Like a Rodeo (book 1 of the Life Is... Series)

3.

There were mixed responses to Jodie at the hospital. The majority of the staff respected her but a lot of the residents hated her to the point of disrespect. She understood. It had been that way her entire life. Her mind was brilliant. It wasn’t her tooting her own horn, it just was what it was. She had finished high school at thirteen. She was always the youngest person in most hospital programs. She never quite fit. So, being younger than most of the surgical residents but being their superior rubbed a lot of them the wrong way. She was lucky the other staff did not seem to mind. But that left Jodie with no surgical friends in the eight months since she started.

Jodie walked through the white walled cardio-thoracic wing to do afternoon rounds before shift change when her phone buzzed. She stepped to the side to check the message from Meg. Drinks after work? Jodie sent a quick reply before tucking her phone back in the front pocket of her heart print scrubs. Today had been difficult; she had two residents outright ignore her which led to a patient's death. The first death of those residents' careers. She had finally realised she could not let it slide anymore and had shouted at them. She may not be making many friends but at least they were starting to respect her a little more.

“Dr Venter,” a male doctor called as she passed the nurse's station. Jodie stopped to face him.

“Yes,” she answered. He stuck his hand out.

“Dr Michaels,” Jodie shook his hand, “I’m the ortho fellow.”

“Nice to meet you,” she tried to smile as genuinely as she could but today was not the day for that. He smiled back and eyed her up and down. She all of a sudden felt very self-conscious of her heart scrubs.

“I like the scrubs,” he nodded and went back to his charts.

She mumbled a thanks and started to leave when he added, “All the fellows are meeting next Friday for drinks, you going?”

“Maybe,” she pivoted and headed to her patient’s room feeling a little better. Maybe they didn’t hate her as much as she thought.

~

Meg found Jodie in the fellow locker room. Technically Meg wasn’t allowed in but that had never stopped her before. Jodie looked exhausted as she sat on the bench in front of her locker.

“Hey,” Meg said and sat down next to her. “Rough day?”

“Rough week but I am very glad to see you,” Jodie stood, grabbed her bag and shut the locker. “I am starving.”

Meg linked her arm through Jodie’s and they headed down the hall. Jodie had a very fancy SUV sitting in her designated spot. Jodie handed her the car keys with the excuse of not wanting to drive. She pulled out of the hospital and Jodie turned the radio up to sing to the country songs playing. This is the kind of friendship Meg had always wanted, she thought as she sang with Jodie.

Despite what people thought, Meg was not great at making real friends. She was awkward and never knew how to move past the acquaintance phase. She had a few friends from high school who had stayed in town but it was difficult to relate to each other when Meg had gone to college and most of them hadn’t. She was also too far away to stay real friends with her college friends who had all gone to major hospitals in big cities. It was nice to have a friend like Jodie who understood it all; the English riding, the hospital and just life. Their short friendship was one Meg cherished. She just feared that it may be one sided on her part.

They arrived to at busy Nelly’s parking lot. Nelly’s was owned by an older couple who had been in town their entire lives. It was a mix between a bar and a restaurant. The bar area had all the bar games Meg was great at with a couple chairs and one or two tables. On the other end was the beautiful rustic restaurant that served all of the southern favourites. It was the go-to for most folks on a Friday night. Luckily, they found a table. It seated quite a few but the girls sat by the wall so they could people watch.

The waitress was one of the girls Meg had gone to high school with so she wanted to talk the hind leg off a donkey. They eventually managed to order drinks and Jodie had the foresight to order some onion rings which was a godsent as Meg’s tummy started rumbling when the drinks arrived.

“What do you know about Dr Michaels?” Jodie asked as they snacked on the onion rings and watched the very fine young men at the bar.

“He’s the orthopaedics fellow. He actually grew up here. His dad was the mayor for a while when we were little. He’s a nice guy.” Meg explained. “Why?”

“He spoke to me for the first time today so I was just wondering about him.” Jodie’s stare was fixated on a corner in the bar. Meg leaned in next to her to see what she was looking at and there in the corner, playing pool, was her older brother. Meg had given Travis a very strict talking to when he had asked her for Jodie’s number. Meg was not about to risk their friendship if things went sideways with Travis.

