few days.”

Micha puffed out his chest. “We’ll help,” he said.

Monica removed bowls from the cupboard and ladled in the soup. Reynard carried the bags into the second guest room while Trent watched the kids and Monica talk. Tanya, the oldest daughter, was ten and she held the youngest in her lap. “Mother needs to sleep so we need to keep quiet,” Tanya told the kids.

Trent moved behind the brood and offered his advice. “There’s lots of room outside to play. Just keep an eye on each other.”

Monica offered Trent a smile, her eyes lighting up.

In short order, she had the kids eating lunch and worked her way to Kiki’s bedside to make sure she had something to eat as well.

Trent felt guilty for the work Monica was doing on what was supposed to be her afternoon off. Within a half an hour, she was removing clothes from the dryer and folding them into her backpack. It appeared as if she was packing to leave.

He wasn’t sure they’d ever have another opportunity to get away, so instead of staying in his house, which had been overrun with kids and excitement, Trent packed a few bottles of water and an attempt at a picnic into a bag. He grabbed a beach blanket and a couple of towels as he passed his linen closet.

Monica cornered him in the hall. “Maybe you should just take me back to the clinic. I might as well—”

He silenced her with a finger to her lips. “It’s your day off,” he reminded her. “We still have half of it left.” He slid his hand to her shoulder and down to her arm. “How about I show you a quiet place on the beach where tourists don’t play and the waves hardly touched?”

She leaned against the wall and sighed. “Sightseeing?”

No, more like procuring a secluded spot away from kids and chaos so they could pick up where they left off. “Sure, we’ll call it sightseeing.”

“All right.”

Trent loaded their day’s provisions in the Jeep and encouraged Ginger to stay at the house. The last thing he wanted was another interrupting bark.

He informed Reynard that he’d be back later that night after dropping Monica off at the clinic and then the two of them drove away.

“You surprise me, Barefoot,” Monica said as they turned out of the driveway.

“Oh, why’s that?”

“One minute I think maybe your personal walls are high since you live here alone, and then you invite an entire family to move in with you.”

“I have other options. Reynard and his family don’t.”

Her window was rolled down and the warm air rushing past them blew her hair in different directions. Most of the time he’d spent with her, those blonde locks were bound into a ponytail or some kind of clip. He liked what he saw. It gave Monica a wild look that made him think of warm nights and hot passion.

“You’re really going to leave the island?” she asked.

“For a while anyway.”

“Will you go back home? The East Coast?”

He shrugged. “I haven’t seen my brothers in a while. I’ll probably start there.”

Monica gripped the edges of her hair and stared out the window. “I can’t imagine not having any ties and the whole world open to explore.”

“What ties do you have?”

“My job, for one. Although that might not be the case when I get home.”

He pulled off the main road and onto a dirt one. The locals knew of the secluded beach and even more private cave within, but the road wasn’t often traveled. The overgrowth told Trent there hadn’t been a car there in a while. Not since the last rain anyway. “Jack said something about your job being in trouble. What’s up with that?”

“My boss is a bitch. I’m not being catty about that either. She’d always looked for a reason to write me up or in some way move me on. I don’t get it either. It’s not like I’ve ever done a thing to her. A friend from work called me the other day to tell me she took me off the schedule. Said I didn’t fill the holes my coming here left. Claimed I abandoned my patients.” Monica air quoted the last words and her smile fell into a thin frown line.

“How can you abandon anyone you’ve not taken care of?”

“I have no idea. Walt will raise holy hell when we get back. But the truth is, the doctors on staff don’t work for the hospital. They work either for themselves, or in the case of the emergency room, they work with a doctors’ group. The rules for Walt don’t apply to me. I work for the hospital and they don’t have to grant time off. I had vacation time coming and arranged for someone to take my shifts.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“My replacement called in sick and staffing didn’t fix it.”

It sounded to Trent like Walt was the name he needed to pass on to Jack.

“Nurses are needed everywhere,” he said, hoping to put her at ease. Her hand on the edge of the door had gripped the side as she spoke. “What else is waiting for you in California?”

“My apartment.” She laughed as the word came out of her mouth. “I guess that doesn’t count. My friend Katie and her husband, Dean, are there… although they talked about moving back to Texas.”

“Your sister’s in Texas, right?”

Monica grew silent. “Yeah. I guess that would just leave me and my mom.” She shivered.

The conversation faded. He’d obviously made her think a little harder about where she was living and why she stayed.

The road came to an end with barely enough room to turn the car around. Trent rolled to a stop and pulled the parking brake under the shade of trees.

Monica sent him a confused look.

“We’re here?”

He lifted his sunglasses enough for her to see the gleam in his eye. “We walk from here.”

She jumped out of the car and grabbed her backpack. “You’re going to make me work for a day at the beach?” she teased.

“It’s worth it,” he told her.

Monica patted her back pocket and removed her phone. “Mind if I charge this while we’re gone? It’s running out of juice.”