Abby laughed, nodding her head. “He loves to bake. The other morning, he made cinnamon rolls that…they were amazing! Just…amazing! Right out of the oven, freshly baked with tons of icing on top!”
Cathy sighed. “No wonder you’re eating salads all the time!” she replied with a smile. Then her smile disappeared. “Just tell me he’s horrible in bed. The guy has to have some flaws. So it’s sex, right? He’s inept?”
Abby laughed, but didn’t answer. “I have a patient,” she said, leaving Cathy hanging.
“You’d think he could at least be inept on those missions,” Cathy grumbled as she followed behind Abby, although Cathy went to a different exam room. “But I hear he’s a dynamo there too.”
Abby paused and glanced thoughtfully over her shoulder at her friend. Missions? What missions?
But Cathy was heading for another patient that needed her assistance. And Abby needed to tend to her own. Gazing down at the chart, she wondered what sorts of missions Cathy meant. Zeke was a trainer. She’d even seen him training one day when she’d been brought there for a medical emergency. He’d been pushing the soldiers through some drills, doing something with an obstacle course that he’d probably run through a thousand times.
But that had been on one of the other fields and she hadn’t had a chance to really talk to him about it. Which was an absolute lie, she thought as she smiled at her next patient. She’d had plenty of chances to talk to Zeke about his work. They talked a lot at night. He cooked her dinner and she sat on a stool watching him as they discussed…whatever. They were both opinionated people and she loved that he was so well informed.
So, what was the niggling doubt that kept coming up in the back of her mind? There were certain topics that she knew she didn’t want to bring up. And that mission he’d gone on two weeks ago, the secrecy of it and something he’d said had tripped up a memory in her mind. What had he said?
Unfortunately, a multi car accident was reported and the entire emergency room staff jumped into preparation mode. For the next several hours, Abby didn’t have time to think about anything other than stitching up wounds and setting broken bones. A few accident victims arrived in the emergency room and both were in pretty bad shape but, thankfully, they would fully recover. By the time her shift ended in late afternoon, the crisis had died down.
“What a day!” Abby sighed as she and Cathy walked into the staff locker room to change clothes.
“Yeah. It was rough. Did you see that broken leg that Doctor Carter had to set?” She shuddered. Even medical staff could be shocked and grossed out at times.
“Ugh!” Abby laughed, leaning her head back against her locker. “I’m glad he landed that patient instead of me.”
Cathy nodded, then sighed as she pushed herself to her feet. “I don’t think I have the energy to change clothes.”
Abby opened her eyes and looked at her friend. “You have blood on the side of your…”
“Darn it!” Cathy snapped, then tugged the scrubs off and tossed them into the bin for sanitizing. They changed into their street clothes and headed out to their cars. “Are you seeing him again tonight?”
Abby smiled, her exhaustion lifting as she thought about Zeke. “Yeah. Probably.”
Cathy grinned. “I’m glad for you, Abby. You deserve a good guy like him. And you’re probably the best person to handle his quirky job requirements.”
Abby had just pulled her keys out of her purse when she registered Cathy’s words. “Quirky? He’s just…”
Cathy chuckled, shaking her head. “Abby, he’s not a trainer.” She shrugged, “Colonel Jeffers might train the teams, but he’s one of those bad ass dudes that flies out to resolve dangerous situations around the world.”
Abby frowned, her eyes narrowing. “But…he’s always here.”
“No, he’s not. Remember a few weeks ago? He left abruptly and you thought he’d dumped you.”
She remembered, her heart twisting at those painful memories. “But…he’s…he’s just a regular guy,” she protested, her voice barely above a whisper now as the truth started to seep into her mind. “He’s not…”
Cathy saw the pain in Abby’s eyes and moved closer, laying a comforting hand on Abby’s shoulder. “We can never know for sure, Abby, but Zeke is probably part of the Delta Force team. They are super secretive, and they’re the Army’s version of the SEALs. That’s why I thought that you and Zeke were a good couple. Because your father was a Navy SEAL. I just thought…?”
Abby shook her head, not sure how to handle this news. Zeke was Special Forces? Although, now she thought about it, it made sense. Some of what Zeke had said over the past few weeks, the way he trained so hard, his discipline, and…well, lots of little things. Was he Special Forces? Was he one of the guys that dove into hot spots? Her father used to joke with his fellow SEALs about how he would dive out of a plane and parachute into jungles or buildings or even onto a ship. Did Zeke do that too? Was he one of those men who put their lives in horrific danger?
“I…” Abby tried, but the words wouldn’t come to her. She couldn’t seem to think anything other than to question Zeke’s job.
“Talk to him, Abby. Talk to Zeke. I could be wrong.”
Abby nodded, not really listening. She got into her car and…sat for a long moment. She couldn’t
