What We Find (Sullivan's Crossing, #1)(70)

She left the ladies’ room to call Sully, forcing any melancholy from her voice for his sake.

*



When Maggie walked into the pub, there were cheers. There were more people there from the hospital, those who hadn’t made it to the courthouse but had been called with the news the case was dismissed. She was pulled into a party of at least twenty that grew as the hour got a little later and the day shift at the hospital ended. Doctors, nurses and techs showed up in jeans or scrubs to congratulate her, to show their support.

At first, overwhelmed by all the tension of the day and the presence of so many people who appreciated her, all she could do was nod and smile. After a glass of wine, she began to laugh as jokes and gossip were traded. People came and went as though it was an open house. At five o’clock, food appeared.

“It’s going to be fine now,” Terry, the RN from the operating room said. “Have another glass of wine. I’m driving you home in your car.”

“But how will you get home?”

“I came over with Rob Hollis from the hospital and my husband, Jake, is coming.” She shrugged and smiled. “Free food.”

“Who put this together?” Maggie asked.

“I don’t know. Everyone, more or less. Once the word got out that the first day of your suit started with the hearing, we all wanted to be here. The ones who had to work are just getting here a little later, that’s all. Maggie, it’s over.”

“Mrs. Markiff met me in the bathroom to let me know how bitterly she hates me.”

“You were the only chance her boy had. We go through this, Maggie. We go through it because who will they have if we don’t?”

“I think I’m used up,” she said.

“I hope to God not,” Terry said. “We need you. What are you finding at Sully’s we can’t give you here?”

She gave a short huff of laughter. “I shot a guy who had abducted a fourteen-year-old girl.”

“That was you? At Sully’s?” she asked, surprised. “The news was pretty good at keeping the identity of the girl, the woman and the exact location of the incident quiet, but they did say it was a campground on a lake near Timberlake. I should’ve known.” She laughed and clapped a hand on Maggie’s shoulder. “You’re a tough broad, Maggie.”

“I always wanted to be something else,” she said. “One of those frail, pretty girls who men felt they had to protect. Maybe I should have let my mother dress me up and send me to dance lessons.”

“Yuck,” Terry said.

“I played touch football, with some tackling. My mother almost died of heartbreak.”

“Thank God you’ve never had an ounce of compromise in you,” Terry said. “Listen, it’s understandable if you need a break, but will you come up one of these days and have dinner at my house with Jake and maybe my daughter and her family? I miss you. I boss around those residents and I swear they pee their pants. When you’re not around there’s hardly any muscle in the operating room. It’s sad. It’s pathetic.”

Maggie was so touched she sighed. “I miss you. I miss the OR.”

“I like to hear that.”

“I have a boyfriend,” she said.

“Oh? Dr. Mathews, right?”

She shook her head. “We’ve been off a few months now. A new boyfriend. I met him at the crossing and he just won’t go away. He’s a lawyer.”

Terry laughed. “Well, that’ll probably come in handy.”

At eight o’clock Maggie said goodbye to Jaycee, Rob and her other friends. Terry drove Maggie to her house, her husband following. She pulled into the drive behind a truck.

“Who’s that?” Terry asked.

Maggie smiled. “The boyfriend. Want to meet him?”

“Bring him when you come to dinner. We’ll get to know each other then.”

Maggie got out of the car, Cal got out of the truck and they met in the drive. “Why are you here?” she asked.

“Just in case. If you need to be quiet and alone, I brought a good book. But I wanted to see you. I wanted to get my arms around a free woman.”

“They had a celebration for me. That’s my OR nurse...” she said, turning.

But Terry was moving toward the waiting car. She waved and yelled, “Bring him to dinner so we can look him over!” Then she jumped in her husband’s car and off they went.

“Very outgoing, isn’t she?” Cal said.

“Did you bring an overnight bag?” she asked.

“Always the optimist,” he said with a nod. “Have you eaten?”

“Ate, drank, laughed,” she said. “I wish I hadn’t told you I wanted to do it alone, Cal. I wish you’d been with me tonight. I have some very good friends, it turns out.”





Earth and sky, woods and fields,

lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea,

are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some

of us more than we can ever learn from books.





—Sir John Lubbock





Chapter 14



Cal suggested he drive back to the crossing rather than join Maggie for her visit with Phoebe and Walter. “When the time is right, I’ll visit them with you,” he said.