“What is so fascinating about my brother?” Meg asked, hoping to also deter Jodie from perusing him. She knew that would probably fail. Her horses stayed at Jodie’s uncles place and she had seen Jodie ride. The woman could ride anything and often backed the young colts and fillies. She was stubborn and tactful. If she wanted Travis, Meg had a feeling that her poor brother would crawl to her by the end.

“I wasn’t looking at Travis,” Jodie didn’t move her stare but Meg side eyed her. “I’m looking at Jordan.”

Jordan? Meg thought that Jodie was interested in Travis because he was interested in her. She had no idea Jodie was interested in Jordan. He would be a little harder for her to tie down. Meg had known Jordan for forever and the man had never had a girlfriend, at least not that she knew of. Jodie would be lucky to have someone like Jordan. He was so kind and respectful and thoughtful. He actually listened to what you had to say. It helped that he was very good looking. But Meg had always found him difficult to read.

“I thought you and Travis but Jordan,” Meg started babbling about heaven knows what when Jodie stopped her.

“I’m not interested in Jordan, Meg.” for some reason those words made her feel relieved. “I was just watching him watch you.”

“What?” Meg could not fathom what Jodie was going on about. Meg was less than nothing to Jordan. She was his best friends annoying little sister that asked him to do stupid things like dance or lend her money for a beer. He had absolutely had no romantic interest in her.

“That poor man,” Jodie shook her head at Meg, “he is so in love with you and you have no idea.”

“He is not in love with me,” Meg argued.

“Do me a favour,” Jodie leaned closer to Meg, “Just have a look at him. A real, assessing look at him and tell me what you see.”

Meg kept her head straight and turned her eyes to watch Jordan. His gaze was set as he drank from his beer with his cue. He looked determined and a little frustrated but... Meg blushed at the realisation that he did look in love.

“He’s not looking at me,” she finally confessed.

“Oh?” Jodie finished her drink. “Walk over to the bar and grab me another GNT. While you’re there, have a look at him. I can guarantee he’ll still be looking at you.”

Meg scowled at Jodie but headed over to the bar. She knew he was not looking at her like that. But what if he was? What would she do then? He was definitely the kind of man she could see herself settling down with. Wait! Was that where she was? Was she actually considering marrying Jordan Townsend? This was crazy! She wasn’t even sure he was looking at her. When she got to the bar, she ordered Jodie’s drink. While she waited, she looked around before her eyes caught on Jordan. He was looking at her. He, Jordan Townsend, was looking at her, Megan Lindie Odell. Megan Lindie Townsend? It worked. If he was looking at her like that, she could make it work.

She took Jodie’s drink but instead of heading back to the table, she headed over to the pool table. Her heart was pounding until she looked Jordan in the eyes as she got closer. He held her gaze and she caught her breath. She stopped at a distance that was both too close and too far from him.

“Jordan,” She managed to get out before turning to the table. “Travis. Kane.” she acknowledged before landing back of Jordan, “Can I speak to you outside?” her hands were starting to tremble, “please?”

He raised his eyebrow in concern and a way that made him look really sexy. How had she never noticed how sexy he was? Because he was. He was so sexy.

“Sure Meg,” he placed the cue down and stood up. He gestured for her to go first which she did before remembering Jodie’s drink. She made a quick detour and handed it to Travis, who shook his head at her.

“Please can you take this to Jodie,” she asked, “She is sitting over there.”

“Oh, he knows,” Kane joked which made Meg laugh a little as she headed back to where Jordan stood. They walked around the porch to stand at the side of the well-used building. They just stood there for a very long moment. Just two people who could not take their eyes off each other. Now that she was here, all of Meg’s confidence dissipated. She tried to say something, opened her mouth and everything, but no words came out.

“What’s wrong, Meg?” Jordan crossed his arms.

“You know,” Meg started to walk back inside nervously, “It’s actually not that important. We can talk some other time.”

Jordan stuck his arm out to touch the wall which blocked Meg’s path. She turned her head to look at him with his beautiful skew smile that made every thought melt away except for the one to reach up and cover his lips with hers.

“What do you want to talk about, Meg?” he looked so confident and yet just as nervous as her.

“It was pointed out to me,” Meg tried her best to take a step back, to look him in the eyes and be confident – like Jodie was, “That you were looking at me?”

“Looking at you?” his smile turned humorous, “How was I looking at you?”

“You know exactly how you were looking at me,” she argued. He became more and more amused by her. It was infuriating. She could feel him leaning closer to her, that stupid smirk making her fuse run short.

