The receptionist suddenly looked vaguely guilty for having given her such a hard time. “Won’t the food spoil? Maybe you should drop it off at his place later. Or you can meet the van when they come back from Corolla. That’s probably better. It should be here about five.”
“Sure,” Samantha said, eager to get away. “I’ll come back.”
Or not. Maybe today wasn’t the best time to see Ethan, after all, not with everyone in town probably ragging on him about that newspaper photo. She’d be lucky if he ever spoke to her again.
Another thought suddenly struck her. This was exactly the sort of thing that Regina Gentry had worried about when she’d warned Samantha that her behavior needed to be above reproach. That blasted picture and its implications could be just enough to sabotage all the plans she’d been starting to make for her future.
And if they were ruined because she’d done a stupid favor for her sister, Emily was going to be overcome with guilt when she found out. Just one more wrinkle in an already strained relationship that had finally started to heal.
* * *
Though she told herself at least a dozen times to stay away, at five o’clock Samantha was sitting in her car in the parking lot outside the emergency clinic when a large van pulled in. A half dozen parents milled around nearby, obviously awaiting its arrival, but none of them paid the least bit of attention to her.
As soon as the bright red van adorned with a Project Pride logo pulled to a stop, double doors on the side opened and a ramp was lowered to accommodate two wheelchairs and their passengers, who looked to be no more than ten or twelve. Next, three boys scampered down, one wearing a heavy leg brace, one on crutches and one walking with an awkward, stiff gait. What really distinguished them, though, and made Samantha’s breath catch in her throat, were the beaming smiles on their faces and their exuberant shouts as they caught sight of their parents. Words tumbled out in a rush as they tried to top each other with stories of the day’s adventure.
Ethan stepped out of the van next, a cherubic girl with a halo of curls in his arms. Samantha bit back a gasp when she saw that the younger girl was missing the lower part of her right leg.
Samantha got it all then. Sure, she’d heard about the kids he was determined to inspire, but she hadn’t really understood the depth of his passion. This was everything that mattered to him. It was what he’d meant by saying he cared about far more than the healing powers of medicine. This was the way in which he wanted to make his life matter, showing these kids that nothing could stop them from achieving their dreams.
It made her own worries and fears over a few wrinkles seem petty and inconsequential. And it made the stunt she’d pulled at Boone’s bachelor party seem silly and immature, even though she’d done it simply to please her sister and maybe just a little to annoy Ethan.
She was so shaken by her discovery that she sat right where she was, slumped down behind the wheel of her car, praying he wouldn’t notice her as he chatted with the parents and sent the kids on their way.
Still, she wasn’t surprised when he walked over to her car after the last family had driven off. He opened the passenger door without asking and slid in. The jovial attitude he’d had only moments before had vanished. Instead, he looked worn out. That tore at her as much as what she’d just discovered about him.
“It must be hard,” she said quietly.
He glanced her way. “What?”
“Giving them what they need.” She tried to find the right words to prove she got it. “Showing them what their lives can be like, especially when some of them aren’t ready to hear it.”
There was a flicker of surprise in his eyes. “You saw all that in a couple of minutes?”
“The only way to be a decent actress is to know how to observe people, to try to get inside their heads.”
“And you think you’re inside mine?”
She smiled at that. “Not just yet, but I’m getting there.”
He studied her for what seemed like an eternity. When he spoke, he shocked her. “Do you know how badly I want to kiss you? For a man who thought he was immune to love a few short days ago, I seem to be obsessed with you.”
Would he say that if he knew about the photo? She doubted it. She swallowed hard at his unexpected admission, tried to focus on that. “I’m afraid I missed the signs of this obsession of yours.”
He sighed. “Probably because I didn’t want you to know. Heck, I didn’t even want to admit it to myself. And now? It’s pretty ironic really.”
“What?” she asked, regarding him in confusion.
“I don’t think we can pull this off, after all,” he said.
She sighed heavily. “You did see the paper,” she said, deflated. “For a minute there I thought you hadn’t.”
“Everyone I know saw the paper,” he said. “Every parent here just now had a comment.”
“It’s not really any of their business,” she suggested tentatively, hoping he would see it that way.
He gave her an incredulous look. “I know you’re not that naive, Samantha. They entrust their kids to me. Are they going to do that if they think I’m behaving inappropriately in such a public way?”
She winced at that. “Is that what they actually said? Did they threaten to take their kids out of the program?”
“Not yet,” he admitted. “I think I was able to convince them that crazy things sometimes happen at bachelor parties. I think they’ll give me a pass this once.” He glanced her way. “What really worries me, though, is that you won’t be so lucky.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know what Regina