“I think you’re imagining things,” he taunted. She was not. She might have been missing it but now that she had noticed – she knew that he loved her. And damn it, she loved him too. She had been in love with him since she was sixteen. She grew out of it because she thought he had no interest in her but all those feelings came flooding back. If he was going to be this way, then fine.

She shook her head and turned away. She was about to walk away when she caught him reaching out for her with his other arm. So, in true, ungraceful Meg fashion she turned around and kissed him. She threw her arms around him on her tiptoes. It knocked him off balance slightly as the two of them swayed ever so slightly. It took him only a moment to get over his shock and he was kissing her back. It was a deep beautiful kiss. It was as if every other kiss before this one had been terrible because this kiss... This was the only person she wanted to kiss for the rest of her life. She could feel the wall against her back as he took a step closer to her. His body heated hers as they fit perfectly together. How had she been missing this her whole life?

They broke the kiss, both panting for breath as he leaned his forehead against hers.

“Do you maybe want to,” her voice was breathy as she spoke, “go somewhere a bit more private?”

His booming laugh and uptilted head filled her stomach with butterflies. Maybe he had changed his mind? Maybe he had never really liked her in the first place? Maybe she had been too forward?

“Megan Odell,” he pressed himself even closer to her, looking her in the eyes with an unwavering stare, “I am going to do this right. I'm to just going to take you home and do all the things I’ve dreamed off. I am going to take you on a real date. Many real dates. I am going to get to know you before I take you to bed, you hear?”

It was at that point that Meg realised why he had never had a girlfriend before; she had this man tightly wrapped around her finger. She tilted her head and kissed him again, in a way that she knew made men crazy. When she pulled out of the kiss, he followed ever so slightly.

“You sure about that?” she taunted.

“Don’t make it difficult for me to be a gentleman, Meg,” he rasped with his eyes closed.

“Then I suggest,” she pushed ever so slightly on his chest and started to walk back inside, “we don’t stay alone out here for too long.”

She could feel his gaze on her as she walked but she was caught off guard as he wrapped his arms around her middle. She turned her head with a small squeal that he halted them with another one of those kisses as he held her. And she realised she never wanted him to let her go.

~

Travis headed over to the table where a waitress he had known his whole life placed a plate in front of Jodie. He put the drink in front of her as he sat in the chair next to her. She looked exhausted; black bags under her eyes, pale skin, and her sparkle had dulled. She pushed the plate towards him without a word, picking up a fry with her delicate hands so he did the same. He could tell she didn’t want to talk so he squeezed her thigh. He could feel her deflate as she rested her head on his shoulder. He picked up another fry and handed it to her. It was strange how content he felt just sitting here with her, not saying a word. It was comfortable just to be in her presence. He kissed the top of her head, not even able to comprehend what was going on in there. She sat back up straight as Meg and Jordan walked back in and sat at the table with them. Kane bid them all a farewell when his wife called.

“I think I’m also gonna head,” she announced when Kane did. She put cash on the table to pay for the burger she hadn't even eaten.

“I’ll take Meg home,” Jordan announced at Jodie’s enquiring look.

“And I will walk you out,” Travis stood from the table. Kane gave him a knowing look. Travis had to admit the nutter was right sometimes. They saw Kane off and headed to Jodie’s car.

“Rough day?” he asked as they strolled through the cars. He wanted to reach over and hold her hand but she had them crossed across her chest. He glanced over to see her nodding. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No,” she was so blunt. It felt so out of place with the woman who had been on the ride with him. He didn’t say another word. Once at her car, she fished her keys out her bag. Travis opened her door. To his surprise she rolled the window down as she climbed in. He leaned through the window of the now closed door.

“It will get easier,” he promised.

“No, it won’t,” she placed the key in the ignition. He wondered if someone had died today. It was a terrible thought but it happened in her line of work. “But thank you, Travis.”

Despite his sisters warning, Travis leaned forward and touched his lips to Jodie’s. It was brief, more for his sanity than hers. He was only slightly caught off guard as she pressed a deeper kiss back. She touched a hand to his cheek. It was not as smooth as he imagined. Her slight calluses scraped when she pulled her hand back and broke the kiss. She said nothing more as she placed her car in gear. He stepped back and watched her drive off. It was at that moment he knew just how screwed he was while watching his future wife drive off.